The Role of Parliaments in Global Security- Hon. Macarena Olona

Okay, we have one more parliamentarian from Spain, Macarena Alana, former member of Congress, state attorney, and I think from Granada area. Come on up and tell us then. Thank you. Last February 2024, we celebrated elections in El Salvador and Nayib Bukele was running for re-election as president. He obtained the support of the 92% of the vote. That's overwhelming support. One year later, after his re-election, six years after his first election as president, we can confirm without any doubt that the strength of President Nayib Bukele lays on his actions, not his discourse. Bukele has protected Salvadoran people, and with that, he has given the people freedom, because without security, there is no freedom. There is no freedom, and it is an honor for me to address this Parliamentary Forum on Security and Intelligence, one of the most important forums internationally for this area that unites security and intelligence. I want to talk to you about Bukele's model from the European perspective, and before starting with the certain measures that I want to highlight, I want to talk about these ten inspiring principles. We live in a world full of wolves. I repeat, we live in a world full of wolves. In a world full of wolves, all the sheep are defenseless when you tie the shepherd dog. President Bukele expressed that clearly. Those who forgive the wolves sacrifice the sheep. There have been different references to the story of wolves and sheep. Basically, we can summarize that in the world there are three types of people. The sheep that continue living, the wolves that want to feed out of the sheep, and the shepherd dog that protects the sheep. We have heard this story many times, and maybe you have heard about this in this movie, Nonetheless, it is Colonel Dave Grossman in his book about combat who described this fable before, but the first references to a shepherd protecting a flock of sheep are in the Bible. Grossman heard this story from a Vietnam veteran who told it like this. Society works thanks to the many people that do their jobs doing what they are supposed to do. These are the sheep, and there are no negative intentions with this comparison. They are good and decent people. Many times they are not able to harm other people, and the sheep mistrust the shepherd dog, people like the police and the army, because their presence reminds them constantly of the wolf and the evil deeds they do. The shepherd dog has fancy, it is able, it is prepared to violence, and in this way it is similar to the wolf. But those who work evil deeds are the enemies of the sheep, of the shepherd dog. A true shepherd dog will never harm the sheep because they live to protect the flock. This story by Dave Grossman, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, expert of security, is something that I have brought. I have brought a copy of this story for President Ernesto Castro, who gave a wonderful speech yesterday when he talked about how in El Salvador the first measure that was adopted with the arrival of President Bukele to office in order to restore peace for the Salvadoran people, after restoring order, was actually protecting all the shepherd dogs, because police is universal, giving them the necessary elements and backing up the authority of the police department in El Salvador and the Salvadoran armed forces. So, dear President, I will later give you a copy of this story, of this book. We haven't heard a more inspiring discourse than the one given by President Bukele talking about these shepherds. That's how President Bukele addressed the police and the armed forces. I have always said that there are just a few careers that require this love and passion for people that is able to overcome all the fear that we human beings feel, because we all have fear, we all fear something. Fear makes us hide from danger. But you, you members of the armed forces and the police department, you also have this instinct, you also experience fear, but you have something that overcomes these fears. It is the courage. This discourse can be applied to all the police departments and the armed forces of the nations that are here represented by the almost 30 international delegations. And I say this because it is very important to hear carefully how a politician addresses his people, a politician that backs up the authority of his national forces. You have something that overcomes fears, the courage, love for the people that overcomes fear, and that does the opposite of what the others do. We all run away from danger, but you go towards danger in order to protect others, to protect your families, to protect your compatriots, to protect your countries. And that's noble. You have the courage to go towards fear so others are safe. And I think we have to be thankful because of that. And you are going to feel that gratitude when you patrol the streets. The love of the people for you. People love you. Those who do not love you are criminals and those who protect criminals. I want to let you know that what you are giving for your country cannot be rewarded by anyone at the same level of the things you are giving. Just God can reward you because of that. As commander officers of the armed forces, we are going to do everything we can for you to have the best possible conditions for working. The main problem of El Salvador was the security after five decades of war. Yesterday, the president of the legislative assembly and minister of security, Gustavo Villatoro, reminds us that 2015 was the most violent year in El Salvador when they had 18 homicides per day, 103 murders per 1,000 inhabitants for a population of more than 6 million people. And in the most critical moment of fight against crime, when, as the president of the assembly reminds us later, in a weekend, 87 innocent Salvadorans were murdered. From the 26th to the 27th of March 2022, President Bukele addressed the gang members, the terrorists, and he told them in public, there are rumors that say that you want to get revenge, killing innocent people at random. Do that, and you won't have one single mealtime in prison. Let's see how long your homeboys can last over there. I swear by God, they're not going to eat a single grain of rice. Some people, after this speech, they started to talk about the human rights of the prisoners, but Bukele protected the human rights of the honest people. Bukele has implemented the most effective security plan all around the world. And I repeat, Bukele has implemented the most effective security plan of the world with objective results. El Salvador used to be the capital city of murder around the world, but now it's the safest country in the world. The Bukele doctrine is inspiring for those who believe in security as something necessary for the development of nations. This is something that I hope that you take with you to your countries of origin. El Salvador is the stone, is the foundation to build a great alliance for nations to fight against organized crime, and that will be the legacy of President Nayib Bukele. Brother nations such as Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the United States have come to this country, who used to be the most violent of the world, to get to know the elements of the territorial plan control to implement it in their own countries with the necessary adaptations. Two days ago, we knew how in Ecuador, emulating Salvador and Secot, they have inaugurated a maximal security prison by President Obama, El Encuentro prison, who wants to replicate the successful jail model that has been implemented in El Salvador with important measures for the gang members that are in Secot, which is, for example, isolating them from any kind of communication with the outside world. And with this, in El Salvador and other parts of the country, crime before this used to keep dominance from prison. In some weeks in the month of January, we will celebrate the third anniversary of the construction of what I consider the world symbol of the fight against organized crime. Secot, the terrorism confinement center, this has been one of the key elements of the Bukele security model. And as the Minister of Security, Gustavo Viñatoro, told me, what criminals look for, and this is something common in all of our countries, they always look for the profitability of the crime. And I repeat, what criminals look for is for the profitability of crime. When crime is more profitable for criminals, when there is impunity in El Salvador nowadays, thanks to the Bukele security model, criminals now know that their crime is no longer profitable. In contrast, prisons in some other countries are hotels with tennis courts and pools that the honest people cannot pay for. But they pay with their taxes for this. And many days for criminals in countries such as Spain, my own country. At Secot, they respect all human rights, but what Salvadoran people do not do is to pay with their taxes for this luxury stay. And for those who love criminal sciences and living ideologies aside, we know that generates a determined factor in the minds of criminals. Secot is the largest prison in the Americas. The construction budget was approved in the year 2022, and it was built in seven months without anyone stealing people's money, because as President Bukele says, money is enough when nobody steals it. One year ago, I had the privilege of being the first Spaniard to visit Secot, and that's why I can witness that there is no violation of human rights in the largest confinement center for the most dangerous criminals. If I had to summarize what I felt when I was in front of the most dangerous criminals with their characteristic tattoos, then those who have these tattoos on their faces and their neck, which expressed their ranking in the Salvadoran gangs, what I felt when I was there looking at them, when I was looking at these dangerous criminals, is that everything was in order, everything was in order, because this evil was behind the bars, and the rest of the honest people could live peacefully. Some final thoughts about the Bukele security model. Those governments that do not combat crime become part of it. You either have to impose the authority of criminals, or you enforce the authority of the state through the legitimate force of police departments or armies, giving them the necessary supplies and the necessary authority to combat crime. As Minister Villatoro expresses, you cannot negotiate with these scorpions, with these criminals. You cannot negotiate with them. As attorney of the state, I have to highlight this aspect of the Bukele security model. In El Salvador, the state has combat crime with the law at hand. Why? Because as Minister Villatoro explained to me, the easy thing to do is to combat crime, turning or transforming the state into another criminal, but the hard thing to do, because the crime is always one step ahead in all of our countries, what is truly difficult is to combat crime without becoming or transforming the state into another criminal. Because when the state violates the law and becomes another criminal to combat crime, what they do is that they are no longer on the right side of history, where now we can see El Salvador with courage and the political willingness of Nayib Bukele. To conclude, since here at this auditorium we have the honor of having the presence of the people in uniform, those who put their lives at risk when they wear those boots to defend security. I want to ask our agents or police officers to stand up as I read a poem, which is one of the greatest poems that has been written in honor of the Order of Horses. So please, the agents of the Civil Police Department of El Salvador, because the final round of applause of this room will be for you, to honor you. The man who fights the battle and brings color and warmth to the life. Death are those who don't fight and that who dies fighting made himself bigger. Honorable members of the international representation, please rise and give a round of applause to those who put their life at stake to fight for the life of the honest people. They will be reborn and these people we fight at the end of the fight, they will find rest and flowers sing to you. Brother, sister, if this was the last song that I would sing, sing it with passion because you might not sing other again. And when the moment of the battle explodes and everything else disappears and just the enjoyment of battle comes, rise and death cries and sings. But today we'll grasp it with strong hands and tonight we'll embrace it with the soft wings. Those who fight, thank you. Keep fighting, President Bukele. We're millions of those who walk behind you all around the world. May God bless you all. Strength and honor.