MEXICO CITY — A Mexican journalist who served as editor at a crusading Salvadoran website said Friday he was expelled from the Central American country as part of President Nayib Bukele’s “offensive” against the press.
Daniel Lizárraga served as editor at the Salvadoran news site “El Faro,” which often exposed corruption or abuses. The administration of Bukele ordered him to leave the country earlier this week, claiming his work visa hadn’t been renewed because he could not prove he was a journalist.
Bukele is a radical populist who has frequently tangled with opponents, the press and the other branches of the government in El Salvador. Bukele had earlier accused El Faro of laundering money, something the site said was part of a “campaign of harrassment, attacks, censorship and threats.”
Lizárraga told the W Radio station that he would continue to work with El Faro from Mexico.
“He (Bukele) thinks that journalism is to make propaganda,” Lizárraga said. “He would be happy if you told him every day how good he is.”
In an editorial, El Faro wrote “the real reason for his expulsion is not that he couldn’t prove that he is a journalist; it is rather the opposite, that he is a journalist who specializes in investigating corruption. That is what really bothered the Bukele regime, which is so plagued by corruption scandals.”
