Jaime on Nostr: People need to stop LARPing when it comes to El Salvador🇸🇻! A few crucial ...
People need to stop LARPing when it comes to El Salvador🇸🇻!
A few crucial things happened to get to this point, that is:
➡️ El Salvador decreasing its murder rate and becoming the safest country in Latin America …
➡️ The “mega prison”
1) Nayib Bukele who had no allies in the previous Legislative Assembly, had to win a mandate in the legislative elections. Salvadorans gave Bukele’s party Nuevas Ideas & allies a democratically elected super majority. That election held in 2021 were observed & vetted by international bodies and deemed as free & fair.
2) Rid of Corrupt Judges. Only a super majority in the assembly can replace the Supreme Court & judges, so after winning the 2021 elections, Nueva Ideas swiftly proceeded to purge all judges who were corrupt, or compromised. This approach was necessary, as there was ample evidence that many judges were part of the catch & release scheme that could never properly convict criminals.
3) Strengthen the police & military. Not only to properly equip them, as they would often be afraid to take on gangs who were equally or better equipped, but also boost the morale & salaries, to recognize their service as dignified & be less prone to bribes. As an aside, some will remember the exaggerated pictures of when Bukele went into the legislature & the moniker of dictator was slapped on him. He was there asking for funding to fight the gangs
4) Before the current efforts, prisons, like everywhere in the world, were criminal universities. In fact, they were headquarters for running their organizations & order criminal activities. They were run by criminals with many benefits including Cable TV and Cell Phones, they even held private prison parties with alcohol & drugs. These privileges were all taken away taken away by Bukele’s order. Additionally, a widespread communication effort was carried out inform Salvadorans of the financial costs of incarceration. From that point forward, the government was ensuring that people knew that prison would not be for free. Within prison, they would have to earn their sustenance.
5) From a lawmaking perspective, the introduction of stiffer penalties for gang related crimes was enacted, including defining gang activity as terrorism, as they literally terrorized the population.
6) The state of exception. Asked for by the executive and approved by a 3/4 majority of the assembly, a high mark to pass by any measure. It expires every 30 days, therefore, requested by the executive and renewed before expiry. The SoE allows for one key thing: to extend habeas corpus from 72 hours to 15 days. This is crucial to avoid catch & release and deal with the backlog of judicial proceedings created by years of neglect & corruption. If you’re not familiar with habeas corpus, it’s essentially the concept that the state cannot arbitrarily detain you without probable cause and evidence, and that your detainment must be dealt within a speedy manner. This is actually a good thing, but this right was being abused by criminals and corrupt judges and many walked with impunity as a result. This is the one key element that has put many of these gangsters in jail, but only because all of the other points were in place beforehand. It must be noted that arrests need probable cause & a judge looks at the evidence & decides if it meets the test for conviction. If the arrested doesn’t get in front of a judge within 72 hours, then they walk free, regardless of the strength of the evidence. AKA Catch & Release
7) The building of the CECOT - Terrorism Confinement Center was an absolute necessity for El Salvador to separate gang members who were convicted and could not be rehabilitated, from those who were still being processed and could actually reintegrate back into society. the concept that any innocent person is held at CECOT is simply untrue or at very best highly unlikely.
Finally, if you want to learn more & verify that what I’ve written is accurate, don’t take my word, or Bukele’s, or an activist or a politician, because they have some vested interest. Instead, ask an average Salvadoran. An average Salvadoran is the true expert in the subject. 🔚
A few crucial things happened to get to this point, that is:
➡️ El Salvador decreasing its murder rate and becoming the safest country in Latin America …
➡️ The “mega prison”
1) Nayib Bukele who had no allies in the previous Legislative Assembly, had to win a mandate in the legislative elections. Salvadorans gave Bukele’s party Nuevas Ideas & allies a democratically elected super majority. That election held in 2021 were observed & vetted by international bodies and deemed as free & fair.
2) Rid of Corrupt Judges. Only a super majority in the assembly can replace the Supreme Court & judges, so after winning the 2021 elections, Nueva Ideas swiftly proceeded to purge all judges who were corrupt, or compromised. This approach was necessary, as there was ample evidence that many judges were part of the catch & release scheme that could never properly convict criminals.
3) Strengthen the police & military. Not only to properly equip them, as they would often be afraid to take on gangs who were equally or better equipped, but also boost the morale & salaries, to recognize their service as dignified & be less prone to bribes. As an aside, some will remember the exaggerated pictures of when Bukele went into the legislature & the moniker of dictator was slapped on him. He was there asking for funding to fight the gangs
4) Before the current efforts, prisons, like everywhere in the world, were criminal universities. In fact, they were headquarters for running their organizations & order criminal activities. They were run by criminals with many benefits including Cable TV and Cell Phones, they even held private prison parties with alcohol & drugs. These privileges were all taken away taken away by Bukele’s order. Additionally, a widespread communication effort was carried out inform Salvadorans of the financial costs of incarceration. From that point forward, the government was ensuring that people knew that prison would not be for free. Within prison, they would have to earn their sustenance.
5) From a lawmaking perspective, the introduction of stiffer penalties for gang related crimes was enacted, including defining gang activity as terrorism, as they literally terrorized the population.
6) The state of exception. Asked for by the executive and approved by a 3/4 majority of the assembly, a high mark to pass by any measure. It expires every 30 days, therefore, requested by the executive and renewed before expiry. The SoE allows for one key thing: to extend habeas corpus from 72 hours to 15 days. This is crucial to avoid catch & release and deal with the backlog of judicial proceedings created by years of neglect & corruption. If you’re not familiar with habeas corpus, it’s essentially the concept that the state cannot arbitrarily detain you without probable cause and evidence, and that your detainment must be dealt within a speedy manner. This is actually a good thing, but this right was being abused by criminals and corrupt judges and many walked with impunity as a result. This is the one key element that has put many of these gangsters in jail, but only because all of the other points were in place beforehand. It must be noted that arrests need probable cause & a judge looks at the evidence & decides if it meets the test for conviction. If the arrested doesn’t get in front of a judge within 72 hours, then they walk free, regardless of the strength of the evidence. AKA Catch & Release
7) The building of the CECOT - Terrorism Confinement Center was an absolute necessity for El Salvador to separate gang members who were convicted and could not be rehabilitated, from those who were still being processed and could actually reintegrate back into society. the concept that any innocent person is held at CECOT is simply untrue or at very best highly unlikely.
Finally, if you want to learn more & verify that what I’ve written is accurate, don’t take my word, or Bukele’s, or an activist or a politician, because they have some vested interest. Instead, ask an average Salvadoran. An average Salvadoran is the true expert in the subject. 🔚