Government

   In 1982 freely elected civilian president and national congress inaugurated, returning country to constitutional rule after ten years of military-led government. New constitution, country's sixteenth, devised and ratified by Constituent Assembly in 1982. President, three presidential designates (vice presidents), deputies of 134 member Congress, and nine justices of Supreme Court of Justice all serve four year terms.
 
    President appoints and dismisses twelve secretaries of state and two other agency directors. who form Council of Ministers. or cabinet. Most heads of various decentralized autonomous and semiautonomous agencies appointed by, or with concurrence of, president, who also appoints eighteen departmental governors. Local governments (municipios), including major and five-to seven-member council, normally elected every two to three years.*