Grupo Samix

Grupo Samix is a state-administered commercial radio network in El Salvador. Its operating/public-facing identity has also appeared as Radio Corporación El Salvador, while the seized corporate group remains associated with the Samix name. The network includes multiple national, regional and local radio brands, several of which serve towns and communities outside San Salvador. It has been under state administration since August 2018, when companies and radio frequencies linked to former president Elías Antonio Saca and his wife Ana Ligia Mixco de Saca were seized as part of corruption, money-laundering and asset-forfeiture proceedings.

Media assets

Radio: principal station brands publicly associated with the network include Radio La Chévere 100.9 FM, ABC 100.1 FM, La Urbana 94.9 FM, Full FM 99.7 FM, Super Estrella 94.1 FM, Radio Coco 94.9 FM in Sonsonate, Radio del Dios Eterno 105.3 FM in Sonsonate, Soda Stereo 105.3 FM in Santa Ana, Radio FX 105.3 FM in Ahuachapán, Radio La Caliente 90.1 FM in San Miguel, Radio Dial 96.5 FM in Usulután, Radio Galaxia 94.9 FM in La Unión, and other station brands that have appeared in the group’s public materials, including the 102.9 FM / Radio Astral frequency.

Ownership and governance

Grupo Samix is administered by the Consejo Nacional de Administración de Bienes (CONAB), the Salvadoran state asset-administration body. The network previously belonged to interests linked to former president Elías Antonio Saca and his wife, Ana Ligia Mixco de Saca. In August 2018, the Attorney General’s Office seized six companies holding radio frequencies associated with the Saca-Mixco family, arguing that they had been financed with public money diverted from the Presidency and laundered through advertising and related corporate structures.

The seized companies included Promotora de Comunicaciones, Grupo Samix, Radiodifusión El Salvador, Radiodifusión Usuluteca, ABC and Estéreo 94.1. They have remained under CONAB administration while asset-forfeiture and related proceedings have continued. When CONAB took over, state officials pledged to respect freedom of expression and editorial independence, while Gerardo Saca argued that the Constitution bars the nationalisation of media outlets. In practice, however, the companies have operated under direct state administration rather than under private ownership or an independent public-service structure.

Antonio Saca later pleaded guilty in the wider corruption case and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Samix-related money-laundering proceedings around Ana Ligia de Saca and other defendants have continued separately: her 2021 conviction was annulled in October 2022 and a retrial ordered, and public reporting in January 2026 indicated that the case remained procedurally active. For SMM purposes, the key governance fact is that the radio companies remained under state administration rather than returning to independent private control.

Since CONAB assumed control, the group’s executive leadership has changed repeatedly. Among those appointed to run it was Salvador Alas, known as “La Choly,” a former presidential commissioner for youth in the Bukele government. His tenure as general manager coincided with format changes, newsroom closures and labour disputes at Samix stations. This pattern of state-appointed management reinforces the CaPu classification.

Source of funding and budget

Grupo Samix’s revenue historically came predominantly from advertising. Under Saca’s ownership, investigators alleged that the company was used as a vehicle for laundering public money diverted from the Presidency and disguised through advertising-related payments. The broader Saca corruption case involved the diversion of large sums of public money, while related proceedings around Ana Ligia de Saca concerned more than US$17m in alleged money laundering.

After taking over in 2018, CONAB reported that it had reduced the group’s operating losses and paid roughly US$846,000 in tax and pension debts for the Samix companies in 2019, allowing the companies to regain solvency for public-tender purposes. These figures are useful historical evidence of the network’s financial distress under state administration, but CONAB has not published regular current financial statements for Samix, leaving the group’s 2026 revenue structure unclear.

Local journalists interviewed for this report said the group has long relied heavily on advertising linked to government and public-sector demand, and that this dependence has persisted under state administration. In the absence of current public accounts, SMM treats Grupo Samix as a commercial radio group under state management rather than as an independently financed private network.

Editorial independence

When CONAB assumed control, state representatives pledged to uphold freedom of expression and respect the stations’ editorial lines. Those assurances have not been matched by a functioning independence framework. Journalists in El Salvador interviewed for this report said the editorial direction of Samix outlets is heavily steered by management and aligned with the government. Staff who do not follow the preferred editorial line reportedly risk losing their jobs, and former employees have described strong discouragement from voicing independent opinions or criticising figures linked to government institutions.

The closure of the news department at Radio La Chévere, a unit that had been revived around the 2021 election campaign, and the dismissal or removal of presenters and journalists during management changes reinforced concerns that the network functions in alignment with the government rather than as an independent broadcaster. The labour disputes and staff complaints reported during Salvador Alas’s management further weakened any claim that the network operates at arm’s length from state-appointed administrators.

This pattern sits within a sharply deteriorating national press-freedom environment. President Nayib Bukele, in office since 2019 and serving a second term since 2024, governs with a large legislative majority and under a state of emergency in place since March 2022. His administration has been documented as conducting a sustained campaign against independent media, including surveillance, punitive legal and financial pressure, and asset freezes affecting people linked to the investigative outlet El Faro, alongside the 2025 Foreign Agents Law, which imposes a 30% levy on foreign-sourced funding. Press-freedom groups reported that dozens of Salvadoran journalists and entire newsrooms were forced into exile during 2025. Against this backdrop, state-administered outlets such as Samix operate with little institutional pressure toward editorial independence.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that Grupo Samix, Radio Corporación El Salvador or the network’s individual stations had published a dedicated public editorial AI-governance policy as of mid-2026. At the national level, El Salvador approved a Law for the Promotion of Artificial Intelligence and Technologies in 2025, creating a national AI framework and a national AI agency under the Presidency. This provides context for the broader media environment but is not an editorial standard for Samix’s newsrooms.

SMM found no disclosed framework governing the use of AI by the group’s stations in editorial production, verification, attribution, synthetic-media labelling, recommendation systems, audience analytics or human oversight. Any AI adoption by the network would therefore appear to be governed by management and state-administration priorities rather than by a published editorial policy.

Classification rationale

Grupo Samix is classified Captured Public/State-Managed Media (CaPu), unchanged across SMM cycles. It is a formerly private commercial radio network placed under the administration of CONAB after seizure from a convicted former president’s business circle, and it continues to operate without an independent public-service statute, board or editorial-oversight mechanism. Despite official pledges to respect editorial independence, reporting and SMM interviews indicate that the network’s output and newsroom management align in practice with government preferences, with dismissals and pressure on journalists who depart from management’s line.

It is not classified State-Controlled because it is a commercial radio group held under state asset administration rather than an outlet created, owned and directed outright by the executive as part of the Presidency’s communications apparatus. But its governance, financing opacity and reported editorial pressure clearly place it within the captured public/state-managed category. The classification is unchanged for 2026, and the surrounding deterioration in El Salvador’s press-freedom environment has reinforced rather than loosened state influence over the network.

June 2026