El Salvador Constitution of El Salvador 20 December 1983 Amended to Legislative Decree No. 36 of 27 May 2009 DECREE No. 38. WE, THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SALVADORIAN PEOPLE GATHERED IN CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, [HAVING] PLACED OR TRUST IN GOD, OUR WILL IN THE HIGH DESTINIES OF THE COUNTRY AND [WHILE] IN EXERCISE OF THE SOVEREIGN POWER GRANTED TO US BY THE PEOPLE OF EL SALVADOR, ENCOURAGED BY THE FERVENT DESIRE TO ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATIONS OF NATIONAL COEXISTENCE BASED IN THE RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON, IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MORE JUST SOCIETY, [WHICH IS] THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY AND THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE, VALUES OF OUR HUMANISTIC INHERITANCE, DECREE, SANCTION AND PROCLAIM, the following CONSTITUTION TITLE I SOLE CHAPTER THE HUMAN PERSON AND THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STATE Article 1 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 541 of 3 February 1999) El Salvador recognizes the human person as the origin and the objective of the activity of the State, which is organized for the attainment of justice, of juridical security, and of the common good. Similarly, it recognizes as [a] human person every human being from the instant of conception. In consequence, it is [an] obligation of the State to assure to the inhabitants of the Republic, the enjoyment of freedom, health, culture, economic well-being and social justice. TITLE II THE RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL GUARANTEES OF THE PERSON CHAPTER I INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND THEIR REGIME OF EXCEPTION FIRST SECTION INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS Article 2 Every person has the right to life, to physical and moral integrity, to liberty, to security, to work, to property and possession, and to be protected in the conservation and defense of the same. The right to honor, to personal and family intimacy, and to the own image [of the person], is guaranteed. Indemnification is established, in accordance with the law, for damages of moral character. Article 3 All persons are equal before the law. For the enjoyment of the civil rights[,] no restrictions may be established that are based on differences of nationality, race, sex or religion. Hereditary employments [empleos] and privileges are not recognized. Article 4 Every person is free in the Republic. No one that enters its territory will be slave and all of [those] that traffic with slaves may not be citizens. No one shall be subject to servitude or to any other condition that undermines their dignity. Article 5 Every person has the freedom to enter, remain and leave the territory of the Republic, except for the limitations established by the law. No one can be obligated to change their domicile or residence, except by mandate of a judicial authority, within the special cases and by means of the requirements established by the law. No Salvadoran can be expatriated, nor be prohibited to enter the territory of the Republic, nor may be denied a passport or other identification document to return [to the country]. Neither shall the right to leave the territory of the Republic be prohibited, except by resolution or sentence of a competent authority issued [dictada] in accordance with the laws. Article 6 Every person can express and disseminate their thoughts freely provided [that] they do not subvert the public order, or injure the morals, the honor, or the private lives of others. The exercise of this right will not be subject to previous examination, censorship or caution; but, those who infringe the laws by making use of it, shall respond for the offense [they] committed. In no case may the press, its accessories or any other medium destined for the dissemination of thought[,] be sequestered, as an instrument of crime. The businesses that dedicate themselves to written, radioed or televised communications and other publishing businesses, cannot be the object of state confiscation [estatización] or nationalization [nacionalización], either by expropriation or by any other proceeding. This prohibition is applicable to the shares of stock [cuotas sociales] of their owners. The mentioned businesses cannot establish different tariffs or make any other type of discrimination due to the political or religious character of what is published. The right to respond is recognized as a protection of the fundamental rights and guarantees of the person. The public shows [espectáculos] may be subject to censorship in accordance with the law. Article 7 The inhabitants of El Salvador have the right to associate freely and to meet peacefully and without arms for any licit purpose. Nobody may be obligated to belong to an association. No person shall be limited or prevented from the exercise of any licit activity, due to the fact of not belonging to an association. The existence of armed groups of political, religious or union [gremial] character is prohibited. Article 8 No one is obligated to do what the law does not mandate or deny himself of what it does not prohibit. Article 9 No one can be obligated to perform works or render personal services without just retribution and without his full consent, except in the cases of public calamity and the others specified by the law. Article 10 The law cannot authorize any act or contract that implies the loss or the irreparable sacrifice of the freedom or the dignity of the person. Neither can [it] authorize agreements where proscription or exile is accorded. Article 11 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 743 of 27 June 1996) No person can be deprived of the right to life, to liberty, to property and [to] possession, or [be deprived] of any other of his rights without previously being heard and defeated in a trial in accordance to the laws; nor [can the person] be tried twice for the same cause. A person has the right to habeas corpus when any individual or authority illegally or arbitrarily restricts his freedom. Habeas corpus shall also proceed when any authority infringes the dignity or the physical, mental or moral integrity of the detained persons. Article 12 Every person accused of an offense, shall be presumed innocent while his culpability is not proven in accordance with the law and in [a] public trial, in which all of the guarantees necessary for his defense have been assured. The detained person shall be informed in an immediate and comprehensible manner, of his rights and of the reasons for his detention, without being obligated to make a statement. The assistance of a defense lawyer [defensor] is guaranteed for the detainee during the diligences of the auxiliary organs of the administration of justice and in judicial proceedings, in the terms that the law establishes. The statements obtained without the will of the person lack value; whoever obtains them and employs them [in this manner] shall incur in penal responsibility. Article 13 No governmental organ, authority or functionary may issue [dictar] orders of detention or imprisonment if it is not in accordance with the law, and these orders shall always be written. When a delinquent is caught in flagrante, he may be detained by any person, to be immediately delivered to the competent authority. The administrative detention will not exceed seventy-two hours, within which [time] the detained must be consigned to the order of a competent judge, with the diligences that it may have practiced. The detention for [purposes of] investigation shall not last longer than seventy-two hours and the corresponding tribunal will be obligated to notify the detainee in person [of] the motive for its detention, [also] to receive his informal statement [indagatoria] and to decree his freedom or provisional detention, within the stated term. For reasons of social defense, the subjects that, due to their antisocial, immoral, or harmful activities, reveal a dangerous state and offer imminent risks for the society or for individuals, can be subject to re-educative or re-adaptive security measures. Such security measures must be strictly regulated by the law and [be] subject to the competence of the Judicial Organ. Article 14 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 744 of 27 June 1996) The faculty to impose penalties corresponds solely to the judicial organ. Nevertheless, the administrative authority may sanction, through [a] resolution or sentence and prior to [the] due process, the contraventions to the laws, regulations or ordinances, with arrest of up to five days or with [a] fine, which may be exchanged [permutarse] for social services provided to the community. Article 15 No one shall be tried except in accordance with the laws promulgated prior to the act in question, and by tribunals [that were] previously established by the law. Article 16 The same Judge cannot act as such in several instances within the same cause. Article 17 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 745 of 27 June 1996) No organ, functionary or authority, may assume jurisdiction [avocarse] of pending cases, nor re-open trials or procedures closed. In cases of revision of [a] penal matter, the state shall indemnify[,] in accordance with the law the victims of the duly proven judicial errors. Indemnification shall be grounds [lugar] for [cases of] delay of justice. The law shall establish the direct responsibility of the functionary and the subsidiary [responsibility] of the State. Article 18 Every person has the right direct their written petitions, in an appropriate [decorosa] manner, to the legally established authorities; to have them resolved, and to be informed of what was resolved. Article 19 Search [registro] or examination [pesquisa] of the person shall only be practiced to prevent or investigate crimes or offenses. Article 20 The home is inviolable and can only be entered by consent of the person that inhabits it, by judicial mandate, for flagrante delicto or imminent danger of its perpetration, or due to grave risk of persons. The violation of this right will be grounds [lugar] to a claim for indemnification for the damages and losses caused. Article 21 The laws cannot have [a] retroactive effect, except in matters of public order, and in penal matters when the new law is favorable to the offender. The Supreme Court of Justice will always have the faculty to determine, within its competence, if a law is or is not of public order. Article 22 Every person has the right to dispose freely of his property in accordance with the law. The property is transferable in the form determined by the laws. There shall be free making of wills [testamentifacción]. Article 23 The freedom to enter into contracts in accordance with the laws is guaranteed. No person who has [the] free administration of its property can be deprived of the right to end his civil or commercial affairs by transaction or arbitration. Concerning those who do not have that free administration, the law will determine the cases in which they may do so and the necessary requirements. Article 24 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 36 of 27 May 2009) Correspondence of any type [clase] is inviolable, [when] intercepted it will not have credence or figure in any action, except in the cases of bankruptcy [concurso y quiebra]. Interference [with] and the intervention in telecommunications is prohibited. The temporary intervention of any type of telecommunication, can be judicially authorized, in an exceptional manner, in a written and motivated form, preserving in all cases the secrecy of private [matters] that do not relate to the process. The information deriving from an illegal intervention will lack any value. The proved violation of what is set forth in this Article, by any functionary, will be just cause for the immediate dismissal from his position and will give rise to indemnification for the damages and losses caused. A special law will determine the crimes for which investigation of this authorization can be conceded. It will also specify the controls, the periodic reports to the Legislative Assembly, and the responsibilities and administrative, civil and penal sanctions that the functionaries that illegally apply this exceptional measure incur. The approval and reform of this special law will require the favorable vote of at least the two-thirds part of the deputies elected. Article 25 The free exercise of all religions is guaranteed, without greater limits that those determined [trazado] by the moral and the public order. No religious act shall serve to establish the civil status of persons. Article 26 The juridical personality of the Catholic Church is recognized. The other churches may obtain the recognition of their personality in accordance with the law. Article 27 The death penalty may only be imposed in the cases provided for by the military laws during a state of international war. Imprisonment for debts, life sentences [penas perpetuas], slanderous [punishments] [las infamantes], proscriptive [punishments] [las proscriptivas] and all forms of torture [tormento][,] are prohibited. The State will organize the penitentiary centers with the objective of reforming the delinquents, [to] educate them and [to] teach them work habits, seeing to their re-adaptation [into society] and the prevention of crimes. Article 28 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 56 of 6 July 2000) El Salvador concedes asylum to the foreigner who desires to reside in its territory, except in the cases established by the laws and by [the] international law. Any [person] persecuted only for political reasons cannot be included in the cases of exception. Extradition shall be regulated in accordance with the international treaties and when involving Salvadorians, [it] shall only proceed if the corresponding treaty expressly establishes it and it has been approved by the legislative organ of the subscribing countries. In every case, its stipulations must consecrate the principle of reciprocity and [shall] provide the Salvadorians with all the penal and procedural guarantees established by this constitution. Extradition will proceed when the crime has been committed in the territorial jurisdiction of the requesting country, except when dealing with crimes of international transcendence, and [it] shall not be stipulated in any case for political crimes, even though, as a consequence of these, common crimes would result. The ratification of all extradition treaties will require the vote of the two-thirds part of the elected deputies. SECOND SECTION REGIME OF EXCEPTION Article 29 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) In cases of war, invasion of the territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic, or other general calamity, or of serious disturbances to the public order, the guarantees established in Articles 5, 6 [in its] first paragraph, 7 [in its] first paragraph and 24 of this Constitution can be suspended, except when dealing with meetings or associations with religious, cultural, economic or sport purposes. Such suspension can affect all or part of the territory of the Republic, and will be conducted by means of a decree of the Legislative Organ or [of] the Executive Organ, as the case may be. There can also be the suspension of the guarantees contained in Articles 12 [in its] second paragraph and 13 [in its] second paragraph of this Constitution, when agreed to as such by the Legislative Organ, with the favorable vote of the three-fourths part of the elected Deputies; not exceeding the administrative detention of fifteen days. Article 30 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The period of suspension of [the] constitutional guarantees shall not exceed 30 days. After this period has lapsed the suspension may be extended, for an equal period and through a new decree, if the circumstances which motivated it continue. If such a decree is not issued, the suspended guarantees will be established of plain right. Article 31 When the circumstances that motivated the suspension of the constitutional guarantees disappear, the Legislative Assembly or the Council of Ministers, as the case may be, must reestablish these guarantees. CHAPTER II SOCIAL RIGHTS FIRST SECTION [THE] FAMILY Article 32 The family is the fundamental basis of the society and [it] will have the protection of the State, which will dictate the necessary legislation and create the appropriate organs and services for its integration, well-being and [its] social, cultural, and economic development. The legal foundation of the family is marriage and it rests on the juridical equality of the spouses. The State shall encourage [fomentará] marriage; but the lack of this will not affect the enjoyment of the rights established in favor of the family. Article 33 The law will regulate the personal and patrimonial relations of the spouses among themselves, and between themselves and their children, establishing the rights and reciprocal duties over equitable bases; and will create the necessary institutions to guarantee its applicability. Likewise it will regulate the family relations resulting from the stable union of a man and a woman. Article 34 Every minor has the right to live in family and environmental conditions that allow for his integral development, for which [he] will have the protection of the State. The law will determine the duties of the State and will create the institutions for the protection of the maternity and the infancy. Article 35 The State will protect the physical, mental and moral health of the minors, and will guarantee their right to education and [to] assistance. The antisocial conduct of the minors that constitutes [a] crime or fault [falta] will be subject to a special juridical regime. Article 36 The children born in or out of matrimony and the adopted [ones], have equal rights before their parents. [It] is the obligation of these to give their children protection, assistance, education and security. Any description [calificación] concerning the nature of the affiliation will not be consigned in the records of the Civil Registry, nor will the civil status of the parents be expressed in the birth certificates [partidas]. Every person has the right to have a name to be identified [with]. The secondary law [ley secundaria] will regulate this matter. The law will determine likewise the forms of investigating and establishing the paternity. SECOND SECTION WORK AND SOCIAL SECURITY Article 37 The work is a social function, [it] enjoys the protection of the State, and it is not considered an article of commerce. The State will employ all of the resources that are within its reach [in order] to provide [an] occupation for the worker, manual or intellectual, and to assure him and his family the economic conditions for a dignified existence. In equal form it will promote the work and the employment of the persons with physical, mental or social limitations or disabilities. Article 38 Work will be regulated by a Code which shall have as [its] principal objective the harmonizing of the relations between the employers [patronos] and [the] workers, establishing their rights and obligations. It shall be founded in general principles that tend to the improvement of the living conditions of the workers, and will especially include the following rights: 1) In a same business or establishment and in identical circumstances, to equal work must correspond [an] equal remuneration for the worker, without regard for [their] sex, race, creed, or nationality; 2) Every worker has the right to earn a minimum salary, which shall be set periodically. To set this salary, attention will be given to the cost of living, [to] the type of work, [to] the different systems of remuneration, [to] the distinct zones of