The journalists' guild of El Salvador went to the Supreme Court to protest against the “gag reform” that affects press freedom

The Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), together with the Cristosal organization, went to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to try to reverse a reform package that in their opinion “criminalizes” the press for reporting on gangs, this as a last resort before appearing to international bodies.

“It is very important to set this precedent. Our expectations are limited, given that it is a spurious Constitutional Chamber” and “we have to exhaust national bodies before proceeding to other types of international bodies,” the president of the APES, César Castro Fagoaga, told a press conference.

Both organizations question the current Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), since it was irregularly appointed in May 2021 and among them are former lawyers for senior officials and former advisers to the Government of Nayib Bukele.

However, Castro indicated that it is time for “the tax magistrates to choose which side they want to be on.”

“It is a good opportunity, despite being kneeling at the Presidential House, to rebel and working in accordance with the Constitution,” said the journalist.

He added that these amendments to the Gang Prohibition Act and the Penal Code, which punish up to 15 years in prison for “any demonstration” that alludes to “territorial control” of gangs, are generating doubts in the union about what can be published and not about the phenomenon of gangs.

He pointed out that the wording of the amendments is “ambiguous” and that the statements of deputies of the ruling party indicate that “what they want to do is criminalize those we are reporting”.

ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS AND EXILE

The representative of APES pointed out that “every week” journalists are attacked by officials and “they are engaged in insulting, insulting”.

“Nor is it a secret that there are journalists who have already left the country (...) and it is sad that journalists, due to the threats, have to leave the country,” Castro stressed, noting that there are at least four members of the journalistic guild who have opted for such a measure.

He stressed that the reforms are “ambiguous” and their scope is unknown, because “it is not a legal issue, it is a political issue”, since it falls to “judges who respond to the ruling party to determine whether what we publish violates any law or not.”

“What we ask journalists from APES is that we be united at this time and that we know that these reforms are unfair,” he added, emphasizing that “there is a lot of concern, there is uncertainty.”

THE VICES OF THE REFORM

Ruth López, head of the Anti-Corruption Law and Justice area of Cristosal, told journalists that one of the irregularities that, in her opinion, the reforms possess is that they came into effect after their publication in the Official Gazette.

He indicated that permanent changes, in accordance with the Constitution, must enter into force 8 days after their publication.

He argued that the “substantive grounds” for claiming unconstitutionality are that “they are promoting an absolute limitation on journalistic practice” and the right of citizens to be “duly informed”, in addition to using “indeterminate legal terms”.

He indicated that the reform, which the journalistic union has described as “gag”, violates the Constitution by being a “prior censorship”, prohibited in the Magna Carta.

“In no way do we come to protect criminal groups, but the right of every citizen to be properly informed and that the journalistic exercise be carried out in a free way,” López said.

In the lawsuit, the constitutionalist judges were asked the precautionary measure to suspend the effects of the reform while a judgment was issued.

These amendments were made within the framework of an emergency regime approved by the Legislative Assembly following a wave of murders at the end of March and which is still in force.

In addition to this extraordinary measure, Congress approved, at the proposal of Bukele and without any parliamentary study, the tightening of penalties for gang members and endorsed the trial of adolescents as adults.

The new package of amendments prohibits the media from “the reproduction and transmission to the general population of messages or communications originating or allegedly originating from such criminal groups, which could cause anxiety and panic among the population”.

With Bukele's initiative, which he compared to the German fight against Nazism, graffiti or “any visual expression” that “explicitly or implicitly conveys messages” from gangs were also declared illegal.

These reforms have been compared by Salvadoran human rights defenders and international organizations with legislation in force in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

(With information from EFE)

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