Nuevas Ideas representatives agree the dismissal of magistrates and General Attorney

DW reports:

The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, with a pro-government majority, dismissed on May 1st the proprietary and alternate magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) for allegedly committing “fraud to the constitution” and violating the separation of powers.

The first vice president of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador (and former Ministry of Culture/president of the Salvadoran Institute for the Protection of Women, ISDEMU), Suecy Callejas, earlier requested the dismissal of the proprietary and alternate magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The parties that voted preliminarily to admit the initiative are New Ideas (NI), Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA), Christian Democratic Party (PDC) and National Agreement Party (PCN).

 

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

On August 9, 2020, the Salvadoran president said in a national broadcast that, “if he were really a dictator”, he would have shot the constitutional magistrates of the Supreme Court for declaring unconstitutional the decrees issued during lockdown last year.

“I would have shot them all or something like that, if I were really a dictator. Save a thousand lives in exchange of five”, he said in reference to the five judges of the Constitutional Chamber. (X)

 

Minutes after the decision was made by the new Legislative Assembly, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) declared it unconstitutional.

The magistrates indicated that the measure “violates the republican, democratic and representative form of government and the pluralist political system” established in Article 85 of the Constitution.

“This is due to the fact that, with a marked intention of suppressing effective controls towards the Executive and Legislative Organ, it negatively affects the control of the exercise of power carried out by this chamber”.

They indicated that the work of control is necessary “for the defense and guarantee of the substantial element of a democracy” and “to ensure a representative democracy compatible with the Constitution.”

They added that “it is a dismissal that is not preceded by the procedural guarantees necessary to ensure it.”

 

Nevertheless, La PRENSA GRAFICA reported:

After the decision of dismissing the five magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and expeditiously appoint the new members, a group of police officers stationed themselves outside the offices of the Court. Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and later the facilities were seized.

In a preliminary way, it is known that there was presence of the police inside the court. In addition to the newly appointed magistrates, there are also personnel from the Presidency, including the technical secretary, Conan Castro.

Upon arrival at the scene, Elsy Dueñas and Óscar Jeréz, newly appointed magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber, did not provide any statements. Dueñas only said that the dismissal and subsequent election is in accordance with the law.

 

It is important to note that the Supreme Court magistrates declared that the “Amnesty Law” was unconstitutional, that the government has already clashed with the judge overseeing the case of El Mozote, preventing him from reviewing the military files and that there is another procedure already in motion trying to remove judge Jorge Guzman from overseeing this case.

 

GENERAL ATTORNEY

The BBC reports:

Around midnight, another motion was presented to dismiss District Attorney Raul Melara, which was also approved by absolute majority.

They considered that he had “ties” with the opposition Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) that “calls into question his objectivity, independence and impartiality.”

(Bukele and Melara had already clashed many times before)

After the removal of the prosecutor, after a brief recess, the congressmen quickly appointed Rodolfo Antonio Delgado as the new General Attorney.

The plenary session of the legislature sworn in on Sunday both Delgado and the new magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice: Héctor Nahum Martínez, José Ángel Pérez Chacón, Elsy Dueñas, Luis Javier Suárez Magaña and Oscar Alberto López Jerez.

 

 

REACTIONS

The United States made the possibility of a “strong relationship” with El Salvador depends on the Salvadoran government supporting the separation of powers and upholding democratic norms.

This was announced on Twitter by the Acting Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julie Chung, who assured that Washington sees “with concern the proposal of some members of the Legislative Assembly to dismiss the five magistrates of the Chamber of the Constitution of El Salvador “.

“An independent judicial body is the foundation of all democracy; no democracy can survive without it,” the official added.

 

The Organization of American States also reacted: “Given the decisions adopted yesterday by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, (the OAS) rejects the dismissal of the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice and that of the attorney general, Raúl Melara”, said their statement.

The OAS position was shared by Luis Almagro, secretary general of that organization, a day after (yesterday’s acts)… described, by analysts and representatives of the international community, as a coup d’état.

In the statement, the agency acknowledges that both initiatives were guided by the Executive branch.

 

Other reactions, as reported by France 24:

“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 his FMLN colleague Anabel Belloso.

 

“That’s not the way you do things,” tweeted Juan Gonzalez, US President Joe Biden’s Latin America advisor.

“I condemn the steps that the political power has been taking to dismantle and weaken the judicial independence of the magistrates by dismissing members of the Constitutional Chamber,” Diego Garcia-Sayan, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, tweeted.

Several 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. It (Congress) is playing with fire and may deepen this crisis to such a magnitude that we will not be able to get out of it,” Miguel Montenegro, coordinator of the human rights commission, told AFP.

 

Meanwhile, Bukele tweeted “with all due respect” that house-cleaning was none of their business: