El Salvador’s Congress approved a constitutional amendment pushed by President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday to permit life sentences, the Associated Press reported. The vote advances an overhaul Bukele has framed as part of the country’s campaign against gangs, in a context where the government has relied on sweeping security powers and where critics have argued constitutional limits and checks on authority are being weakened.
The amendment was presented by Bukele’s security cabinet earlier in the day before the legislature, which is controlled by Bukele’s political party, AP reported. Lawmakers approved the measure by a 59-60 margin, and the reform is expected to be ratified next week. Bukele has also been advancing multiple constitutional changes, and AP said legal experts widely consider earlier reforms connected to his long-term political plans to violate El Salvador’s constitution.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Bukele wrote, “We will see who supports this reform and who dares to defend the idea that the Constitution should continue prohibiting murderers and rapists from remaining in prison.” The constitutional change would therefore alter a ban that, under the existing framework, prohibits murderers and rapists from remaining in prison, according to Bukele’s own framing of the amendment’s purpose.
The new reform adds to security measures that began under emergency powers. AP said El Salvador’s gang crackdown began in March 2022 following a wave of violence, and that an emergency initially described as temporary has been extended for nearly four years. AP reported that the emergency has suspended key constitutional rights and has resulted in around 91,300 people being detained.
Human rights groups have documented what they describe as arbitrary detentions during the state of emergency for years, AP reported. One group, the Associated Press said, alleged to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the vast majority of those imprisoned under the emergency were arbitrarily detained; Bukele sharply criticized that allegation and has said that 8,000 “innocent people” have been released.
AP also reported that, alongside the gang campaign and constitutional changes, Bukele’s government has moved against critics and activists, with some journalists and opposition voices increasingly facing pressure to choose between exile or prison. Officials in Bukele’s government have previously vowed that gang members detained “will never return” to the streets, AP said.