By
The Associated Press
The government of El Salvador has “made mistakes” in its war against the country's gangs, but has never undermined the country's democracy to consolidate power, according to the man who will likely be re-elected as the country's vice president.
Félix Ulloa, currently on temporary leave as El Salvador's vice president as he seeks re-election alongside Nayib Bukele, defended his government's repression in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, days before a presidential election he is expected to win easily.
These policies, he said, will continue until El Salvador's gangs are eliminated.
Ulloa acknowledged that in the mass detention of citizens by his Administration, the Government imprisoned thousands of people who had not committed any crime, something that he specified that they are correcting, but he justified the harsh actions as being widely popular and completely “legal.”
Police stand guard during the second arrival of inmates belonging to the MS-13 and 18 gangs in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 15, 2023.El Salvador's Presidency via AFP - Getty Images file
Since declaring a state of emergency in March 2022 following a spike in gang violence, the government has detained 76,000 people, more than 1% of the small Central American nation's population.
The declaration, which suspended some fundamental rights such as access to a lawyer and being told why you are being detained, has been renewed by Congress every month since then.
“There is no perfect human work.
...Look at the big picture,” Ulloa explained.
“Understand what this country is doing when we have defended the people and human rights of millions of Salvadorans whose rights were being violated by criminal structures.”
Around
7,000 people detained under the state of emergency
have since been released from prisons where authorities have been accused of torture, as well as committing systematic and massive human rights abuses.
Ulloa mentioned that in some cases authorities may have asked security forces to meet arrest quotas—detain a predetermined number of people—but that it was not
“an order from executives, nor a government policy.”
Human rights groups say more than 150 people have died in custody since the crackdown began.
Associated Press reporting has documented detainees undergoing mass hearings of up to 300 defendants at a time.
They rarely have access to lawyers.
The vast majority of those arrested under the emergency declaration remain in prison without having been tried.
“There is no police state,” said Ulloa.
“In El Salvador not a single right has been suspended.
No public freedom has been suspended by the state of emergency,” he added before pointing out a couple of rights that had been suspended but clarifying that they did not affect “honorable” Salvadorans.
File image of Salvadoran soldiers patrolling the La Campanera neighborhood in Soyapango, El Salvador, on January 27, 2023. Salvador Melendez / AP
Ulloa insisted that the state of emergency will continue to be extended until the Government decides that it is no longer necessary.
“When we declare the country free of gangs, criminals, criminal structures, there will be no reason to have a state of exception,” he commented.
After the repression, violence rates have dropped drastically, and homicide rates are among the lowest in America, and the Government continues to enjoy sky-high approval ratings.
Ulloa firmly denied accusations by the United States Government that his Administration had negotiated with the gangs before the increase in violence and the state of emergency that followed.
He also denied that his Administration carried out attacks against the press, even though journalists, activists, union leaders and opposition politicians have claimed that the Government systematically harassed, spied on and even detained them.
He also accused critics of his Administration of working with the country's opposition parties, and people who claim their rights have been violated under repression of being “connected to gangs.”
Ulloa rejected accusations from constitutionalists, experts and the political opposition that the Government
has undermined the country's democracy
by concentrating power in the presidential figure.
One of these measures took place in 2021, when the newly elected Congress – where Bukele's allies have a majority – replaced the magistrates of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court with like-minded judges.
The Government also promoted electoral reforms that, according to control organizations, favored its own party, especially in congressional and local elections.
Ulloa has maintained that running for re-election is completely legal and added that both he and Bukele have taken leaves of absence before running for a second term.
“There is nothing we have done that does not have a legal basis,” said Ulloa.
Lawyers and analysts maintain that at least six articles of the Constitution prohibit presidential re-election in El Salvador.
But a 2021 resolution from the same court purged by Bukele's allies enabled the president to run and ordered the electoral authorities to abide by the resolution.
Ulloa did not want to directly answer a question about whether he and Bukele would seek a third term.
He echoed the president in saying that the current constitution prohibits it, but left open the possibility if the country's Magna Carta changes.
Ulloa proposed more than 200 changes to it during 2021.
“If the Constitution is changed, (Bukele) wants to do it and the Constitution allows it, I suppose he could do it,” Ulloa commented, adding that the current one allows a first and a second term.
“A third party is not allowed.
“I’m not saying it’s not possible if it changes.”