Naib Bhukle promises not to harass critical voices and journalists, say civil society

Several civil society organizations met with Salvadoran President Naib Bukele at the Presidential Palace this afternoon, characterized by its contradictory dialogue with all such organizations since the beginning of the current government. Their regime.

After a four-and-a-half hour meeting, representatives of the organizations concerned gave a press conference in which they gave general details of what they had discussed with the President, in which they emphasized the “commitment” made by the President. He added that the meeting was promoted by the US embassy in the country, adding that “critical voices or journalists should not be harassed” for questioning the government’s actions, which were confirmed by DDJ Foundation spokesman Jose Marinero.

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However, Jessica Estrada, director of Fontaine’s transparency section, said there were a number of issues that President Buhel did not emphasize, for example, the removal of CICIES and the erosion of transparency by the current government. Wilson Sandoval, an expert on corruption issues at ALAC-Fund, said: “There is no answer to specific cases (…) the list issue has not been resolved.”

Similarly, Estrada confirmed that the meeting was “preliminary agreements, not conclusions” for which he said there could be more such meetings after the August holidays, which would include other civil society organizations.

In this sense, representatives of various organizations stressed that there are expectations that the President will agree with what was addressed during the meeting, because Marinero pointed out that attending the meeting was not “naive”. The present government is committing various acts of humiliation and attack on the press and civil society.

In this regard, Nova Bullock, director of Cristosol, said that Buckell accepted the responsibility he faced when confronted with the areas in question and the influence these talks would have on the public. Create situations hostile to journalists and other voices. “The president agreed to reduce those speeches,” Bullock said.

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For this reason, Claudia Umana, the leader of the Fusets, emphasized the importance of this first approach, because, in her own words, it means “the beginning of something” that began to be “recognized” in El Salvador by many voices and different thoughts. “

Prior to the meeting, some of the participating organizations issued a letter to the President expressing “deep concern” over the decisions taken by the government in various respects, undermining the separation of powers and the state. Of the law.

In this sense, essentially, the organizations expressed their concern about the May 1 constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court and the “removal” of the Attorney General’s Office, which is considered a blow to the judiciary.

Some of the participating organizations are Democracy – Transparency – Justice Foundation (DDJ), Cristosal, Legal Enforcement Foundation (Phosphate), National Development Trust (Finance) Anti-Corruption Legal Advisory Center (ALAC), Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FuCates), and Funda, UCA, Francisco Cavidia University and Ormosa.