production, and to other similar criteria. This salary shall be sufficient to satisfy the normal necessities of the home of the worker in the material, moral and cultural orders. For piecework [trabajos a destajo], contract work [por ajuste] or work for a lump sum [precio alzado], it is obligatory to assure the minimum wage per day [jornada] of work; 3) The salary and the social payments [prestaciones], in the quantity determined by the law, are unattachable and cannot be compensated or retained, except for food [provision] obligations. The amounts for social security, union quota, or tax obligations, may also be retained. The implements [instrumentos] of labor of the worker are unattachable; 4) The salary must be paid in [the] current legal currency [moneda de curso legal]. The salary and the social payments constitute privileged credits in relation to the other credits that could exist against an employer [patrono]; 5) The employers shall give their workers a premium [prima] for each year of work. The law will establish the form in which its quantity will be determined in relation to the salaries; 6) The ordinary workday [jornada] of effective daytime work will not exceed eight hours, and the work week [shall not exceed] forty-four hours. The maximum overtime hours [horas extraordinarias] for each type of work will be determined by the law. Night work [jornada nocturna] and the [work] fulfilled in dangerous or unhealthy tasks, will be inferior to the daytime [work] and will be regulated by the law. The limitation of working hours shall not be applied in cases of force majeure. The law will determine the extension of the pauses that shall interrupt the workday when, attending to biological reasons, the rhythm of the [pending] tasks so demands, and of those that shall intercede between two workdays. Overtime hours and night work will be remunerated with a surcharge [recargo]; 7) Every worker has the right to one day of remunerated rest for each work week, in the form required by the law. The workers who do not enjoy [a] rest [period] on the previously indicated days, will have the right to [an] extraordinary remuneration for the services rendered on those days and to compensatory leave; 8) The workers will have the right to remunerated rest on the holidays [días de asueto] that are designated by the law; [the law] will determine the types of work for which this provision shall not apply, but in such cases, the workers will have the right to an extraordinary remuneration; 9) Every worker that accredits a minimum provision of services [performed] during a given period, will have the right to an annual paid vacation in the form determined by the law. The vacations may not be compensated in money, and to the obligation of the employer to grant them[,] corresponds the obligation of the worker to take them; 10) The minors of fourteen years of age or less, and those that having reached this age still remain subject to obligatory education by virtue of the law, may not be occupied in any type of work. Their occupation can be authorized when it is considered indispensable for their subsistence or that of their family, provided that this does not prevent [the] compliance with the minimum of the obligatory education. The workday of the minors of sixteen years of age cannot be more than six hours a day and thirty-four hours a week, in any kind of work. Unhealthy or dangerous work is prohibited for persons under eighteen years of age and for women. Night work is also prohibited for persons under eighteen years of age. The law will determine the dangerous and unhealthy labors; 11) The employer who discharges [despida] a worker without [a] just cause is obligated to indemnify him in accordance with the law; 12) The law will determine under which conditions employers are obligated to pay their permanent workers, who resign from their work, an economic compensation [prestación] which amount shall be set in relation to their salaries and the time of service. The resignation produces its effects without the need for acceptance by the employer, but the refusal of the latter to pay the corresponding compensation constitutes a legal presumption of unfair discharge. In the case of total and permanent disability or [the] death of the worker, the worker or his or her beneficiaries shall have the right to the compensations they would receive in the case of voluntary resignation. Article 39 The law will regulate the conditions under which [the] collective labor contracts and agreements will be celebrated. The stipulations contained by these shall be applicable to all the workers of the businesses that subscribed to them, even if they do not belong to the contracting union, and also to the rest of the workers who enter such enterprises during the validity of such contracts or agreements. The law will establish the procedure to make uniform the working conditions in the different economic activities, with basis in the provisions contained in the majority of the collective contracts and agreements in force in each type of activity. Article 40 A system of professional training [formación] is established for the preparation and qualification of [the] human resources. The law will regulate the scope, extent and form in which the system will be put into force. The contract of apprenticeship will be regulated by the law, with the objective of assuring the apprentice training for an occupation [oficio], dignified treatment, equitable remuneration, and benefits for pension [previsión] and social security. Article 41 The domestic worker [trabajador a domicilio] has the right to an officially designated minimum salary, and to the payment of indemnification for time lost by motive of the delay of an employer in ordering or receiving [the] work or for the arbitrary or unjustified suspension of [the] work. A juridical situation [that is] analogous to [that of] the rest of the workers will be recognized for the domestic workers, taking into consideration the peculiarity of their labor. Article 42 The working woman will have the right to remunerated leave before and after childbirth, and to the conservation of her employment. The laws will regulate the obligation of the employers to install and maintain rooms for infants [salas cunas] and day care places [lugares de custodia] for the children of the workers. Article 43 The employers are obligated to pay indemnification, and to provide [the] medical, pharmaceutical and other services established by the laws, to the worker who suffers a work accident or any occupational disease. Article 44 The law will regulate the conditions that must be met by workshops, factories, and work sites [locales]. The State will maintain a technical inspection service in charge of [encargado] seeing that the legal norms of labor, assistance, pension, and social security are strictly complied with, in order to verify their results and to suggest the pertinent reforms. Article 45 The agricultural and domestic workers have the right to protection within matters of salaries, working hours, rests, vacations, social security, indemnification for dismissal and, in general, to social benefits. The extent and nature of the rights previously mentioned will be determined by the law in accordance with the conditions and peculiarities of the work. Those who render services of domestic character in industrial and commercial businesses, [in] social entities and in others [that are] similar, will be considered manual workers and will have the rights recognized to these. Article 46 The State shall be favorable to [propiciará] the creation of a Bank owned by the workers. Article 47 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 33 of 27 May 2009) The employers and private workers, without distinction of nationality, sex, race, creed or political ideas and whatever their activity [may] be or nature of the labor they conduct, have the right to associate freely, for the defense of their corresponding interests, [and to] form professional associations or unions. This same right will be held by the workers of the official autonomous institutions, the public functionaries and employees and the municipal employees. The right consigned in the previous paragraph will not be held by the public functionaries and employees included in the third paragraph of Articles 219 and 236 of this Constitution, the members of the Armed Forces, of the National Civil Police, the members of the judicial career and the public servants who exercise in their functions decision-making power or perform directive responsibilities or are employees whose obligations are of highly confidential nature. In the case of the Public Ministry, besides the titular [members] of the institutions that compose it, the right to unionization will not be held either by their respective adjuncts, nor those acting as auxiliary agents, auxiliary procurators, labor procurators and delegates. Such organizations have the right to juridical personality and to be duly protected in the exercise of their functions. Their dissolution or suspension can only be decreed in the cases and with the formalities established by the law. The special norms for the constitution and functioning of the professional organizations and agricultural [campo] unions and [unions] of the city cannot hinder freedom of association. Any clause of exclusion is prohibited. The members of union directive [boards] must be Salvadorian by birth and, during the period of their election and mandate, and after one year having elapsed from the end of their functions, cannot be terminated [despedido], suspended for disciplinary causes, transferred or demoted from their conditions of work, except for just cause previously qualified by the competent authority. Likewise, the right to collective contracting, in accordance to law, is recognized to the workers and employees mentioned in the last part of the first paragraph of this Article, the collective agreements commence to have [surtir] effect the first day of the fiscal exercise [year] following that of their celebration. A special law [ley especial] will regulate that concerning this matter. (21) Article 48 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 34 of 27 May 2009) The rights of employers to lock-out and of employees to strike are recognized, except in the essential public services determined by the law. For the exercise of these rights, prior qualification will not be necessary, after having procured the solution to the conflict generating them through the steps [etapas] for peaceful solution established by the law. The effects of the strike or the lock-out will be retroactive to the moment in which they [were] initiated. The law will regulate the conditions and exercise of these rights. Article 49 A special labor jurisdiction is established. The procedures in labor matters will be regulated in such a form that will allow for the rapid solution to the conflicts. The State has the obligation to promote conciliation and arbitration, in a manner to constitute effective means for the peaceful solution of the labor conflicts. Special administrative boards of conciliation and arbitration will be established, for the solution of collective conflicts of economic character or of [conflicts of] interest. Article 50 The social security constitutes a public service of an obligatory character. The law will regulate its scope, extent, and form. Said service shall be rendered by one or various institutions, which must observe among them an adequate coordination to assure a good policy of social protection, in [a] specialized form and with optimum utilization of resources. The employers, workers, and the State will contribute to the payment of the social security in the form and quantity determined by the law. The State and the employers will remain excluded from the obligations imposed by the law in favor of the workers, to the extent in which these are covered by the Social Security. Article 51 The law will determine the businesses and [the] establishments that, due to their special conditions, are required to provide, the worker and his family, [with] suitable housing, schools, medical assistance and [the] other services and attentions necessary for their well-being. Article 52 The rights consecrated in favor of the workers are irrenounceable. The enumeration of the rights and benefits to which this chapter refers, does not exclude [the] others that derive from the principles of social justice. THIRD SECTION EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND CULTURE Article 53 The right to education and to culture is inherent to the human person; in consequence, the preservation, promotion, and dissemination of culture is an obligation and [a] primary purpose for the State. The State shall be favorable to scientific research and occupation [quehacer]. Article 54 The State will organize the educational system for which it will create the institutions and [the] services that are necessary. The freedom to establish private centers for teaching is guaranteed for natural and juridical persons. Article 55 The education has the following purposes: to achieve the integral development of the personality in its spiritual, moral and social dimension; to contribute to the construction of a democratic society that is more prosperous, just and humane; to inculcate the respect for the human rights and the observance of the corresponding duties; to combat all spirit of intolerance and of hate; to take cognizance of the national reality and to identify [oneself] with values of the Salvadoran nationality; and to favor the unity of the People [pueblo] of Central America. The parents will have the preferential right to choose the education of their children. Article 56 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 35 of 27 May 2009) All of the inhabitants of the Republic have the right and the duty to receive an elementary [parvularia] and basic education that will train them to perform themselves as useful citizens. The State will promote the formation of special education centers. When imparted by the state, early, basic and special education will be gratuitous. Article 57 The teaching [that is] imparted in [the] official educational centers will be essentially democratic. The private educational centers shall be subject to the regulation and [the] inspection of the State and can be subsidized when they do not have purposes of making profits. The State can take as its responsibility, in an exclusive manner, the professional training [formación] of the teaching profession [magisterio]. Article 58 No educational establishment may refuse to admit students for reasons of the nature of the union of their parents or guardians, or for social, religious, racial, or political differences. Article 59 Literacy is of social interest. All inhabitants of the country shall contribute to it in the form determined by the law. Article 60 To exercise the teaching profession [docencia] it is required to accredit the capabilities in the form determined by the law. In all the teaching centers, public or private, civil or military, the instruction of national history, civics, morality, the Constitution of the Republic, the human rights and the conservation of the natural resources, will be obligatory. The national history and the Constitution shall be taught by Salvadoran professors. The freedom to lecture [cátedra] is guaranteed. Article 61 Superior education will be governed by a special law. The University of El Salvador and the others of the State shall enjoy autonomy within the teaching, administrative and economic aspects. [They] shall lend a social service, respecting the freedom to lecture. They will be governed by [the] statutes within the framework of [enumerados] such law, which shall establish the general principles for their organization and functioning. The funds [partidas] allocated [destinadas] for the sustainment of the state universities and those necessary to assure and increase their patrimony, will be consigned annually in the Budget of the State. These institutions shall be subject, in accordance with the law, to the control [fiscalización] of the corresponding state organ. The special law will also regulate the creation and functioning of [the] private universities, respecting the freedom to lecture. These universities shall render a social service and shall not pursue profit making purposes. The same law will regulate the creation and [the] functioning of the official and private technological institutes. The State will see to the democratic functioning of the institutions of superior education and for their adequate academic level. Article 62 The official language of El Salvador is Castilian Spanish [castellano]. The government is obligated to see to its conservation and teaching. The autochthonous languages that are spoken in the national territory forms part of the cultural patrimony and will be object of preservation, dissemination and respect. Article 63 The artistic, historical, and archeological wealth of the country form part of the Salvadoran cultural treasure, which shall be under the safeguarding of the State and be subject to special laws for its conservation. Article 64 The National Symbols are: the National Colors [Pabellón] or Flag, the Coat-of-Arms and the National Anthem. A law will regulate what concerns this matter. FOURTH SECTION PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE Article 65 The health of the inhabitants of the Republic constitutes a public good [bien público]. The State and the persons are obligated to see to its conservation and restoration. The State will determine the national health policy and will control and supervise its application. Article 66 The State shall give free assistance to the sick that lack resources, and to the inhabitants in general, when the treatment constitutes an effective means of preventing the dissemination of a transmissible disease. In this case, every person is obligated to submit themselves to such treatment. Article 67 The public health services shall be essentially technical. Health [sanitarias], hospital, paramedic and hospital administration careers are established. Article 68 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 7 of 15 May 2003) A Superior Council of Public Health shall see to the public health of the People [pueblo]. It will be formed by an equal number of representatives from the medical, dental, chemical-pharmaceutical, medical veterinary, clinical laboratories, psychology, nursing [enfermería] professional associations [gremios], and of others at a bachelors [licenciatura] level that the Superior Council of Public Health has qualified to establish their respective board; [it] shall have a president and a secretary appointed by the Executive Organ. The law will determine its organization. The exercise of the professions that are related in an immediate manner with the public health of the People, will be supervised by the legal organs, created by academics belonging to each of these professions. These organs will have the faculty to suspend from the professional exercise of their professions those members of the professional association under their control, when they exercise their profession with manifest immorality or ineptitude. The suspension of [the] professionals can be resolved by the competent organs in accordance with due process. The Superior Council of Public Health shall take cognizance of, and resolve, the recourses [recursos] that are interposed against the resolutions pronounced by the organs to which the previous paragraph refers. Article 69 The State will promote the necessary and indispensable resources for the permanent control of the quality of the chemical, pharmaceutical and veterinary products, by means of organs of supervision [vigilancia]. Likewise the State will control the quality of the food products and the environmental