Bukele’s re-election bid fuels new concern in El Salvador
Al JazeeraWhile many welcome president’s plan to seek second term, activists say it could hasten further rights violations. “The constitutional court can’t issue rulings that openly go against the constitution,” said Leonor Arteaga, a Salvadoran lawyer and director of the Impunity and Grave Human Rights Violations programme at the Due Process of Law Foundation. “History has shown us that when a president wants to stay in power using non-legal means, such as altering the constitution and the rule of law, that only means more human rights violations, more concentration of power in one person, and that the population is going to be left without rights,” said Arteaga. “That should not be seen as normal.” Public opposition The president’s office did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on criticism of his plan to seek re-election. El Salvador also saw one of its deadliest days in nearly two decades at the end of March, prompting Bukele’s party to issue a state of exception that suspended certain civil liberties and has led to mass arrests and accusations of human rights abuses.