Perforadora Santa Bárbara S.A. de C.V.
Perforadora Santa Bárbara S.A. de C.V. (聖巴巴拉鑽井公司), renamed Inversiones Santa Bárbara (ISB) in September 2021, is a Salvadoran state-owned subsidiary primarily engaged in the geothermal energy sector. It is a direct subsidiary of LaGeo, which is in turn owned by the state electricity commission, Rio Lempa Executive Hydroelectric Commission (CEL). Although its official business focus involves the sale of machinery and spare parts for geothermal well drilling, the company serves as the 99 percent majority shareholder of El Diario Nacional S.A. de C.V., the corporate entity behind the pro-government newspaper Diario El Salvador. Investigations published by El Salvador Now have revealed that the company acted as a financial intermediary, receiving multi-million dollar loans from LaGeo to fund the newspaper’s launch and operations. This corporate structure has been described by legal analysts as a “flight from administrative law,” allowing the government to manage public funds through private corporate shells to avoid the transparency requirements typically applied to state institutions.