Ruben Blades defends Nayib Bukele’s re-election in El Salvador

Last Sunday, while Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado with his orchestra received the Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Tropical Album for “Simbra: 45 (Degrees) Anniversary (Live at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, May 14, 2022)” . Presidential and legislative elections were held in El Salvador. That country’s President Nayib Bukele won re-election with more than 83% of the vote, while his party, Nuevas Ideas, received the largest number of votes.

Panamanian singer Rubén Blades wrote on his official website some thoughts about the general elections in El Salvador and defended the democratic vote in that country. “His rivals, the leftist “Farabundo Martí,” and the rightist “Arena,” denounced “anomalies” in the electoral process. A euphemism to describe the “glove box” in ballot boxes that they expect to receive from the official candidate. “The people of El Salvador reached power against parties that betrayed, disappointed, and failed when they came to power,” he wrote.

“Whatever has been said about Bukele, the effects of his administrative management so far have the majority support of the Salvadoran people, even more so when his opponents have not stated what they would do, what reforms Bukele would propose. What he has proposed, or has not done, for the time being, nor how he would execute it. They accuse him of being a dictator, even though he rules with a democratically elected Senate,” Blades wrote. .

WATCH: Nayib Bukele is going to win by fraud in El Salvador | La Pula

The singer, actor and lawyer assures that Bukele’s opponents “the president forgets the failures and corruptions committed by his parties and representatives during his seizure of power. Is ARENA, a party founded in 1981 by former military man Roberto D’Aubuisson, a fascist responsible for the assassination of US Archbishop and saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, going to give Bukele a lesson in civics? Is? Is Farabundo Martí, along with his former leader Mauricio Funes and the former president of El Salvador, taking refuge in Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua, fleeing corruption charges, going to teach Bukele a lesson in governing transparently?

“Present arguments and possible solutions instead of slander, insults and lies, to see if they can be believed. I don’t know if Bukele will become a disappointment to his country in the future, like Daniel Ortega, who went from hero to dictator. All I know is that right now I can’t keep up with him,” concluded the text written by Blades.

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There are those who believe that Bukele’s re-election is unconstitutional, as El Salvador’s Magna Carta indicates that public servants such as the President cannot be immediately re-elected. According to the president’s critics, at least six articles of the Constitution prohibit re-election.

“In El Salvador, immediate re-election is prohibited by the Constitution (…) It contains several provisions that clearly indicate that anyone who has held the presidency in the period preceding the new one cannot hold the presidency Is,” explained Eduardo Escobar, executive director of Citizen Action, a nonprofit that specializes in social surveillance, told CNN.