IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 408 
Urging the Government of El Salvador to respect the country’s democratic 
institutions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2021 
Mr. SIRES (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GREEN of Tennessee, 
Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. 
VARGAS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. 
KELLY of Illinois, Mr. TRONE, Mr. SOTO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, 
Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. PFLUGER, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Urging the Government of El Salvador to respect the 
country’s democratic institutions. 
Whereas El Salvador held legislative, municipal, and Central 
American Parliament elections on February 28, 2021; 
Whereas the preelectoral period was marked by increased ten-
sions and the reemergence of political violence, resulting 
in two known deaths; 
Whereas the Organization of American States Election Ob-
servation Mission issued a statement on March 1, 2021, 
in which it ‘‘[congratulated] the Salvadoran people who, 
with patience and democratic conviction, went to the polls 
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on February 28 to express their will clearly and peace-
fully’’; 
Whereas the political party of President Nayib Bukele, 
Nuevas Ideas, won a sweeping majority of legislative 
seats in the February 2021 elections; 
Whereas electoral officials were threatened during the vote 
count; 
Whereas, in September 2019, President Nayib Bukele signed 
an agreement with the Secretary General of the Organi-
zation of American States to establish the International 
Commission Against Impunity in El Salvador (CICIES) 
in order to ‘‘support, strengthen, and actively collaborate 
with the institutions’’ of the Salvadoran state . . . ‘‘re-
sponsible for preventing, investigating, and punishing 
acts of corruption and related crimes’’ and by April 2021, 
the CICIES confirmed that it had sent twelve cases of 
possible corruption-related crimes to the office of the At-
torney General; 
Whereas the Government of El Salvador has increasingly 
been denounced for its attacks on press freedoms by or-
ganizations such as the Inter-American Commission on 
Human Rights and the Committee to Protect Journalists; 
Whereas, during its inaugural session on May 1, 2021, the 
Legislative Assembly of El Salvador overwhelmingly ap-
proved motions to remove and replace all five members 
of El Salvador’s Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme 
Court and the Attorney General without just cause; 
Whereas, also on May 1, 2021, the Legislative Assembly’s 
measure was determined unconstitutional by the deposed 
Constitutional Chamber, the Justices were prevented 
from carrying out their duties by the national police, and 
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the ruling was subsequently removed from the official 
website; 
Whereas, on May 5, 2021, the Government of El Salvador 
implemented a law granting legal immunity to govern-
ment officials for conduct related to public procurements 
during the COVID–19 pandemic; 
Whereas, in recent weeks, top government officials have pro-
posed a constituent assembly with reforms, including per-
mitting Presidential reelections; and 
Whereas the Government of El Salvador has discussed lim-
iting democratic space for independent civil society: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) congratulates the people of El Salvador for 
exercising their fundamental right to vote for legisla-
tive, municipal, and Central American Parliament 
positions; 
(2) 
reaffirms 
that 
combating 
corruption, 
strengthening democratic institutions, and sup-
porting judicial independence in El Salvador are in 
the United States national interests, as they directly 
support regional security objectives of the United 
States, including reducing irregular migration, com-
bating drug trafficking and violence, protecting 
human rights, and promoting prosperity and eco-
nomic development; 
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(3) recognizes El Salvador’s progress in reduc-
ing homicides by nearly 50 percent from 2019 to 
2020, the lowest level in two decades; 
(4) encourages the Government of El Salvador 
to expand bilateral efforts with the United States to 
address the root causes of migration; 
(5) condemns the process by which five con-
stitutional court judges were removed without clearly 
established legal cause and replaced in a way that 
circumvented the legally prescribed vetting process 
for selecting new justices; 
(6) urges the Government of El Salvador to re-
spect the independence of the judicial branch and 
the separation of powers as provided in the Salva-
doran Constitution; 
(7) urges the Government of El Salvador to 
guarantee the independence of the Human Rights 
Ombudsperson (Procurador de DDHH), the Mag-
istrates of the Tribunal for Expenditures (Tribunal 
de Cuentas), and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, 
including refraining from dismissing the Ombudsper-
son and Magistrates; 
(8) calls on the Government of El Salvador to 
guarantee the freedom of the press and refrain from 
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intimidating or harassing journalists or media out-
lets; 
(9) urges the Government of El Salvador to up-
hold the rights of freedom of expression, association, 
and assembly, including for human rights organiza-
tions and anticorruption activists, in accordance with 
El Salvador’s commitments under the American 
Convention on Human Rights; 
(10) recognizes the Government of El Sal-
vador’s willingness to work with the Organization of 
American States to fight corruption and encourages 
the Government of El Salvador to fully cooperate 
with the International Commission Against Impunity 
in El Salvado (CICIES); 
(11) expresses deep concern about the passage 
of a law that could provide immunity for current 
public officials engaged in acts of criminality or cor-
ruption during the COVID–19 pandemic; 
(12) conveys the strong United States interest 
in ensuring that all twelve corruption cases inves-
tigated by the CICIES and referred to the Attorney 
General are completed, given the support of the 
United States in El Salvador’s fight against corrup-
tion; 
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