The Congress of El Salvador on Tuesday approved a constitutional reform introducing life sentences for individuals convicted of murder, rape, and terrorism.
The local newspaper La Prensa Gráfica reports the Salvadoran parliament — overwhelmingly controlled by members of President Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas (NI) party — approved a constitutional amendment modifying paragraph 2 of Article 27 of El Salvador’s constitution, which prohibits life sentences and other specific types of punishment.
The changes remove the prohibition on life sentences, and add, “Life imprisonment will be imposed only on murderers, rapists, and terrorists” to the paragraph.
“Imprisonment for debt, degrading punishments, exile, and all forms of torture are prohibited. Life imprisonment shall be imposed only on murderers, rapists, and terrorists,” the modified version of the paragraph now reads, as per the BBC’s Spanish-speaking division, BBC Mundo.
The constitutional reform was approved by 59 out of the Congress’ 60 members, including all 54 New Ideas members, its tree allied lawmakers, and two lawmakers from the opposition.
Lawmaker Marcela Villatoro, of the opposition Arena party, reportedly explained that her party would support the reform because, “We don’t want any rapists on the loose who might ever see the light of day again.” Claudia Ortiz, lawmaker of the opposition Vamos party, was the only vote against the proposal.
The reform, which must now be ratified by the Congress’ Political Commission on Wednesday, was presented to Congress by Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro, who assured lawmakers that the modification is “necessary” so that the improvements made to El Salvador’s security are “irreversible.”
“That sense of security, combined with justice, leads us to review all crime statistics, and we have been analyzing trends in homicides and rapes,” Villatoro reportedly told Congress during his presentation.
“The country we aspire to also requires that our societies be free of murderers and rapists,” he continued.
La Prensa Grafica reported that towards the end of his presentation, Minister Villatoro spoke out against criticism from human rights organizations that have pointed to alleged arbitrary detentions, violations of due process, torture, and violent deaths in prison under the Salvadoran government’s crackdown against violent gangs in the country.
“At this time, our security cabinet is presenting a constitutional amendment to the Legislative Assembly to authorize life imprisonment (which has been prohibited by the Constitution until now) for murderers, rapists, and terrorists,” President Bukele wrote on social media on Wednesday afternoon amid the parliamentary session.
“We will see who supports this amendment and who dares to argue that the Constitution should continue to prohibit murderers and rapists from remaining in prison,” Bukele continued.
La Prensa Grafica detailed that in addition to the constitutional reform, the lawmakers sent a reform package to the Political Commission containing changes to four laws — the Penal Code, the Law Against Acts of Terrorism, the Juvenile Criminal Law, and the Comprehensive Special Law for a Life Free of Violence for Women — to amend the corresponding penalties for the crimes of murder, rape, and terrorism for the implementation of life sentences, as well as mechanisms for reviewing said sentences under certain conditions.
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