On Tuesday, January 26, the Constitutional Chamber ruled that one of its most recognized candidates, Walter Araujo Morales, will not be able to be registered as a candidate.
The Constitutional Court has accepted part of a lawsuit filed by Nuestro Tiempo candidate Bertha María Deleón, requesting the cancellation of Araujo’s candidacy for a notorious lack of morality. This is because it has an open file for alleged expressions of violence against women, as well as evidence of aggression against women on social networks.
By admitting this point, the Chamber issued as a precautionary measure the suspension of the candidacy and established that Araujo cannot appear on the ballot.
Faced with this apparent political defeat, the President of the Republic made a series of controversial posts on his Twitter account.
SEE ALSO: We regret that Bukele’s response to the Constitutional Chamber “is a weapon and a force”, says Portillo Cuadra
The first was a photo without context or explanation of a military platoon. Less than a year after leading a takeover by the Legislature with heavily armed military and police, that photo shared by the president has caused concern and alarm, and various Twitter users have condemned the president’s responses.
Later, the president changed his name and photo on Twitter as a mockery and parody. “Admiral General Aladeen.” This is the character from the film The Dictator, starring the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. In it, he portrays Aladeen, a bloody, misogynistic, violent and offensive dictator from a fictional Middle Eastern country.
SEE: Walter Araujo cannot run for deputy for NI
Aladeen is one of Baron Cohen’s characters who, through satire and black humor, denounces authoritarian situations, serious human rights violations, misogyny and political violence in many states. In addition, he uses these types of characters as a way to criticize and condemn the corruption and unjustified collusion of corporate power actors with political figures.
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In short, Baron Cohen uses these characters to challenge abuse of power and aggression. Situations that local and international observers have observed, questioned and condemned in El Salvador in the last year and a half.
Tantra or threat?
Regarding the images of the army and the allusion to a bloodthirsty dictator in a movie, the director for America Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, criticized Bukele’s response to the armed soldiers and wondered if it was a veiled threat from the president.
El Salvador: The Supreme Court, @SalaCnalSV, suspends Walter Araujo’s candidacy for deputy of Bukele’s party for “alleged pattern of violent behavior against women.” What was Nayib Bukele’s response? Upload a photo of armed soldiers. Tantra or threat? Vivanco asked.
This response of the president has been ridiculed on social networks by dozens of users who, despite his attempt to attract attention, remind him that Walter Araujo, who was also a deputy and leader of ARENA and a candidate for GANA, will not be able to seek to remains a candidate.