El Salvador 1983 (rev. 2014)

Every person has the right to life, physical and moral integrity, liberty, security, work, property and possession, and to be protected in the conservation and defense of the same.

The right to honor, personal and family intimacy, and one’s own image is guaranteed.

Indemnification, in conformity with the law, is established for damages of a moral character.

All persons are equal before the law. For the enjoyment of civil rights, no restrictions shall be established that are based on differences of nationality, race, sex or religion.

Hereditary offices and privileges are not recognized.

Every person in the Republic is free.

No one who enters its territory shall be a slave nor the individual who traffics in slaves be a citizen. No one shall be subjected to servitude or to any other condition that injures their dignity.

Every person has the liberty to enter, remain in, and leave the territory of the Republic, save the limitations that the law establishes.

No one shall be obligated to change their domicile or residence, except by order of a judicial authority in special cases and by means of the requirements indicated by the law.

No Salvadoran shall be expatriated, nor his entry into the Republic prohibited, nor a passport or other documents of identification for his return be denied. Neither shall the right to leave the territory of the Republic be prohibited, except by resolution or sentence of a competent authority, dictated in accordance with the laws.

Every person may freely express and disseminate his thoughts provided they do not subvert the public order nor injure the moral, honor or private lives of others. The exercise of this right shall not be subject to previous examination, censorship or bond; but those who infringe on the laws [while] making use of this right, shall respond for the offense they commit.

In no event may the press, its accessories, or any other media destined to the dissemination of thought be sequestered as an instrument of crime.

The businesses which devote themselves to written, radioed or televised communication and other publishing businesses shall not be the object of state confiscation (estatización) or nationalization, either by expropriation or by any other proceeding. This prohibition is applicable to the stocks or shares (cuotas sociales) of their owners.

The mentioned businesses shall not 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.

Public shows shall be subject to censorship in conformity with the law.

The inhabitants of El Salvador have the right to associate freely and to meet peacefully, without arms, for any lawful purpose. Nobody shall be obligated to belong to an association.

A person shall not be limited or impeded from the exercise of any licit activity because he does not belong to an association.

The existence of armed groups of a political, religious or guild character is prohibited.

No one is obligated to do what the law does not order nor deny themselves of what it does not prohibit.

No one shall be obligated to perform work or render personal services without fair remuneration and without their full consent, except in cases of public disaster and others specified by the law.

The law shall not authorize any act or contract that implies the loss or irreparable sacrifice of the liberty or dignity of the person. Nor shall it authorize agreements in which a person covenants his own proscription or exile.

No person shall be deprived of the right to life, liberty, property and possession, nor any other of his rights without previously being heard and defeated in a trial according to the laws; nor shall he be tried twice for the same cause.

Persons have the right to habeas corpus when any individual or authority illegally or arbitrarily restricts their liberty. Habeas corpus shall also proceed when any authority attacks the dignity or physical, mental or moral integrity of detained persons.

Every person accused of an offense shall be presumed innocent while his guilt is not proven in conformity with the law and in public trial in which all the guarantees necessary for his defense have been assured.

The detained person shall be immediately and clearly informed of his rights and of the reasons for his detention, and cannot be compelled to make a declaration. The detained is guaranteed the assistance of a defense lawyer (defensor) during the proceedings of the auxiliary organs of the administration of justice and in judicial proceedings, in the terms established by the law.

Declarations obtained against the will of the person lack value; whoever so obtains and employs them shall incur penal responsibility.

No governmental organ, authority, or functionary shall issue orders for detention or imprisonment if it is not in conformity with the law, and these orders shall be always written. If an offender is caught in flagrante [delicto], he may be detained by any person to be immediately delivered to the competent authority.

Administrative detention shall not exceed seventy-two hours, within which the detained must be consigned to the order of a competent judge, with the diligences that he may have practiced.

Detention for investigation shall not last longer than seventy-two hours, and the corresponding court shall be obligated to notify the prisoner in person of the motive for his detention, to receive his unsworn statement (indagatorio), and to decree his liberty or provisional detention, within the stated period.

For reasons of social protection, subjects who, by their antisocial, immoral, or harmful activities reveal a dangerous state and offer imminent risks for society or individuals, shall be subjected to re-educative or re-adaptative security measures. The said security measures shall be strictly regulated by law and subject to the competence of the Judicial Organ.

The power to impose punishments corresponds solely to the Judicial Organ. However, the administrative authority may sanction, through resolution or sentence and through the correct process, violations of laws, regulations or ordinances, through an arrest of up to five days or through a fine, which may be exchanged for social services provided to the community.

No one shall be tried except in conformity with laws promulgated prior to the action in question, and by courts previously established by the law.

The same Judge shall not try the same case in different instances.

No Organ, functionary or authority may remove pending cases, nor re-open closed trials or procedures. In case of correction of [a] penal matter[,] the State shall indemnify, in conformity with the law, the victims of the duly proven judicial errors.

Indemnification shall be possible for delay of justice. The law shall establish the direct responsibility of the functionary and the derivative [responsibility] of the State.

Every person has the right to address written petitions, in a decorous manner, to the legally established authorities; and to have such petition resolved and to be informed of the result.

