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Security & Strategic Review - September 2017 (ISSN 1741-4202)

El Salvador: Judge throws out case against ‘truce’ negotiators

A local judge last month acquitted the 18 people on trial for negotiating a government-sponsored truce in 2012 between El Salvador’s two main street gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 (M-18). Forged under the previous Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) government led by former president Mauricio Funes (2009-2014), the truce significantly reduced homicide rates in El Salvador before unravelling in 2014. While the judge, Godofredo Salazar, cited the lack of evidence, the ruling has caused outrage, with the attorney general’s office (FGR) announcing it will appeal the decision. The trial was notable for incendiary claims made by the FGR’s star witness, former gang leader Carlos Eduardo ‘Nalo’ Burgos Nuila, who claimed that the FMLN and the country’s other main party, the right-wing opposition Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena), had given money to gang members in exchange for votes during the 2014 presidential election campaign. With just over six months until March 2018 legislative and municipal elections, the claims are fueling concerns about the infiltration of state institutions by organised crime.

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