The Foundation for Justice will present a new video in which journalists Carmen Valeria Escobar and Mónica Rodríguez explain how, in El Salvador, reporting can force you to leave your country.
In 2025, more than 50 journalists left El Salvador, according to the Salvadoran Journalists Association.
Imagine that one day there's a knock at your door. It's five police officers and the prosecutor's office. They break into your house and take your work tools.. They tell you it's because of fraud, but no one lets you see who signed the order. And when you ask more questions, they tell you your case is confidential. This happened to Mónica Rodríguez, a journalist in El Salvador, for doing her job: reporting what's happening in her country.
Mónica Rodríguez, a Salvadoran journalist, during the interview
What is not seen from the outside
El Salvador may seem like a peaceful place today. But Mónica tells a different story: people unjustly detained, human rights defenders persecuted, and journalists being silenced. There is less and less room to question those in power. In the Reporters Without Borders ranking, El Salvador has dropped from 135th to 143rd out of 180 countries in just one year.
For recounting a protest
In May 2025, Mónica and her team reported on a peaceful protest by neighbors who didn't want to lose their homes. The response was arrest five people from the community.
Agents with a court order in El Salvador. Reference image from the Attorney General's Office.
A few days later, Monica learned that there was an investigation against her and her team. They spent three days moving from place to place, and on May 23rd They had to leave their country. They weren't the only ones: that year, More than 50 journalists left El Salvador.
«"It hurts to leave your country"»
«"It hurts to leave your family, it hurts to leave your country against your will," says Monica. Nobody leaves their country because they want to. His home, his people, and the life he knew are now behind him, simply because he did his job.
Mónica Rodríguez talks about what it means to leave her country.
As journalist Carmen Valeria Escobar, who presents the video, says, today "the question is no longer who is leaving, the question is who can stay.".
Continue counting
Even far from home, Monica doesn't give up: «We have to keep telling El Salvador's story... and we can only do that through journalism»"When a journalist is silenced, we all lose: we lose the right to know what's happening. That's why, at the Foundation for Justice, we give a voice to those who continue to tell the truth, even though it costs them dearly.".
The video, funded by the Ajuntament de València, can be seen on the Instagram profile.