We published explosive stories about the president of El Salvador. Now we can't go home

"We figured we would spend only a few days out of the country. We figured that within a week of publishing, some other matter would distract the Salvadoran government. We would weigh the risks of returning and would then go back. We left with carry-on bags: no one was carrying more than 10 pairs of underwear. We had invented a routine for these situations, which had worked out fine so many times before: preventive departure."

"The reason for our preventive departure was a series of videos our newspaper, El Faro, was about to publish. The first instalment titled Charli's Confessions: Interview with a Gang Leader on His Secret Pacts with Nayib Bukele was published in early May. By then, the journalists who had done the interviews were in different locations: New York, Mexico City, Guatemala City, Los Angeles."

"In El Salvador, the popular dictator Nayib Bukele is the king of social media. Thumbs up, hearts, comments and views are the currency of his kingdom. His most watched video on YouTube, about the Cecot megaprison the only Salvadoran prison that Bukele wants the world to see has racked up more than 4m views in two years. The second most-viewed video on his channel, titled Why did we destroy the gravestones of gang members?, has reached more than 3m views in the same span."

Journalists left the country in a preventive departure after preparing to publish videos alleging secret pacts between gang leaders and the government. They departed with carry-on bags and a routine that had served them before. The first instalment, Charli's Confessions, reported interviews with two gang members who escaped the country with government help and described a pact with the president’s inner circle that lasted more than eight years. The journalists relocated to cities including New York, Mexico City, Guatemala City, and Los Angeles. President Nayib Bukele commands vast reach on social media; his prison and gravestone videos amassed millions of views. The first video surpassed 326,000 views within 24 hours.

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