El Salvador: Bukele’s complicated relationship with the press (and his government’s attempts to deny it)

“The Savior it is not due to anyone nor responds to powers”. The phrase of the president Here’s to watching It is problematic because it highlights the authoritarian tinge of the president.

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This is not an exaggeration. Bukele began to seize all the powers of the State some time ago and, in parallel, the persecution against the opposition media began.

And he has done it by convincing more than one – there is the infamous interview of “> Luisito Comunica or badly”. For example, the AFP agency recalls that the Treasury began an investigation to the digital portal The lighthouse.

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In September of last year, Bukele said they were investigating the media for money laundering. He said:

“Some journalists say that this government attacks the press; We are committed to freedom of expression, but some go around publishing a bunch of lies and what we do is deny them. That is not violating freedom”.

In this regard, AFP wrote:

“The pressure on El Faro coincided with the publication of a report on an alleged pact between the government and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang to reduce homicides in the country in exchange for benefits to imprisoned gang members.”.

In response, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) denounced the threats, intimidation, as well as the “discrediting campaigns and fiscal harassment against media, journalists and opponents critical of the government”.

On September 24, President Bukele announced during a national radio and television network that the Ministry of Finance has been investigating the digital newspaper El Faro since July for alleged money laundering and tax evasion. https://t.co/JISB4IL4FF

– SIP • IAPA (@sip_oficial) September 29, 2020

The German wave recalls that Bukele also pointed to other media “to lie and attack“To your government. Among them were El Mundo, La Prensa Gráfica, Factum and Gato Encerrado.

Finally, in July of this year, Bukele ordered that the authorities of his government expelled from the country to Daniel Lizárraga, a Mexican journalist who edited in El Faro, taking advantage of the fact that his work visa expired.

The Factum portal also suffered retaliation.

“El País” notes that “a court censored Factum in June and ordered him to delete a report that proved that President Bukele was lying in the case of the ‘murderer of Chalchuapa’”.

“Bukele maintained that the corpses were buried decades ago, but according to Factum’s inquiries, thirteen of the fifteen corpses extracted in Chalchuapa were buried between 2020 and 2021, during the Bukele administration.”, Writes the Spanish medium.

“Expansión” quotes figures from the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES): in 2020, “the number of journalists who suffered attacks doubled the number in 2018″, Which also includes digital bullying.

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Image of the protests against the policies of the Bukele government, which have been taking place in El Salvador. (EFE). (Rodrigo Sura /)

FROM DENIAL TO CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION

It is in this context that the words of the Vice President of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, they have sounded strange. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, from his meeting with Josep Borrel, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, he said:

“The idea is to give the narrative that corresponds to the reality of El Salvador. All the facts [que presentó el medio] They are half truths, some are urban legends”.

And within that supposed fiction, it would be lack of freedom of the press.

“There is no journalist in prison. There is no censored medium. There is no provision that violates freedom of expression. It is understandable that the IAPA, which is a union where the owners of the large mass media are […] Be upset”.

But, in addition to the controversy, it would be worth asking: who is Félix Ulloa?

According to the Transparency page of El Salvador, Ulloa (1951) has a degree in Legal Sciences from the University of El Salvador, as well as in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid.

In addition, he has a postgraduate degree in Banking and Finance from the Technological University of El Salvador.

He was also a magistrate of the First Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and is the author of the academic article “Money and democracy”.

Ulloa is also in charge of reviewing the country’s constitutional reform. His blueprint, “proposes 216 modifications to the 274 articles”Of the Magna Carta.

The EFE agency says that, “Among the proposed reforms is the inclusion of the referendum, plebiscite and the revocation of the mandate, in addition to extending the presidential term to 6 years, when it is currently 5 years”.

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