Several non-governmental organizations (NGOS) that make public life in El Salvador asked the president of that nation, Nayib Bukele, as to whether it is true or not that his government is planning to create a digital currency to be called “the criptocolón”.
These comments have emerged after, last weekend, a supposed conversation that had been held by the head of State of the Central American nation was leaked with his brothers, Ibrahim and Yusef. There they would have addressed the possibility of creating a stablecoin of their own, as CriptoNoticias reported.
This would have happened while the project that would later become the Bitcoin Law was being prepared. The possibility was handled as an alternative that would allow to have a digital currency that would serve as a reference to the local currency prior to the current dollarization of the economy of that country.
According to information published by the newspaper world from El Salvador, today, July 20, 2021, NGOs headed by the Salvadoran Association Transparency, Social Comptroller and Open Data (Tracoda), whose spokesperson is in charge of its president, Carlos Palomo, said they oppose the country’s economic policy being negotiated with its back to the people.
Therefore, Palomo said that, in order to ensure the interests of the population, he believes it is appropriate that the State explain the strategy that would be implemented and what are the negotiations held on the matter with foreign companies or consultants.
In his opinion, it is the collectivity which in the end will have to assume the consequences of a possible change in monetary policy. In view of this situation he accompanied this reflection with the following comment:
The idea is not bad or good per se, it is simply a new mechanism. It would be good to clarify what the official role is, because it is not appropriate that people who do not have public responsibilities are disposing of the state budget or are compromising economic policy measures that are going to affect citizens, that is the problem.
Carlos Palomo, president of Tracoda.
Pigeon also questioned that there is no transparency about persons who are appointed to or not hold public office in El Salvadorbecause the president’s brothers are being involved in these issues of state. In the opinion of the holder of Tracoda, individuals appointed for this purpose must be under the supervision of the Court of Accounts of the Republic (CCR) or, in such case, subordinate to what is established by both the Government Ethics Law and the courts of justice of the country.
Wilson Sandoval, coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Legal Advisory Center, Transparency International chapter in El Salvador of the National Development Foundation (Alac-Funde), agreed on this point.He also asked for clarity on what is happening in this regard.
“It should be made transparent, because there are people who are making decisions on behalf of the Salvadoran state and the population does not know anything,” Sandoval said.
In addition, Sandoval also he questioned the negotiations that took place to enact the Bitcoin Law. He described them as” unethical”, since he considers that”there is no guarantee that the interests of the population will be held accountable.”
Several questions to the Bitcoin Law within El Salvador
On June 8, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved the Bitcoin Law with a qualified majority. With this decision, it became the first country to establish BTC as legal tender.
In this document it was established that the exchange rate between bitcoin and the dollar will be fixed by the free market, being the result of the agreement between cryptocurrency buyers and sellers.
It is not the first time that the Bitcoin Law generates discord among groups opposed to the government of President Bukele. In June 2021, the deputies of El Salvador presented a reform aimed at eliminating bitcoin as legal tender, which did not get the backing of Congress.
On that occasion, the initiative was in charge of the parliamentarians Anabel Belloso and Dina Argueta, who considered that the adoption of the cryptocurrency puts the economic system and family finances at risk.
Some professionals in El Salvador have also called for the repeal of the Bitcoin Law, considering that it does not fulfill the basic functions of money due to its volatility. Despite this opposition, the Government is continuing with its project.