El Salvador: the judicial “cleansing” of the president …

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele began what he called a “household” over the weekend, firing five Supreme Court justices and the attorney general with Congress backing. Faced with the unanimous rejection of civil organizations, international organizations and even the American government, Bukele announced that he plans to continue withdrawing officials. “When they are removed from their positions, we speak of a coup d’état. This decision eliminates the last remaining controls for the exercise of political control of the president and exposes us to serious human rights violations, ”he said in dialogue with Page 12 Eduardo Escobar, executive director of the NGO Acción Ciudadana.

The first measure adopted on Saturday by the new Legislative Assembly, where Bukele’s allies have 61 out of 84 seats, was to remove the five members of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. and immediately appoint their replacements, in flagrant violation of national law. The House had rejected several presidential measures linked to the management of the pandemic, considering that they violated the fundamental rights of citizenship.

“The House informed them that decrees that suppressed and limited fundamental rights were to be promulgated by the Legislative Assembly, while the majority of parties were not linked to the government of the day. He also ordered them to regulate that if there was to be an economic recovery, he should draw up a plan and do it also in collaboration with the legislature, but they did not want to do it “, he recalled in this report. meaning Xenia Hernandez Castro, Executive Director of the Fundación Democracia Transparencia y Justicia (DTJ).

Parliament also dismissed Attorney General Raúl Melara, whom he questioned for alleged proximity to the right-wing opposition party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena). Late Sunday morning, they had already chosen his successor, Rodolfo Delgado. “It was just a political vendetta. The causes can be summed up in disagreement with what has been resolved, that’s just it, ”he simplified. Eduardo Escobar.

A few minutes after the vote to dismiss the magistrates, the Constitutional Court issued a decision in which it declared the measure unconstitutional for undermining the government system. But, of course, the Bukele government did not comply. “As we are in a situation of rupture of the constitutional order, this is obviously not going to happen, and If we tried to comply, let’s remember that the president has the guns on his side, ”Escobar argued..

The Secretary General of the Front Farabundo Marti of national liberation (FMLN), Oscar ortiz, said in his Twitter account that the Salvadoran president “is a clear blow to democracy and takes another step in the direction of dictatorship and authoritarianism”. Meanwhile, Rubén Zamora, former diplomat and politician, said: “In my long political life, I have never seen the Constitution or the laws of the country violate so many times in 6/8 hours”.

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday expressed her government’s “deep concern” “for democracy in El Salvador.”. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asked Bukele to guarantee “the separation of powers and democratic order”. For its part UN Secretary General António Guterres demanded that the Salvadoran president respect the Constitution and the distribution of powers.

To reactions from the international community, Bukele responded with his usual sarcasm: “We want to work with you, exchange, travel, get to know each other and help us where we can. Our doors are more open than ever. But with all due respect: we clean our house … and it’s nothing your business. “.

The dismissed magistrates and prosecutor Melara were elected by the previous legislature dominated by Arena and the FMLN, the parties that alternated in power in El Salvador between 1989 and 2019. “It cannot be improvised. There is dissatisfaction with the last 30 years of administrations which have failed to establish direct links with the population. The Bukele family’s project fits perfectly into this popular discontent, ”the historian told this newspaper. Carlos Cañas Dinarte.

Cañas Dinarte added that the clashes between the presidency and the Supreme Court are historic, even if “since the restoration of democracy in 1982, we have never had a situation like the one we experienced on Saturday”. The consequences that this tension between powers could have on the Salvadoran population are worrying. “Without independent institutions, there will be no place to go if there is an illegal act committed by a public institution, or if a violation of the rights to life is committed.”, raised Hernandez Castro of the DTJ Foundation.

“Official propaganda can say whatever it wants, but the reality is that instead of a refoundation, we are seeing acts of cover-up of situations occurring in the country: there is a lot of unemployment and poverty and people keep trying to leave the country“, assured Cañas Dinarte. Despite everything, the historian chooses to be positive by remembering that more than 500 people they demonstrated on Sunday in one of the most important squares in San Salvador to protest against the government of Bukele, “which constitutes a fertile ground for a movement which can be promoted”.