CISPES has an update on the constitutional challenges to President Funes' appointments of "former" military officials to head civilian institutions in El Salvador
Civil society’s opposition to the rapid changes in El Salvador’s Public Security Ministry continues to gain ground. On March 26, the Supreme Court accepted a lawsuit seeking to annul the appointment of two former general David Munguía Payés as Minister of Public Security and former general Francisco Salinas as director of the National Civil Police (PNC). The petition had been presented a month earlier by 31 civil society groups from across the political spectrum. The plaintiffs criticize the naming of these two career military officers, both retired from the military mere days or hours before their respective appointments, as unconstitutional due to amendments that explicitly exclude the military from involvement in the Ministry of Public Security and the PNC...
The civil society plaintiffs argue that there is a difference between stopping the practice of one’s military career and terminating one’s military career. They claim that the conditions surrounding the retirement of these two officials constitutes a mere stoppage in their military careers – given the extremely short time-frame between Salinas and Payes’ retirement and their new ministerial appointments – which therefore constitutes a violation of articles 159 and 168 of the constitution, prohibiting military involvement in public security.
As I've
argued before, I think that the appointment of "former" military officers to head civilian institutions sets bad precedent in El Salvador. It's one thing to be pulled out of retirement to head such an institution or to have years in between serving in the military and heading a civilian agency. It's quite another when the time in between jobs is a matter of minutes.