Search or examination of the person shall only be practiced to prevent or investigate crimes or offenses.

The home is inviolable and can only be entered by consent of the person who inhabits it, a court order, a crime detected in the act or imminent danger of its perpetration, or grave risk of persons.

The violation of this right will allow reclamation of indemnity for the damages and losses caused.

The laws shall not have retroactive effect, except in matters of public order and in penal matters if the new law is favorable to the offender.

The Supreme Court of Justice will always have the authority to determine, within its competence, if a law is or is not of public order.

Every person has the right to dispose freely of his property in conformity with the law. Property is transferable in the form determined by the laws. There shall be free making of wills (testamentifacción).

The freedom to make contracts in conformity with the laws is guaranteed. No person who has the free administration of his property may be deprived of the right to settle his civil or commercial affairs by compromise or arbitration. As to those who do not have free administration, the law shall determine the cases in which they may do so and the necessary requirements.

Correspondence of every kind is inviolable; if intercepted, it shall not be given credence nor accepted as evidence in any legal action, except in the cases of insolvency proceedings and bankruptcy.

Interference of telecommunications is prohibited. Exceptionally, the temporary intervention of any kind of telecommunications may be judicially authorized, in a written and reasoned form, maintaining in any case the secrecy of private issues that are unrelated to the process. Information drawn from an illegal intervention will have no value.

The attested contravention of what is established in this Article, by any official, will be just cause for the instant destitution from his office and will lead to compensation for damages caused.

A special law shall determine the crimes in which investigation of this authorization may be granted. It will also indicate the controls, periodic reports to the Legislative Assembly, and administrative, civil and criminal responsibilities and sanctions that the officials that illegally apply this exceptional measure will incur in. The enactment and amendment of this law demands the favorable vote of at least two thirds of the total number of elected deputies.

The free exercise of all religions, without other restrictions than those required by the moral and the public order, is guaranteed. No religious act shall serve as evidence of the civil status of persons.

The juridical personality of the Catholic Church is recognized. The other churches may obtain recognition of their personality in conformity with the law.

The death penalty shall be imposed only in cases foreseen by the military laws during a state of international warfare.

Imprisonment for debt, perpetual punishment, infamy, outlaws (las proscriptivas) and all forms of torture are prohibited.

The State shall organize the penitentiary centers with the objective of reforming offenders, educating them, and teaching them work habits, seeing to their re-adaptation [into society] and the prevention of crime.

El Salvador concedes asylum to the foreigner who desires to reside in its territory, except in cases provided for by the laws and by international law. These exceptions shall not include anyone persecuted only for political reasons.

The extradition shall be governed in accordance with the International Treaties and, when involving Salvadorians, shall only proceed if specifically provided for in the corresponding treaty, and if said treaty has been approved by the Legislative Branch of the respective signatory countries. In every case, its provisions shall consecrate the principle of reciprocity and shall provide Salvadorians with all the criminal and procedural guarantees established by this Constitution.

The extradition shall proceed when the crime has been perpetrated in the territorial jurisdiction of the soliciting country, except in the case of crimes of international transcendence, and shall never take place in cases involving political crimes, even if common crimes arise as a result.

The ratification of all Extradition Treaties shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the elected Deputies.

In cases of war, invasion of territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic, or other general disaster, or serious disturbances of the public order, the guarantees established in Articles 5; 6, first paragraph; 7, first paragraph; and 24 of this Constitution shall be suspended, except for meetings or associations with religious, cultural, economic or sport purposes. This suspension may affect all or part of the territory of the Republic and may be accomplished by a decree of the Legislative Organ or the Executive Organ, as the case may be.

Likewise, the guarantees contained in Articles 12, second paragraph, and 13, second paragraph, of this Constitution, shall be suspended whenever the Legislative Organ so accords, with the favorable vote of three quarters of the elected Deputies; the administrative detention not exceeding fifteen days.

The period of suspension of constitutional guarantees shall not exceed 30 days. After this period has lapsed, the suspension may be extended for an equal period and by means of a new decree, if the circumstances which motivated it continue. If such a decree is not issued, the suspended guarantees shall remain re-established in full right.

When the circumstances that motivated the suspension of constitutional guarantees disappear, the Legislative Assembly, or the Council of Ministers, according to the case, shall re-establish such guarantees.

The family is the fundamental basis of society and shall have the protection of the State, which shall dictate the necessary legislation and create the appropriate organizations and services for its integration, well-being and social, cultural, and economic development.

The legal foundation of the family is marriage and rests on the juridical equality of the spouses.

The State shall foment marriage; but the lack of this shall not affect the enjoyment of the rights established in favor of the family.

The law shall regulate the personal and patrimonial relations of spouses amongst themselves, and between themselves and their children, establishing the rights and reciprocal duties on an equitable basis; and shall create the necessary institutions to guarantee its applicability. Likewise it shall regulate the family relations resulting from the stable union of a man and a woman.

Every child has the right to live in familial and environmental conditions that permit his integral development, for which he shall have the protection of the State.

The law shall determine the duties of the State and shall create institutions for the protection of maternity and infancy.

