LatinNews Daily - 11 August 2025

El Salvador: On 6 August the international media circulated a statement by the US Department of State backing the 31 July vote by El Salvador’s 60-member unicameral legislative assembly to remove presidential terms limits. The vote opens the door for President Nayib Bukele, who first took office in June 2019 and was re-elected in 2024, to seek to remain in office indefinitely. A US Department of State statement circulated to media such as the Associated Press (AP), said that the change was made by a “democratically elected” congress and that “it is up to them to decide how their country should be governed.” The AP cited the statement as saying that: “We reject the comparison of El Salvador’s democratically based and constitutionally sound legislative process with illegitimate dictatorial regimes elsewhere in our region”. This is the latest sign of strong ties between US President Donald Trump and President Bukele who has taken deported immigrants from the US into Salvadorean prisons. The reform has been widely condemned by the human rights community. Most recently, on 5 August international NGO Amnesty International issued a statement warning that “the manner in which constitutional reforms are being approved in El Salvador reveals a pattern of authoritarian practices that seek to undermine the conditions necessary for the full enjoyment of human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, participation in public affairs, and access to justice in cases of abuse of power”.

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