San Salvador. At a crowded public transportation stop in San Salvador, a minibus with a soldier as driver pulls up. The line has been intervened by the government of Nayib Bukele for illegally increasing the price of the ticket.
The scene takes place at the bus and truck terminal on routes 42 and 152, both belonging to the ACOSTES cooperative, whose boss is businessman Catalino Miranda, arrested by the police a few days ago and reported by the Prosecutor’s Office to the justice system for crimes of resistance and public disorder.
It all started when President Bukele announced last week measures to alleviate the global inflation generated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Among them the temporary suspension of some taxes on fuels to avoid an increase in the passage of collective transport.
He warned carriers with a government intervention if they raised their prices.
Thus, since March 12, after Miranda’s arrest, the government intervened on both routes after announcing that it was suspending their permits for increasing their prices.
With the support of the Ministry of Public Works, it ordered that the 293 transport units of these lines remain under the majority leadership of the Armed Forces, without charging for the service.
The government recalls that the Constitution allows them “to take charge of public services when social interests so require, providing them directly.”
Savings and security
Bukele, a widely popular 40-year-old millennial, maintains strong support from the Armed Forces. Through them he distributed social aid during the first months of the pandemic.
But he was also escorted by the military at the beginning of 2020 to go to Congress, at that time controlled by the opposition, and demand the approval of a budget item for a citizen security program.
The attitude earned him criticism from his opponents and from some members of the international community, who questioned his “authoritarian” attitudes.
All this in a country where a civil war was waged (1980-1992) and there are still open proceedings against senior military commanders for human rights cases.
Beyond this, users celebrate the measure. Adela Ramírez, 39, got up early from the neighboring city of Soyapango to the terminal, as she had to travel to her place of work near the city of Santa Tecla, 10 km west of San Salvador.
“With what the government is doing, I am saving because transportation is free and one is safer because soldiers are always taking care of the minibuses,” Ramírez told AFP, in line on route 42.