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General Information
The Civil and Criminal Courts deal with the cassation
appeals and appeals against the sentences handed
down from the courts. The other two courts deal with
constitutional and protection appeals, habeas corpus,
questions of unconstitutionality, and the Litigous
Administrative Chamber, with administrative matters.
On a lower level are the Courts of Appeal, each
consisting of two judges, who deal with appeals,
facts or revisions set against resolutions handed
out by the Judicial Branch Courts according to their
territorial competence established in the law.
These are followed by the first instance courts. These
are one-man courts that deal with the issues within
the territory established by the law. They may be
mixed, in other words they may deal with two or more
issues. In the Criminal area, there are ‘sentence and
instruction’ courts, which have three judges.
Peace judges are the last in the judicial hierarchy.
They are one-person courts that deal with different
issues (mercantile, civil, etc.) or cases of lesser
severity. This is where the initial investigation of a
criminal proceeding is developed and where criminal
court reconciliations are accomplished.
Armed forces and public safety
It is established in the Constitution that the Armed
Forces is a permanent institution to serve the nation.
It must be obedient, professional, apolitical and
non-deliberating. The Armed Forces mission is
the defense of the sovereignty of the State and the
integrity of the territory.
On special occasions the President of the Republic
can use the Armed Forces to maintain internal
peace. National Defense and Public Safety are
appointed to different ministries.
The Civil National Police is the entity in charge
of public safety. It is a professional police force
independent from the Armed Forces and unrelated
to any political party. In addition, a new police force
has emerged, the Tourist Police, who are now in
charge of tourist safety.
Local governments
The Local governments of El Salvador are the city
hall councils. City hall councils are the authorities
responsible for the city halls or district councils.
They are elected for a period of three years through
direct, popular and secret elections. The councils
are economically, technically and administratively
independent. They are formed by a Mayor, a Trustee
and two or more Councilmen according to town size.
They have the ability to create, modify or abolish
fees and public contributions. Separation among
taxes, fees and public contributions is very important
to establish the capacity of the city hall power in
tributary matters. The three terms are derived from
the generic concept of contribution or tribute. The
tax-free contribution is a practical consideration for
the obligation to pay, namely that taxes may not
have a direct benefit to the taxpayer. This type of
charge cannot be decreed by the city halls. The rates
are contributions where a direct service is given to
the payer. Public or special contributions are those
where a group of citizens receive a specific benefit
for a given concrete service.
Foreign Affairs / Foreign Policy
Within the general policy of bilateral and multilateral
international relations with countries, country-groups
and International Organizations, the Republic of El
Salvador has close relations beyond its neighboring
countries that work together for the efforts of the
Central American integration. For instance, there are
strong relations with the United States of America,
mainly because of the existence of nearly 3 million
Salvadorans living there and because the U.S.A.
accounts for 66% of the exports and 44% of the
imports from El Salvador.
Another country that provides a lot of assistance
is Spain, contributing 64% of the international
cooperation funds. Likewise, within international
relations, Taiwan together with Japan are important
allies in the areas of technological assistance
and external cooperation due to the Free Trade
Agreement with those countries.
El Salvador has also signed Trade Agreements with
Panamá, Chile, México, the Dominican Republic,
Colombia and Perú in addition to the Central American
countries of Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Political Parties
The political system of El Salvador is pluralist. It is
expressed through political parties that are the only
instrument to exercise the peoples’ representation
within the Government.