Bukele Calls for Constitutional Reform in El Salvador

Nayib Bukele, then mayor of San Salvador, and Minister of Education Carlos Canjura at the Govern with the People Festival (Wikimedia Commons)

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is no stranger to clashing with the other branches of El Salvador's government. He made headlines for marching armed forces into the National Assembly, an act that echoed the brutal displays of militaristic strength during the Salvadoran Civil War. However, Bukele has now set his sights on constitutional reform.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Bukele put in place strict stay-at-home orders. He went so far as to order law enforcement officials to arrest violators and place them in government quarantine centers. In mid-April, the Supreme Court’s constitutional review deemed Bukele’s actions unconstitutional. Bukele quickly responded through a flurry of tweets, saying that “5 people won’t decide the death of hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans.” 

This political back-and-forth has continued since the beginning of the pandemic and has gone so far as to include disagreements regarding when the country should reopen. Bukele’s call for constitutional reform serves as the latest item in the long list of political conflicts.

Felix Ulloa, Vice President of El Salvador, seems to be the perfect person to spearhead these reform efforts as he has been calling for constitutional reform publicly since 2012. Ulloa recently called previous constitutional amendments “temporary solutions,” and he said in a press conference that they “distort our democratic system and the constitution.” 

Despite this, Fabio Castillo, a lawyer and former professor of Ulloa, spoke with Channel 33, stating that the president’s calls are just that—calls. According to Castillo, Bukele cannot propose constitutional changes, but he can look over the constitution, determine what should be changed with a team, and later have ten legislators propose those changes. 

Still, Ulloa is looking to have prominent members join this team. Members might include Hugo Barrera, founder of ARENA (the country’s right-wing party), and ex-guerilla leader Dagoberto Gutiérrez of FMLN (the country’s left-wing party).