The State shall protect the physical, mental and moral health of minors, and shall guarantee their right to education and assistance.

Antisocial conduct of minors that constitutes a crime or misdemeanor shall be subject to a special juridical regime.

Children born in or out of wedlock and adopted children, shall have equal rights before their parents. It is the obligation of these to give their children protection, assistance, education and security.

The records of the Civil Register shall not indicate any sign (calificación) of the nature of filiation, nor shall birth certificates express the civil status of the parents.

Every person has the right to have a name that identifies him. The secondary law will regulate this matter.

The law shall also determine the forms of investigating and establishing paternity.

Labor is a social function; it enjoys the protection of the State, and it is not regarded an article of commerce.

The State shall employ all resources that are in its reach to provide employment to manual or intellectual workers, and to ensure him and his family the economic conditions for a dignified existence. In the same form, it shall promote the work and the employment of people with physical, mental or social limitations or disabilities.

Labor shall be regulated by a Code which shall have the principal objective of harmonizing the relations between employers and workers, establishing their rights and obligations. It shall be based on general principles that tend toward the improvement of the living conditions of workers, and shall include especially the following rights:

1. Right to just remuneration
   In the same business or establishment and under identical circumstances, to equal work shall correspond equal remuneration for the worker, without regard for his sex, race, creed, or nationality;
2. Right to reasonable standard of living
   Every worker has the right to earn a minimum wage, which shall be fixed periodically. To fix this wage, attention shall be paid above all to the cost of living, the type of work, the different systems of remuneration, the distinct zones of production, and other similar criteria. This wage shall be sufficient to satisfy the normal needs of the worker’s home in their material, moral and cultural aspects.

   For piecework, 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. Salary and social benefits, in the quantity determined by law, are unattachable and cannot be compensated or retained, except for obligations to supply essential support (obligaciones alimenticias). Amounts also may be retained for social security, union quota, or tax obligations. Worker’s instruments of labor are unattachable;
4. The salary shall be paid in legal tender (moneda de curso legal). The salary and social benefits constitute privileged credits in relation to other credits that may exist against an employer;
5. Employers shall give their workers a bonus for each year of work. The law shall establish the form in which one shall determine the quantity in relation to salaries;
6. Right to rest and leisure
   The ordinary workday (jornada) of effective daytime work shall not exceed eight hours, and the work-week shall not exceed forty-four hours;

   The maximum hours of overtime (horas extraordinarias) for each type of work shall be determined by the law.

   The night shift (jornada) and the shift that requires dangerous or unhealthy tasks shall be shorter than the daytime shift and shall be regulated by law.

   The limitation on working hours shall not apply in cases of force majeure.

   The law shall determine the length of pauses that shall interrupt the workday when, attending to biological reasons, the rhythm of tasks so demand, and of those that shall intercede between two workdays.

   Overtime and night work shall receive additional remuneration (recargo);

7. Right to rest and leisure
   Every worker has the right to one day of remunerated rest for each work week, in the form required by law.

   The workers who do not enjoy rest on the days previously indicated, shall have the right to additional remuneration for the services rendered on these days and a compensatory leave;

8. Right to rest and leisure
   Workers shall have the right to paid rest on the holidays (días de asueto) designated by law; [the law] shall determine the kind of work for which this disposition shall not apply, but in those cases, workers shall have the right to extraordinary remuneration;
9. Right to rest and leisure
   Every worker that accredits a minimum of services performed during a given period, shall have the right to an annual paid vacation in the form determined by law. Vacations shall not be compensated by money and, to the obligation of the employer to grant them corresponds the obligation of the worker to take them;
10. Limits on employment of children
    Those less than fourteen years old, and those having reached this age but who remain subject to obligatory education in virtue of the law, may not be employed in any type of work.

    Their employment shall be authorized when it is considered indispensable for their subsistence or that of their family, provided that this does not prevent compliance with the minimum of obligatory education.

    The workday for those under sixteen years old 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 women. Night work is also prohibited for persons under eighteen years old. The law shall define (determinar) dangerous and unhealthful work;

11. The employer who discharges a worker without just cause is obligated to indemnify him according to the law;
12. The law shall 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 fixed in relation to their salaries and time of service.

    Resignation produces its effects without the need for acceptance by the employer, but the latter’s refusal to pay corresponding compensation constitutes a legal presumption of unfair discharge.

    In the case of total and permanent incapacitation or death of the worker, the worker or his beneficiaries shall have the right to the compensations they would receive in the case of voluntary resignation.

The law shall regulate the conditions under which collective labor contracts and agreements shall be concluded. The stipulations that these contain shall be applicable to all workers in the businesses that signed them, although they do not belong to the contracting union, and also to the other workers who enter such enterprises while the contracts or agreements are in effect. The law shall establish the procedure to make uniform working conditions in different economic activities, on the basis of provisions contained in the majority of collective contracts and agreements in force in each type of activity.

A system of professional training (formación) is established for the preparation and qualification of human resources.

The law shall regulate the scope, extent and form in which the system is to be put in effect.

