Constitutional Chamber approves troops in the streets

The Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled today that the use of the armed forces to support activities of the national civilian police is constitutional.   A citizen had filed a challenge to the use of troops to patrol crime-ridden areas of the country, a practice begun under president Tony Saca and continued by Mauricio Funes.   The challenge asserted that this violated the provisions of El Salvador's constitution, added after the 1992 Peace Accords, which were to return the army to its barracks and limit its role in domestic security.

In its ruling the Constitutional Chamber found that the executive decree authorizing the use of the troops was justified by the exceptional situation of criminality and insecurity in which citizens of the county find themselves.