During the commemoration of the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests and two of their collaborators, the rector of the UCA questioned some measures of the current government.
During the Eucharistic celebration to honor the Jesuit martyrs, the rector of the Central American University “José Simeón Cañas” (UCA), Father Andreu Oliva, expressed a series of social appeals, one of them addressed to the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, to urge him to focus his work on those most in need.
“I would say to our president: Do not look for your own interest, do not let yourself be carried away by ambition and the desire to increase your fame with lying propaganda, spending millions of dollars on it,” Oliva said during the homily at the UCA.
The Bukele government has been characterized by blocking or hiding information about communications and advertising expenses.
For Oliva, the government’s efforts should be focused on those most in need, instead of exalting the figure of Bukele, and on events that involve a million-dollar expenditure of public funds.
The criticism of the Jesuits towards Bukele also focused on expenses on “lying propaganda” and on the Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in the country on November 18.
“With beauty pageants that cost millions of dollars, while there are so many people who are hungry in your country, do not continue wasting the country’s money with your whims, have compassion for poor people, make sure they have housing, education and health, ‘Do not continue marginalizing them,” was Oliva’s message to Bukele.
The Jesuit directly asked the president to be transparent and accountable for what Salvadorans have allowed him to administer.
To date, measures such as the purchase of cryptocurrencies, El Salvador’s million-dollar agreement with Google and even public health plans remain under wraps. In the case of some State services, confidentiality of information has been applied for up to seven years.
The call to respect human dignity
The Jesuit community and hundreds of Salvadorans participated on Saturday in the commemoration of the murder of six priests jesuits and two women committed by army personnel during the war (1980-1992).
The message also included a call to the authorities to respect human dignity.
Although for the rector, it is right that the mayors want to organize the cities, it is essential that the conditions be provided so that those who are evicted from their jobs obtain the necessary mechanisms to continue “earning an honest living.”
“Do it without abusing the poorest, without leaving them helpless and taking away their livelihoods and taking their sales out of the city center. Do not threaten them with applying the emergency regime, offer them real options and do not deceive them with promises,” expressed Andreu Oliva.
The Jesuit community also criticized the “arrests of innocents” and urged not to continue “torturing” those captured under the emergency regime imposed by President Bukele.
Likewise, the Jesuit highlighted the need to maintain public security, but not at the expense of police and military acting outside the laws.
“Act fairly, respect the law and do not take innocent people to prison, without evidence that they have committed a crime. “Do not falsely denounce, do not act with violence or mistreat your people, do not take advantage of their uniform or their authority,” the priest asked.
El Diario de Hoy documented the case of a minor allegedly raped by a soldier in Mizata, La Libertad. In that case, according to testimonies collected, the soldier would have threatened to apply the emergency regime to the victim’s friends and family if she resisted. Likewise, in El Triunfo, testimonies were documented from women who accused a soldier of abusing his position to intimidate the regime and commit sexual harassment.
The Director of the Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, has previously declared within the framework of the exceptional regime that police officers are “street judges.”
Father Oliva also called on those responsible for the penal centers not to continue torturing the detainees, not to treat them with violence, to prevent them from dying in prisons.
“Be compassionate and merciful with your families and with your mothers, and report promptly the health and whereabouts of your children. “Do not add more suffering to what you already have,” Oliva concluded.
Human rights organizations have questioned the emergency regime, which suppresses constitutional guarantees and allows arrests without court orders and because at least 191 people have died in state custody in prisons.
The Legislative Assembly extended the regime for the twentieth time on Tuesday, at the request of President Bukele in his “war” against gangs, which has led to the arrest of 73,800 alleged members of these gangs. More than 7,000 people have been released since the beginning of the measure.
The new extension of the regime will be in force from November 13 to December 12.