It may be two years away, but newly-minted Coral Gables Vice Mayor Mike Mena just lost any chance he had to be re-elected in 2023. No, it’s not just because of the condescending matter in which he dismissed resident-driven ideas from newly-elected Commissioner Rhonda Anderson, who proposed amending the zoning code to require approval and notice for “as of right” commercial developments. The Gables Insider correctly called Mena’s arguments mansplaining. It was also pathetic. But the reason he’s not fit for office is because of his shameful and unethical vote to sell city-owned land to his boss. The commission voted unanimously Tuesday to sell a parking lot at 350 Greco Avenue for $3.5 million to JRFQ Holdings, a company registered in Delaware and owned by John Ruiz and former Commissioner Frank Quesada, who also own the company that employ Mena.

In its first plenary session on Saturday, May 1, El Salvador’s recently-elected Legislative Assembly, controlled by the government-aligned party, Nuevas Ideas, set aside constitutional procedure in removing five magistrates of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber and substituting them with judges loyal to President Nayib Bukele. Minutes later, the Assembly removed Attorney General Raúl Melara and replaced him with former lead prosecutor for organized crime, Rodolfo Delgado. Both decisions —approved with 64 of 84 Assembly votes thanks to the additional support of GANA, the PCN, and PDC— are efforts to remove the last institutional checks on the president’s power since he took office in 2019, and whose party notched a blistering victory, one vote short of a supermajority, this February 28.

The removal of the Constitutional Chamber magistrates —without room for formal debate in the plenary or for the magistrates to defend themselves— received condemnations the same night by international organizations and the U.S. government. Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, issued a statement: “A strong U.S.-El Salvador relationship will depend on the Government of El Salvador supporting the separation of powers and upholding democratic norms.” On Sunday morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that he had just gotten off the phone with Bukele and expressed “serious concerns” over the moves against the Constitutional Chamber and attorney general.