ABSTRACT
In El Salvador, the repression of the peasant uprising in 1932 paved the way for the political domination of the military until 1979. The military became the political elite for nearly 50 years, while the major landholders all but monopolised economic power. The irruption, in the 1970s, of armed revolutionary organisations and the resulting civil war converted the army into a key player in guaranteeing the continued existence of the state. In 1992, the peace accords managed to demilitarise the Salvadorian state and politics, while subjecting the armed forces to civil power and, at least in theory, assigning them a new role equivalent to that which the armed forces play in any democratic society. This demilitarisation of the state did not affect, to all intents and purposes, one of the essential spheres envisaged in the peace accords: public security. Even though the reform of the 1983 Constitution, because of the accords, stipulated that the military could only undertake public security tasks in emergency situations and for a limited time, their involvement in them, thanks to the legal mechanism of the executive decrees signed by the president of the republic, has been a constant over the past three decades and has been stepped up over time. Between 2009 and 2019, the period during which the former guerrilla movement FMLN was in power, the social presence, power and autonomy of the Salvadoran armed forces increased within the state. The inability of the two parties that have governed El Salvador since 1992 to reduce violence and insecurity or to resolve other deep-rooted problems in the country are some of the reasons behind their defeat and the victory of Nayib Bukele in the presidential elections held in February 2019. The collapse of the party system emerging from the peace accords, President Bukele’s disdain for the system of checks and balances and the support that he seems to enjoy among the army are now symptoms of a process of de-democratisation. Although a return to military authoritarianism does not appear to be on the cards in the short term, it does seem clear that there is currently a regression towards a new form of autocracy under a civil leadership and with the support of the armed forces.
