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Right to insurrection (El Salvador)

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Constitutional right in El Salvador

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Articles 87 and 88 of the constitution of El Salvador grant the Salvadoran people the "right to insurrection" ("derecho a la insurrección")—the right to overthrow members of their government—to restore constitutional order in the event of a coup d'état, government human rights violations, or attempts to enable presidential re-election. Although the right to insurrection is constitutionally protected, there are limitations on when it can be invoked and on the scope of its power to depose officials, and it may not be used to abrogate or amend the constitution.

The right to insurrection has been enshrined in every Salvadoran constitution since 1886, with the exception of the 1939 constitution; the right has been present in the constitutions of 1886, 1945, 1950, 1962, and 1983. The right to insurrection was invoked by the Armed Forces of El Salvador during the 1894, 1931, and 1979 coups. President Nayib Bukele threatened to invoke the right to insurrection during the country's 2020 political crisis, and his opponents called for the right to be invoked following Bukele's presidential re-election in 2024. According to a 2020 poll by LPG Datos, there is little public awareness in El Salvador of the right to insurrection.

Constitutional text

The constitution of El Salvador, in force since 1983, enshrines the right to insurrection as a constitutional right of the Salvadoran people in articles 87 and 88.[1] The articles read:[2]: 18

Article 87

The people's right to insurrection is recognized, for the sole objective of restoring the constitutional order disrupted by violations of the rules concerning the established form of government or political system, or for grave violations of the rights enshrined in this Constitution.

The exercise of this right shall not result in the abrogation or amendment of this Constitution and shall be limited to removing, as necessary, the offending officials, replacing them in a temporary manner until they are substituted in a manner established by this Constitution.

The powers and responsibilities that correspond to the fundamental bodies established by the Constitution may not, under any circumstances, be exercised by the same person or by a single institution.[a]

Article 88

The rotation in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is indispensable for the established form of government and political system. The violation of this norm compels the continuation of insurrection.[b]

Purpose and limitations

The right to insurrection in the constitution of El Salvador is intended to legitimize the Salvadoran people's overthrow of their government. The primary instance in which the right was historically intended to be invoked was in the event that the government attempts to perpetuate a president's term in office such as through re-election. The constitution long considered re-election to be incompatible with democracy.[1] In 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador ruled that re-election was permissible. Legislator Guillermo Gallegos argued that the court's ruling overrode article 88 that obligated the people to launch an insurrection to prevent presidential re-election.[3] Despite the ruling and later constitutional reforms that allowed indefinite presidential re-election,[4] article 88 remains intact.[2]: 18

In the event of a coup d'état, the constitution mandates that the right to insurrection shall only be invoked if a coup is successful in usurping the government. If a coup is in progress or unsuccessful, the right to insurrection is not valid as the state is the only authority entrusted to resist and punish coup participants. Furthermore, a coup must be proven to have occurred in order for the right to be validly invoked.[1]

The right to insurrection may also be invoked if the government is responsible for the violation of the people's human rights. What constitutes a violation of human rights is undefined, leaving it to the people to define it themselves based on the magnitude or quantity of violations, how long the violations had been occurring, if they were deliberate, their impact, and to the extent the state was involved. In this case, the right to insurrection is only valid if the state's prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement personnel failed to prevent, investigate, and punish said human rights violations.[1]

Paragraph 2 of article 87 prohibits the usage of the right of insurrection to abrogate or amend the constitution. This limitation is based on article 83 that stipulates that only an elected government can amend the constitution. The right to insurrection also only extends to deposing the officials who are responsible for the collapse of constitutional order. Additionally, the right is intended to maintain the continuity of democratic functions and mandates that new officials be elected to replace the deposed ones; the right is not allowed to be used to concentrate power under a single individual or institution.[1]

History

Constitutional inclusion

In 1885, Divisional General Francisco Menéndez launched a revolution against the government of President Rafael Zaldívar, and later that of Divisional General Fernando Figueroa, in opposition of Zaldívar's adoption of the 1883 constitution that allowed him to seek re-election.[5]: 79 In Menéndez's "Plan of Chalchuapa" issued at the start of his revolution, he stressed the need to exercise the right to insurrection to restore order and justice in El Salvador.[6]: 172 After Menéndez's victory, his government promulgated the 1886 constitution,[7]: 220 which was the first constitution in Salvadoran history to recognize the Salvadoran people's right to insurrection. Articles 36 and 68 of the 1886 constitution gave the Salvadoran people the right to overthrow their government so long as the insurrection did not abrogate the country's laws and replaced the deposed leaders in a manner that abided by the constitution.[1][8]: 41

The right to insurrection was revoked with the adoption of the 1939 constitution,[8]: 41–42 which enabled Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez to seek re-election. The 1886 constitution, and the right to insurrection, were briefly restored following Martínez's overthrow in 1944, and article 36 of the 1945 constitution reaffirmed the right to insurrection.[1] Article 175 of the 1950 constitution maintained the right to insurrection,[8]: 42 and article 5 further elaborated that the Salvadoran people were obligated to depose the government if it attempted to enable presidential re-election. The 1962 constitution enshrined the right to insurrection in articles 5 and 7; while the 1983 constitution enshrined the right in articles 87 and 88.[1] In 2020, constitutional lawer Cayetano Núñez proposed eliminating the right to insurrection citing apparent contradictions with articles 85 and 86 and further criticized the inclusion of such a right in the constitution, describing it as "an incitement"; his proposal was not approved.[9]