conditions that may affect the health and the well-being. Article 70 The State will take charge of the indigents that, because of their age or physical or mental disability, are unable [inhábiles] to work. CHAPTER III THE CITIZENS, THEIR POLITICAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES AND THE ELECTORAL BODY Article 71 All Salvadorans [that are] older than eighteen years of age are citizens. Article 72 The political rights of the citizen are: 1) To exercise the suffrage; 2) To associate to constitute political parties in accordance with the law and [to] join those already constituted; 3) To opt for public office [cargo] complying with the requirements determined by this Constitution and the secondary laws. Article 73 The political duties of the citizen are: 1) To exercise the suffrage; 2) To comply with and see to the compliance of the Constitution of the Republic; 3) To serve the State in accordance with the law. To exercise the suffrage comprehends, also, the right to vote in the direct popular consultation, contemplated by this Constitution. Article 74 The rights of citizenship are suspended for the following causes: 1) Formal indictment [auto de prisón]; 2) Mental derangement [enajenación]; 3) Judicial interdiction; 4) To refuse to perform, without just cause, an office of popular election; in this case, the suspension will last the entire time that the rejected office should have been performed. Article 75 The rights of citizenship are lost [by]: 1) Those of notoriously corrupt [viciada] conduct; 2) Those convicted of [a] crime; 3) Those who buy or sell votes in the elections; 4) Those who participate in [suscriban] acts, proclamations, or adhere to them, to promote or support the reelection or the continuation of the President of the Republic, or [those] who employ direct means directed to this end; 5) The functionaries, the authorities and the agents of these who restrict freedom of suffrage. In these cases, the rights of citizenship are recovered by express rehabilitation declared by [the] competent authority. Article 76 The electoral body is formed by all of those citizens with capacity of emitting [a] vote. Article 77 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) For the exercise of suffrage it is an indispensable condition to be inscribed in the electoral register prepared by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The legally registered [inscritos] political parties will have the right of monitoring [vigilancia] the preparation, organization, publication and updating of the electoral register. Article 78 The vote will be free, direct, equal and secret. Article 79 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) Electoral circumscriptions will be established in the territory of the Republic that will be determined by the law. The basis for the electoral system is the population. (1) For the election of Deputies the system of proportional representation will be adopted. The law will determine the form, [the] time and [the] other conditions for the exercise of suffrage. The date of the elections for the President and the Vice President of the Republic, must precede the initiation of the presidential term [período] by no less than two months nor more than four. Article 80 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The President and the Vice President of the Republic, the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly and of the Central American Parliament, and the members of the Municipal Councils, are functionaries of popular election. When, in the elections for [the] President and [the] Vice President of the Republic, no participating political party or coalition of political parties has obtained the absolute majority of votes in accordance with the ballot count [escrutinio practicado], a second election shall be conducted between the two political parties or coalition of political parties that have obtained the greatest number of valid votes; this second election must be held [celebrarse] in a period [of] no more than thirty days after declaring as firm the results of the first election. When by force majeure or cas fortuit, duly qualified by the Legislative Assembly, the second election cannot be carried out in the period specifed, the election will be held [verificará] within a second period of no more than thirty days. Article 81 Electoral propaganda will only be permitted, even without a prior convocation, four months before the date established by the law for the election of the President and the Vice President of the Republic; two months before, when it concerns Deputies, and one month before in the case of Municipal Councils. Article 82 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The ministers of any religious belief [culto], the members in active service in the Armed Force and the members of the National Civil Police may not belong to political parties nor opt for offices of popular election. They also cannot produce political propaganda in any form. The exercise of the vote will be exercised by [the] citizens in the places determined by the law and may not be conducted in the precincts of military or public security installations. TITLE III THE STATE, ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND [ITS] POLITICAL SYSTEM Article 83 El Salvador is a sovereign State. The sovereignty lies in the People, who exercise it in the prescribed form and within the limits of this Constitution. Article 84 The territory of the Republic over which El Salvador exercises [its] jurisdiction and sovereignty is irreducible [irreductible] and in addition to the continental part, it includes: The insular territory composed of the islands, islets and cays enumerated by the Judgment of the Central American Court of Justice, pronounced on 9 March of 1917 and also [the] others which correspond to it in accordance with the other sources of the International Law; equally [the] other islands, islets and cays that also correspond to it in accordance with the international law. The territorial waters and [those] in community of the Gulf of Fonseca, which is a historic bay with characteristics of an enclosed sea, of which [the] regime is determined by the international law and by the judgment mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The air space, the subsoil and the corresponding insular and continental platform; and also, El Salvador exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the sea, the subsoil and the sea beds [lecho marino] until a distance of 200 nautical miles counted from the level of the lowest tide, all in accordance with the regulations of the international law. The limits of the national territory are the following: TO THE WEST, with the Republic of Guatemala, in accordance with what is established in the Treaty on Territorial Limits, celebrated in Guatemala, on 9 April of 1938. TO THE NORTH, AND TO THE EAST, in part, with the Republic of Honduras, in the sections delimitated by the General Treaty of Peace, signed in Lima, Peru, on 30 October of 1980. With regards to the pending sections of delimitation, the limits will be those established in accordance with the same Treaty, or in such case, in accordance with any of the means [medios] for peaceful solution to the international controversies. TO THE EAST, in the remaining [part], with the Republic of Honduras and Nicaragua in the waters of the Gulf of Fonseca. AND TO THE SOUTH, with the Pacific Ocean. Article 85 The Government is republican, democratic and representative. The political system is pluralist and expresses itself through the political parties, which are the only instrument for the exercise of the representation of the People within the Government. The norms, [the] organization and [the] functioning will be subject to the principles of [a] representative democracy. The existence of a sole official party is incompatible with the democratic system and with the form of government established in this Constitution. Article 86 The public power emanates from the People. The organs of the Government shall exercise it independently within the respective attributions and competences established by this Constitution and the laws. The attributions of the organs of [the] Government cannot be delegated, but these will collaborate between them in the exercise of the public functions. The fundamental organs of the Government are the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial. The functionaries of the Government are delegates of the People and [they] have no more faculties than those that the law expresses to them. Article 87 The right of the People to insurrection is recognized, for the sole object of reestablishing the constitutional order altered by the transgression of the norms relative to the form of government or to the established political system, or for grave violations to the rights consecrated in this Constitution. The exercise of this right will not produce the abrogation or the reform of this Constitution and will be limited to the dismissal [separar] in what is [deemed] necessary of the transgressing functionaries, replacing them in a transitory manner until they are substituted in the form established by this Constitution. The attributions and competences that correspond to the fundamental organs established by this Constitution, cannot be exercised, in any case, by the same person or by a sole institution. Article 88 The alternation [alternabilidad] in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is indispensable for the maintenance of the established form of government and [the] political system. The violation of this norm obligates insurrection. Article 89 El Salvador will encourage and promote human, economic, social and cultural integration with the republics of the Americas and especially [with] those of the Central American isthmus. The integration can be conducted through treaties or agreements with the interested republics, which can contemplate the creation of organs with supranational functions. It will also favor the total or partial reconstruction of the Republic of Central America, in a unitary, federal or confederate form, with full guarantees of respect for [the] democratic and republican principles and [to] the individual and social rights of its inhabitants. The Bill [proyecto] and the bases of the union will be submitted to popular consultation. TITLE IV NATIONALITY Article 90 The following are Salvadorans by birth: 1) Those born in the territory of El Salvador; 2) The children of a Salvadoran father or mother, born abroad; 3) The natives [originarios] of the other States that constituted the Federal Republic of Central America, who having [a] domicile in El Salvador, manifest before the competent authorities their will to be Salvadoran, without requiring of them the renunciation of their nationality of origin. Article 91 The Salvadorans by birth have the right to enjoy the double or multiple nationality. The quality of being Salvadoran by birth is only lost by an expressed renouncement before a competent authority and is recovered by petition before the same authority. Article 92 The following may obtain the Salvadoran status [calidad] by naturalization: 1) The Spaniards and Hispano-Americans of origin that have one year of residence in the country; 2) The foreigners of any origin that have five years of residence in the country; 3) Those who obtain this quality from the Legislative Organ for noteworthy services rendered for the Republic; 4) A foreigner [masculine] married to a Salvadoran [feminine] or a foreigner [feminine] married to a Salvadoran [masculine] that can accredit two years of residence in the country, prior to or after the celebration of the matrimony. The nationality by naturalization will be granted by competent authorities in accordance with the law. Article 93 The international treaties will regulate the form and [the] conditions in which nationals of countries which do not form part of the Federal Republic of Central America retain their nationality; notwithstanding having acquired the Salvadoran nationality by naturalization, as long as the principle of reciprocity is respected. Article 94 The status [calidad] of [a] naturalized Salvadoran is lost: 1) By residing for more than two consecutive years in the country of origin or by absence from the territory of the Republic for more than five consecutive years, unless in case of a permission granted in accordance with the law; 2) By executed sentence, in the cases determined by the law. Anyone who loses his nationality in this manner cannot recover it. Article 95 The juridical persons constituted in conformity with the laws of the Republic, who have a legal domicile in the country, are Salvadorans. The regulations that the laws establish for the benefit of Salvadorans cannot be violated [vulnerarse] by means of Salvadoran juridical persons whose partners or capital are foreign in their majority. Article 96 The foreigners, from the instant they arrive in the territory of the Republic, will be strictly obligated to respect the authorities and [to] obey the laws, and will acquire the right to be protected by them. Article 97 The laws will establish the cases and the form in which a foreigner may be refused entry or residence [permanencia] in the national territory. The foreigners who directly or indirectly participate in the internal politics of the country will lose the right to reside in it. Article 98 Neither Salvadorans nor foreigners can, in any case, make claims to the government for any indemnification for damages or losses [daños y perjuicios] that to their persons or property were caused by factional conflicts [facciones]. They may only do so against the guilty functionaries or individuals. Article 99 The foreigners shall not resort to [the] diplomatic channels except in the cases of denial of justice and after exhausting the legal recourses they have available [expeditos]. A executory judgment unfavorable to the claimant does not constitute a denial of justice. Those who contravene this provision shall lose the right to reside in the country. Article 100 The foreigners will be subject to a special law. TITLE V [THE] ECONOMIC ORDER Article 101 The economic order must essentially respond to [the] principles of social justice, which tend to assure [to] all of the inhabitants of the country a dignified existence of the human being. The State will promote the economic and social development by means of the increase of the production, the productivity and the rational utilization of the resources. As an equal objective, it will encourage the diverse sectors of the production and will defend the interests of the consumers. Article 102 The economic freedom is guaranteed, in what does not oppose [the] social interest. The State will encourage and protect private initiative within the necessary conditions to increase the national wealth and to assure its benefits for the greatest number of [the] inhabitants of the country. Article 103 The right to private property serving as a social function is recognized and guaranteed. Intellectual and artistic property are also recognized, for the time and in the form determined by the law. The subsoil belongs to the State, which may grant concessions for its exploitation. Article 104 The real property [bienes inmuebles] of the State may be transferred to natural or juridical persons within the limits and in the form established by the law. The rustic property [propiedad estatal rústica] of the State with agricultural [agropecuaria] vocation that is not indispensable for the activities that are proper to the State, must be transferred by means of the corresponding compensation [pago] to the beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform. It may also be transferred to corporations of public utility. Article 105 The State recognizes, encourages and guarantees the right to private property over rustic land [tierra rústica], whether it is individual, cooperative, communal or in any other associative form, and it shall not by any concept reduce the maximum extent [extensión] of land [that is] established by this Constitution as a right of property. The maximum extent of rustic land belonging to the same natural or juridical person shall not exceed two hundred and forty-five hectares. This limitation will not be applicable to cooperative or communal peasant associations. The owners of land to whom the second paragraph of this Article refers, may freely transfer, alienate [enajenarla], split [partirla], divide or rent the land. The land that is property of the cooperative associations, peasant communities and beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform shall be subject to a special regime. The owners of rustic lands having an extent of more than two hundred and forty-five hectares, will have the right to immediately determine the part of the land that they wish to conserve, segregating it and registering it separately in the corresponding Register of Real Estate and Mortgages [Registro de la Propiedad Raíz e Hipotecas] . The rustic real property [inmuebles rústicos], which exceeds the limits established by this Constitution and that is found in common ownership [proindivisión], may be the object of partition among its co-owners. The lands which exceed the extent established by this Constitution may be transferred under any title to peasants, farmers, cooperative corporations [sociedades] and associations and to peasant communities. The transfer referred to by this paragraph, shall be conducted within a period of three years. A special law will determine the allocation of the lands which have not been transferred, at the end of the previously established period. In no case may the exceeding lands referred to in the prior paragraph be transferred under any title to relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second degree of affinity. The State will encourage the establishment, financing and development of the agro-industry, in the separate departments of the Republic, in order to guarantee the employment of labor and the transformation of [the] raw materials produced by the national agricultural sector. Article 106 Expropriation shall proceed due to a cause of public utility or of social interest, legally proven, and prior to a just indemnification. When the expropriation is motivated by causes arising from war, of public disaster or when it has the objective of supplying water or electric energy, or for the construction of housing or highways, roads or public streets of any class, the indemnification may not be in advance [previa]. When justified by the amount of the indemnification that must be recognized for the properties expropriated in accordance with the previous paragraphs, the payment may be made in installments, which shall not exceed fifteen years as a whole, in which case the expropriated person shall be paid the corresponding bank interest. The mentioned payment shall be preferably made in cash. The entities that have been created with public funds may be expropriated without indemnification. Confiscation as a penalty or in any other concept is prohibited. The authorities who contravene this precept will respond at all times with their persons and their property for the damage inferred. The confiscated properties are imprescriptable. Article 107 All kinds of entailment [vinculación] are prohibited, except: 1) The trusts constituted in favor of the State, of the municipalities, of the public entities, of the charitable or cultural institutions, and of the legally incapacitated [incapaces]; 2) The trusts constituted for a period that does not exceed what is established by the law and of which management is under the charge of legally authorized banks or credit institutions; 3) Family trusts [bien de Familia]. Article 108 No corporation or foundation, civil or ecclesiastical, whatever its denomination or objective may be, will have legal