Contracts of apprenticeship shall be regulated by law, to assure that the apprentice shall receive training in an occupation, dignified treatment, equitable remuneration, and welfare (previsión) and social security benefits.

The domestic worker (trabajador a domicilio) has the right to an officially designated minimum wage, and to the payment of indemnification for time lost by motive of an employer’s delay in ordering or receiving work or for the arbitrary or unjustified suspension of work. Domestic workers shall be recognized as having an analogous legal situation as other workers, taking into consideration the special characteristics of their work.

The working woman shall be entitled to paid rest before and after childbirth, and to the conservation of her employment.

The laws shall regulate the obligation of employers to install and maintain crib rooms and places of custody for the children of workers.

Employers are obligated to pay indemnification and to provide medical, pharmaceutical and other services established by the laws for workers who suffer work accidents or any occupational disease.

The law shall regulate the conditions to be met by workshops, factories, and working premises.

The State shall maintain a technical inspection service charged with seeing that legal norms for labor, assistance, welfare, and social security are strictly complied with, to the end of verifying their results, and suggesting pertinent reforms.

Agricultural and domestic workers have the right to protection with respect to wages, working hours, rests, vacations, social security, indemnification for dismissal, and, in general, to social benefits. The extent and nature of the aforementioned rights shall be determined by law according to the conditions and peculiarities of the work. Persons who perform services that are domestic in character in industrial, commercial businesses, social entities and other similar enterprises shall be considered manual workers and shall have the rights granted to these.

The State shall propitiate the creation of a bank owned by the workers.

Employers and private employees without distinction of nationality, sex, race, creed or political ideas, whatever their activity or the nature of the work they complete, have the right to associate freely for the protection of their respective interests, by forming professional associations or trade unions. Workers in official autonomous institutions, public officials and employees and the municipal employees shall have the same right.

Public officials and employees covered in the third paragraph of Article 219 and of Article 236 of this Constitution, members of the Armed Forces, of the National Civil Police, members of the judicial career and public servants who exercise decision-making functions or have directive responsibilities or are employees whose obligations are of a highly confidential nature, will not have the right stated in the previous paragraph.

In the case of the Public Ministry, along with the head members of the institutions that comprise it, their respective adjuncts, auxiliary agents, auxiliary procurators, labor procurators and delegates will not have the right to unionization.

Said organizations have the right to juridical personality and to be duly protected in the exercise of their functions. Their dissolution or suspension shall be decreed only in the cases and with the formalities determined by the law.

The special norms for the constitutions and functioning of professional and trade union organizations of the countryside and the city shall not restrict freedom of association. All exclusion clauses are prohibited.

Members of the boards of directors (directivas) of trade unions shall be Salvadorans by birth and during the period of their election and mandate, and until a year has passed after they cease their functions, they shall not be dismissed, suspender for disciplinary reasons, transferred, or their working conditions reduced, except for justifiable cause previously approved by a competent authority.

Also, the right to collective bargaining, in accordance to law, is recognized to the workers and employees mentioned in the last part of the first paragraph of this Article. Collective agreements will begin to take effect the first day of the fiscal exercise (or fiscal year) following that of its celebration. A special law shall regulate this matter.

Employers have the right to suspend work and workers the right to strike, except in the case of indispensable public services that are established by law. To exercise these rights, no previous approval shall be necessary, after having procured the solution to the conflict which generates them through stages of peaceful solution established by law. The effects of the strike or suspension are antedated to the moment that these initiate.

The law shall regulate these rights with respect to their exercise and conditions.

A special jurisdiction is established for labor. The procedures in labor matters shall be regulated in a form that will permit a rapid solution to conflicts.

The State has the obligation to promote conciliation and arbitration, so they constitute effective means for the peaceful solution of labor conflicts. Special administrative boards of conciliation and arbitration shall be established to solve collective conflicts of interests or of an economic character.

Social security constitutes a public service of an obligatory character. The law shall regulate its scope, extent, and form.

Said service shall be rendered by one or various institutions, which must observe adequate coordination amongst themselves to assure a good policy of social protection, in specialized form and with maximum utilization of resources.

Employers, workers, and the State shall contribute to the payment of social security in the form and quantity determined by the law.

The State and employers shall be exempt from the obligations imposed by law in favor of the workers, to the extent that these are covered by Social Security.

The law shall determine which businesses and establishments, due to their special conditions, are required to provide the worker and his family with suitable housing, schools, medical assistance, and other services and attentions necessary for their well-being.

The rights consecrated in favor of the workers cannot be renounced.

The enumeration of the rights and benefits to which this chapter refers, does not exclude others that are derived from principles of social justice.

The right to an education and to culture is inherent to the human person; in consequence, the preservation, promotion, and dissemination of culture is an obligation and primary end of the State.

The State will propitiate research and scientific occupations.

The State shall organize the educational system for which it will create the necessary institutions and services. Natural and juridical persons are guaranteed the liberty to establish private centers of teaching.

Education has the following objectives: to achieve the integral development of the personality in its spiritual, moral and social dimension; to contribute to the construction of a more prosperous, just and humane democratic society; to inculcate a respect for the human rights and the observance of the corresponding duties; to combat all spirit of intolerance and hate; to know the national reality and to identify oneself with values of the Salvadoran nationality; and to propitiate the unity of the people (pueblo) of Central America.

