El Faro denounces threats against its journalists

The online periodical El Faro is protesting recent threats against its investigative journalists.   The periodical reports that threats have been received in comments posted on El Faro's website.  El Faro has asked the country's attorney general and security forces to investigate.

According to El Faro, the threats appear to be linked to its reporting on human rights abuses committed by the police in their battles against El Salvador's gangs.  In the article  "Aquí ya no caben más: mátenlos", an El Faro reporter described his observation of purported gang members receiving savage beatings within a police station.   In  "La Policía masacró en la finca San Blas", El Faro reported on an anti-gang operation which initiated and gunned down multiple gang members but also killed innocent youth living in the same location.   Some of its journalists left the country following publication of the San Blas massacre piece for their own safety.  

The award-winning publication is one of the few voices in El Salvador willing to publicly hold public security forces to account for their actions.  Everyone who values human rights, values press freedom, and does not want a return to country where security forces can capture and kill with impunity, should stand with El Faro and its courageous journalists.  

Comments

Carlos X. said…
We often comment about the need for government institutions to demonstrate maturity in order for democracy to flourish in El Salvador. We probably don't say enough that the populace, too, must show maturity, including the maturity to hear inconvenient truths and to support the rule of law even when it may seem tempting to put aside democracy for an easy way out.