‘The situation in El Salvador is going to worsen’

First modification: 06/02/2023 – 12:27

RFI: Four years of Nayib Bukele’s government have been completed. How would you rate these four years in office?

Henry Fine: Actually, the situation of the exercise of power by President Nayib Bukele cannot be described in any other way than as a systematic and constant violation of human rights. We have gone from crisis to crisis, starting with COVID, where many of the citizens in El Salvador were deprived of liberty, under protection of health protection, but it was nothing more than a systematic violation of the rights humans. We had barely finished emerging from the pandemic when the emergency regime was established in El Salvador. Unfortunately, this has resulted, not only because of the 68 or 70,000 detainees in El Salvador, but also because of the deprivation of the entire population of some constitutional rights. So, we cannot describe this situation as more than a constant and permanent violation of human rights.

The other qualification that we have to give this government is that it destroys the institutional framework in El Salvador. El Salvador has not been a country that has had a strong institutional framework, a solid democracy, but since the peace agreements, we were on that path, still very weak. That is why I think it has been easy for President Bukele to dismantle all the institutions. He has co-opted all the institutions of the Government and the State of El Salvador, because he has thrown into his rank both the Legislative Assembly and the Judicial Branch and all the dependencies of the State of control. So, there is no other situation than the cooptation of the institutional framework, the destruction of the institutional framework.

And the other is about democracy: we didn’t have a solid democracy, but just by announcing his re-election, violating the Constitution, the fledgling democracy in our country has truly been killed.

RFI: Regarding the popularity behind this figure, some surveys even say that nine out of 10 Salvadorans approve of his management. What is this support for and, above all, what does it reflect on the pulse of the country?

Henry Fine: I believe that this is the product first and foremost of the absorbing media campaign of the President of the Republic. In other words, by all means, by social networks, there is propaganda from the government and the president. The other, and most important, is the false idea of ​​security. With the exception regime, the population has peace of mind. The problem is that this is a mirage, because at a certain moment we cannot continue with all the guarantees of the exceptional regime suspended. It will be restored, and will it really be that we are going to continue with the tranquility that we are experiencing? The gang structures, which is the pretext for suspending the guarantees of Salvadorans, I don’t think they have been annihilated, demobilized, dismantled. So much so that last weekend the President of the Republic had to convene his Security Council because a State intelligence document was circulated, where one of the gangs gave instructions to his people for some violent actions. This implies that the situation continues, perhaps less, but with great force.

So that false tranquility that they have generated for the entire population, which is beneficial, yes, but it is not rooted in combating the causes of this violence, of this crime. Furthermore, crime in El Salvador is not exclusive to gangs. So, as a result of that, I think that the population is so accepting of him, and they are so accepting of him even sacrificing their constitutional rights. Unfortunately, this situation, sooner rather than later, is going to generate another contrary feeling. I do not know if they have interviewed the relatives of the victims of the emergency regime. They have detained a lot of innocent people and I don’t think these people will accept the president that way. Even more serious, many of the detainees have died inside the prisons under the control of the State and Government of El Salvador: 153, has just been disclosed [la ONG] Cristosal that has documented. How many more can there be? So, I believe that the good acceptance of the president is due to this situation: firstly, the media campaign and secondly, the false sense of security that has been generated, as a result of the emergency regime.

RFI: Bukele got the Supreme Court to authorize him for a possible re-election next year. How do you see that election year? Is there a visible and heard opposition?

Henry Fine: First, the opposition, as well as civil society and the entire population in general is terrified. Because? Because simply all those of us who have a critical thought, a purposeful thought, are attacked. Consequently, little or nothing is said publicly. The opposition is in that same circumstance, it is at a total disadvantage. That in the immediate situation. But really all the mistakes that the opposition, the two big traditional parties made in the exercise of power, the president takes advantage of that to disqualify them. What awaits us? I really think the situation in El Salvador it is going to get worse and worse. There is persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, and as the elections in which we can call the population to reflect, the president is going to toughen up, increase this repression against those of us who call for reflection. , conscience and responsibility. Because simply the fact that these officials of the Constitutional Chamber are not legally elected magistrates, they could even be called usurpers of office, who have issued a resolution in a procedure where they had absolutely nothing to do with it, but also it is not a sentence that must be compulsorily obeyed, it is really unlikely that the president will not be re-elected. This is going to generate an accumulation of power, and consequently, the repression against journalists, critical voices and civil society organizations is going to increase from now on. The situation in El Salvador is serious and unfortunately the international community must be very careful. Because? Because simply in the case of Nicaragua it went unnoticed and we have reached those extremes. Well, in El Salvador the situation is more serious, because in Nicaragua it took Daniel Ortega 12 or 14 years. Here in El Salvador, President Bukele has only needed four years to bring us a little on par with the Nicaraguan situation.

RFI: Are you afraid that next year’s electoral process will be somehow sabotaged by the powers that be?

Henry Fine: The electoral system, the electoral institutional framework, has undergone so many reforms in recent days, to the point that they repealed an article that prohibited modifications to the electoral system and procedure a year earlier. It means that the system, the way of counting, everything, the election can be modified even one day before the elections. That does not give transparency, certainty to the electorate, because the rules of the game can be changed at any time. And that is not possible in a democracy. But since we are not living in a democracy, that is allowed. The institutionality of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is not strong enough to confront the power of President Bukele either. There is no trust in the system and there is no trust in the officials of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.