At a forum on the risks of democracy in El Salvador, the ambassador in Washington painted an unrealistic picture of government’s respect for institutions, evaded a question about constitutional reforms and devoted her space to attacking parties. opposition and defend the government of Nayib Bukele.
In a conversation about El Salvador’s democratic future, Washington’s ambassador, Milena Mayorga, recalled that she was present in the Legislative Assembly on February 9, when President Nayib Bukele commanded a military take on the Legislature. .
This forum was organized by the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and brought together the ambassador, as well as The Economist journalist Sarah Maslin; to the businessman Francisco de Sola; to the vice-president of FUSADES, Claudia Umaña; to the former US ambassador. UU. in El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte; and former Salvadoran ambassador Rubén Zamora.
At this event, Mayorga stated that he was in the Legislative Assembly the day the military entered approaching President and “I can attest that our rule of law was not violated.”
You may be interested in: El Salvador and Nicaragua in US sights: Joe Biden’s foreign policy shows a change of direction to Central America, says El País
This, despite the wide chorus of voices inside and outside the country who see in this military prey the greatest blow to El Salvador’s democracy since the armed conflict and a dangerous return of the military to the political arena, a serious setback to the main advances of the Peace Accords.
Mayorga also noted that the government has complied with subsequent judicial errors. This, however, clashes with reality. Only a day after the military takeover, the Constitutional Court issued a precautionary measure in which it demanded that the president stop using the security forces as political tools, but in the past year, the National Civil Police has disobeyed inconvenient orders for the Executive and obstructed investigations into alleged corruption.
The Constitutional Chamber also declared in April that the government could not arbitrarily arrest alleged home quarantine offenders, which President Bukele publicly challenged. His security forces continued to do so. In addition, this year has continued the harassment of opponents and the radicalization of political discourse.
At this event, in addition to downplaying the impact of the 9F, Mayorga evaded a question about the current state of the constitutional reform proposals headed by the government. Instead, he devoted his participation to defending the government of Nayib Bukele and disqualifying opposition parties. At the end of his participation, he retired.
Panel shows concern
In contrast to Milena Mayorga’s words, the other panelists expressed concern about the political climate in El Salvador and the country’s deteriorating democracy.
Sarah Maslin, a correspondent for the British weekly The Economist in Brazil and who has spent a lot of time covering El Salvador, identified populist and messianic aspects in Bukele, which achieved political gains by denouncing the corruption of the past, but no has shown a substantially different face.
Zamora expressed his concern about the country’s course in the face of an electoral process, where the president’s party, New Ideas, seeks to get a majority by simply processing the wishes of the president without any exercise of control, which he warned may lead to a loss of balance of power, loss of democracy and the possible establishment of a dictatorship.
READ MORE: U.S. Congressman celebrates that no Biden government official received Nayib Bukele
Umaña believes the president is launching constant attacks on the rule of law and sees with concern how the president’s inflammatory rhetoric generates greater division and hatred. He also compared the military takeover of February 9, 2020 to the violent events of January 6, when hundreds of pro-Donald Trump protesters took the Capitol and intimidated congressmen. The main difference with this, he adds, is that in El Salvador it was the president who commanded the invasion, accompanied by state security forces.
De Sola stated that this democratic erosion, coupled with the inability of the current government to administer public affairs, are hitting the economy hard, which also records a significant drop due to the closure measures produced by the COVID pandemic- 19.
In his view, if the government obtains a legislative majority, it would not only bend democracy and turn to authoritarianism, but would follow a dangerous path of uncontrolled indebtedness and loss of confidence and investment.
Finally, Aponte recalled that the administration of US President Joe Biden is paying more attention to Central America than its predecessor and recalled that the White House will have a strong position with governments that violate transparency, surrender of accounts and democratic governability.
He also recalled that in a few months the Engel list will come into force, a legislative provision that obliges the Biden government to publish a list of Central American officials linked to acts of corruption or democratic weakening, and those who will be sanctioned by this country.