Kamala Harris rejects removal of judges in El Salvador: “An independent judiciary is important for democracy”

“We are deeply concerned about El Salvador’s democracy, in light of the National Assembly’s vote to remove the judges of the Constitutional Court,” Harris said on her Twitter account. He added: “An independent judiciary is essential for a healthy democracy and a strong economy.”

Earlier, in the same vein, the US Secretary of State had said, Anthony Blingen, who personally contacted President Buchael to express his “deep concern” over the Assembly’s decision.

In a telephone conversation, Blinken noted that “democratic governance requires an independent judiciary.” Attorney General Raul Melara was also dismissed. It is an excellent partner in the fight against crime in the United States and El Salvador.

The The Organization of American States (OAS) also rejected the decision. “In a democracy, the majority has a fundamental responsibility to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected; its exercise of access to power and the rule of law; the plural rule of political parties and organizations; and the separation and freedom of public power,” the OAS General Secretariat said in a statement.

The Inter-American Organization warned it “When the majority imposes a single and uniform view on other parts of the political system, they undermine these policies.” “When the majority removes checks and balances in the organizational structure, they change the essence of its operation,” the report added.

This Saturday, The ruling party won a majority in the Salvador parliament in 2021-2024, in its first move to vote to oust the judges and attorney general of the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber, officials who had clashes with Buckley last year.

The dismissal, which left the judiciary incomplete and without a president, was approved by 64 of the 84 representatives of the ruling party. New Ideas (NI), the Great Alliance for National Unity (Ghana), the Christian Democratic Party (PTC) and the National Concert Party (PCN) voted in favor.

The sacked judges are the Constitutional Chamber and CSJ, Jose Armando Pineta and private judges Aldo Enrique Coder, Carlos Sergio Avilas, Carlos Ernesto Sanchez and Marina de Jesus Marenco. Substitutes for Rogel Zepeda, Jose Cristobal Reyes, Jorge Alfonso Quinteros, Jose Luis Lobo Castler and Sonia Elizabeth Cortes de Matris.

The parliamentary majority accuses the outgoing judges of handing out “arbitrary” sentences. However, Members of this chamber, responsible for ensuring compliance with the Magna Carta, declared the dismissal order “unconstitutional” and denounced the intention to suppress control of other powers in the state..

Salvador’s President Naib Bukele has accused constitutional judges of withdrawing their powers to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic on more than one occasion.

In mid-2020, Buckel fought against the constitutional chamber that blocked at least 15 rules related to the management of the epidemic, most of which were in exceptional regimes. The court found that this violated the fundamental rights of citizenship. At the time, the president promised that the courtroom would prevent him from taking care of the lives of his comrades.

The Constitution Room is one of the four that makes up the Supreme Court, and it resolves the unconstitutional nature of habeas corpus and disputes between the powers of the state. Special Adviser on Hemisphere Affairs to the United States National Security Council, Juan Sebastian Gonzalez, The attempt was rejected by the El Salvador Legislature He posted a message on his social networking site Twitter, in which he rejected the move: “It was not done.”

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