Media in El Salvador resent USAID closure

The sudden closing of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has left several media that depended on their financing in El Salvador in crisis.

For years, American cooperation was key to the support of journalistic projects focused on the investigation and control of power, but with the closing of these funds, the panorama for investigative journalism is uncertain: dozens of projects have been canceled and several journalists They have remained in a labor limbo.

The magazine co -founder CATENCERRADOEzequiel Barrera, describes the situation as chaotic: “It has been a hard blow to the media of independent journalism that had ongoing projects with financing of that cooperation. Above all, because it was from Tajo, from one day to another, ”he told the Voice of America.

The impact has not only been economical, but also informative.

Media such as Gatoencerrado have been key in the exposure of criminal networks in El Salvador. One of his most relevant investigations, «Salvadoran police officers who murdered hundreds of people,» a criminal group composed of police, military, entrepreneurs and ranchers who since 2015 operated by killing gang members, and then expanded their activities to extortions and Sicariato

Investigations such as this today have remained in Limbo, since the USAID funds financed both the reporting work and the salaries of research journalists.

“This closure, so at once, committed the job stability of journalists whose places were held thanks to this financing. (…) CatEncerrado will not disappear, but it will lower its production, ”added Barrera.

Carolina Amaya, director of Malayerbaa environment specialized in environmental journalism in Central America recognizes that before an uncertain panorama, the only media option will be «reinvented.»

«The context is closing even more for independent media in El Salvador and in the Central American region, which suffers from a high fever of authoritarianism.»

According to Amaya, this generates that several international cooperators flee to invest their funds in media with authoritarianism contexts.

«The situation leads us to look for how to solve the great task of several media: the diversification of income sources,» he added to the Voa.

In 2024, El Salvador received one of the greatest amounts of cooperation in recent years by USAID. The country obtained more than 148 million dollars in assistancewith the main investments for the sectors of government, civil society and basic education.

«Many media have sustained ourselves in a good percentage with these cooperation funds working issues of democracy, transparency and human rights,» he added to the VoaWendy Monterrosa, co -founder of Public voice media.

Since 2020, public voice has specialized in public discourse and the promotion of transparency with issues such as health, education, environment, human rights and gender equality.

At least 75 % of its financing comes from international cooperation projects, while the rest obtained from communication consultancies for various organizations.

An emergency campaign

A group of eleven media, «among them CatEncerrado, Malayerba and Public voice– Backed by the Association of Journalists of El Salvador They joined to design alternate financing measures that allow them to subsist.

«Without journalism, would we have heard of the Millionaires looting that all governments, regardless of their ideology or flag, have done to El Salvador?» Questiones Cesar Fagoaga, of FACTUM MAGAZINEat the beginning of a video that summarizes the essence of the #Defendétulibertad campaign.

«Supporting journalism is to support your right to know why the truth is not defended alone,» says Fagoaga with other journalists who participate in the campaign.

These media now bets on communication consultancies, content production and, above all, the support of civil society through donations and subscriptions.

El Faro, a recognized means of communication in Central America, has intensified its fundraising campaign through subscriptions from $ 5 each month.

These initiatives seek to guarantee the sustainability of the media, and at the same time preserve an independent journalism.

USAID in El Salvador

Before 2021, USAID allocated funds in El Salvador for the prevention of violence, mainly, with allied institutions such as the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office.

But after the dismissal of the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and the Attorney General by the Legislative Assembly, of an official majority, the agency reoriented its assistance by allocating it to the promotion of public information, human rights and the strengthening of organizations of civil society and media.

Now, the administration of President Donald Trump ordered the closure of USAID and the cessation of his work worldwide, ending a mission of six decades.

«Every dollar we spend, each program we finance must be aligned with the national interest of the United States, and USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that, in some way, they are a global beneficial organization separated from national interest,» said the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, at a stop in El Salvador.

In fiscal year 2023, the United States disbursed 72,000 million dollars of help worldwide.

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