Parents shall have the preferential right to choose the education of their children.

All inhabitants of the Republic have the right and the duty to receive a simple (parvularia) and basic education that will train them to perform as useful citizens. The State shall promote the formation of special education centers.

When imparted by the State, simple, basic secondary and special education shall be free.

The teaching imparted in official educational centers shall be essentially democratic.

Private educational centers shall be subject to the regulation and inspection of the State and shall be subsidized when they do not have profitable goals.

The State shall exclusively take in its charge the training of teachers (magisterio).

No educational establishment shall refuse to accept students because of the marital status of their parents or guardians, nor for social, religious, racial, or political differences.

Literacy is of social interest. All inhabitants of the country shall contribute toward it in the form determined by law.

To exercise the teaching profession it is required to accredit one’s capability in the form determined by the law.

In all public or private, civil or military teaching centers the instruction of national history, civics, morality, the Constitution of the Republic, human rights and the conservation of the natural resources shall be obligatory.

National history and the Constitution shall be taught by Salvadoran professors.

Academic (cátedra) liberty is guaranteed.

Higher education shall be governed by a special law. The University of El Salvador and the others of the State shall enjoy autonomy in teaching, administrative and economic aspects. They shall lend a social service, respecting academic liberty. They shall be governed by statutes registered within said law, which shall establish the general principles for their organization and functioning.

The funds (partidas) destined to the sustainment of the state universities and those necessary to assure and increase its patrimony shall be consigned annually in the State Budget. These institutions shall be subject, in agreement with the law, to the inspection of the corresponding state organism.

The special law shall also regulate the creation and functioning of the private universities, respecting academic freedom. These universities shall lend a social service and shall not pursue profitable ends. The same law shall regulate the creation and functioning of official and private technological institutes.

The State shall keep watch for the democratic functioning of the institutions of higher education and for their adequate academic level.

The official language of El Salvador is Spanish. The government is obligated to keep watch for its conservation and teaching.

The native languages that are spoken in the national territory form part of the cultural patrimony and shall be the object of preservation, dissemination and respect.

The artistic, historical, and archeological wealth of the country form part of the Salvadoran cultural treasure, which shall be under the safeguard of the State and subject to special laws for its conservation.

El Salvador recognizes the indigenous peoples and will implement measures to maintain and develop their ethnic and cultural identity, worldview, values and spirituality.

The National Symbols are the National Colors (Pabellón) or National Flag, the Shield of Arms and the National Anthem. A law shall regulate what concerns this matter.

The health of the inhabitants of the Republic constitutes a public good. The State and the persons are obligated to see to its conservation and restoration.

The State shall determine the national health policy and shall control and supervise its application.

The State shall give free assistance to the sick who lack resources, and to the inhabitants in general when the treatment constitutes an effective means of preventing the dissemination of a communicable disease. In this case, every person is obligated to submit themselves to such treatment.

The public health services shall be essentially technical. Sanitary (sanitarias), hospital, paramedic and hospital administration careers shall be established.

A Higher Public Health Council shall oversee the public health of the country. It shall be comprised of an equal number of representatives from the medical, odontological, chemical-pharmaceutical, medical veterinary, clinical laboratories, psychology and nursing professional associations, and others which require a license to practice and which the Higher Public Health Council has authorized to establish their own board; it shall have a President and a Secretary appointed by the Executive Organ. Its organization shall be determined by law.

The exercise of the professions that are directly related with the public health of the country shall be supervised by legal institutions created by scholars belonging to each of these professions. These institutions shall have the authority to expel from the professional exercise of their professions those members of the professional association under their control who have exercised their profession with manifest immorality or ineptitude. The disbarment of professionals shall be determined by the competent institutions in accordance with the due process.

The Higher Public Health Council shall have cognizance of and resolve the appeals (recursos que se interpongan) that are presented against the resolutions pronounced by the organizations alluded to in the preceding paragraph.

The State shall be equipped with the necessary and indispensable resources for permanent control of the quality of chemical, pharmaceutical and veterinary products through surveillance organisms.

Likewise the State shall control the quality of food products and the environmental conditions that may affect health and well-being.

The State shall assume charge of indigents who, because of their age or physical or mental incapacity, are unable to work.

The Legislative Assembly is a professional associated (colegiado) body composed of Deputies elected in the form prescribed by this Constitution, and to it fundamentally belongs the authority to legislate.

The Legislative Assembly shall meet in the capital of the Republic, to initiate its period and without the need of summons, on the first day of May of the year of election of its members. It may move to another place of the Republic to hold (celebrar) its sessions when it shall so resolve.

The majority of the members of the Assembly shall be sufficient to deliberate.

To take a resolution, the favorable vote of at least half and one of the elected Deputies is required, except [for] the cases in which, in conformance with this Constitution, a different majority is required.

The members of the Assembly shall be renewed every three years and may be reelected. The period of their functions shall commence on the first of May of the year of their election.

The Deputies represent the whole nation (pueblo) and are not bound by any imperative mandate. They are inviolable and shall not have responsibility at any time for the opinions or votes they emit.

