Minister tweeted that female cadets joined the institution only to support Bukele’s plans. This gave the minister a wave of criticism and reproaches on social networks of civilians and the military.
The Armed Force suffers the “denaturation” of its functions to the extent that it is subordinate to the current ruler and not to the institutionality, warned General Mauricio Ernesto Vargas, deputy for the ARENA party.
The retired military man specifically called on the Minister of Defense, Francis Merino Monroy, who in a tweet announced the swearing in of “49 brave women who swore before the national flag to serve the country even at the cost of their lives.”
“They decided to join the @FUERZARMADASV with the sole purpose of supporting all the plans that Mr. Pdte. @nayibbukele is developing for the benefit of the population, “said Merino.
General Vargas warned to say that “the sole purpose of supporting all the plans that Mr. Pdte. @nayibbukele is developing ”is a“ denaturation of the functions of the Armed Forces ”in that they are exclusively subordinated to the current ruler and not to the Constitution and institutions.
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“The position of the minister, who is at the service of the president, is a risk, a threat to democracy,” stressed the military man and veteran of the war of the 1980s.
Vargas, who was one of the negotiators of the signing of the peace accords in 1992 and knows their spirit well, reminded the Minister that the Armed Forces “is obedient, apolitical and non-deliberative” and it is at the service of the State.
The peace accords precisely pursued that the Armed Forces became professional and did not return to being an instrument of parties or dictatorships, as it had been accused until then and was one of the causes of the 12-year internal war that El Salvador lived through.
Merino Monroy’s statement on Twitter set him up with a flurry of reproaches, including Christian Democrat deputy Rodolfo Parker, who also warned him that “we who work for a renewed Armed Force, did so so that as a permanent institution it is at the service of the Nation.”
Parker immediately said, “Read the Constitution, Minister.”
Another retired military man, Captain and lawyer Luis Parada snapped at him. “Be dragged if you are not ashamed, but don’t drag the Armed Forces with you.”
Externally, the executive director of the humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, opined that Minister Merino “must be explained that in democracy the military is not in charge of running errands for the president on duty. They only owe fidelity to the Constitution ”.
He immediately invited Merino to see the recent public apologies from General Mark Milley, the head of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, for appearing to support Trump after the dissolution of a peaceful protest outside the White House.
Milley considered that this was a mistake and that his presence “created a perception of the involvement of the military in internal politics ”.
The constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya declared to El Diario de Hoy that “the first duty of the Armed Forces is to comply with the Constitution.”
“Like any public institution, the commitment of the Armed Forces is not with the current ruler, but with the constitutional rules and institutionality … there are no personal commitments,” he sentenced.
“The purpose of the Constitution is that it is a government of laws, not a government of men,” he said.
Let it be a government of laws, not a government of men
General Vargas considered that it is “dangerous” that unconditional subordination to the incumbent ruler under covid is taking place, especially with the experience of the 9F, the taking of the Legislative Assembly by a military contingent led by Bukele on 9 September. February.
The result of events like that is that the armed forces become guardians of police states, as has happened in Venezuela and Nicaragua, the military exemplified, because they serve individuals and not their countries. “Institutions are permanent, people are birds of passage,” he said.
“We have not forgotten the 9F … there is a pending inquiry and we must be vigilant,” warned Vargas.
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