<tbody> </tbody>
Inclusion of the right to insurrection in Salvadoran constitutions[1][8]: 41
Status Constitutions
Right included Green tickY 1886, 1945, 1950, 1962, 1983
Right absent Red XN 1824, 1841, 1864, 1871, 1872, 1880, 1883, 1885, 1939

Invocations

A black-and-white photograph of Divisional General Francisco Menéndez
Francisco Menéndez invoked the right to insurrection in his 1885 revolution and enshrined the right in the 1886 constitution.

Menéndez invoked the right to insurrection in his revolution that deposed presidents Zaldívar and Figueroa in 1885[6]: 172 and subsequently enshrined the right in the 1886 constitution.[8]: 41 In 1894, General Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez (who fought alongside Menéndez in 1885)[7]: 131 invoked the right to insurrection when he launched the Revolution of the 44 against General Carlos Ezeta.[6]: 199

Following the 1931 coup d'état that overthrew Arturo Araujo, United States ambassador Charles B. Curtis described the coup as having been "entirely constitutional" due to the armed forces' invoking the right to insurrection coupled with various unconstitutional actions by Araujo during the coup.[10]: 101 Although the right to insurrection was not present in the 1939 constitution, the Due Process Foundation considers the mass protests that led to Martínez's overthrow in 1944 as an exercise of the right against presidential re-election.[11] The Revolutionary Government Junta justified the 1979 coup d'état that overthrew General Carlos Humberto Romero by invoking the right to insurrection on the basis that Romero's government, among other reasons, violated the people's human rights.[12]: 250

In July 2018, Nayib Bukele threatened to invoke the right to insurrection if the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) attempted to block his presidential candidacy for the 2019 presidential election.[13] In February 2020, Bukele (who won the 2019 election) threatened to invoke article 87 if legislators of the Legislative Assembly did not attend a session he convoked to approve a loan for his security plan. According to Bukele, they would violate the constitutional order by not attending the session as Bukele had convoked the session using article 167. Bukele again alluded to invoking the article when not enough legislators attended the session to reach quorum.[14] Former legislator Walter Araujo similarly called for an insurrection against the Legislative Assembly to occur one week after the session.[15]

During the 2024 presidential election, in which Bukele successfully ran for re-election, various politicians and constitutional lawyers called for Salvadorans to invoke their right to insurrection.[3][16][17] In particular, six civil organizations affirmed the right to insurrection citing article 88; Rubén Zamora, a former legislator and leader of the Citizen Resistance opposition group, called for a "peaceful [insurrection] without arms" ("pacífico y sin armas") against Bukele.[18] After Bukele won re-election, the Salvadoran digital newspaper El Faro wrote that it hoped that "the insurrection to which the Political Constitution obliges will be carried out peacefully" ("que la insurrección a la que obliga la Constitución Política se realice de forma pacífica") to restore constitutional order.[19]

Public awareness

According to a February 2020 poll conducted by LPG Datos, only 16.6 percent of Salvadorans were aware of their right to insurrection while 81.4 percent were not. Those who were aware of the right had different interpretations of what it meant, with some believing that it implied they were allowed to stage a popular revolution, rebellion, or coup d'état, while others interpreted it as allowing them to stage protests or to hold an election for new legislators. The same poll found that of those who knew of the right to insurrection, a minority were willing to exercise their right.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Spanish:

    "Se reconoce el derecho del pueblo a la insurrección, para el solo objeto de restablecer el orden constitucional alterado por la transgresión de las normas relativas a la forma de gobierno o al sistema político establecidos, o por graves violaciones a los derechos consagrados en esta Constitución.

    El ejercicio de este derecho no producirá la abrogación ni la reforma de esta Constitución y se limitará a separar en cuanto sea necesario a los funcionarios transgresores, reemplazándolos de manera transitoria hasta que sean sustituidos en la forma establecida por esta Constitución.

    Las atribuciones y competencias que corresponden a los órganos fundamentales establecidos por esta Constitución, no podrán ser ejercidas en ningún caso por una misma persona o por una sola institución."
  2. ^ Spanish: "La alternabilidad en el ejercicio de la Presidencia de la República es indispensable para la forma de gobierno y sistema político establecidos. La violación de esta norma obliga el mantenimiento de a la insurrección."

