El Salvador’s Congress has drafted a law requiring foreign-funded entities to register in the country as foreign agents. A group of US lawmakers across the aisle think that this is inappropriate and are asking El Salvador to reconsider. This article is published by Democracy Digest. Here is an excerpt:

A bipartisan initiative by US lawmakers is urging El Salvador’s congress to reconsider a proposed law requiring foreign-funded entities to register as “foreign agents.” The initiative came after Salvadoran police today raided several civil society groups and US envoy Jean Elizabeth Manes announced she will leave her post because the government has no interest in a relationship with the United States, as evidenced by El Salvador “using their paid media machine to attack the United States every day,” El Faro reported today.

“We urge the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly to reconsider its proposed ‘foreign agents’ law and avoid undermining the operations of independent non-governmental organizations in El Salvador,” said Reps. Albio Sires (D-NJ) and Mark Green (R-TN), Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

“The draft law would give limitless discretion to the executive branch to shut down independent organizations under a guise of protecting ‘public order,’” they said in a joint statement. “It would also impact independent journalism while imposing crushing tax penalties on charity groups and faith-based organizations working to help the most vulnerable Salvadorans.”

Read the full article here.