Bukele first arrived as President in the village of El Mozote on December 17, 2020, where he gave a speech about confrontations and attacks on human rights defenders, including Morales. This is what he said in an interview with EFE.
The President of El Salvador, Here’s to watch, has taken a very traditional government position, similar to that of previous governments, to hinder investigations into crimes against humanity committed in the civil war (1980-1992), to favor and conceal those responsible for these events, the former attorney David Morales.
Morales, who headed the Office for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH) (2013-2016), believed that Bukele was “strengthening military power”, signaling a downturn in human rights.
The former prosecutor lamented that, for example, in the criminal case of the El Mozote massacre (1981), committed by the military, the president, who is also commander of the armed forces, obstructs legal proceedings, such as the submission of files related to the massacre .
Also read: “The victims (of El Mozote) earn a lot more from their government,” said the US congressman.
Cover and protect war criminals
It is clear to Morales that after the armed conflict, all senior commanders (commanders) of the armed forces of El Salvador “took a clear political stance to cover up the grave human rights violations that members and senior officials had planned, guided, promoted, they tolerated and covered ”.
However, the Bukele Executive had the opportunity to offer a generational renewal and “change this situation”, but instead took this position to favor war criminals.
“This government had the opportunity to be the first government to offer a generational change, as both the President and the Secretary of Defense (René Merino Monroy) were no longer direct actors in the war. However, they have taken that position, there is no legal justification for it, on the contrary, they violate international and national law, ”he said.
The former prosecutor pointed out that “the institutional reality in El Salvador is that of a civil power that did not end over military power. In other words, a military force that continues to weigh heavily and is even currently being promoted by President Bukele ”.
He regretted that the Legislative Assembly and the Public Prosecution Service, which he has identified as a passive entity in war crimes investigations, are also participating with impunity and denying justice, reparation and truth to victims.
“There is still a tolerant attitude towards war criminals from the prosecution’s office, in institutional terms, although a small team without much support is trying to make an effort within the prosecutor’s office (…) this is the strongest. state of impunity on the continent of American), ”he said.
An electoral political event in El Mozote
Bukele first arrived as president in the village of El Mozote on December 17, 2020, and his agenda did not include a visit to the memorial of the victims, located in the area of the massacre, but instead a speech about confrontations and attacks on defenders of rights. people, among these Morales.
Furthermore: “The war was a sham. Such as the peace agreements ”. Bukele visits El Mozote, the city that does not clear up the massacre
That day, Bukele accused the opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), human rights ombudsman José Apolonio Tobar and Morales of using the massacre for economic and political gain.
“It was a presidential activity, I regret. It did not have any characteristic of an act of reparation for the victims, on the contrary, it was an act that constituted a crime for different reasons, an act that was charged for different reasons, ”said the former lawyer.
The lawyer also pointed out that “the massacre affected many communities (at least five), moreover, the population, victims and relatives are not only found in the area, but in other parts of the country, therefore the act was not even representative. for all victims of the case, ”he emphasized.
Bukele during his visit to the village of El Mozote, where he gave a confrontational speech and called the peace agreements a “farce”.
Morales lamented that Bukele was involved in personal attacks against human rights defenders against the institutionality of the PDDH. “I think he is following a trend with this, a story that has characterized him in attacks on journalists and defenders who have somehow denounced or exposed abuse of power on their part or by the government,” he said.
Letting go of the peace accords
That day, Bukele also pointed out that the peace accords that ended twelve years of war are a “farce”, as is the internal armed conflict.
“It is also regrettable that, as in the governments of the 90s and 2000s, it has fallen into the denial of history, on this occasion by expressing that the war itself and the peace agreements were a farce, this is also a speech incorrect that it is important to demystify its content, ”said Morales.
The former Attorney General pointed out that “the peace accords set a historic course, a profound change, at least, in the institutional framework of the state and stopped a 12-year war, all changes from then on and although we have an imperfect society, the agreements have such a historical dimension that they stand on every president ”.
“The peace agreements have a historical dimension beyond any individual official and it is impossible for even a single president to tarnish the peace agreements,” he said.
He indicated that “what was really tainted by President Bukele in his speech was the history of the communities that had taken him in, these communities that suffered many massacres, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, bombings, the war, in exile. went and lived as refugees in the border area of Honduras ”.
To Morales “it is now very clear that it is a very traditional position of government, similar to that of previous governments that hindered investigations, now even more restrained by annoying the victims, by disrupting dialogue with the community for reparations, protecting criminals against war and attacks by representatives of the victims ”.