capacity to conserve in ownership or administer real estate [bienes raíces], with the exception of those immediately and directly alocated to the service or objective of the institution. Article 109 The property of rustic real estate cannot be acquired by foreigners in whose countries of origin Salvadorans do not have equal rights, except in the case of land for industrial establishments. The foreign and Salvadoran companies to which the second paragraph of Article 95 of this Constitution refers, will be subject to this rule. Article 110 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 860 of 21 April 1994) No monopoly shall be authorized except in favor of the State or of the Municipalities, when the social interest makes it indispensable. Stores [estancos] may be established in favor of the State. In order to guarantee the freedom of enterprise and protect the consumer, monopolistic practices are prohibited. Privileges can be granted for a limited time to discoverers and inventors, and to the [persons] who perfect (perfeccionadores) the productive processes. The State may take at its responsibility [cargo] the public services when the social interests demand it, providing them directly, by means of Official Autonomous Institutions or of the Municipalities. It also corresponds to it to regulate and supervise [vigilar] the public services provided by private enterprises and the approval of their rates [tarifas], except for those established in accordance with the international treaties and conventions; the Salvadoran enterprises of public services must have their centers of work and bases of operation in El Salvador. Article 111 The power to issue currencies [especies monetarias] corresponds exclusively to the State, which shall exercise it directly or through an issuing institution of a public character. The monetary, banking, and credit regimes shall be regulated by the law. The State shall guide [orientar] the monetary policy with the goal of promoting and maintaining the most favorable conditions for an orderly development of the national economy. Article 112 The State can administer the businesses that render essential services to the community, with the objective of maintaining the continuity of the services, when the owners or operators [empresarios] fail [resisten] to obey the legal provisions concerning the economic and social organization. It may also exercise intervention on assets belonging to nationals of countries with which El Salvador is found at war. Article 113 The associations of an economic nature that tend to increase the national wealth through a better use of the natural and human resources, and to promote a just distribution of the benefits originating from their activities, shall be encourage and protected. In this class of associations, aside from private individuals [particulares], the State, [the] municipalities, and the entities of public utility, may participate. Article 114 The State will protect and encourage the cooperative associations, facilitating their organization, expansion and financing. Article 115 Commerce in, industry within and the provision of small services [services en pequeño] are part of the patrimony of the Salvadorans by birth and of natural Central Americans. Their protection, promotion [fomento] and development shall be the object of a law. Article 116 The State shall encourage the development of the small rural property. It will facilitate access for the small producer to technical assistance, credits, and to the other means necessary for the acquisition and the better use of his lands. Article 117 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 871 of 13 April 2000) It is the duty of the State to protect the natural resources, as well as the diversity and integrity of the environment, to guarantee [a] sustainable development. The protection, conservation, rational enjoyment, and the restoration or substitution of the natural resources, in accordance with the terms that the law establishes, is declared of social interest. The introduction of nuclear residues and toxic waste into the national territory is prohibited. Article 118 The State shall adopt population policies with the goal of assuring the greatest well-being for the inhabitants of the Republic. Article 119 The construction of housing units is declared to be of social interest. The State will act [procurará] so that the greatest possible number of Salvadoran families become the owners of their home. It will promote that every rustic farm owner provides, for their resident workers, a hygienic and comfortable home, and adequate facilities [instalaciones] for their temporary workers; and to this effect, [it will] facilitate the necessary means to the small property owners. Article 120 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 166 of 20 October 1994) In every concession that the State grants for the exploitation of docks, railroads, canals, or other material works of public use, the term and the conditions of such concession must be stipulated, attending [atendiendo] to the nature of the work [obra] and the amount of the required investments. These concessions must be submitted to the cognizance of the Legislative Assembly for their approval. TITLE VI THE ORGANS OF THE GOVERNMENT, THEIR ATTRIBUTIONS AND COMPETENCES CHAPTER I THE LEGISLATIVE ORGAN FIRST SECTION THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Article 121 The Legislative Assembly is a collegiate body composed of Deputies, elected in the form prescribed by this Constitution, and to it fundamentally belongs the attribution to legislate. Article 122 The Legislative Assembly shall meet in the capital of the Republic, to initiate its term [período] and without the necessity of convocation, on the first day of May of the year of the election of its members. It may move to another place of the Republic to celebrate its sessions, when it so resolves. Article 123 The majority of the members of the Assembly will be sufficient to deliberate. To take a resolution, the favorable vote of at least half plus one of the Deputies elected, is required, except [for] the cases in which, in accordance with this Constitution, a specific [distinta] majority is required. Article 124 The members of the Assembly will be renewed every three years and may be reelected. The term [período] of their functions will commence on the first of May of the year of their election. Article 125 The Deputies represent the entire People and are not bound [ligados] by any imperative mandate. They are inviolable, and will not have responsibility at any time for the opinions or votes that they [may] emit. Article 126 To be elected Deputy, one must be older than twenty-five years of age, be a Salvadoran by birth, [a] child of a Salvadoran father or mother, to be of wellknown integrity and knowledge [instrucción] and not have lost the rights of citizenship during the five years before the election. Article 127 The following may not be candidates for Deputies: 1) The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice- Ministers of the State, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the functionaries of the electoral organs, the military officers in active service [de alta], and in general, the functionaries who exercise jurisdiction; 2) Those that have administered or managed public funds, while not obtaining the settlement of their accounts; 3) The contractors for public works or businesses paid for with State or Municipal funds, their sureties [caucioneros] and those who, as a result of such works or businesses, have pending claims of their own interest; 4) The relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second of affinity; 5) The debtors of the Public or Municipal Treasury who are in default; 6) Those who have contracts or concessions pending with the State for the exploitation of the national wealth or of public services, as well as those who have accepted to be representatives or administrative agents of them, or of foreign companies that are found in the same cases. The incompatibilities referred to in the first ordinal of this Article affect those who have held the indicated positions within the three months prior to the election. Article 128 The Deputies may not be contractors nor sureties of public works or businesses which are financed [costeen] with funds of the State or of the Municipality; neither shall they obtain concessions of the State for the exploitation of the national resources or of public services; nor accept to be representatives or administrative agents of national or foreign persons who have those contracts or concessions. Article 129 The Deputies in exercise of their functions may not perform remunerated public offices [cargos] during the time for which they have been elected, except for those of a teaching [docente] or cultural character, and those related to the professional services of social assistance. Notwithstanding, they may perform the positions of Ministers or Vice-Ministers of State, Presidents of Official Autonomous Institutions, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, [of] Consular Missions or perform Special Diplomatic Missions. In these cases, they shall be reincorporated into the Assembly when ceasing their functions, if the term [período] of their election is still in force. The alternates [suplentes] may perform jobs [empleos] or public offices without having their acceptance and exercise produce the loss of the status [calidad] of such. Article 130 The Deputies will cease in their positions in the following cases: 1) When they are convicted for serious [graves] crimes in a definitive sentence; 2) When they incur in the prohibitions contained in Article 128 of this Constitution; 3) When they resign without just cause qualified as such by the Assembly. In these cases they shall remain unqualified to perform any other public office [cargo] during the term [período] of their election. Article 131 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly: 1) To decree its internal regulation; 2) To accept or reject the credentials of its members, [to] receive the constitutional oath [protesta] from them, and to infer their responsibility [deducirles responsibilidades] in the cases provided for by this Constitution; 3) To take cognizance of the resignations presented by the Deputies, admitting them when they are based [se fundaren] on legally proven just causes; 4) To call on alternate Deputies in [the] case of death, resignation, nullification of election, temporary leave or [the] inability of the proprietary members [propietarios] to attend; 5) To decree, to interpret authentically, to reform and to abrogate [abrogar] the secondary laws; 6) To decree taxes, rates [tasas] and other contributions on all classes of assets [bienes], services and income, in equitable relation; and in the case of invasion, legally declared war or public calamity, [to] decree forced loans [empréstitos forzosos] in the same relation, if the ordinary public revenues are insufficient; 7) To ratify the treaties or pacts celebrated by the Executive [Organ] with other States or international organs, or to refuse their ratification; 8) To decree the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration, as well as its reforms; 9) To create and to suppress positions [plazas], and assign wages [sueldos] to the functionaries and employees in accordance with the regime of the Civil Service; 10) To approve its budget and system of salaries, as well as their reforms, consulting [concerning] them previously with the President of the Republic for the sole effect of guaranteeing that the necessary funds exist for their compliance. Once such budget is approved it will be incorporated into the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration; 11) To decree, in a general manner, the fiscal benefits and incentives or those of any nature, for the promotion of cultural, scientific, agricultural, industrial, commercial and services activities; 12) To decree laws concerning the recognition of the public debt and to create and assign the funds necessary for its payment; 13) To establish and to regulate the national monetary system and to resolve concerning the admission and circulation of foreign currency; 14) To receive the constitutional oath and to give possession of their office [cargo] to the citizens who, in accordance with the law, must exercise the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency of the Republic; 15) To resolve concerning the resignations interposed and the leaves of absence [licensias] requested by the President and the Vice President of the Republic and their Designates, prior to a personal ratification before the same Assembly; 16) To obligatorily disown [desconocer] the President of the Republic or his substitute if, when his constitutional term [período] has terminated, he continues in the exercise of his office. In such case, if no person has been legally called to the exercise of the Presidency, [it] will appoint a Provisional President; 17) To elect, for all of the respective presidential term, in a nominal and public vote, two persons who in the character of Designates shall exercise the Presidency of the Republic, in the cases and in the order determined by this Constitution; 18) To receive the work report [informe de labores] that has to be rendered by the Executive Organ through its Ministers, and to approve or disapprove it; 19) To elect in a nominal and public vote the following functionaries: the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the President and the Magistrates of the Court of Accounts [corte de cuentas] of the Republic, the Attorney General [fiscal general] of the Republic, the Procurator General [procurador general] of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, and the Members of the National Council of the Judicature; 20) To declare, with no less than the two-thirds part of the votes of the elected Deputies, the physical or mental incapacity of the President, of the Vice President of the Republic and of the functionaries elected by the Assembly, for the exercise of their offices [cargos], after the unanimous judgment [dictamen] of a Commission of five physicians appointed by the Assembly; 21) To determine the attributions and competences of the different functionaries when it has not been done by this Constitution; 22) To grant, to persons or groups [poblaciones], titles, honorary distinctions and awards [gratificaciones] compatible with the established form of government, for the relevant services rendered to the Nation [Patria]. Notwithstanding, it is prohibited to grant such titles, distinctions and awards, while they occupy their offices, to the following functionaries: [the] President and the Vice President of the Republic, [the] Ministers and [the] Vice-Ministers of State, the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly, and the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice; 23) To grant permission to the Salvadorans to accept honorific distinctions granted by foreign governments; 24) To grant temporary leaves of absence [permisos] or privileges for cultural or scientific activities or works; 25) To declare war and to ratify peace, on the basis of the reports provided to it by the Executive Organ; 26) To grant amnesty for political or common crimes connected with this, or for common crimes committed by a number of persons that is not below twenty participants; and to grant pardons [indultos], upon a favorable report of the Supreme Court of Justice; 27) To suspend and to reestablish the constitutional guarantees in accordance with Article 29 of this Constitution in a nominal and public vote with the two-thirds part of the vote, at least, of the elected Deputies; 28) To grant or to deny permission to the Salvadorans to accept diplomatic or consular offices to be exercised in El Salvador; 29) To permit or to deny the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the Republic, and the stationing of war ships or airships of other countries, for more time than [that] established in the international treaties or practices; 30) To approve the concessions to which Article 120 of this Constitution refers; 31) To create [erigir] jurisdictions and establish offices, on the proposal of the Supreme Court of Justice, so that the respective functionaries take cognizance of all classes of criminal, civil, mercantile, labor, contentious-administrative, agrarian and other cases; 32) To appoint special commissions for the investigation of matters of national interest and to adopt the agreements or recommendations deemed necessary, based on the report of such commissions; 33) To decree the National [Patrios] Symbols; 34) To interpolate the Ministers or office holders [encargados] of the Cabinet [Despacho] and the Presidents of the Official Autonomous Institutions; 35) To qualify [calificar] the force majeure or cas fortuit to which the last paragraph of Article 80 refers; 36) To receive the work report which the Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, the President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic, and the President of the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador, must render; 37) To recommend to the Presidency of the Republic the dismissal [destitución] of the Ministers of State; or to the corresponding organs, that of the functionaries of the Official Autonomous Institutions, when deemed to be appropriate, as a result of an investigation of its Special Commissions or of an interpolation, in such case. The resolution of the Assembly will be binding when it refers to the Heads of Public Security or of the Intelligence Organ of the State for causes of grave violations of human rights; 38) To exercise the other attributions that this Constitution specifies. Article 132 All the public functionaries and employees, including those of the Official Autonomous Institutions and the members of the Armed Force, have the obligation to collaborate with the Special Commissions of the Legislative Assembly; and the appearance and testimony [declaración] of these, as well as of any other person, required by the mentioned commissions, will be obligatory under the same notices [apercibimientos] that are observed in the judicial procedure. The conclusions of the special commissions of investigation of the Legislative Assembly will not be binding for the tribunals, nor will they affect the judicial proceedings or resolutions, without prejudice to the result being communicated to the Office [Fiscalia] of the Attorney General of the Republic for the exercise of appropriate actions. SECOND SECTION THE LAW, ITS FORMATION, PROMULGATION AND VALIDITY Article 133 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 154 of 2 October 2003) [The following] have, exclusively, the initiative of law: 1) The Deputies; 2) The President of the Republic through his Ministers; 3) The Supreme Court of Justice in matters concerning the Judicial Organ, to the exercise of the [offices] of Notary and of Attorney, and to the jurisdiction and competence of the Tribunals; 4) The Municipal Councils in matters of municipal taxes; 5) The Central American Parliament, through the Deputies of the State of El Salvador who participate in [conformen] it, in the matters relative to the integration of the Central American Isthmus, which was made reference to in Article 89 of this Constitution. In equal manner, and in the same matter, the Deputies of the State of El Salvador, who participate in the Central American Parliament, will have the initiative. Article 134 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) Every Bill of law that is approved must be signed by the majority of the members of the directive board [junta directiva]. One copy will be retained in the Assembly and two will be sent [enviaran] to the President of the Republic. Article 135 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 