The honeymoon that the violent gangs of El Salvador had with Nayib Bukele has been blown up in recent hours with the murder of 76 people in just two days. To the 14 dead on Friday are added the 62 this Saturday, in what is the most violent day in the last 20 years.
Bukele’s response was not long in coming and as the death toll became known, he announced via Twitter an urgent request to Congress to accumulate extraordinary powers. At the same time, he asked for a free hand so that the military and police can act forcefully against gang members and threatened the judges who try to prevent it.
“I request the Legislative Assembly to decree an exception regime today, in accordance with article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic,” Bukele wrote on the social network. The leader of Congress, Ernesto Castro, quickly responded to the president’s request: “We are with you! Consider it done”. The Salvadoran Constitution provides for the suspension of constitutional guarantees in the event of “war, invasion of territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic or other general calamity, or serious disturbance of public order.”
I request the @AsambleaSV decree today EXCEPTION REGIME, according to article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic.
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 27, 2022
The new powers that the president will enjoy allow restricting the freedom to enter and leave the country, freedom of expression, the inviolability of correspondence, the prohibition of the intervention of telecommunications without a court order. Also suspended: freedom of association, the right to be informed of the reasons for an arrest, the assistance of a lawyer and the maximum period of 72 hours of detention and consignment before a judge.
The approval of the State of emergency is a mere formality for Bukele, who already exercises power with an iron fist, since 63 votes of the 84 congressmen in the chamber are necessary, in which the ruling party has at least 64. Before requesting the State of exception, Bukele wrote on the social network that the Police and the Army “must let the agents and soldiers do their job and must defend them from the accusations of those who protect gang members.” In addition, he pointed out that the Prosecutor’s Office “must be effective with the cases” and threatened the judges who have to deal with possible human rights violations, to whom he warned: “we will be aware of the judges who favor criminals.”
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Until this bloody weekend, the Bukele government and the three Salvadoran gangs, MS13, La 18 and 18-R, with an ‘army’ of almost 70,000 people dedicated to extortion and homicide throughout the country, maintained a secret pact with the government that allowed violence in El Salvador to be reduced to levels never seen before. The agreement granted prison privileges and stopped the extradition of the leaders, among other benefits, in exchange for ending the homicides. The pact, denied by Bukele, but revealed by the newspaper El Faro and confirmed by the United States, has so far allowed him to govern with high popularity rates thanks, among other things, to the security achieved in the streets. Experts are now trying to find out what went wrong or what agreements were broken so that the gangs have reacted in this way. This weekend’s massacre also included a clear message to the president where it hurts him the most, since one of the bodies was abandoned in Surf City, the tourist complex near the capital with which Bukele exhibits himself to the world as the president of a country cool which trades in Bitcoin.
The @PNCSV and the @FUERZARMADASV they must let the agents and soldiers do their job and must defend them from the accusations of those who protect the gang members.
The @FGR_SV must be effective with cases.
And we will be aware of the judges who favor criminals.
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 27, 2022
For the moment, the authorities have not given the reasons behind this increase, but the month of March confirms the upward trend for several days. With the deaths of Friday and Saturday, El Salvador reached 148 murders, a figure much higher than January and February, which ended with 85 and 79 violent deaths, respectively.
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