Bukele gives in and announces a proposal for economic reopening in El Salvador



The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced on Monday that he will present a plan to reactivate the economy starting June 6, this after attacking the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) for allegedly taking away powers from the Executive body.

The announcement comes after a meeting with some businessmen in the country, a day after the president said on a national radio and television network that "it is not time to open (the economy), no matter how many businessmen shout" and when the deputies of the Congress were preparing to approve a law that establishes a route to resume economic activity.

"We offer the national business, and we told a very important part today, a gradual opening," Bukele said at a press conference.

The head of state conditioned this plan on the approval of a "strict and complete" quarantine law until June 5 by Congress.

The president, who does not know the authority of the president of the main union of private companies, Javier Simán, met before giving the conference with some of the most recognized businessmen in the country.

Bukele, who did not elaborate on his plan to reopen economic activity, said the quarantine law he is requesting is a mix of current mandatory confinement legislation and a presidential decree.

The opposition parties, with a majority in Congress, announced that they will not extend the current quarantine law due to the measures that the Government applied in it, such as the prohibition of public transport service.

"We want a national pact, that we are all going to agree that 15 days we are going to truly quarantine" and "we are going to lower the curve and then we can start to open up the economy," he said.

The president denied that this plan is a "concession" from his government to requests from the private company.

HARD CRITICAL TO THE CONGRESS AND SUPREME COURT

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice temporarily suspended the national emergency decree issued by the president on Saturday, and which it issued after dispensing with the Legislature.

The magistrates ordered this precautionary measure after admitting a claim of unconstitutionality to determine alleged "defects in form" and whether the head of state exercised a function of Congress "without justification."

The Salvadoran president maintained that the Chamber's decision represents a "dire precedent" and an "invasion of functions" because, in his opinion, he has the power to decree a state of emergency.

"Not only does it take away the important power to enact a state of emergency in the largest emergency the world has had in the last 100 years," Bukele said, adding that "it lacks the slightest bit of common sense."

Faced with the recent decisions of the Legislative and Judicial organs, President Bukele accused them of wanting to govern "at the tip of decrees and at the tip of sentences, taking away from the Government and the Republic all the powers and tools it has to fight the pandemic" .

He said this is out of "an evident desire to increase the number of infections, to increase the number of deaths and that we cannot respond to the pandemic."

Despite disagreeing with the decision to suspend the declaration of the state of emergency, he indicated that he will respect the court ruling.

Bukele also announced that he will veto the law of "Health Protection Within the Resumption of Labor Before COVID-19", with which the deputies seek to replace the emergency law that expired last Saturday and gradually open the economy.

According to the last official count, El Salvador registers 1,413 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 30 deaths and 1,052 patients with suspicions.

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