Security & Strategic Review - July 2014 (ISSN 1741-4202)

EL SALVADOR | ‘Truce’ priest arrested. On 30 July the prosecutor-general’s office (FGR) announced the arrest of a well-known Spanish priest, Father Antonio Rodríguez (best known as Padre Toño), for reportedly smuggling cell phones into prisons for gang members, illicit association with the gangs and influence trafficking. Padre Toño had played a part in the 2012 ‘truce’ between El Salvador’s two main street gangs — Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Mara-18 (M-18) — serving as the gangs’ spokesperson. More recently Padre Toño had delivered a report on human rights violations which said the national police was the State institution that had committed the most human rights violations. Between June 2009 and April 2014, the human rights ombudsman (PPDH) received 5,125 complaints against the force, 33% of all complaints against the State received over that period.