Napoleón Campos has filed the lawsuit with the Central American Court of Justice. The 9F military attack on the Legislative Assembly and the disdain for rulings of the Constitutional Chamber support some of the demand.
Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez has been indicted in the Central American Court of Justice for violating constitutional and democratic rule of law since he took power on June 1, 2019, also violating Central American treaties and conventions and establishing democracy, according to the plaintiff. the region in serious danger.
The lawsuit was filed in a personal capacity last Tuesday by Francisco Napoleón Campos Martínez, who is running for a deputation of the Nuestro Tiempo party.
Campos confirmed that he had already been notified of receipt of the claim by the Secretary-General of the Court and is waiting for his appeal to be admitted soon.
According to Campos’ lawsuit, the series of attacks Bukele committed in a “gradual and progressive manner” is notorious, putting the Salvadoran Republic and its democracy in “grave danger”.
But it also states before the Central American Court that as a result of these undemocratic actions by the Salvadoran president, senior government officials with whom El Salvador maintains friendly and cooperative relations have not agreed to meet with him.
“ These attacks, which would be tedious to proclaim due to the unusual number of them, have far exceeded the limits of what is acceptable and have made it necessary for the citizens of the Republic to use the state and supranational mechanisms established by the judicial system before the non-rectification of anti-democratic actions by the president of the republic… ”said part of the lawsuit.
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Campos bases his claim before the Court on four violations of the rule of law committed by Bukele that he believes violate the democratic principles that inspire the Central American community and the protection or preservation of which falls within the jurisdiction of that regional court.
The grounds for the lawsuit are: usurpating the constitutional powers of the Legislative Assembly by convening an extraordinary general assembly on February 9, 2020, which has caused a conflict between organs.
The second is the disrespect for and non-compliance with the rulings of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. The third is President Bukele’s administrative provisions and actions that have affected Central American integration law.
And the fourth cause is the instrumentalization of the armed forces, contemplated in the Central American Democratic Security Treaty.
One of the most serious acts of disrespect for the independence of the powers in the country is the Bukele outbreak, accompanied by members of the special military security brigade who used long weapons and surrounded the Blue Chamber.
That attack was a usurpation for many experts and politicians. Bukele sat on the Chair of the Assembly Chair, played the gong and, according to him, declared a session open for the delegates to approve a loan, despite the fact that the constitution does not authorize him to do so.
Even sitting in the chair corresponding to the president of the legislature, Mario Ponce, this statement slipped: “I think now it’s very clear who is in control of the situation.” Then he got up and left the Blue Room in a surprising and strange way.
But outside he told a group of followers and co-workers that he had asked God and God told him to be patient. He added that on Feb. 28, “we will have this Assembly,” but he threatened to make a similar convocation if delegates did not approve the loan within a week.
Disobedience to the judicial decisions of the highest court
Napoleón Campos says that, in addition to the serious events of 9F and other behavior of the president, they prompted him to appeal to the Central American Court of Justice.
“We couldn’t even notice what it meant on February 9, the beginning of a process of democracy and rule of law violations in El Salvador,” said Campos.
Bukele’s failure to comply with the Constitutional Chamber’s rulings is a sign of constitutional and institutional decline, so much so that European MPs came and Democratic and Republican Congressmen from the United States issued letters declaring Bukele’s non-compliance with clauses. democracy in the bilateral agreement.
Among these violations of the decisions to the Chamber on cases under review, Campos asks the Court for a “careful investigation” and “investigation into the disobedience” of decisions such as in the El Mozote case, where a judge has been prevented. to execute a court order or habeas corpus issued on illegal detentions during quarantine and refer civilians to so-called detention centers.
According to Campos, the Salvadoran ruler is violating the country’s important scaffolding as well as the democratic principles and values enshrined in treaties, agreements and bilateral agreements in El Salvador.
And those pledges, Campos says, are with friendly countries, with which El Salvador has been cooperating since the peace negotiations.
In addition, it says that the fact that El Salvador was ineligible for a third Fomilenio by the Millennium Account Corporation is something of an international sanction, as well as the fact that it withdrew from a general law a blanket bill during Donald Trump’s administration last December. package of military assistance to corrupt governments instrumentalizing the armed forces and the police. Among them, El Salvador.
According to Campos, who has had a long academic career abroad, he says that all of Bukele’s actions led to “ sooner or later collide with the international system on three levels: the universal, which is the whole series of commitments from the United Nations Charter to Defend Democracy; but also in the hemisphere with the violation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
In addition, this “systematic and recurring” behavior, Campos says, clashes with the founding and secondary treaties of the new Central American integration process that began with Esquipulas I and Esquipulas II.
For example, according to Campos, Bukele is violating the 1995 Democratic Security Treaty by instrumentalizing the armed forces and the police, since that treaty, which he believes is the most important in Central American integration, signifies a commitment for states to begin by “stopping any violation of the democratic institutions of every Central American country ”.
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Campos has asked the Court to “observe the President’s behavior” and to continue to take corresponding measures, including instructing Bukele to correct this pattern of systematic and recurrent behavior in the country’s democracy and constitutional life. breaking through. “
Campos has also asked not to hear about the case of Édgar Varela, a Salvadoran magistrate who is a member of the Central American Court of Justice because he is the husband of Bukele’s Secretary of Education, Carla Hananía, and there is a ‘for the obvious’ conflict of interest.
“I hope Dr. Édgar Varela, as a career diplomat, has the studies he has and given that he has a respectable career as a lawyer and diplomat, there will be no need for the Court to divorce him, that he will have the ethical status of being separate from this case , ”Said Campos.