Corruption under the State of Emergency in El Salvador: a democracy without oxygen
27 SEP 2022 | WOLA STATEMENT
A state of exception is a legal mechanism used to address emergency situations and must be eminently temporary and extraordinary. However, President Nayib Bukele has governed El Salvador under this state since March 2022, giving a permanent and indefinite character to the limitation of constitutional rights. During these months, the executive branch has used state security forces to implement a policy against violence through repression, persecution, and stigmatization of the population, thus aggravating the human rights and democratic crises that the country is going through.
The state of emergency has not only allowed the suspension of constitutional guarantees but has also eliminated legal controls over administrative processes for the use of public funds and state contracts and the right of access to public information. In other words, it has fostered a lack of transparency and accountability in the management of public resources.
Overview
With information from the National Civil Police, Bukele has been reporting zero homicides in the country and again, on September 13, 2022, zero homicides were reported. This reflects a significant drop in the rates of violence and violent deaths in a country that, just a few months ago, was considered one of the most violent in the world. However, due to lack of access to public information, the veracity of these figures and whether they are being property reported cannot be verified. It is also important to note that the Bukele administration has changed what types of deaths are included in the total homicide figures, removing, for example, the deaths of alleged gang members in confrontations with the police.
While the state of exception has been the tool used by the government to violate fundamental guarantees and freedoms, as has been widely documented, there is another series of key rights, such as the right to public information, whose enjoyment and exercise have also been violated.
Below is a description of some of the most worrisome situations resulting from the emergency regime:
1. Lack of access to reliable information
In 2011 El Salvador enacted the Law on Access to Public Information (LAIP) guaranteeing the right to seek and receive information held by the state, which strengthened citizen participation and democratic governance. However, since the beginning of his government, Bukele has failed to comply with this law, declaring most public information as reserved, making the confidentiality of public management as the rule and not the exception as the law dictates. The Institute of Access to Public Information (Instituto de Acceso a la Información Pública, IAIP) has ceased to be a control body, since its decisions reflect a lack of independence and impartiality. One example of this was the decision to make President Bukele’s declaration of assets confidential.
More:
https://www.wola.org/2022/09/corruption-state-of-emergency-el-salvador/