872 of 13 April 2000) Every Bill of law, after being discussed and approved, will be sent [trasladará] to the President of the Republic within ten business days, and if he does not have any objections, he will sanction it and shall have it published as a law. The sanction by the President of the Republic will not be necessary in the cases of ordinals 1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 32, 34, 35 and 37, of Article 131 of this Constitution and in the precedents [antejuicios] that are recognized by the Assembly. Article 136 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) If the President of the Republic does not find an objection to a received Bill, he will sign two copies, return one to the assembly, leave the other in his archive, and he will have the text published as law in the corresponding official organ. Article 137 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 873 of 13 April 2000) When the President of the Republic vetoes a Bill of law, he will return it to the assembly within eight business [hábiles] days after having received it, indicating [puntualizando] the reasons on which his veto is founded; and, if within the specified [expresado] term he has not returned it, it will be considered anctioned and it will published as law. In the case of a veto, the Assembly will reconsider the Bill, and if it is ratified with the two-thirds part of the votes, at least, of the Deputies elected, it will be sent again to the President of the Republic, and he must sanction it and order its publication. If he returns it with observations, the Assembly will consider them and will resolve anything believed necessary [conveniente] by the majority established in Article 123, and [will] send it to the President of the Republic, who must sanction it and order its publication. Article 138 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 874 of 13 April 2000) When a Bill of law is returned because the President of the Republic considers it to be unconstitutional and the Legislative Organ ratifies it in the manner established in the preceding Article, the President of the Republic must present it to the Supreme Court of Justice within three business days, so that after hearing the arguments of both [sides], it will decide whether it is or it is not constitutional, within fifteen business days at the latest. If the Court decides that the Bill is constitutional, the President of the Republic will be obligated to sanction it and to order its publication as law. Article 139 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 875 of 13 April 2000) The time [termino] for the publication of the laws will be of fifteen business days. If within that time the President of the Republic has not published them, the President of the Legislative Assembly will do it in the Diario Oficial [Official Gazette] or in any other periodical [diario] of large circulation within the Republic. Article 140 No law obligates except by virtue of its promulgation and publication. In order for a law of permanent character to be obligatory, at least eight days must pass after its publication. This period may be extended, but not restricted. Article 141 In case of an evident error in the printing of the text of the law, it will be republished, at the latest within ten days. The last publication will be considered as its authentic text; and from the date of the new publication will be counted the time for its validity. Article 142 To interpret, reform, or repeal the laws, the same procedure will be observed as for its formation. Article 143 When a Bill of law is rejected [desechado] or is not ratified, it cannot be proposed within the following six months. THIRD SECTION TREATIES Article 144 The international treaties celebrated by El Salvador with other States or with international organs, constitute laws of the Republic once they enter into force, in accordance with the provisions of the same treaty and of this Constitution. The law cannot modify or derogate that agreed to in a treaty in force for El Salvador. In case of conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty will prevail. Article 145 The treaties in which constitutional provisions are restricted or affected in any manner may not be ratified, unless the ratification is conducted with the corresponding reservations. The provisions of the treaty concerning which the reservations are made are not law of the Republic. Article 146 The treaties will not be adopted [celebrarse] or ratified or will concessions be granted where in any manner the form of government is altered or there is damage or impairment to the integrity of the territory, the sovereignty and independence of the Republic or the fundamental rights and guarantees of the human person. That provided for [dispuesto] in the preceding paragraph is applicable to the international treaties or to the contracts with governments or with national or international companies in which the Salvadoran State submits itself, to the jurisdiction of a tribunal of a foreign State. The aforementioned does not impede that, in the treaties as well as in the contracts, the Salvadoran State, in case of controversy, submits the decision to arbitration or to an international tribunal. Article 147 For the ratification of any treaty or pact for which any question related to the limits of the Republic is submitted to arbitration, a vote of the three-fourths part, at least, of the elected Deputies[,] will be necessary. Any treaty or agreement [convención] celebrated by the Executive Organ referring to the national territory will also require the vote of at least three fourths part, at least, of the elected Deputies. Article 148 It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly to authorize [facultar] the Executive Organ to contract voluntary loans [empréstitos], inside or outside the Republic, when a grave and urgent necessity demands it, and to guarantee the obligations contracted by state or municipal entities of public interest. The obligations [compromisos] contracted in accordance with this provision must be submitted to the cognizance of the Legislative Organ, which shall not ratify them with less than the two-thirds part of the vote of the elected Deputies. The legislative decree in which the issuance or contracting of a loan is authorized must express clearly the objective [fin] to which the funds thereof will be allocated and, in general, all the essential conditions for the operation. Article 149 The faculty [facultad] to declare the inapplicability of the provisions of any treaty that is contrary to the constitutional precepts, will be exercised by the tribunals within the authority [potestad] to administer justice. The declaration of unconstitutionality of a treaty, in a general and obligatory manner, will be made in the same form provided for [prevista] by this Constitution for the laws, decrees and regulations. CHAPTER II [THE] EXECUTIVE ORGAN Article 150 The President and the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and the Vice-Ministers of State and their dependant functionaries, compose the Executive Organ. Article 151 To be elected President of the Republic it is required: to be a Salvadoran by birth, a child of a Salvadoran father or mother; of secular estate [de estado seglar], over thirty years of age, of notable morality and knowledge; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, to have been so for the six years preceding the election and to be affiliated to one of the legally recognized political parties. Article 152 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The following may not be candidates for President of the Republic: 1) The person who has performed the Presidency of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, during the immediately prior term [período], or within the last six months prior to the initiation of the presidential term; 2) The spouse and the relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of any of the persons who have exercised the Presidency in the cases included in the preceding ordinal; 3) The person who has been President of the Legislative Assembly or President of the Supreme Court of Justice during the year prior to the day of initiation of the presidential period; 4) The person who has been Minister, Vice-Minister of State or President of any Official Autonomous Institution and the General Director of the National Civil Police, within the last year of the immediately previous presidential term; 5) The professional military persons [militares] in active service [de alta] or who have been within the three years prior to the day of the initiation of the presidential period; 6) The Vice President or the Designate who when legally called to exercise the Presidency in the immediately preceding term [período], refuses to perform it without a just cause, meaning that this exists when the Vice President or the Designate manifests his intention to be a candidate to the Presidency of the Republic, within the six months prior to the beginning of the presidential period; 7) The persons included in ordinals 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Article 123 of this Constitution. Article 153 That provided for [dispuesto] in the two preceding Articles will apply to the Vice President of the Republic and [to] the Designates to the Presidency. Article 154 The presidential period will be of five years and will commence and terminate on the first day of June, without the person who has exercised the Presidency being able to continue in his functions not even one more day. Article 155 In absence [defecto] of the President of the Republic, for death, resignation, removal or another cause, the Vice President will substitute him; in absence [falta] of the latter, one of the Designates in the order of their appointment [will substitute him], and if all these are absent [faltaren] for any legal cause, the Assembly will designate the person who will substitute him. If the cause that incapacitates the President for the exercise of his office [cargo] lasts for more than six months, the person who substitutes him in accordance with the preceding paragraph will complete the presidential term [período]. If the incapacity [inhabilidad] of the President is temporary, the substitute will exercise the office only while this lasts. Article 156 The offices of the President and [the] Vice President of the Republic and of the Designates are renounceable only for a duly substantiated [comprobada] grave cause, which will be qualified by the Assembly. Article 157 The President of the Republic is the Commander General of the Armed Force. Article 158 The President of the Republic is prohibited from leaving the national territory without [the] leave [licencia] of the Legislative Assembly. Article 159 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992, and by Legislative Decree No. 746 of 27 June 1996) For the management [gestión] of the public businesses there will be the necessary Secretariats of State [Secretarías de Estado], among which the various Branches of the Administration will be distributed. Each Secretariat [Secretaría] will be the charge [cargo] of a Minister, who will act with the collaboration of one or more Vice-Ministers. The Vice-Ministers will substitute the Ministers in the cases determined by the law. The national defense and the public security will be assigned [adscritas] to different ministries. The public security will be the charge [cargo] of the National Civil Police, which will be a professional body, independent of the Armed Force and detached [ajeno] from all party activity. The National Civil Police will have at its charge [cargo] the functions of the urban police and the rural police to guarantee the order, the security and the public tranquility, as well as the collaboration in the investigation of a crime, and all of it in accordance with the law and with strict respect for the human rights. Article 160 To be a Minister or Vice-Minister of State it is required to be Salvadoran by birth, to be older than twenty-five years of age, to be of secular estate [de estado seglar], of notable morality and knowledge; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship, [and] to have been so for the six years prior to his appointment. Article 161 The persons included in ordinals 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Article 127 of this Constitution may not be Ministers or Vice-Ministers of State. Article 162 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) It corresponds to the President of the Republic to appoint, remove, accept the resignations of and grant the leaves of absence [licencias] to the Ministers and Vice-Ministers of State, as well as [to] the Head [Jefe] of Public Security and [to that] of the Intelligence [Organ] of the State. Article 163 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The decrees, agreements, orders, and rulings [providencias] of the President of the Republic must be signed [refrendados] and communicated by the Ministers in their respective branches, or by the Vice-Ministers in such case. Without these requirements, they will not have legal authenticity. Article 164 All of the decrees, agreements, orders, and resolutions emitted by the functionaries of the Executive Organ, exceeding the faculties that this Constitution establishes, will be null and must not be obeyed, even if they are issued with reserve of submission to the approval of the Legislative Assembly. Article 165 The Ministers or the Persons in Office [Encargados] of the Cabinet [despacho] and the President of the Official Autonomous Institutions must appear before the Legislative Assembly to answer the interpellations addressed to them. The functionaries called to interpellation who without just cause refuse to appear, will be for the same act [hecho], removed [depuestos] from their offices. Article 166 There shall be a Council of Ministers composed of the President and the Vice President of the Republic and the Ministers of State or of those who take their places. Article 167 It corresponds to the Council of Ministers: 1) To decree the Internal Regulations of the Executive Organ and its own regulation; 2) To elaborate the general plan of the Government; 3) To draft [elaborar] the Bill of the budget of revenues and expenditures and present it to the Legislative Assembly, at least three months before the initiation of the new fiscal year [ejercicio]. It will also take cognizance of the reforms to said budget when it concerns transfers between the elements [partidas] of the different Branches of the Public Administration; 4) To authorize the distribution [erogación] of the sums that have not been included in the budgets, to the end of satisfying the necessities arising from war, public calamity, or grave disturbance of the order, if the Legislative Assembly were not convened, immediately informing the Directive Board [Junta Directiva] of it, of the causes that motivated such measures, to the effect that if it were convened, it would approve or not the corresponding credits; 5) To propose to the Legislative Assembly the suspension of the constitutional guarantees to which Article 29 of this Constitution refers; 6) To suspend and reestablish the constitutional guarantees to which Article 29 of this Constitution refers, if the Legislative Assembly is not convened. In the first case, it must immediately advise the Directive Board of the Legislative Assembly, of the causes that motivated such measures and the actions that it has executed in relation to them; 7) To convoke extraordinarily the Legislative Assembly, when the interests of the Republic demand it; 8) To take cognizance of and decide concerning all the matters that the President of the Republic submits for its consideration. Article 168 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) [The following] are the attributions and obligations of the President of the Republic: 1) To observe [cumplir] and have observed [hacer cumplir] the Constitution, the treaties, the laws, and other legal provisions; 2) To maintain unharmed [ilesa] the sovereignty of the Republic and the integrity of the territory; 3) To strive [procurer] for social harmony, and conserve the peace and the interior tranquility and the security of the human person as a member of the society; 4) To celebrate international treaties and conventions, submit them to the Legislative Assembly for ratification, and oversee their observance; 5) To direct the foreign relations; 6) To present through the Ministers, to the Legislative Assembly, within the two months following the end of each year, the work report of the Public Administration for the completed year. The Minister of the Treasury [Hacienda] shall present as well, within the three months following the end of each fiscal period [período], the general account of the last budget and the demonstrative state of the situation of the Public Treasury and the Fiscal Patrimony. If, within these time periods [términos], these obligations are not fulfilled, the Minister who failed to conduct the verification will be removed [depuesto] for this same act, immediately notifying the President of the Republic, so he may appoint a substitute. The latter will submit the corresponding report within the following thirty days. If still in this case the prescribed is not complied with, the new Minister will be removed; 7) To give to the Legislative Assembly the reports that it may request, except when it deals with secret military plans. With respect to the political negotiations where it is necessary to maintain confidentiality, the President of the Republic must give notice [deberá advertirlo], so that they may be taken cognizance of in [a] secret session; 8) To sanction, promulgate, and publish the laws and to have them executed; 9) To supply to the functionaries of the judicial order, the aids [auxilios] they need to make their rulings [providencias] effective; 10) To commute penalties, [with] prior report [to] and favorable judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice; 11) To organize, to lead, and to maintain the Armed Force, to confer the military ranks [grados] and to order the deployment [destinación], responsibility [cargo], or discharge of the officers of it, in accordance with the law; 12) To deploy the Armed Force for the defense of the sovereignty of the State and of the integrity of its territory. Exceptionally, if the ordinary means for maintaining the internal peace, the tranquility, and the public security have been exhausted, the President of the Republic may deploy the Armed Force to this end. The acts [actuación] of the Armed Force will be limited to the time and the measures strictly necessary for the reestablishment of the order and will cease as soon as this task is completed. The President of the Republic will keep the Legislative Assembly informed concerning such activities, which can, at any moment, arrange to stop [cese] such exceptional measures. In any case, within fifteen days following their termination, the President of the Republic will present to the Legislative Assembly, a detailed [circunstanciado] report concerning the performance of the Armed Force; 13) To direct war and make peace, and immediately submit any treaty celebrated to this end to the ratification of the Legislative Assembly; 14) To decree the regulations that are necessary to facilitate and to assure the application of the laws of which [the] execution corresponds to him; 15) To see to the efficient management and realization of the public business [negocios]; 16) To propose the terms lists of three of persons from among which the Legislative Assembly must elect the two Designates to the Presidency of the Republic; 17) To organize, to lead, and to maintain the National Civil Police for the preservation of the peace, tranquility, order, and public security, in the urban realm [ámbito] as