Alvaro denounced that the Buckili government “fabricated another case” against him and continued financial harassment

Al-Faro digital newspaper denounced, through its editorial, Wednesday, that the government of President Najib Bukil He continues his attack on his journalistic work.

In the text entitled “The government files another case against Al Faro,” the media denounced that the government was unfoundedly accusing them of tax evasion of $ 33.7 thousand, after it received the preliminary conclusions of an audit provided to it by the media. Ministry of Finance for about a year.

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In these conclusions, according to an El Faro editorial, the Treasury Department proves that the media evaded taxes in 2017 in exchange for income from 2018. “This absurdity has only one explanation: The task of the Treasury auditors who have been investigating us since July 2020 is the task of disregarding the interests of the state. Or prosecution of evaders, but compliance with the attack orders issued by the Presidency Council, “can be read in the text.

Alvaro asserts that “in his undemocratic obsession with destroying critical voices or those who do not honor him, President Neb Bukele pressures the entire state apparatus to act as an instrument of persecution and discrediting those voices.”

Trípode attorneys, the company that owns El Faro, They had already requested an appeal to the protection before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, In September 2020, due to Treasury harassment.

On this occasion, the lawyers confirmed that the aforementioned ministry subjected the newspaper to an audit that “included requests to obtain information beyond the tax interest, such as the complete books of the Board of Directors of the Alvaro Company, which included discussions of an editorial nature, or intermediate reports on the implementation of projects with institutions and international cooperation organizations.”

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In addition to being accused of alleged tax evasion, the newspaper also denounces that “with their poor livelihoods,” the Treasury Department also accuses them of not making public the alleged subscription income “of the citizen prospecting program.

According to the Treasury Department, the media should publicize these unique contributions as a steady monthly income and pay the resulting taxes, according to which, according to the editorial, this “act leads to treachery,” as this income does not exist.

In the face of the accusations leveled by the Finance Ministry, Alvaro asserts that it has all the required documents, while confirming that over 20 years in time it has paid all the taxes required by law.

“These auditors, they must be repeated, act upon the orders of their superiors, with the aim of filing a case that supports the prejudice that the president himself announced in September 2020,” the editorial said, in a clear reference to the statements he made. He gave Bukele on a national chain and confirmed that in El Faro there were indications of a serious money laundering case.

As for the media, the Finance Ministry has made an effort to build a version that supports the president’s words, but lacks evidence and arguments, according to the newspaper.

The presidency of Neb Bokel aims to silence us. And the media stressed in their editorial that all espionage systems, defamation networks, concealment of information, slander and threats were not sufficient to silence us, and they are now resorting to bringing cases against us.

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Given what happened, APES considers it a cause for concern that the government continues to attack independent journalism.

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“It is clear how the government of Naguib Bukili is using state institutions to persecute media that, he said, are uncomfortable,” said union representative Angelica Carcamo in an interview with EFE.

For Carcamo, “This kind of tool being invented is worrying” and “I’m very sorry about this situation that is happening, which is not a model for democratic governments.”

Here what we’re trying to do is create a narrative from the government that the media, El Faro for example, is evading taxes. “What we will try to do is create a narrative of this method that discredits the media,” the caller said.

In early February, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures to 34 members of El Faro, whom it warned of “harassment, threats, intimidation, and stigmatization.”

At the beginning of March, the Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court of Justice approved a protection case against the Treasury for allegedly using auditing to try to obtain information about “editorial line, journalistic methodology, sources, and ongoing investigations” by El Faro.