Op Ed: Bukele and his actions

(EDITORIAL DE CÉSAR CASTRO PARA FACTUM)

 

The chief employee of Salvadorans has decided to stand as the highest interpreter of the Constitution. Despite the same Constitution. Nayib Bukele, who until February 9 was the president of El Salvador, decided to trust his visions – and in a God who apparently speaks to him – to strike a blow at the Legislative Assembly. And so, at democracy.

February 9, 2020 will be remembered for the infamous images that came to us from the Legislative Assembly: soldiers with rifles and riot police entering and surrounding the seats of the Blue Room. It was the entrance that Bukele needed to confirm that the Assembly had been taken: “It is very clear who has control of the situation,” said Bukele, sitting in the chair that belongs to the president of the congress.

On the night of the Oscars, Mr. Bukele mounted  a pathetic and irresponsible spectacle, but consistent with two of his objectives: to demonstrate that he can force the Constitution to submit to another state power and, no less important, to officially launch the campaign for the legislative elections of February 2021.

The last days have been chaotic in a country that plays at being democratic but feels more comfortable with plantation overseers. The ingredients of this banana cocktail necessarily had to be two: military and threats. And all by the divine will of God, which since the days of the Old Testament makes the armies of the righteous win the wars.

The message is terrible and it is unlikely that Bukele does not realize it. Militarizing the Assembly will have consequences. The arbitrary use of the Constitution to blackmail will have consequences. To openly and without shame say that he did not want to take the Assembly by force – despite having the button – will have consequences. Praying next to Gallegos is still a bad joke, an absurdity within an absurd day, but it is a logical sequence in a scheme that desperately seeks not to lose popular support.

Outside of El Salvador, the photo that will remain will be that of the military flooding the legislative halls. Outside, the ease of corruption of our politicians is surely known, but it is also true that in less fanatical countries it is easy to understand that corruption can be condemned while respecting the rule of law.

Bukele may be realizing the blunder. Before the Sunday meeting, it was he, in his Twitter account, who took responsibility for inciting the right to insurrection if the deputies did not attend the call of the Council of Ministers. Hours after the end of the meeting, the Presidential Press Secretariat released a statement saying that Bukele called for calm in the face of the insurrection demand. It is hard to believe that the toughest fans do not realize that their leader lies shamelessly, but it is also known that honeymoons tend to be very permissive.

At this point, and with the revelation of the electoral intentions, it is clear that the loan of $109 million and the convocation of the Council of Ministers were mere accessories. A little context comes in handy to remember how we got here.

Before February 6, El Salvador had already portrayed itself as the safest country in the world. With a proven reduction in homicides, the country showed a face similar to Norway thanks to the Territorial Control Plan. The strategy, Bukele said then, now depended on the approval of a $ 109 million loan for the third phase of his plan, a loan that by law must be ratified by the Legislative Assembly. A rarity, then, to urge those millions when your citizens already live in Eden.

An important caveat: what the Assembly must vote at this time is the authorization for the Executive to negotiate this loan with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. That is, the government will not get that $109 million at this time; it will get the chance to negotiate for it.

The breakdown of that loan includes $46 million for the purchase of helicopters and a ship and just over $25 million for video surveillance. This last piece of information would be irrelevant if it weren’t for the fact that now one of the best kept secrets by this opaque administration is finally known: the trip to Mexico of the director of Penal Centers, Osiris Luna, was paid for by a questionable Mexican company, Seguritech. The company’s product? Video surveillance, of course.

After the threats, the president of the Assembly gave his arm to twist and knelt before the supreme leader. Deputy Mario Ponce convened a plenary this February 7 and, after the failure of the attendance, again for February 10. He also swore obedience – and that he is not a Minister of Defense – with the promise of approving the loan that the Executive needs.

 

It is the least of our problems. This Sunday, February 9, the intention, as the platforms, the haulers and the stupidity demonstrated, was none other than to mount a huge rally for 2021. Yes, the communication strategies have proven to be more effective; the crudeness of electoral intentions does not disappear with time or hair gel.

Norway aside, the truth is that the Territorial Control Plan has not been truly responsible for reducing homicides. Two facts to keep in mind: gangs continue to govern communities and extortion, the main livelihood of these groups, even increased in 2019.

It is known that Bukele did not finish his university studies. It is a lesser evil, if we remember that his predecessor could barely speak and those who preceded the “Teacher”, also without studies, only demonstrated aptitudes for their own businesses. Unfortunately, it is normal in this country. Even legal. This disadvantage is solved with the presidential advisors.

We do not know if the idea of invoking 167 of the Constitution was that of the legal secretary of the Presidency, a guy whose resume could be summed up by his time as an advisor to the Court of Accounts and legal manager of the Mayor’s Office of San Salvador. Well, he was also part of the board of directors of the capital’s festivities.

The truth is that this decision of the Council of Ministers has been questioned by organizations with, say, a bit of more experience with the Constitution. What have former magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber, constitutional law organizations or international organizations that defend the rule of law said? That articles 167 and 87 are for exceptional, serious situations, that the Legislative Assembly can be convened extraordinarily only if it is not in session, that the right to insurrection belongs to the people and not to the rulers. Least to a president against another state power.

The latter is particularly decisive at this juncture. Bukele has been able to win the favor of people who are stunned, naive, or apathetic enough to give away their rights and their voice to a liar politician, egotist and in need of attention.

The fault, to a large extent, has been the extremely corrupt politicians, who have rotted a system that went from being ruled by cavemen and authoritarian military to embezzling and cynical politicians. Arena and the FMLN were the catapult that Bukele needed to sell himself as the redeemer of a country beaten down by its rulers.

The negotiations of politicians and presidential candidates of Arena and the FMLN with the gangs, negotiations that included thousands of dollars in exchange for votes, have only fed the false dilemma of the last hours: if they negotiated with terrorists, it is good that the government puts an end to the Legislative Assembly.

One thing does not take away the other: Vulgars who negotiated with gangs must face justice. No one is above the Constitution. Not even Nayib Bukele.

But the popular adage “my corrupt is better than yours” has taken over many of the government’s followers, who have decided to ignore that at this juncture there are many things that the Executive would like to hide:

• That not only Arena and the FMLN negotiated with the gangs, but also officials of the current administration.
• That a judge, in a judicial ruling, considered that these officials should be investigated (the current Minister of the Interior is one of them).
• That the director of Criminal Centers breaks the law and even lied to hire a counterfeiter in his agency.
• That a nauseating trol of social networks is being paid with public funds to also be the press secretary of the Presidency.
• That the Presidency is covering up an irregular election for the remaining commissioner of the Institute of Access to Public Information.
• That the Presidency tried to gather information of all citizens who ask for public information.
• That the nepotism of yesteryear was renewed with the new ideas.

The picture is bleak and the least important in this discussion is the authorization that the Legislative Assembly will or will not provide. The rally in front of the government center is the consolidation of the race to the 2021 goals, and the absolute concentration of power. Do not underestimate, in any case, the latent possibility of dissolution of the Assembly and the rupture of the constitutional order.

Blindness is dangerous. As much or more than the apathy of those who, seated, contemplate the birth of a king.