A regional deputy belonging to an opposition party in El Salvador and a group of citizens have filed a lawsuit against the country’s new bitcoin law, calling it unconstitutional.
According to a report on Tuesday by Spain’s second-largest newspaper, El Mundo, Jaime Guevara of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNL) has linked arms with citizens to oppose the law.
FMNL is one of two major parties in the country’s multi-party political system and Guevara, who belongs to the party, is the deputy of the department of Morazan in the country’s northeast.
Oscar Artero, a citizen plaintiff accompanying Guevara, said the lawsuit was brought against President Nayib Bukele’s law because it lacked a legal basis and failed to consider the harmful effects on his country.
On June 8, the country’s legislature passed a law by a supermajority making bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. The event was historical as it represented the first country to perform such a move since bitcoin’s inception.
“The bitcoin law is to loot people’s pockets, it is tax-exempt,” said Artero during a press conference. “They want to force us to trade.” The citizen plaintiff said he had hopes the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, the country’s top judicial branch, would side with his argument, according to the report.
Though that may be somewhat tricky as Bukele’s party ousted five supreme court judges last month for their ruling on COVID-19 measures – a move that has been widely condemned. They were immediately replaced by new magistrates.
