The divinising of money and the idolatry of power create false idols which take the place of the true God —St Oscar Romero, Trinity Sunday 1978 #StOscarRomero

Bertha María Deleón was once Bukele's lawyer, then she became his critic, which resulted in fleeing into exile in Mexico, where today she advocates with others forced into exile by the regime. focostv.com/la-promesa-q...

In recent years apartment towers are springing up in El Salvador, funded by a surge of money from abroad. Meanwhile, the country has an enormous deficit of affordable dignified housing for the majority of Salvadorans. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

“The time I find hardest of all is at night, when the house falls still, and there is nothing left to do and no one left to call. This was our time, when we talked without haste, when we discussed anything and everything” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/o...

My post at El Salvador Perspectives on the case of Ruth López and other political prisoners in El Salvador. #FreeRuth timmuth.substack.com/p/free-ruth?...

In his new book El Faro’s Oscar Martínez encourages his readers to look behind the photo ops, the social media influencers, and the self-promotion to see the naked exercise of power by Nayib Bukele. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

The case of Ruth López reflects that pattern: today she is a political prisoner. We demand her immediate freedom and a public trial with guarantees. #LibertadParaRuth #JuicioPúblicoParaRuth

Ruth Lopez, a lawyer in El Salvador and anti-corruption investigator with a human rights NGO who was named one of BBC’s 100 most inspiring women, has been imprisoned by the Bukele government for a year, under a suspension of civil liberties supposedly targeting gangs

Bukele has driven El Faro into exile, infected their phones with spyware, frozen their assets, but still their journalists keep holding the Salvadoran autocracy to account. timmuth.substack.com/p/bukeles-on...

The Salvadoran government misleadingly claims that it is clearing the records of thousands of innocent people detained by mistake. timmuth.substack.com/p/8000-out-o...

In its latest attack on the press, the Bukele regime has frozen the personal assets of El Faro shareholders. The prize winning investigative journalism site had already been forced into exile and had moved financial operations to Costa Rica. beta.elfaro.net/en/opinion-e...

The high profile trial of MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador is supposed to show how gang leadership in prisons directed homicides outside prison. But there will not be individualized proof of all those crimes. english.elpais.com/internationa...

Oscar Martinez of El Faro describes perceptions of Bukele around the world created by a nonstop social media machine. The Influencer President — The Dial www.thedial.world/articles/new...

The Salvadoran congress controlled by Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party adopted 2 more constitutional amendments to assure the party remains solidly in control. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

This profile article about Nayib Bukele is quite good, starting from his youth, through today when he presides over the country with the highest incarceration rate and highest presidential popularity level in the Americas. www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

A description from El Salvador describing the assembly line process used by the government to generate convictions of the 91,000 persons arrested during the ongoing State of Exception. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

"Understanding Bukele is essential not only to grasp the singular nature of El Salvador’s transformation but also to recognize the contours of a 21st-century reactionary model."

Press freedom? El Salvador falls 8 places to #143 of 180. US falls 7 spaces to #64. rsf.org/en/2026-rsf-...

El Salvador changing constitution to give as many as 9 deputies in the 60 seat congress to Salvadoran diaspora. Would be larger than all departments other than San Salvador. A measure for Bukele to capitalize on high popularity among Salvadorans in exterior. www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/n...

The Salvadoran government sought to obtain more software to hack into cellphones and spy on communications. thenewsground.com/bukele-secre...

To have trials for the 91,000 arrested during the State of Exception, El Salvador has turned to mass trials with hundreds of defendants. Last week it began a trial of 486 alleged gang leaders from MS-13. timmuth.substack.com/p/a-mass-tri...

The 517 deaths in Bukele's prisons which have been documented by SJH are likely an undercount, given the opacity of the regime. english.elpais.com/internationa...

In this article, some of the hundreds of journalists and defenders of human and land rights tell how their lives have changed since the state of emergency was introduced. Some remain in El Salvador, despite fearing for their lives amid state-led persecution. iwpr.net/global-voice...

The state of siege for journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador www.opendemocracy.net/en/el-salvad...

On Monday, a mass trial of more than 492 alleged members of MS-13 began in El Salvador. The images are from video rooms in two prisons, CECOT and Zacatecoluca, from which defendants will watch the trial.

El Salvador's Ongoing State of Exception Reviewed Before US Congress. A hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission describes human rights violations and lack of due process. timmuth.substack.com/p/el-salvado...

Another view of the rise of " the World's Coolest Dictator" reactionary.international/cases/order-...

Bukele makes harsh laws harsher in El Salvador. His populist agenda has always rested on showing his willingness to be cruel to those in the country's prisons. apnews.com/article/el-s...

Doctors and nurses are being fired from public hospitals in El Salvador and there are shortages of supplies and medications. Will "DoctorSV", the online telemedicine app from Google and Bukele, help solve the problem? open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

Anatomy of a siege: leaving to survive, staying to resist in Bukele's El Salvador gatoencerrado.news/2026/04/15/a...

This story from @anniecorreal and @_fredramos is one everyone should read. Sugey deserves our attention, admiration, and good wishes of hope www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/w...

Every few years we have to check in on the projects which Bukele touts around El Salvador. China has donated several of them like the $100 million stadium under construction. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

The vindictive persecution of this man continues. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Definitely recommend this production of Frontline and El Faro for anyone wanting the story of Bukele's dealing first with the criminal gangs and then with the criminals in Washington. plus.kpbs.org/show/frontli...

Economic statistics are not as exciting as Bukele's spin machine. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

El Salvador will have national elections in 11 months. I don't predict we will see any opposition emerging with power to challenge Bukele or his Nuevas ideas party. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

Don't piss off Bukele. www.equator.org/articles/buk...

The Historic Center of San Salvador has been cleared to make way for tourists. But what of its previous occupants? open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

As El Salvador locks away 90,000 persons in hellish prisons, including tens of thousands believed to be innocent, as many as 100,000 children have been left parentless. www.aljazeera.com/news/longfor...

El Salvador announces July trial of ex-military command and ex-president for the 1989 murders of 6 Jesuit priests and a female co-worker and her daughter. www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/p...

If you are researching human rights in Bukele's El Salvador, you will want to bookmark this post. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

What happened to Venezuelans sent to CECOT is important, but world needs to understand that CECOT is Bukele's showcase prison for influencers and like-minded politicians. There is a much larger system of old prisons where hundreds have died and abuses are worse. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

The State of “Exception” in El Salvador is 4 years old today. I’ve compiled a list of 27 reports which document human rights violations during that period. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

At a time of political prisoners and torture in El Salvador's prisons, Romero's voice needs to be heard. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

You know about the 238 Venezuelans and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but there are other Salvadorans from the flights a year ago, with no criminal record in US or in El Salvador, languishing, without contact to the outside world, in CECOT and other prisons in El Salvador. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

Already with highest incarceration rate in world, El Salvador now will hand out life sentences. www.nbcnews.com/world/el-sal...

The first line of urban cable cars is under construction in San Salvador. open.substack.com/pub/timmuth/...

The dark side of the alliance between Trump and Bukele. www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...