To be elected Deputy, one must be over twenty-five years old, Salvadoran by birth, child of a Salvadoran father or mother, of well-known integrity and education and must not have lost the rights of citizenship during the five years preceding the election.

The following shall not be candidates for Deputies:

1. Restrictions on the armed forces
   The President and Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, the President and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, functionaries of the electoral organisms, military officers in active service (de alta), and in general, functionaries who exercise jurisdiction;
2. Those who have administered or managed public funds, while they have not obtained 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 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 national resources (riquezas) or public services, as well those who have accepted [positions as] their representatives or administrative attorneys, or foreign companies (sociedades) that are found to be in the same situation.

The incompatibilities referred to in the first number (ordinal) of this Article affect those who held the indicated positions within the three months prior to the election.

The Deputies shall not be contractors nor bonders of public works or businesses which are financed with funds of the State or of the Municipality; neither shall they obtain concessions of the State for the exploitation of national resources or for public services; nor accept to be representatives or administrative attorneys of national persons or foreigners who have those contracts or concessions.

The Deputies in office (en ejercicio) shall not hold remunerated public positions during the time for which they have been elected, except those of a teaching or cultural character, and those related to the professional services of social assistance.

Nevertheless, they may hold the positions of Ministers or Vice Ministers of State, Presidents of Official Autonomous Institutions, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Consular [Missions] or carry out Special Diplomatic Missions. In these cases, they shall be reincorporated into the Assembly when their functions cease, if the period of their election is still in force.

The alternates may hold jobs or public offices without their acceptance and exercise producing the loss of these positions (calidad).

The Deputies shall cease in their position in the following cases:

1. When they are convicted for serious crimes in a definitive sentence;
2. When they commit 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 carry out any other public post during the period of their election.

It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly:

1. To determine its internal regulation;
2. Oaths to abide by constitution
   To accept or reject the credentials of its members, to receive the constitutional oath (protesta) from them, and provide them with responsibilities in the cases foreseen by this Constitution;
3. To take cognizance of the resignations presented by the Deputies, admitting them when they are based on a legally proven just cause;
4. Replacement of legislators
   To call on alternate Deputies in the case of death, resignation, nullification of election, temporary leave, or the inability of the members (propietarios) to attend;
5. To decree, interpret authentically, reform and abrogate the secondary laws;
6. To decree taxes, valuations (tasas), and other contributions on all classes of property, services and income, in equitable relation; and in the case of invasion, legally declared war or public disaster, to decree forced loans in the same relation, if the ordinary public revenues are insufficient;
7. International organizations, Treaty ratification
   To ratify the treaties or pacts made (celebre) by the Executive with other States or international organisms, or to refuse their ratification;
8. Budget bills
   To decree the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration, as well as its reforms;
9. To create and suppress positions, to assign salaries to the functionaries and employees in accordance with the Civil Service regimen;
10. To approve its budget and salary system, as well as its reforms, consulting previously with the President of the Republic on them, for the sole effect of guaranteeing that the necessary funds exist for their compliance. Once approved, said budget shall be incorporated into the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Public Administration;
11. Reference to science
    To decree, in a general manner, financial benefits and incentives or those of any nature, for the promotion of services or cultural, scientific, agricultural, industrial and commercial activities;
12. To decree laws on the recognition of the public debt and create and assign the funds necessary for its payment;
13. To establish and regulate the national monetary system and to decide upon the admission and circulation of foreign currency;
14. Oaths to abide by constitution
    To receive the constitutional oath and give possession of their position to citizens who, in conformity with law, shall exercise the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic;
15. To decide upon resignations interposed and leaves solicited by the President and Vice President of the Republic and Designates, after personal ratification before the same Assembly;
16. To obligatorily disavow the President of the Republic or his substitute if, when his constitutional term has ended, he continues in the exercise of his post. In this case, if no person has been legally summoned for the exercise of the Presidency, a Provisional President shall be designated;
17. To elect, for all of the respective presidential term, in a public and registered (nominal) vote, two persons who in character of Designates shall exercise [the power of] the Presidency of the Republic, in the cases and in the order determined by this Constitution;
18. To receive the work report that shall be delivered by the Executive through his Ministers, and approve or disapprove it;
19. Establishment of judicial council, Supreme court selection, Ordinary court selection, Electoral court selection, Attorney general, Ombudsman
    To elect in a public and registered vote the following functionaries: the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the President and 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 Members of the National Council of the Judiciary;
20. Head of state removal
    To declare, with no less than two-thirds of the votes of the elected Deputies, the physical or mental incapacity of the President, Vice President of the Republic and of functionaries elected by the Assembly for the exercise of their posts, after the unanimous judgment of a Commission of five physicians named by the Assembly;
21. To determine the authorities (atribuciones) and competences of the different functionaries when by this Constitution it has not been done;
22. To grant, to persons or towns, titles, honorary distinctions and rewards compatible with the form of government established, for relevant services lent to the Nation (Patria).