well as in the rural [realm], with strict attachment to the respect for human rights and under the direction of the civil authorities; 18) To organize, to lead, and to maintain the Organ of Intelligence of the State; 19) To establish annually a reasonable number of troops [efectivos] for the Armed Force and the National Civil Police; 20) To exercise the other attributions that the laws confer on him. Article 169 The appointment, removal, acceptance of resignations and granting of licenses to the functionaries and employees [empleados] of the Public Administration and of the Armed Force, will be governed by the Internal Regulations of the Executive Organ or [the] other laws and regulations that are applicable. Article 170 The career diplomatic and consular representatives that the Republic accredits must be Salvadoran by birth. Article 171 The President of the Republic, the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and the Vice-Ministers of State, are jointly [solidariamente] responsible for the acts that they authorize. Of the resolutions taken within the Council of Ministers, the Ministers and the Vice-Ministers who are present or who take the place of others [hagan sus veces], are jointly [solidariamente] responsible, even if they reserved [salvado] their vote, unless they interpose their resignation immediately after the resolution is adopted. CHAPTER III [THE] JUDICIAL ORGAN Article 172 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The Supreme Court of Justice, the Chambers of Second Instance and the other tribunals that the secondary laws establish, compose the Judicial Organ. The power to judge and to have executed what is judged in [the] constitutional, civil, penal, mercantile, labor, agrarian and contentious-administrative [contencioso administrativo] matters, as well as in the others that the law determines, corresponds exclusively to this Organ. The organization and functioning of the Judicial Organ will be determined by the law. The Magistrates and the Judges, in the matters referring to the exercise of the jurisdictional function, are independent and are subject exclusively to the Constitution and to the laws. The Judicial Organ will have at its disposal [dispondra] an annual allocation of not less than six percent of the current income of the Budget of the State. Article 173 The Supreme Court of Justice will be composed of the number of Magistrates that the law determines, who will be elected by the Legislative Assembly and one of them will be the President. This person will be the President of the Judicial Organ. The law will determine the internal organization of the Supreme Court of Justice, in such a way [modo] that the attributions that correspond to it will be distributed between different Chambers [Salas]. Article 174 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The Supreme Court of Justice will have a Constitutional Chamber [Sala de lo Constitucional], to which it will correspond to take cognizance of and resolve the complaints [demandas] of unconstitutionality of the laws, decrees and regulations, the processes of amparo, and habeas corpus, the conflicts [controversias] between the Legislative Organ and [the] Executive Organ to which Article 138 refers, and the causes mentioned in the 7th attribution of Article 182 of this Constitution. The Constitutional Chamber will be composed of five Magistrates designated by the Legislative Assembly. Its President will be elected by the same on each occasion in which it corresponds [to it] to elect Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice; he will be the President of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Judicial Organ. Article 175 There will be Chambers of Second Instance composed of two Magistrates for each one, the Courts of First Instance and the Courts of Peace. Their number, jurisdiction, attributions, and residence will be determined by the law. Article 176 To be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, it is required: to be a Salvadoran by birth, of secular estate, over forty years of age, [to be] a lawyer [abogado] of the Republic, of notable morality and competence; to have served as a Magistrate of Second Instance during six years or as a Judge [Judicatura] of First Instance during nine years, or to have obtained the authorization to exercise the profession of lawyer for at least ten years before his election; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship and to have been so for six years before performing his office. Article 177 To be a Magistrate of the Chambers of Second Instance, it is required: to be a Salvadoran, of secular estate, over thirty-five years of age, to be a lawyer of the Republic, of notable morality and competence; to have served as a judge of First Instance for six years or to have obtained authorization to exercise the profession of lawyer at least eight years before his election; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship and to have been so for six years before performing his office. Article 178 Persons that cannot be elected Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice or of one same Chamber of Second Instance, are the spouses or the relatives among them, comprehended within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity. Article 179 To be a Judge of First Instance, it is required: to be a Salvadoran, of secular estate, to be a lawyer of the Republic, of notable morality and competence; to have served as a Justice of Peace during one year or [to] have obtained the authorization to exercise the profession of a lawyer for two years before his appointment; to be in the exercise of the rights of citizenship and to have been so for three years preceding the performance of his office. Article 180 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The minimum requirements to be a Justice of the Peace are: to be a Salvadoran, to be an attorney of the Republic, of secular estate, of more than twenty-one years of age, of notable morality and competence; to be in the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship and to have been so for three years prior to being appointed. The Justices of the Peace will be included in the judicial career. In exceptional cases, the National Council of the Judicature may propose for the office of Justice of the Peace, persons who are not attorneys, but the term of their functions will be [of] one year. Article 181 The administration of justice will be gratuitous. Article 182 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The attributions of the Supreme Court of Justice are: 1) To take cognizance of the processes of amparo; 2) To settle [dirimir] the questions of competences that arise among the tribunals of any jurisdiction [fuero] or nature; 3) To take cognizance of the prize [prise] cases [causas de presa] and of those not reserved to another authority; to order the course of letters or commissions rogatory [suplicatorios o comisiones rogatorias] that are ordered to perform diligences outside of the State and to demand compliance with those proceeding from other countries, without prejudice to what is set forth in the treaties; and to grant extradition; 4) To grant, according to the law and when necessary, the permission for the execution of sentences pronounced by foreign tribunals; 5) To see to it that justice is promptly and faithfully administered, for which it will adopt the measures it deems necessary; 6) To take cognizance of the responsibility of [the] public functionaries in those cases specified by the laws; 7) To take cognizance of the cases of suspension or loss of the rights of citizenship in the cases comprehended in ordinals 2 and 4 of Article 74 and in ordinals 1, 3, 4, and 5 of Article 75 of this Constitution, as well as of the corresponding rehabilitation; 8) To issue [a] report and opinion [dictamen] on requests for pardon or of commutation of penalty; 9) To appoint the magistrates of the chambers of second instance, the judges of first instance and the Justices of the Peace from the terms proposed by the national council of the judicature; [as well as] the forensic physicians and the employees of their dependent offices; to remove them, to take cognizance of their resignations, and to grant them leaves of absence; 10) To appoint associate judges [conjueces] in those cases determined by the law; 11) To receive, personally or through the functionaries it designates, the constitutional oath [of office] of the functionaries appointed by it; 12) To practice the admission [recibimientos] of lawyers and authorize them to exercise their profession; [to] suspend them for the non-compliance of their professional obligations, for grave negligence or ignorance, for improper [mal] professional conduct, or for notoriously immoral private conduct; to disqualify them for venality, bribery, fraud, deceit, and others motives that the law establishes, and [to] rehabilitate them for legal reasons. In the cases of suspension and disqualification it will proceed in the form that the law establishes, and will resolve them only on the moral force of [the] evidence. The same faculties will be exercised with respect to [the] notaries; 13) To prepare [elaborar] the Bill of budget of the wages and the expenditures of the administration of justice and remit it to the Executive Organ for its inclusion without modifications in the Bill of the General Budget of the State. The budgetary adjustments that the Legislative Assembly considers necessary to be made to said Bill, will be made in consultation with the Supreme Court of Justice; 14) The others that this Constitution and the law determine. Article 183 The Supreme Court of Justice through the Constitutional Chamber will be the sole tribunal competent to declare the unconstitutionality of the laws, decrees, and regulations, in their form and content, in a general and obligatory manner, and it may do so on petition by any citizen. Article 184 The Chambers of Second Instance of the capital, in accordance with the matter, will take cognizance of [the] trials against the State in first instance, and the respective Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice will take cognizance of them in the second instance. Article 185 Within the power of administering justice, it corresponds to the tribunals, in the cases in which they must pronounce a judgment [sentencia], to declare the inapplicability of any law or provision of the other organs, which is contrary to constitutional precepts. Article 186 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The judicial career is established. The Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice will be elected by the Legislative Assembly for a term of nine years; they may be re-elected and they will be renewed by third parts every three years. They may be removed by the Legislative Assembly for the specific causes, which are previously established by the law. A favorable vote of at least the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected is necessary to elect them, as well as to remove them. The election of the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, will be made from a list of candidates, which the National Council of the Judicature will form in the terms that the law establishes, half of which shall originate from the contributions of the representative entities of the attorneys of El Salvador and where the most relevant currents of the judicial thought must be represented. The Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, the Judges of First Instance and the Justices of the Peace integrated into the judicial career, shall enjoy stability in their offices. The law must assure protection to the judges to exercise their functions with full freedom, in an impartial manner and without any influence in all the matters that they take cognizance of; and the means to guarantee them a just remuneration and a standard of living adequate to the responsibility of their office. The law will regulate the requirements and the form of the income for the judicial career, the promotions, advancements, transfers, [and the] disciplinary sanctions for the functionaries included in it and the other questions inherent to such career. Article 187 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 747 of 27 June 1996) The National Council of the Judicature is an independent institution, responsible for [encargados] proposing candidates for the offices [cargos] of Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, [of] Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, of Judges of First Instance, and [of the] Justices of the Peace. The National Council of the Judicature will be responsible for the organization and the functioning of the school of judicial training, of which the objective is to assure the improvement in the professional training [formación] of the judges and of the other judicial functionaries. The members of the National Council of the Judicature will be elected and removed by the Legislative Assembly by the authorized vote of the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected. The law will determine what concerns this matter. Article 188 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The quality [calidade] of magistrate or judge is incompatible with the exercise of [legal] advocacy or as a notary [notariado], as well as that of a functionary of the other Organs of the State, except as a teacher and a diplomat on a transitory mission. Article 189 The Jury [Jurado] is established for the trial [juzgamiento] of the common crimes determined by the law. Article 190 The exceptional jurisdiction [fuero atractivo] is prohibited. CHAPTER IV [THE] PUBLIC MINISTRY Article 191 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The Public Ministry will be exercised by the Attorney General [fiscal general] of the Republic, [by] the Procurator General [procurador general] of the Republic, by the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, and by the other functionaries that the law determines. Article 192 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, and the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights will be elected by the Legislative Assembly by a qualified majority of the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected. They will remain three years in the exercise of their offices [cargos] and they may be re-elected. They may be removed from office only for legal causes, with the vote of the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected. To be the Attorney General of the Republic or the Procurator General of the Republic, the same qualities [calidades] as to be a Magistrate of the Chambers of Second Instance, are required. The law will determine the requirements which must be met by the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights. Article 193 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993], and by Legislative Decree No. 748 of 27 June 1996) It corresponds to the Attorney General of the Republic: 1) To defend the interests of the State and of the society; 2) To promote, of office, or on the petition of a party the action of justice in defense of legality; 3) To direct the investigation of a crime with the collaboration of the National Civil Police in the manner that the law determines; 4) To promote the penal action, of office, or on the petition of a party; 5) To defend the fiscal interests and to represent the State in all trials and in the contracts concerning the acquisition of real property [bienes inmuebles] in general and of the property subject to tender [licitación], and the others specified by the law; 6) To promote the prosecution and punishment of the persons indicted [indiciados] for crimes against the authorities, and for contempt; 7) To appoint special commissions for the fulfillment of its functions; 8) To appoint, remove, grant leaves of absence, and accept the resignations of the Attorneys [Fiscales] of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Chambers of Second Instance, of the Military Tribunals, and of the tribunals that take cognizance in first instance, and of the Attorneys of the Treasury [Hacienda]. The same attributions will be exercised regarding the other functionaries and employees of his dependency; 9) [Abrogated [derogado]] 10) To see to that in the concessions of any class granted by the State, the requirements, conditions and objectives established in the same are complied with, and to exercise the corresponding actions concerning them; 11) To exercise the other attributions that the law establishes. Article 194 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights and the Procurator General of the Republic, will have the following functions: I. It corresponds to the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights: 1) To see to the respect for and guarantee of the human rights; 2) To investigate, of office, or through a complaint [denuncia] received, the cases of violations of human rights; 3) To assist the alleged [presuntas] victims of violations to human rights; 4) To promote judicial or administrative recourses for the protection of the human rights; 5) To monitor [vigilar] the situation of the persons deprived of [their] freedom. He will be notified of all the arrests made and will see [cuidara] that the legal limits of the administrative detention are respected; 6) To carry out inspections, where he deems necessary, in order to assure the respect for the human rights; 7) To supervise the acts of the public administration, as opposed to [frente] persons; 8) To promote reforms before the Organs of the State for the progress of the human rights; 9) To issue opinions concerning the Bills of law that affect the exercise of the human rights; 10) To promote and propose the measures deemed necessary in order to prevent violations of the human rights; 11) To publicly or privately formulate conclusions and recommendations; 12) To prepare and publish reports; 13) To develop a permanent program of activities of promotion concerning the knowledge of, and respect for, the human rights; 14) The others that the Constitution or the law attribute to him. The Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights may have departmental and local delegates of a permanent character. II. It corresponds to the Procurator General of the Republic: 1) To see to the defense of the family and of the persons and interests of the minors and others [who are] incapable; 2) To provide legal assistance to the persons of limited economic resources, and to represent them judicially in the defense of their individual freedom and labor rights; 3) To appoint, remove, grant leaves of absence to, and accept the resignations of the Auxiliary Procurators of all the Tribunals of the Republic, of the Labor Procurators and of the other functionaries and employees of their dependency; 4) To exercise the other attributions that the law establishes. CHAPTER V THE COURT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE REPUBLIC Article 195 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 165 of 20 October 1994) The supervision [fiscalización] of the Public Treasury [Hacienda Pública] in general and of the execution of the Budget in particular, will be the responsibility [cargo] of an organ independent from the Executive Organ, which will be denominated the Court of Accounts of the Republic, and it will have the following attributions: 1) To watch over the collection, the custody, the commitment and the distribution [erogación] of the public funds; as well as the liquidation of the taxes, rates, rights and the other contributions, when the law determines it; 2) To approve every withdrawal [salida] of funds from the Public Treasury [Tesoro Público], in accordance with the Budget; to intervene in any act that in a direct or indirect manner affects the Public Treasury or the patrimony of the