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Derecho a la Insurrección: Análisis Bajo la Perspectiva Histórica" [Right to Insurrection: An Analysis from a Historical Perspective]. Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  2. ^ a b "Decreto No. 38: Constitución" [Decree 38: Constitution] (PDF). Legislative Assembly of El Salvador (in Spanish). 1983. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  3. ^ a b Magaña, Yolanda (5 December 2023). "Organizaciones Defienden "Insurrección", Gallegos Dice que Resolución se los Impide" [Organizations Defend "Insurrection", Gallegos Says that a Ruling Impedes Them]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  4. ^ Martínez, Verónica (31 July 2025). "Asamblea Aprueba y Ratifica Reforma Constitucional que Habilita la Reelección Indefinida y Amplia el Periodo Presidencial" [The Assembly Approves and Ratifies Constitutional Reforms that Enable Indefinite Re-Election and Increases the Presidential Term]. La Noticia SV (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  5. ^ Cañas Dinarte, Carlos & Scarlett Cortez, Violeta (2006). Aguilar Avilés, Gilberto & De Aguilar, Lilian (eds.). Historia del Órgano Legislativo de la República de El Salvador: 1824–2006 [History of the Legislative Organ of the Republic of El Salvador: 1826–2006] (PDF) (in Spanish) (II ed.). San Salvador, El Salvador: Albacrome. OCLC 319689765. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  6. ^ a b c Galdames Armas, Juan (1943). "La Revolución de Menéndez" [Menéndez's Revolution]. Hombres y Cosas de Santa Ana: Crónicas Históricas Documentadas de Hechos u Obras Notables de la Ciudad y Rasgos de la Vida de sus Hijos Más Ilustres [Men and Things of Santa Ana: Documented Historical Chronicles of Notable Events or Works of the City and Aspects of the Lives of Its Most Illustrious Sons] (in Spanish). Santa Ana, El Salvador. pp. 167–183. OCLC 55365899. Retrieved 23 May 2026.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ a b Ching, Erik K. (1997). From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940 (PhD thesis). Santa Barbara, California: University of California, Santa Barbara. OCLC 39326756. ProQuest 304330235. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  8. ^ a b c d e Ungo, Guillermo (1963). "La Insurrección en el Derecho Constitucional Salvadoreño" [Insurrection in the Salvadoran Constitutional Rights]. La Universidad (in Spanish) (3/4). University of El Salvador: 35–50. ISSN 0041-8242.
  9. ^ Pacheco, Melissa (20 December 2020). "Reformas a Constitución: Proponen Quitar del Texto el Derecho a Insurrección y Señalan Contradicción en Artículos" [Reforms to the Constitution: A Proposal to Remove the Text of the Right to Insurrection and Apparent Contradiction in Articles]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  10. ^ Dur, Philip F. (1998). "US Diplomacy and the Salvadoran Revolution of 1931". Journal of Latin American Studies. 30 (1): 95–119. doi:10.1017/S0022216X97004914. ISSN 0022-216X. JSTOR 158449. OCLC 9983590519. S2CID 145075012.
  11. ^ Olmedo, Daniel (18 May 2022). "La Reelección Presidencial en El Salvador" [Presidential Re-Election in El Salvador]. Due Process Foundation (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  12. ^ McClintock, Michael (1985). The American Connection: State Terror and Popular Resistance in El Salvador. Vol. 1. London, United Kingdom: Zed Books. ISBN 9780862322403. OCLC 1145770950. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  13. ^ "Bukele Usa el Artículo 87 de la Constitución como Escudo Contra Sus Detractores" [Bukele Uses Article 87 of the Constitution as a Shield Against His Detractors]. La Página (in Spanish). 31 July 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  14. ^ "Crisis en El Salvador: Qué Dice el Artículo 87 de la Constitución que Invocó Nayib Bukele para Llamar a la "Insurrección"" [Crisis in El Salvador: What Does Article 87 of the Constitution Say, which Nayib Bukele Invoked to Call for "Insurrection"]. BBC Mundo (in Spanish). 10 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  15. ^ "A Pesar de ser Denunciado por el FMLN, Walter Araujo le Pide a Bukele que se Aparte y Llama a Insurrección para este Domingo" [Despite Being Denounced by the FMLN, Walter Araujo Asks Bukele to Step Aside and Calls for an Insurrection this Sunday]. La Página (in Spanish). 12 February 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  16. ^ Alfaro, Xiomara (25 October 2023). "IDHUCA: "Si el Presidente se Inscribe, es Una Candidatura Inconstitucional y no Debería ser Votada"" [IDHUCA: "If the President Registers, It's an Unconstitutional Candidacy and Should Not Be Voted For"]. El Diario de Hoy. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  17. ^ "Abogado en El Salvador Insiste en Ilegalidad de Reelección" [Lawyer in El Salvador Insists that Re-Election is Illegal]. Diario Co Latino (in Spanish). San Salvador. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  18. ^ Magaña, Yolanda (5 December 2023). "Seis Organizaciones Rechazan Elección de Designada de Bukele y Dicen Tienen Derecho a "Insurrección Pacífica"" [Six Organizations Reject the Election of Bukele's Designate and They Say They have the Right to "Peaceful Insurrection"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  19. ^ Dada Hirezi, Héctor (31 May 2024). "Un Estado De Facto" [A De Facto State]. El Faro (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  20. ^ Segura, Edwin (1 March 2020). "La Insurrección es Algo Desconocido y con Poco Apoyo" [Insurrection is Something Unknown and with Little Support]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2026.

Further reading

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