    Nevertheless, it is prohibited to grant these titles, distinctions and rewards, while they occupy their posts, to the following functionaries: the President and Vice President of the Republic, Ministers and Vice Ministers of State, Deputies to the Legislative Assembly, and the President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice;

23. To grant permission to Salvadorans to accept honorific distinctions bestowed by foreign governments;
24. Reference to science
    To grant temporary leaves or privileges for cultural or scientific activities or works;
25. Power to declare/approve war
    To declare war and ratify peace, on the basis of reports provided to it by the Executive Organ;
26. To grant amnesty for political or common crimes connected with these, or for common crimes committed by not less than twenty persons; and to grant pardons, upon favorable report of the Supreme Court of Justice;
27. To suspend and re-establish the constitutional guarantees in agreement with Article 29 of this Constitution, in a public and registered vote with at least two-thirds of the elected Deputies;
28. To grant or refuse permission to Salvadorans to accept diplomatic or consular posts to be exercised in El Salvador;
29. International law
    To permit or refuse the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the Republic, and the stationing of ships or airships [used for] war of other countries for more time than is established by international treaties or practices;
30. To approve the concessions to which Article 120 of this Constitution refers;
31. To create judicial districts and establish positions, as proposed by the Supreme Court, so the respective officials take cognizance of all kinds of criminal, civil, mercantile, labor, contentious, administrative, agrarian and other cases;
32. Legislative committees
    To name special commissions for the investigation of matters of national interest and to adopt the agreements or recommendations that are esteemed necessary based on the report of said commissions;
33. To decree the National Symbols;
34. Legislative oversight of the executive
    To question Ministers or Managers of the Commission (Despacho) and Presidents of Official Autonomous Institutions;
35. To determine the force majeure or fortuitous case to which the last paragraph of Article 80 refers;
36. Central bank
    To receive the work report which must be provided by 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;
37. Cabinet removal
    To recommend to the President of the Republic the dismissal of the Ministers of State; or to the corresponding organs, that functionaries in Official Autonomous Institutions be dismissed, when it believes this to be appropriate, as a result of an investigation of its special committees or of an interpellation, in such case. The resolution of the Assembly shall be binding when it refers to the heads of public security or of the intelligence [department] of the State for a cause involving grave violations of Human Rights;
38. To practice the other powers (atribuciones) indicated by this Constitution.

All the public functionaries and employees, including those of Official Autonomous Institutions and the Members of the Armed Force, are under the obligation to collaborate with the special commissions of the Legislative Assembly; and the appearance and declaration of these as well as any other person required by the mentioned commissions shall be obligatory under the same summons that are observed in the judicial procedure.

The conclusions of the special commissions of investigation of the Legislative Assembly shall not be obliging (vinculante) for the tribunals, nor shall they affect the judicial proceedings or resolutions, without prejudice that the result be communicated to the General Office of the Attorney General (Fiscalía) of the Republic for the exercise of pertinent actions.

[The following] have exclusive power to propose laws:

1. The Deputies;
2. The President of the Republic through his Ministers;
3. Supreme court powers
   The Supreme Court of Justice, in matters related to the Judicial Organ, to the exercise of the work of Notaries and Lawyers, and to the jurisdiction and competence of the Tribunals;
4. Municipal government
   The Municipal Councils in matters of municipal taxes.
5. Regional group(s), International organizations
   The Central American Parliament, through the Deputies of the State of El Salvador conforming it, in matters concerning the integration of the Central American Isthmus, in accordance with Article 89 of this Constitution.

In the same manner, the Deputies of the State of El Salvador that are members of the Central American Parliament shall have the initiative on the above-referenced subject matter.

Every bill of law which is approved must be signed by the majority of the members of the Executive Board (Junta Directiva). One copy shall be kept in the Assembly and two shall be sent to the President of the Republic.

Every bill of law shall be transmitted to the President of the Republic no later than ten business days after being debated and approved, and if he has no objections, he shall ratify it and order its publication as law.

Sanction by the President of the Republic shall not be necessary in the case of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 32nd, 34th, 35th, 36th, and 37th ordinals of Article 131 of this Constitution and in precedents (antejuicios) recognized by the Assembly.

If the President of the Republic finds no objection to a bill [he has] received, he shall sign two copies, send one back to the Assembly and leave the other in his archive and he shall have the text published as law in the corresponding official organ.

When the President of the Republic vetoes a bill of law, he shall return it to the Assembly within eight business days of receiving it, indicating the reasons on which his veto is founded; if within such term he has failed to return it, it shall be considered ratified and he shall order its publication as law.

In the case of a veto, the Assembly shall reconsider the bill and if it should ratify it with at least two-thirds of the votes of elected Deputies, it shall send it again to the President of the Republic, and he shall sanction it and send it to be published.

If he returns it with observations, the Assembly shall consider them and resolve anything it believes convenient by the majority established in Article 123, and send it to the President of the Republic, who shall sanction it and send it to be published.

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 shall present it to the Supreme Court of Justice within three business days, so that the latter may, after hearing the arguments of both sides, decide whether it is or is not constitutional, within fifteen business days at the latest. If the Court decides that the bill is constitutional, the President of the Republic shall be obligated to sanction it and to order its publication as law.