State, and to authenticate [refrendar] the acts and contracts concerning the public debt; 3) To monitor [vigilar], to inspect, and to audit [glosar] the accounts of the functionaries and employees that administer or manage public assets [bienes], and to take cognizance of the trials arising from such accounts; 4) To supervise [fiscalizar] the economical management of the Autonomous State Institutions and businesses and of the entities supported by the funds from the Treasury [Erario], or that receive subventions or subsidies from it; 5) To examine the account rendered by the Executive Organ to the Assembly concerning the management of the Public Treasury, and to report to the same the results of such examination; 6) To adopt [dictar] the regulations necessary for the fulfillment of its attributions; 7) To report, in writing, to the President of the Republic, to the Legislative Assembly, and to the other respective hierarchical superiors, of the proven relevant irregularities of every public functionary or employee in the management of properties and funds subject to supervision [fiscalización]; 8) To see that the debts in favor of the State and Municipalities are made effective; 9) To exercise the other functions that the law specifies. The attributions 2 and 4 will be effected in an manner adequate to the nature and to the objectives of the organ concerned, in accordance with that which the law determines in this respect; and it can previously act to a request [received] from the supervised [fiscalizado] organ, from the superior hierarchy of it, or of office, when it considers it necessary. Article 196 The Court of Accounts of the Republic, to carry out its jurisdictional functions, will be divided into one Chamber of Second Instance and into the Chambers of First Instance that the law establishes. The Chamber of Second Instance will be formed by the President of the Court and two Magistrates, whose number may be augmented by the law. These functionaries will be elected for a term of three years, they may be reelected, and they may not be removed [separados] from their offices except for just cause, by means of a resolution of the Legislative Assembly. The Chamber of Second Instance will appoint, remove, grant leaves of absence and accept the resignations from the Judges of the Chambers of First Instance. A special law will regulate the functioning, jurisdiction, competence, and administrative regime of the Court of Accounts and its Chambers. Article 197 Whenever an act submitted to the cognizance of the Court of Accounts of the Republic violates, in its judgment, any law or regulation in force, it will so advise of it to the functionaries who in the exercise of their legal functions communicated it, and the act in question will remain in suspense. The Executive Organ may ratify the act totally or partially, provided that it considers it legal, by means of a reasoned resolution taken in the Council of Ministers and communicated in writing to the President of the Court. Such resolution must be published in the Diario Oficial [Official Gazette]. The duly communicated ratification, will terminate the suspension of the act, provided that the observations of the Court of Accounts do not concern an absence [falta] or insufficiency of a budgetary credit to which an expenditure must be charged, since in such case, the suspension must be maintained until the deficiency of credit has been filled [llenada]. Article 198 The President and the Magistrates of the Court of Accounts must be Salvadorans by birth, over thirty years of age, and of notable integrity and competence; they must be in the exercise of their rights of citizenship and to have been so for three years immediately preceding their election. Article 199 The President of the Court of Accounts will render annually to the Legislative Assembly a detailed and documented report of the work of the Court. This obligation must be fulfilled within three months after the end of the fiscal year [año]. The noncompliance with this obligation is considered as a just cause for dismissal. CHAPTER VI LOCAL GOVERNMENT FIRST SECTION THE [LOCAL] GOVERNMENTS [LAS GOBERNACIONES] Article 200 For the political administration, the territory of the Republic is divided into Departments of which number and limits will be established by the law. In each of them there will be a proprietary and a substitute Governor, appointed by the Executive Organ and whose attributions will be determined by the law. Article 201 To be a Governor it is required: to be a Salvadoran, of secular estate, over twenty-five years of age, to be in exercise of the rights of citizenship and having been so for the three years immediately preceding the appointment, to be of notable morality and knowledge, and to be a native [originario] or neighbor [vecino] of the respective department, [and] in this last case, two years of residence immediately preceding the appointment are necessary. SECOND SECTION THE MUNICIPALITIES Article 202 For the Local Government, the departments are divided into Municipalities, which will be governed by Councils formed by one Mayor, a Syndic [Síndico], and two or more Aldermen [Regidores] of which [the] number will be proportional to the population. The Members of the Municipal Councils must be over twenty-one years of age and be natives or neighbors of the municipality; [they] will be elected for a term [período] of three years, they can be reelected and their further requirements will be determined by the law. Article 203 The Municipalities will be autonomous in [the exercise of their] economic, technical, and administrative [functions], and will be governed by a Municipal Code, which will lay down the general principles for their organization, functioning and the exercise of their autonomous faculties. The Municipalities will be obligated to collaborate with other public institutions in the plans for national or regional development. Article 204 The autonomy of the Municipality includes the attributions: 1) To create, to modify and to suppress public taxes and contributions for the realization of specific [determinadas] works within the limits that a general law [ley general] establishes. Once taxes or contributions are approved by the Municipal Council, the respective agreement will be published in the Diario Oficial [Official Gazette], and eight days after its publication, its compliance will be obligatory; 2) To decree its Budget of Revenues and Expenditures; 3) To freely manage [gestionar libremente] in the matters of its competence; 4) To appoint and remove the functionaries and employees of its dependency; 5) To decree the local ordinances and regulations; 6) To prepare [elaborar] their tax rates and the reforms to them, [and] to propose them as law to the Legislative Assembly. Article 205 No law or authority may exempt or dispense the payment of municipal taxes and contributions. Article 206 The plans of local development must be approved by the respective Municipal Council; and the Institutions of the State must collaborate with the Municipality in the development of them. Article 207 The municipal funds may not be centralized in the General Fund of the State, and may only be employed in services and for the benefit of the Municipalities. The Municipalities may associate or form [concertar] amongst themselves cooperative agreements for the purpose of collaborating in the realization of works or services that are of common interest to two or more Municipalities. To guarantee the development and the economic autonomy of the Municipalities, a fund for their economic and social development of them will be created. A law will establish the amount of this fund and the mechanisms for its use. The Municipal Councils will administer the patrimony of their Municipalities and will render a detailed and documented account of their administration to the Court of Accounts of the Republic. The execution of the Budget will be audited [fiscalizada] a posteriori by the Court of Accounts of the Republic, in accordance to the law. CHAPTER VII [THE] SUPREME ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL Article 208 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) There will be a Supreme Electoral Tribunal which will be formed by five Magistrates, who will remain five years in their functions and who will be elected by the Legislative Assembly. Three of them will be elected, one each [de cada una], from each of the terms proposed by the three political parties or legal coalitions that have obtained the greatest number of votes in the last presidential election. The two remaining Magistrates will be elected with the favorable vote of at least the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected, from two terms proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice, who must meet the requirements to be Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance, and not hold any party affiliation. There will be five substitute Magistrates elected in equal form as the proprietary [Magistrates] [propietarios]. If for any circumstance, no terms is proposed, the Legislative Assembly will make the respective election without the terms that is missing [falta]. The Magistrate President will be proposed by the party or legal coalition which obtained the greatest number of votes in the last presidential election. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal will be the highest authority in this matter, without prejudice to the recourses that this Constitution establishes, for violation of it. Article 209 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The law will establish the organs necessary for the reception, recount and accounting of [fiscalización] the votes and other activities concerning the suffrage and will see [cuidara] that they are integrated in such a way that no party or coalition of parties predominates in them. The contending political parties or coalitions will have the right of monitoring [vigilancia] the entire electoral process. Article 210 The State recognizes the political debt as a mechanism of finance for the contending political parties, which is aimed towards promoting their freedom and independence. The secondary law will regulate what is referent to this matter. CHAPTER VIII THE ARMED FORCE Article 211 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) The Armed Force is a permanent institution at the service of the Nation. It is obedient, professional, apolitical, and non-deliberative. Article 212 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) The Armed Force has for [its] mission the defense of the sovereignty of the State and of the integrity of the territory. The President of the Republic may exceptionally deploy [disponer] the Armed Force to maintain internal peace, in accordance with what is provided by this Constitution. The fundamental organs of the Government mentioned in Article 86, can use [disponer] the Armed Force to make effective the provisions which they have adopted, within their respective constitutional areas of competence, to have this Constitution complied with. The Armed Force will collaborate in the works of public benefit which are entrusted to it by the Executive Organ and will assist [auxiliará] the population in cases of national disaster. Article 213 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) The Armed Force forms part of the Executive Organ and it is subordinate to the authority of the President of the Republic, in his capacity [calidad] as Commander General. Its structure, juridical regime, doctrine, composition, and functioning are defined by the law, the regulations and the special provision that the President of the Republic adopts. Article 214 The military career is professional and in it only the ranks obtained by rigorous scale [escala] and in accordance to the law, are recognized. The military personnel [militares] may not be deprived of their ranks, honors and benefits [prestaciones], except in the cases determined by the law. Article 215 Military service is obligatory for all of the Salvadorans included between eighteen and thirty years of age. In the event of necessity, all Salvadorans capable to act in military tasks will be soldiers. A special law will regulate this matter. Article 216 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) A military jurisdiction is established. For the trial [juzgamiento] of the crimes and the faults which are purely military there will be special procedures and tribunals in accordance with the law. The military jurisdiction, as an exceptional regime with respect to unity of justice, will be limited [reducir] to the cognizance of purely military crimes and faults during service, being understood as such those which in exclusive form [modo] affect a strictly military juridical interest. The members of the Armed Force in active service enjoy the right of military jurisdiction [fuero militar] for purely military crimes and faults. Article 217 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of 30 January 1992) The fabrication, importation, exportation, trade in, possession and bearing of arms, munitions, explosives and similar articles, may only be conducted with the authorization of and under the direct supervision of the Executive Organ, in the Branch of Defense [Ramo de Defensa]. A special law will regulate this matter. TITLE VII [THE] ADMINISTRATIVE REGIME CHAPTER I THE CIVIL SERVICE Article 218 The public functionaries and employees are at the service of the State and not of one specific [determinada] political element [fracción]. They cannot make use of their offices [cargos] to engage in partisan politics. The person who does this will be sanctioned in accordance with the law. Article 219 The administrative career is established. The law will regulate the civil service and especially the conditions for the admission to the administration; the promotions and raises [ascensos] on the basis of merit and aptitude; the transfers, suspensions, and dismissals [cesantías]; the duties of the public servants and the recourses against the decisions affecting them; likewise, it will guarantee job stability to the public employees. The functionaries and employees holding political offices and offices of trust [de confianza] are not included in the administrative career, and in particular, the Ministers and Vice-Ministers of the State, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, the Secretaries of the Presidency of the Republic, the Ambassadors, the Directors General, the Departmental Governors and the Private Secretaries of these functionaries. Article 220 A special law will regulate [matters] pertinent to the retirement of the public and municipal functionaries and employees, which will establish the percentages of the retirement benefits [jubilación] to which they will have right according to the years of service rendered and to the salaries earned [devengados]. The amount for retirement benefits which is collected will be exempt from all the taxes or fiscal and municipal rates. The same law will establish the other benefits to which public and municipal servants will have right. Article 221 Strikes [conducted] by public and municipal workers are prohibited, as well as the collective abandonment of their responsibilities [cargos]. The militarization of the civil public services will proceed uniquely in the event of a national emergency. Article 222 The provisions of this Chapter are extended to the municipal functionaries and employees. CHAPTER II THE PUBLIC TREASURY [HACIENDA PÚBLICA] Article 223 The Public Treasury is formed by: 1) Its funds and liquid assets [valores]; 2) Its active credits; 3) Its real and personal property; 4) The revenues [derechos] derived from the application of the laws relative to taxes, duties, and other contributions, as well as those that correspond to it under any other title. The recognized debts and those that have origin in duly authorized public expenditures, are obligations chargeable to [a cargo] the Public Treasury. Article 224 All of the revenues of the Public Treasury will form one sole fund that will be subject in a general manner to the necessities and obligations of the State. The Law may, however, allocate specific revenues to the service of the public debt. The donations may likewise be allocated for the purposes that the donor indicates. Article 225 When the law authorizes it, the State, for the attainment of its objectives [fines], may separate [separar] property from the overall assets [masa] of the Public Treasury or assign resources of the General Fund for the constitution or increment of the Special Patrimonies allocated to the Public Institutions. Article 226 The Executive Organ, in the corresponding Branch, will have the control [dirección] of the public finances and will be especially obligated to maintain the balance [equilibrio] of the Budget, insofar as its compatible with the fulfillment of the objectives of the State. Article 227 The General Budget of the State will include, for each fiscal year [ejercicio fiscal], the estimate of all the revenues that are anticipated to be received in accordance with the laws in force on the date on which it was voted, as well as the authorization for all expenditures [erogaciones] that it judges appropriate to accomplish the objectives of the State. The Legislative Organ may decrease or reject the credits solicited but may never augment them. The floating debt [deuda flotante] which the Government may incur will be authorized in the Budget, during each year, to remediate temporary deficits of revenue. The state institutions and businesses of autonomous character and the entities whose expenditures are paid for or subsidized by funds of the Treasury [Erario], excepting the institutions of credit, will be governed by special budgets and salary systems approved by the Legislative Organ. A special law will establish what concerns the preparation, voting, execution, and rendering of accounts of the budgets, and will regulate the procedure that must be followed when, at the closing of one fiscal year, the Budget for the new year [ejercicio] is not yet in force. Article 228 No sum will be committed to or paid [abonarse] with charge to the public funds, if it is not within the limits of a budget credit. Any pledge, grant, or payment must be effected following what the law provides. Funds of future years [ejercicios] may only be committed to with legislative authorization, for works of public or administrative interest, or for the consolidation or conversion of the public debt. For such objectives an extraordinary budget may be voted. There shall be a special law to regulate the subsidies, pensions, and retirement benefits that affect the public funds. Article 229 The Executive Organ, with the legal formalities, can effect transfers between items [partidas] from one same branch or administrative organ, except those that in the Budget are declared non-transferable. The same faculty will be held by the Judicial Organ in respect of the items [partidas] of its Budget, [always] complying with the same legal formalities. Article 230 For the collection, custody and expenditure of public funds, there will be a General Service of the Treasury [Servicio General de Tesorería]. Whenever public assets are used [disponga] in contravention to the legal provisions, the functionary who authorized or ordered the transaction [operación] will be responsible, as will be the executor of it if he does not prove his non-culpability. Article 231 Taxes may not be imposed except by virtue of a law and for the public service. The churches and their dependencies used [destinada] immediately and directly for the religious service, will be exempt from [the payment of] taxes on real property. Article 232 Neither the Legislative Organ nor the Executive [Organ] may forgive [dispensar] the sums made in reparation [reparadas] to the functionaries or employees