Human rights organizations, war victims, opposition groups, intellectuals, and ex-combatants have spoken out against the Salvadoran president’s recent attack. Here to watch against Peace Accords That 29 years ago, led by the United Nations, put an end to A bloody civil war That left more than 75,000 dead in El Salvador, but that for the controversial president is A. “Masquerade”, “work” of the elites, and “an agreement between the corrupt.”. On Friday, a group of social organizations and victims of the armed confrontation called on my agent to respect the agreements and maintain the government’s commitment to human rights, while a hundred Salvadoran and foreign academics published a letter rejecting the president’s statements and asking for respect. For truth and historical memory.

Discontent mounted in the Central American country on January 16, when the president refused for the second year in a row to celebrate the signing of peace agreements, but also By decree announced by Twitter That this date becomes a day of remembrance for the victims of the conflict. Buckili wrote on the social network: “From now on, by presidential decree, January 16 will be the” Day of Victims of Armed Conflict “, Your preferred medium for communicating your presidential decisions. He stressed, “We will stop commemorating those who ordered their deaths and we will start memorializing those who must be remembered.”

For Boukelly, “the signing of peace agreements did not represent any improvement of the population in their most basic rights,” but rather translated into “the beginning of a phase of greater corruption, social exclusion and fraudulent enrichment of these sectors. The signing of the agreements,” referring to members of the government at the time and the Farabundo Marty Liberation Front The National (FMLN), which concluded the so-called Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992. This agreement allowed an end to one of the most violent wars that America had suffered, with horrific episodes such as the El Mozote massacre in 1981 when soldiers from the Salvadoran army’s Atlácatl battalion – Many of them were trained in School of the AmericasAt least 986 people (552 children and 434 adults, including 12 pregnant women; all of them farmers) were killed in an operation aimed at eliminating leftist gangs.

It was precisely at El Mozote that Bukele expressed his greatest criticism of the peace accords at the end of December, in a public work involving the victims of that massacre. The president said the war was a showcase, as was the UN-sponsored agreement. “Unfortunately, this tarnishes the reputation of the peace accords. Yes, I am preventing them because they were a farce, negotiations between two leaderships or what benefits did they bring to the Salvadoran people?” Bukele had already unleashed a political crisis in El Salvador by blocking the military files related to the The El Mozote MassacreAfter the disobedience Court order issued by A judge checks files as part of the judicial process seeking to clarify what happened in that impoverished Salvadoran community.

After Buckili’s criticism, human rights groups and victims of the San Salvador conflict protested. On Friday, representatives of various social organizations read a statement calling on the president to abide by “responsibilities” with regard to human rights left over from the peace accords. Fundación member David Ortiz said, “There are fundamental responsibilities that the president must fulfill, mainly to stop protecting the perpetrators, as happened in the refusal to comply with the court order to access the military archives in the El Mozote case.” de Estudios for Law Enforcement (Fespad). In addition, 107 historians, academics and personalities from El Salvador and other countries have published a letter in which they “categorically reject” Buckilly’s statements. “We are concerned that as a president he is treating such important issues lightly,” they criticize and demand respect for truth and historical memory. The document published by the digital medium El Faro, Signed by personalities who participated in the pacification process that concluded with the signing of the agreement at Chapultepec Castle, in Mexico City.

Buckili was also criticized by former guerrilla members, such as Anna Guadalupe Martinez, who represented the Revolutionary People’s Army (ERP), one of the groups close to the FMLN, in the agreements. In practice, there are very few families in this country that were left untouched, injured, or participated in that longstanding confrontation. Therefore, it was not only a surprise, but also a pain, because the President does not sympathize with the hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran victims, not only those who died but also those who are still alive. And it clearly seemed to me not only irresponsible but completely outside the head of state’s mentality. I said: Well, this statement depicts exactly what it is, the smoke. Not thinking of anything, ” The former fighter said in remarks to Focos TV series.

Amanda Castro, daughter of war victims, says Buckley maintains a “line of denial” that undermines the historical memory of El Salvador. “These are insidious and deeply perverted stories that stem from deep ignorance,” Castro told EL PAÍS by phone. “The president is taking advantage of this history [la conmemoración de los acuerdos] To deny the story. Although there are challenges, we cannot deny the progress that has been made with regard to the agreements, because they are institutionalized in the country, a human rights ombudsman office is established and the armed forces are subject to civilian authorities, ”he adds. For Castro, the Salvadoran president shows“ authoritarian signs. And an apparent dictatorship “endangering human rights in El Salvador.” Through his sarcastic negotiating statements, the president once again puts the country on the side of the country, when peace agreements are achievements of the entire Salvadoran community, outside of political parties. These agreements must be defended, which put Bokeli’s statements today at risk, ”the activist concludes.