The term for the publication of laws shall be fifteen business days. If the President of the Republic has not published them within the prescribed term, the President of the Legislative Assembly shall order their publication as laws in the Official Gazette or any other daily newspaper among those with the largest circulation in the Republic.

No law is binding (obliga) except by virtue of its promulgation and publication. For a law of permanent character to be binding, at least eight days must pass after its publication. This period may be extended, but not restricted.

In case of an evident error in the printing of the text of the law, it shall be republished at the latest within ten days. The last publication shall be had as its authentic text; and the term for it to enter into effect shall be counted from the date of the new publication.

To interpret, reform, or repeal the laws, the same procedure shall be observed as for its formation.

When a bill is rejected or not ratified, it shall not be proposed within the following six months.

The international treaties formalized (celebrados) by El Salvador with other states or international organisms, constitute laws of the Republic once they enter into effect, in conformity with the dispositions of the same treaty and of this Constitution.

The law shall not modify or repeal that agreed in a treaty in effect for El Salvador. In case of conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty shall prevail.

Treaties in which constitutional dispositions are in any manner restricted or affected shall not be ratified, unless the ratification is done with the corresponding reservations. The dispositions of the treaty on which the reservations are made are not law of the Republic.

Treaties shall not be formalized or ratified or concessions granted, that in any manner, alter the form of government or damage or impair the integrity of the territory, the sovereignty and independence of the Republic or the fundamental rights and guarantees of the human person.

That decreed in the preceding paragraph is applied to international treaties or contracts with governments or national or international business in which the Salvadoran State submits itself to the jurisdiction of a tribunal of a foreign state.

The preceding does not impede that, in treaties as well as in contracts, the Salvadoran State submit the decision, in case of controversy, to an arbitration or an international court.

For the ratification of any treaty or pact for which any question related to the limits of the Republic are submitted to arbitration, a vote of at least three-quarters of the elected Deputies shall be necessary.

Any treaty or agreement formalized by the Executive Organ referring to the national territory, shall also require a vote of at least three-quarters of the elected Deputies.

It corresponds to the Legislative Assembly to authorize the Executive Organ to contract voluntary loans (empréstitos), inside or outside the Republic, when a grave and urgent necessity demands it, and to guarantee debts (obligaciones) contracted by state or municipal entities of public interest.

The obligations contracted in conformity with this disposition shall be submitted to the cognizance of the Legislative Organ, which shall not ratify them with less than a two- thirds vote of the elected Deputies.

The legislative decree in which the issuance or contracting of a loan is authorized, shall clearly express the end to which the funds of this shall be designated, and in general, all the essential conditions of the operation.

The authority to declare the inapplicability of the dispositions of any treaty contrary to the constitutional precepts shall be exercised by the tribunals within the jurisdiction of administrative justice.

The declaration of unconstitutionality of a treaty, in a general and obligatory manner, shall be made in the same form foreseen by this Constitution for the laws, decrees and regulations.

The territory of the Republic is divided into departments for political administration, the number and boundaries of which shall be fixed by law. In each of them there shall be a proprietary and substitute Governor, appointed by the Executive Organ, whose powers shall be determined by law.

To be a Governor it is required: to be a Salvadoran, a layman, over twenty-five years of age, to be in exercise of the rights of citizenship, having been so for three years immediately preceding appointment, to be of well-known morality and education, and to be a native or resident of the respective department; in the latter case, two years of residence immediately preceding appointment is necessary.

For the Local Government, the departments are divided into Municipalities, which are governed by Councils, consisting of a Mayor, a Syndic (Síndico), and two or more Aldermen (Regidores), the number of whom shall be in proportion to the population.

The Members of the Municipal Councils must be over twenty-one years of age and natives or residents of the municipality; they shall be elected for a period of three years, may be re-elected, and their further qualifications shall be determined by law.

The Municipalities shall be autonomous in the exercise of their economic, technical, and administrative functions; and shall be governed by a Municipal Code which shall set down the general principles for the organization, functioning, and exercise of their autonomous powers.

The Municipalities shall be obligated to collaborate with other public institutions in plans for national or regional development.

The Autonomy of the Municipality includes [the power]:

1. To create, modify and suppress public taxes and contributions for the realization of particular works within the limits established by a general law.

   Once taxes or contributions are approved by the Municipal Council the respective agreement shall be published in the Official Gazette, and eight days after its publication, its observance shall be mandatory;

2. To declare its Budget of Revenues and Expenditures;
3. To freely carry out matters within its competency;
4. To appoint and remove functionaries and employees from their branch offices (dependencias);
5. To enact local ordinances and regulations;
6. To elaborate their tax rates and reforms, so as to propose them as law to the Legislative Assembly.

No law nor authority may exempt itself or dispense with the payment of municipal taxes and contributions.

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 their development.

Municipal funds may not be centralized in the General Fund of State, nor may they be utilized except in services and for the benefit of the Municipalities.

The Municipalities may associate or form amongst themselves cooperative agreements for the purpose of carrying out 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 shall be created. A law shall establish the amount of such 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 a posteriori by the Court of Accounts of the Republic, as prescribed by law.