Political crisis in El Salvador as parliament ousts judges, AG

by Carlos Mario MARQUEZ

A political storm has erupted in El Salvador as its parliament, newly controlled by President Nayib Bukele’s party, dismissed the attorney general and top judges deemed hostile to the populist leader.

Opposition parties denounced the move as a “coup,” while rights groups and international partners expressed grave concern even as Bukele celebrated the first step in “cleaning our house.”

“And the people of El Salvador, through their representatives, said: DISMISSED!” the young president crowed on Twitter after the majority vote Saturday, which came in the very first session of the newly constituted single-chamber Legislative Assembly.

The New Ideas party, which Bukele founded, gained an outright parliamentary majority in elections in February.

Until then, Bukele, elected in 2019 for a five-year term, had faced difficulty getting some programs approved in a parliament dominated by two opposition parties — the right-wing Arena and leftist FMLN.

His detractors have long accused Bukele of authoritarian tendencies, and observers had warned that an election victory for New Ideas could give him undue power.

The 39-year-old, who often sports jeans and a leather jacket in public with a baseball cap worn backwards, has clashed repeatedly with the Supreme Court and the public prosecutor’s office.

On Saturday, legislators voted to dismiss all five judges of the Constitutional Chamber, one of four organs of the Supreme Court, for allegedly issuing “arbitrary” judgments.

– Judicial ‘erosion’ –

The chamber had shot down several emergency measures proposed by Bukele to manage the coronavirus epidemic, finding they violated fundamental rights. He had reacted furiously.

The new parliament also voted to replace Attorney General Raul Melara over alleged ties to Arena.

The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed alarm Sunday, urging respect for the democratic rule of law and the separation of powers.

In a statement, the 35-member bloc said it “rejects the dismissal” of the judges and attorney general, “as well as the actions of the Executive Branch that guided these decisions.”

The opposition in parliament decried a “coup.”

“What happened last night in the Legislative Assembly, with a majority that the people gave them through the vote, is a coup,” said Arena lawmaker Rene Portillo.

“As a parliamentary group, we will not be complicit in this coup,” added FMLN colleague Anabel Belloso.

US officials warned the legislature’s actions could harm relations with Washington.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Bukele by telephone Sunday, expressing Washington’s “grave concern” and “noting that an independent judiciary is essential to democratic governance,” according to spokesman Ned Price.

He said Blinken also criticized the dismissal of Melara, “who is fighting corruption and impunity and is an effective partner of efforts to combat crime in both the United States and El Salvador.”

The UN’s special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Diego Garcia-Sayan, tweeted: “I condemn the steps that the political power has been taking to dismantle and weaken the judicial independence of the magistrates.”

– ‘Profound risk’ –

And a group of 25 Salvadoran civil society organizations condemned what they said was a “coup d’état endorsed by President Bukele” with the aim of centralizing all power in “only one person.”

NGOs also sounded the alarm.

“Bukele is breaking with the rule of law and seeks to concentrate all power in his hands,” Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, said on Twitter.

“It is a situation which carries a profound risk,” Miguel Montenegro, director of El Salvador’s human rights commission, told AFP.

Bukele is popular in some quarters for his stated desire to fight organized crime and insecurity. He has sought to cultivate an image as a man of the people in a country where the traditional parties are widely viewed as corrupt.

He is also seen by some as a defender of the poor.

Allies of Bukele now hold 61 of 84 seats in parliament, making him the first president in nearly three decades to have a majority in the legislature.

But critics have pointed to authoritarian risks.

In February last year, in a bid to intimidate MPs into approving a loan to finance an anti-crime plan, the president ordered heavily armed police and soldiers to storm parliament.

That led lawmakers to call for a congressional committee to declare Bukele “mentally incapable” of governing — a move he denounced as an “attempted parliamentary coup.” © Agence France-Presse

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)