“War on corruption”: After his mega-prison, Bugel now promises to build a prison for “white-collar criminals” in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR.- In a speech by the President of El Salvador to celebrate his four years in government, Naeeb BukheleHe touted the achievements of his anti-gang crusade on Thursday “Pre-war” against corruptionThis includes building A special prison for “white collar criminals”..

Bukele also announced that he would promote legal reform The number of legislative seats should be reduced from 84 to 60 and the number of municipalities in the country from 262 to 44.As he addressed Congress to complete his four-year term, supporters chanted “Re-election, re-election”.

“Today we declare war on corruption”After considering that, the President assured Evil is “local”, “like gangs, with tentacles at all levels of the Salvadoran state”..

“Without any hesitation, we will start it with the full force of the government, with all the legal instruments at our disposal, as we have fought the gangs before. Frontline fight against corruption”, continued the President.

Bukhel promised that it too would be built “A Jail” for “White Collar Criminals”, like building a mega-prison for gang members. “We will also build prisons for corrupt people. Let’s take everything they have We will return what was stolenHe promised.

To house gang members, Bugel built a mega-prison for 40,000 inmates, “the largest prison in America,” according to him, a form of harsh incarceration condemned by human rights organizations.

In his speech, the president highlighted the fight against gangs launched 14 months ago, which he said now allows Salvadorans “more security in the streets.” Under the exception regime allowing arrest without warrant, Nearly 69,000 gang members have been arrested, of whom 5,000 have been released.According to Govt.

Bukhel assured that the “war” against corruption will be at all levels as it is carried out in collaboration with state authorities. “Private Entrepreneur”.

“In this country, corrupt people spend all their time figuring out how to get more money from the public coffers (…) and, beware, As there is a corrupt official, there is also a corrupt businessman“, under control.

Despite the President’s promise, he did not mention the statistics related to corruption Corruption activities do not allow the government to allocate funds to social areas or other needs of the people.

During his speech before Congress, Buchel explained that one of the guests, Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado, was not there because he was presiding over an operation. “Destruction of the Field” Properties of the right-wing ex-president Alfredo Christiani (1989-1994), accused of corrupt practices.

Cristiani, according to Delgado, has “fled” the country, but the prosecutor’s office is “preparing.” “Forming a Criminal Indictment” against the former President on corruption charges, although he did not specify the alleged crimes. Officials did not specify when or to which country the former president went.

This time, the prosecutor’s office has gone through a court-approved “destruction of domain” of 156 Christiani properties, including several mansions in different parts of the country, in addition to 42 vehicles and various “financial items.”

“We cannot tolerate these kinds of people making fun of us and playing with money that basically belongs to the Salvadoran people,” the attorney general said on the state-run Channel 10 television news program.

Salvador indicated that the president “believes” in his proposals Reduce the number of representatives and the number of municipalities “Approved” by Congress before the 2024 general elections.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has scheduled elections for the president and representatives of Congress on February 4, while the elections for municipal councils of 262 municipalities in the country and representatives for the Central American Parliament will be held on March 3. 2024.

Buchkel said in September that he wanted to Seek re-election in 2024But he did not touch on the matter in his message to the nation on Thursday.

A day after Bugel’s speech, the UN Office for Human Rights called for the continued extension of the state of emergency in El Salvador as “worrisome”. Conclusion of this exceptional proceedingIt was recognized as a tool to combat gang violence, as well as to investigate all abuses committed by the authorities during this time.

Bügel declared a state of emergency in March 2022 and, since then, downplayed all the international criticism received, which the Central American country has achieved thanks to these security protocols. To reduce the killing rate.

The UN recognizes the “complex challenge” El Salvador faces at the hands of gangs that have “murdered, raped, robbed and extorted people for decades”, but at the same time stresses Consequences of the state of emergency in terms of human rights.

“Weakening the rule of law and the integrity of the legal system by revoking rights to a fair trial is not the solution,” said a spokeswoman for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Marta Hurtado, describing a move this Friday. This resulted in at least 69,000 prisoners. About 1600 of them are minors.

The UN echoes the report by the NGO Christosel At least 153 prisoners died behind bars during this time, “almost half of them violent”, while denouncing the risks civil society faces. In 2022, there were Over 180 incidents against activists and journalists And the same year, in April, the newspaper Lighthouse It moved its headquarters to Costa Rica because of the threat.

“We request the authorities to lift the state of emergency and review the approved measures. We also demand that deaths in custody be promptly investigated in line with international standards.

AFP and DPA agencies

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