Kamala Harris rejected dismissal of judges in El Salvador: “An independent judiciary is the key to democracy”

“We are deeply concerned about democracy in El Salvador, in light of the National Assembly’s vote to remove judges from the Constitutional Court,” Kamala Harris said on her Twitter account. And he added: “An independent judiciary is essential for a healthy democracy and for a strong economy.”

Previously, and in the same vein, the US Secretary of State said: Antony Blinken, who has personally contacted President Bukele to express his “deep concern” over the decision of the Legislative Assembly.

In a telephone conversation, Blinken noted that “an independent judiciary is essential for democratic governance” and argued the Attorney General, Raúl Melara, also dismissed from his post, “It is an effective partner” in the fight against crime “in both the United States and El Salvador”.

The The Organization of American States (OAS) also rejected the decision. “In a democracy, majorities have the responsibility to be the fundamental guarantors of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; access to power and its exercise subject to the rule of law; the plural system of political parties and organizations; and the separation and independence of public powers, ”the OAS General Secretariat said in a statement.

The inter-American body warned that “When majorities impose a single, uniform vision for the rest of the political system, they undermine those principles.” “When majorities remove checks and balances in the institutional framework, they alter the essence of its functioning,” the statement added.

This Saturday, The ruling party assumed the majority in the Salvadoran Parliament for the period 2021-2024 and, in its first action, voted the dismissal of the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General, officials with the Bukele had clashes over the past year.

The dismissal, which leaves the judicial body incomplete and without a president, was approved by 64 votes of the 84 deputies, all from the ruling party. The votes were cast by the New Ideas (NI), the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA), the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) and the National Concertation Party (PCN).

The dismissed magistrates are the president of the Constitutional Chamber and the CSJ, José Armando Pineda, and the magistrates owners Aldo Enrique Cáder, Carlos Sergio Avilés, Carlos Ernesto Sánchez and Marina de Jesús Marenco. Besides the substitutes Rogel Zepeda, José Cristóbal Reyes, Jorge Alfonso Quinteros, José Luis Lobo Castelar and Sonia Elizabeth Cortez de Madriz.

The parliamentary majority accuses the outgoing magistrates of having pronounced “arbitrary” sentences. However, The members of this chamber, responsible for ensuring respect for the Magna Carta, declared “the unconstitutionality of the decree of dismissal” and denounced the intention to abolish the control of the other powers of the State..

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has accused constitutional judges on more than one occasion of withdrawing his powers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bukele had fought a battle against the Constitutional Chamber which had blocked at least 15 regulations related to the management of the pandemic by mid-2020, most on emergency regimes. The court ruled that it violated basic citizenship rights. At that time, the president assured that the courtroom had prevented him from taking care of the lives of his compatriots.

The Constitutional Chamber is one of the four that make up the Supreme Court and adjudicates allegations of unconstitutionality, habeas corpus and controversies between state powers. The Special Advisor on Hemispheric Affairs to the National Security Council of the United States, Juan Sebastian Gonzalez, rejected this initiative of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador and he posted a message on his account on the social network Twitter, in which he rejected the measure, saying: “It’s not done.”

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