who manage national or municipal funds, nor the debts in favor of the Public Treasury [Fisco] or of the Municipalities. Article 233 The real property of the Public Treasury or that of public use can only be donated or given in usufruct, commodation [comodato] or lease [arrendamiento], with the authorization of the Legislative Organ, to entities of general utility. Article 234 Whenever the State has to celebrate contracts to conduct public works or to acquire personal property for which public funds or assets are to be expended, such works or supply orders [suministros] must be submitted for public bidding [licitación] except in those cases determined by the law. No contract may be celebrated in which the decision, in case of controversy, corresponds to the tribunals of a foreign State. That provided for in the preceding paragraphs will be applicable to the Municipalities. TITLE VIII RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES Article 235 Every civil or military functionary, before taking possession of his office [cargo], will swear on his word of honor, to be faithful to the Republic, to comply with, and have complied with[,] the Constitution, to attend to its text whatever the laws, decrees, orders, or resolutions that are contrary to it might be, promising, also, to exactly comply with the duties that his office imposes, for infraction of which he will be responsible in accordance with the law. Article 236 (Amended by Legislative Decree No. 64 of 31 October 1991 [errata: Decree No. 583 of 30 June 1993]) The President and [the] Vice President of the Republic, the Deputies, the Designates to the Presidency, the Ministers and the Vice-Ministers of State, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Chambers of Second Instance, the President and the Magistrates of the Court of Accounts of the Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the Diplomatic Representatives will answer to the Legislative Assembly for the official and common crimes that they commit. The Assembly, after hearing an accuser from within it [fiscal de su seno] and the accused [indiciado], or a special defender, in such case, will declare if there are or are not grounds for formation of a cause. In the first case, the diligences will be sent to the Chamber of Second Instance that the law determines, to take cognizance of it in first instance, and, in the second case, it will be archived [archivarán]. The resolutions that the mentioned Chamber [Cámara] pronounces will be taken cognizance of in second instance [by] one of the Chambers [Salas] of the Supreme Court of Justice, and of the recourse that such resolutions admit, the Court in plenary. Any person has the right to denounce the crimes that this Article concerns, and to appear as a party, if he has the qualities [calidades] required by the law. Article 237 Once it is declared by the Legislative Assembly or the Supreme Court of Justice, that there are grounds for the formation of a cause, the accused will be suspended from the exercise of his functions and for no motive may continue in his office. In [the] contrary case, he shall be guilty of the crime of prolonging of functions [prolongación de funciones]. If the sentence should be condemnatory, he will be dismissed from his office [cargo] by the same act. If it should absolve him, he will resume the exercise of his functions, if the office is one that is conferred for a specific [determinado] time and the term [período] of his election or of his appointment has not expired. Article 238 The Deputies may not be tried for grave crimes that they commit from the day of their election until the end of the term [período] for which they were elected, unless the Legislative Assembly declares previously that there are grounds for the formation of a cause, in accordance with the procedure established in the preceding Article. For the less grave crimes and offenses [faltas] that they commit during the same term, they may not be detained or imprisoned, nor called to testify until after the conclusion of the term of their election. If the President, the Vice President of the Republic or a Deputy were to be apprehended [sorprendito] in flagrante delicto, from the day of their election until the end of the term [período] for which they were elected, they may be detained by any person or authority, who will be obligated to place the case immediately at the disposition of the Assembly. Article 239 The Judges of First Instance, the Departmental Governors, the Justices of Peace, and [the] other functionaries specified by the law, will be tried for official crimes that they commit in the common tribunals, with prior declaration that there are grounds for the formation of a cause by the Supreme Court of Justice. The aforementioned functionaries will be subject to the ordinary procedures for the common crimes and offenses that they commit. Concerning the official or common crimes committed by the members of the Municipal Councils, they will arise before the corresponding Judges of First Instance. Article 240 The public functionaries and employees, who would enrich themselves without a justifiable cause at the expense of the Public or Municipal Treasury, will be obligated to make restitution to the State or to the Municipality for that which was acquired illegally, without prejudice to the responsibility that they may have incurred in accordance with the laws. Illicit enrichment is presumed when an augmentation in the capital of the functionary or employee, from the date on which he took possession of his office until that on which his functions ceased, is noticeably superior than would be normal given the wages or emoluments that were legally received [percibido], and of the increases in his capital or of his income from any other just cause. To determine such augmentation, the capital and income of the functionary or employee, his spouse, and his children, will be considered jointly. The functionaries and employees specified by the law are obligated to declare the state of their patrimony before the Supreme Court of Justice, in accordance with the preceding paragraphs, within the sixty days following that on which they take possession of their offices. The Court has the faculty to take the measures [providencias] it deems necessary to determine the veracity of the declaration, which will be kept in reserve and will only serve for the effects provided for in this Article. On ceasing in their offices [cargos] the functionaries and employees [empleados] alluded to, must make a new declaration of the state of their patrimony. The law will determine the sanctions for the noncompliance with this obligation. The trials for enrichment without a just cause may only be initiated within ten years following the date on which the functionary or employee had ceased in the office of which exercise could have led to such enrichment. Article 241 The public, civil or military functionaries who have knowledge of official crimes committed by functionaries or employees that are subordinated to them, must communicate it as soon as possible to the competent authorities for their judgment, and if it is not given opportunely, the functionaries concerned will be considered as accessories and they will incur in the corresponding criminal responsibilities. Article 242 The prescription of the official crimes and faults will be governed by the general rules, and will commence to run [contarse] when the culpable functionary ceased in his functions. Article 243 Notwithstanding, the approval given by the Legislative Organ to the official acts in those cases required by this Constitution, the functionaries who have intervened in such acts, may be prosecuted for official crimes as long as the term [término] for prescription has not expired. The approval of the reports [memorias] and accounts that are presented to the Legislative Organ, gives no greater value to the acts and contracts to which they refer, than the one they have in accordance with the law. Article 244 The violation, the infraction or the alteration of the constitutional provisions will be especially punished by the law, and the civil or penal responsibilities incurred by the public, civil or military functionaries, with such motive, will not admit of amnesty, commutation or exemption [indulto], during the presidential term within which they were committed. Article 245 The public functionaries and employees will answer personally, and the State subsidarily [subsidiariamente], for the material or moral damages caused in consequence of the violation of the rights consecrated in this Constitution. TITLE IX SCOPE, APPLICATION, REFORMS AND ABROGATIONS Article 246 The principles, rights and obligations established by this Constitution may not be altered by the laws that regulate its exercise. The Constitution will prevail over all laws and regulations. The public interest holds primacy over the private interest. Article 247 Any person may seek amparo before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice for violation of the rights granted by this Constitution. The habeas corpus may be sought before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice or before the Chambers of Second Instance that do not reside in the capital. The resolution of the Chamber that denies the freedom of the favored person [favorecido] may be the object of review [revisión], at the request of the interested party, by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Article 248 The reform of this Constitution may be agreed to by the Legislative Assembly, with the vote of the one-half plus one part of the Deputies elected. For this reform to be decreed it must be ratified by the following Legislative Assembly with the vote of the two-thirds part of the Deputies elected. Thus ratified, the corresponding decree will be issued, and it will be ordered to be published in the Diario Oficial [Official Gazette]. The reform may only be proposed by the Deputies of a number of no less than ten. In no case may the Articles of this Constitution be reformed that refer to the form and system of Government, to the territory of the Republic and to the alternation [alternabilidad] in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic. Article 249 The Constitution proclaimed by Decree No. 6, of the date of 8 January of 1962, published in the Diario Oficial, No. 110, Vol. 194, dated the 16th of the same month and year, adopted by Constituent Decree No. 3, of the 26th of April of 1982, published in the Diario Oficial, No. 75, Vol. 275, of the same date, its regime of exceptions, as well as all those provisions which are found in conflict with any precept of this Constitution, are abrogated [derógarse]. TITLE X TRANSITORY PROVISIONS Article 250 While the secondary legislation is not modified in that [which] is pertinent, the crimes that would have been punishable with death, that are not included [comprendido] in Article 27 of this Constitution, will be sanctioned with the maximum penalty of deprivation of liberty. This provision will be applicable to those persons who have been condemned to death by executory sentence. Article 251 Until the procedural law mentioned in the last paragraph of Article 30 of this Constitution enters into force, the law regulating this matter will remain in force, but its validity cannot exceed [the date of] February 28th of 1984. Article 252 The right established in the 12th ordinal of Article 38 of this Constitution, will have application until it is regulated in the secondary law, which will not have retroactive effect. Article 253 The provisions contained in Constituent Decree No. 36, dated November 22nd of 1983, published in the Diario Oficial, No. 225, Vol. 281, dated December 5th of the same year, are incorporated in this Title. That provided in the 3rd, 4th and 5th ordinals of Article 152 of this Constitution, will not have application for the next election of President and Vice President of the Republic, [as it] must be as provided for in Constituent Decree No. 36, dated November 22nd of 1983, published in the Diario Oficial No. 225, Vol. 281, dated December 5th of the same year. Article 254 The persons to whom this Constitution confers the status [calidade] of Salvadorans by birth, will enjoy the rights and will have the duties inherent to the same, from the date of their validity, without requiring any additional procedure for recognition of their nationality. Article 255 The actual organization of the Supreme Court of Justice will continue in force [vigente] until June 30th of 1984, and the Magistrates of the same elected by this Constituent Assembly will remain in their functions until such date, during which the laws concerning its organization and competence to which Articles 173 and 174 of [this Constitution] refer must be harmonized with this Constitution. The Magistrates of the Chambers of Second Instance and the Judges of the First Instance actually in [their] functions will complete [terminará] their respective terms, and the new ones that are elected in accordance with that provided by this Constitution, will enjoy job stability, as referred to in the same, and must meet the requirements that it requires [exige]. Article 256 The President and the Magistrates of the Court of Accounts of the Republic elected by this Constituent Assembly, will remain in their functions until the date of June 30th of 1984. Article 257 The Vice Presidents of the Republic will continue in the exercise of their offices until the date of May 31st of 1984, with the attributions that the Constituent Decree No. 9, dated May 6th of 1982, published in the Diario Oficial No. 91, Vol. 275, dated the 19th of the same month and year, establishes. Article 258 The attributions, faculties and the other functions that the law or the regulations confer on the Under-Secretaries of State, will be exercised by the Vice-Ministers of State, except for the attribution to form part of the Council of Ministers, except when being the substitutes [veces] of them. Article 259 The Attorney General of the Republic and the Procurator General for the Poor [Procurador General de los Pobres], appointed in accordance with the Constitution of 1962, and ratified by this Assembly in accordance with the regime of exceptions of the same, will remain in their offices until the thirty-first of May of nineteen eighty-four. Article 260 The Municipal Councils appointed in accordance with the Constituent Decree No. 9 dated May 6th of 1982, published in the Diario Oficial No. 9, Vol. 275, dated the 19th of the same month and year, will remain in their officers until the thirtieth of April of nineteen eighty-five. If during the period comprehended between May 31st of 1984 and April 30th of 1985, any vacancy should occur for any cause, it will be filled in accordance with the law. Article 261 In the case where Ministers and Vice-Ministers of State are appointed during the period comprehended from the date of validity of this Constitution until the date the President and the Vice President of the Republic take possession of their offices, elected in accordance with the Constituent Decree No. 36, dated November 22nd of 1983, published in the Diario Oficial No. 225, Vol. 281, dated December 5th of the same year, they must be ratified by the Legislative Assembly. Article 262 The creation, modification and suppression of public taxes and contributions to which ordinal 1 of Article 204 of this Constitution refers, will be approved by the Legislative Assembly while the general law that the same constitutional provision refers to is not in effect. Article 263 The Members of the Central Council of Elections elected on the basis of the Constituent Decrees No. 17 and 18, dated November 3rd of 1982, published in Diario Oficial No. 203, Vol. 277, dated the 4th of the same month and year, will remain in their offices until July 31st of 1984. Article 264 While the agrarian jurisdiction is not established [erija], the same institutions and tribunals that in accordance with the respective laws have such attribution will continue to take cognizance in this matter, applying the procedures established in the same. Article 265 The validity of all the laws and decrees concerning the process of the Agrarian Reform is recognized in all that does not contradict the text of this Constitution. Article 266 It will be an obligation of the State to establish the mechanisms necessary to guarantee the payment of the price or indemnification of the real property that by nature, by adherence or by designation is of agriculture, livestock and forestry use, that is expropriated as a consequence of the legal provisions that introduce changes in the system of property or possession of the same. A special law will regulate this matter. Article 267 If the land that exceeds the maximum limits established in Article 105 of this Constitution, is not transferred within the time [plazo] contemplated for a cause imputable to the owner, it can be the object of expropriation by ministry of the law, and the indemnification may not be prior. The concepts of peasant [campesino] and small farmer [agricultor en pequeño] must be defined by the law. Article 268 The audio [magnetofónicas] and video recordings which contain the incidences and the participation of the Constituent Deputies in the discussion and approval of the Constitution, as well as the similar documents prepared by the Editing Commission [Comisión Redactora] of the Bill of the Constitution, will be considered [tendran] legitimate [fidedignos] documents for the interpretation of this Constitution, in addition to the proceedings of the plenary session of the Constituent Assembly. The Directive Board [Junta Directiva] of the Legislative Assembly must issue [dictar] the pertinent provisions to guarantee the authenticity and conservation of such documents. Article 269 In case of force majeure or cas fortuit, duly qualified by the Legislative Assembly, that elections for President and Vice President of the Republic may not be effected on the date indicated in the Constituent Decree No. 36, dated November 22nd of 1983, published in Diario Oficial No. 225, Vol. 281, dated December 5th of the same year, the same will specify a new date. For the qualification of the act as well as for the specification of the new date of celebration of the election, a vote of the three-fourths part of the Deputies elected will be necessary. Article 270 That provided for in the third paragraph of Article 106 of this Constitution will not be applicable to indemnifications arising from expropriations effected before the validity of this Constitution. Article 271 The Legislative Assembly must harmonize the secondary laws of the Republic and the special laws of creation and the other provisions which govern the Official Autonomous Institutions, with this Constitution[,] within the period of one year counted from the date of the validity of it, to which effect the competent organs must present their respective Bills, within the first six months of the period indicated. Article 272 Every civil or military functionary must render the oath [rendir la protesta] to which Article 235 refers, when this Constitution enters into force. Article 273 This Assembly will be constituted into [a] Legislative [one] on the day on which the Constitution enters into force and will terminate its term on the thirtieth of April of nineteen hundred eighty-five. TITLE XI VALIDITY Article 274 This Constitution will enter into force on the twentieth of December of nineteen hundred eighty-three, on prior publication in the Diario Oficial on the sixteenth of December of nineteen hundred eighty-three. GIVEN IN THE CHAMBER OF SESSIONS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY; [IN THE] LEGISLATIVE PALACE: San Salvador, on the fifteenth day of December of nineteen hundred eighty-three. Roberto d'Aubuisson Arrieta President Deputy of the Department of San Salvador