EL SALVADOR’S FACADE OF DEMOCRACY CRUMBLES WITH PURGES

El Salvador is in crisis after President Nayib Bukele on May 1 fired five Salvadoran supreme court justices and the attorney general, Mnessha Gellan, an associate professor at Emerson College wrote for The Conversation.

The court and attorney general’s office were among the only checks on presidential power remaining since Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party won a supermajority in Congress in March 2021, with more than 65% of votes.

During the pandemic, the Salvadoran judiciary repeatedly ruled that the president’s uses of emergency powers were unconstitutional. Bukele defied the courts and ultimately dismissed the justices and the attorney general.

Salvadoran lawmakers supported Bukele’s purge of his perceived opponents. And recent polls show more than 90% of Salvadorans still support the president. But the move drew sharp criticism from other countries.

“An independent judiciary is essential to democratic governance,” the US State Department said of the justices’ dismissal.

Bukele came to power in 2019 on a tide of voters exhausted by the Salvadoran status quo – deep inequality, chronic violence, and endemic corruption. Voters were hopeful for something different. Soon after, the authoritarian power grabs began. On Twitter, Bukele defended the recent firings as “getting our house in order” – the kind of sweeping change he was elected to enact.

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