The Latin American Report # 520

A journalists' union in El Salvador is denouncing the forced displacement of some 40 journalists amid an alleged wave of harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary restrictions, possibly centered on the media outlet El Faro. The latter has been the outlet for a series of accusations linking Nayib Bukele's government to gangs, with which it allegedly had agreements to maintain a certain stability on the streets. The Association of Journalists of El Salvador says that the number of displaced people could be higher if the registry is expanded to include other critical voices who have left the Central American country “due to the climate of fear and persecution” generated by the president himself—with his critical discourse toward NGOs that question his harsh but effective policies to contain crime—and implemented by the security forces. “[These] actions not only represent an attack on freedom of expression, but also violate fundamental principles of a democratic state governed by the rule of law,” the association argues. “[The] most worrying aspect of the case is that there are strong indications that the state has complete lists for the surveillance, intimidation, and even capture of human rights defenders and journalists,” they add.

More violence through Latam

In addition to the events we discussed in the last report, there has been the scandalous murder of the mayor of San Mateo Piñas—a coastal town in Oaxaca, Mexico—the fatal shooting of a sports leader in Manabí—another coastal region, but in western Ecuador—, and the shooting attempt on the life of the mayor of the city of Cartago, in the troubled department of Valle del Cauca in Colombia. Lilia Gema García Soto, head of the San Mateo Piñas government, was killed by hitmen on Sunday while she was inside the Municipal Palace, according to a statement from the Oaxaca Attorney General's Office. Another person, whose identity has not been fully revealed, was also killed alongside García Soto.

So far this year, a human rights organization has documented nearly 140 political assassinations in Mexico, including lethal actions against elected officials or candidates. Meanwhile, in Ecuador, the president of a second-division soccer team was shot and killed by heavily armed men on Saturday night while at a restaurant in the municipality of El Carmen, Manabí province. The coast remains stained red in Ecuador, despite being under a state of emergency declared by President Daniel Noboa. Finally, Juan David Piedrahíta López, the mayor of Cartago, escaped unharmed yesterday from an armed attack on the vehicle in which he was traveling through a rural area.

_{The mayor murdered in Oaxaca (source).}