Protests in El Salvador against various measures of Bukele 1:59
(CNN Spanish) -
Hundreds of Salvadorans took to the streets of San Salvador on Wednesday to protest against the most recent laws promoted by the government of President Nayib Bukele, including the one that converts bitcoin into legal tender, the endorsement for immediate reelection and the decree of retirement of judges at age 60
"With the total power that the government has, having taken over the Constitutional Chamber and now by affecting judicial independence, it is leaving us limited to citizens to defend our rights," Nelson Brizuela, president of the Medical College, told CNN. to CNN during the rally, one of the largest against Bukele since he came to power in 2019.
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele accuses the international community of financing protests against his government
An ATM for bitcoin transactions and a kiosk advising on the virtual wallet "Chivo Wallet", launched by the government, in the center of San Salvador were vandalized by some of the protesters, amid messages rejecting the bitcoin on banners and graffiti
José Castillo, a man who participated in the protest, told CNN that this was "a small expression of the dissatisfaction of all Salvadorans who are dissatisfied with such an unpopular measure as implementing a bitcoin."
Was the constitutional order broken in El Salvador?
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"Before there was a decent Constitutional Chamber, now there is a room that is a branch of the presidency of the republic," environmentalist Ricardo Navarro, who also participated in the protests, told CNN.
"Before there was a legislative assembly where one could make petitions, today it is an assembly that depends on the executive power.
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What is happening in El Salvador?
Controversy over bitcoin
In June 2021, Bukele announced his intentions to adopt bitcoin, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, as legal tender in El Salvador and sent a law to the Legislative Assembly, where the president has a strong majority of 56 out of 84 seats. since his victory in the legislative elections last March.
This law says that all "economic agents" will accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment.
It also says that tax payments can be made in bitcoin.
El Salvador currently uses the United States dollar as its official currency, to which bitcoin is now added.
On Tuesday, September 7, bitcoin was finally adopted as legal tender, and that same day Bukele announced the purchase of 150 bitcoins, bringing the total recently acquired by the government to 550, valued at about US $ 26.4 million at the current quote.
Ranchers reject the Chivo Wallet in El Salvador 1:13
Salvadorans will be able to download "Chivo Wallet," an application created by the government that will deliver US $ 30 in bitcoins to people to promote their use.
El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt a cryptocurrency as legal tender.
Cryptocurrencies are kept in digital wallets, rather than a traditional bank account, which means that people in poorer communities with less access to banks could use bitcoin as a way to gain greater access to their finances.
The government of El Salvador also bets that by using bitcoin as legal tender, new investments can be attracted.
The authorities also hope to reduce the commissions paid for sending remittances from abroad.
However, social organizations have asked the Salvadoran government to repeal the law, largely because they fear the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin has regained some of the ground lost after the dramatic crash earlier this year, but remains well below its all-time high of nearly $ 65,000 that it hit in April.
After the adoption of the cryptocurrency by El Salvador, it fell by 10% to US $ 43,000, and this Thursday its price was about US $ 48,000.
The endorsement of reelection and the constitutional reform project
At the beginning of September, the Supreme Court of El Salvador authorized in a ruling the immediate presidential re-election in the country, and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal informed that it will abide by the decision.
An image of the protests in El Salvador on September 15, 2021.
In this way, Bukele, who until now enjoys wide popularity in the polls, will be able to stand in the next elections in 2024, something that the Magna Carta prevented him until now.
Article 152 of the Constitution of El Salvador establishes in its first paragraph that whoever has held the Presidency of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, during the immediately preceding period, or within the last six months prior to the start of the presidential term.
"The aforementioned provision refers not to prohibitions to be president, but to prohibitions to be a candidate and the seriousness of an interpretation that leaves this detail out, is that it is impossible for the electorate to re-elect the political option that suits them best", points out the ruling of the magistrates who were elected by the current Legislative Assembly, with a pro-government majority, after the removal of the previous magistrates on May 1, the day the deputies took office.
Bukele has not commented publicly on the ruling.
CNN requested a reaction through the Ministry of Communications, but has not yet received a response.
The ruling has caused a stir and generated diverse opinions.
Bukele officials and allies applauded the magistrates' decision.
Other sectors describe it as unconstitutional.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
“The characteristic of democratic systems is the alternation in power.
The search to perpetuate itself and the concentration of power is a prelude to a dictatorship, "wrote the Nationalist Republican Alliance party, Arena, on the Twitter of its parliamentary group.
“The dictatorship is consummated,” wrote Óscar Ortiz, general secretary of the Farabundo Martī Front for National Liberation (FMLN) and former vice president of El Salvador (2014-2019) in a tweet.
Bukele is also planning a more ambitious constitutional reform, the bill of which was expected to be presented to the Legislative Assembly in mid-September.
A team of jurists headed by the Vice President of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, drew up the proposal that includes changes such as the extension of the presidential term, the creation of a constitutional court and citizen consultations such as the plebiscite and referendum.
The retirement of judges, among other reforms to the judicial system
The third great reason invoked by the protesters in San Salvador is the rejection of the law approved by the Legislative Assembly on September 1, which establishes the mandatory retirement of judges.
The reform to the Law on the Judicial Career establishes the mandatory retirement of judges who turn 60 or have 30 years of service, and changes the transfer procedure to other areas.
Until now there was no age limit to be a judge or prosecutor.
The ruling party New Ideas (NI) assures that the reforms seek to do justice and warns that it will promote mobility in the judicial body.
"This day is historic because true justice begins in our country," said the deputy of that party Rebeca Santos.
The bitcoin in El Salvador.
Threat or opportunity?
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The reforms were described by the opposition, instead, as a blow to judicial independence.
"It is violating the little judicial independence that remained in the country," said René Portillo Cuadra, a deputy for the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance.
Bukele applauded the reforms and asked the deputies not to lose their conviction to make history.
"They have shown the courage to go, step by step, changing what is wrong in our country," the president wrote on his Twitter account.
The Legislative Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, also approved a series of reforms to the Fiscal Career Law aimed at retiring or transferring 60-year-old or 30-year-old prosecutors to other functions.
While on May 1, when the new legislators with a pro-government majority took office, they dismissed the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and appointed new judicial officials in their place.
The decision caused reactions in the international community.
Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States, said she has "deep concerns" about democracy in El Salvador.
"An independent judiciary is key to a healthy democracy ... and to a strong economy," he said on his Twitter account.
With information from Merlin Delcid, Mitchell McCluskey, David Goldman and Anneken Tappe.
Nayib Bukele Protests