At the end of March, in El Salvador, a wave of homicides left 87 dead in three days, including 62 in a single day. The bloodiest twenty-four hours in the recent history of a country plagued by gang violence, but which had succeeded in greatly reducing the crime rate in recent years. In response, a state of emergency was declared on March 26, the main individual freedoms were suspended, the penal code toughened and retaliatory measures were taken in prisons. More than 32,000 people were also arrested, announced the police, Thursday, May 19.
Many voices had attributed the sudden explosion of assassinations to the breakdown of a secret agreement between the gangs and the government of Nayib Bukele – which the latter has always denied the existence. Tuesday May 17, an online media survey El Faro accredited this thesis: the murderous weekend would have been led by the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) gang, in retaliation for a ” treason “, by the executive, of the pact concluded two and a half years earlier. This would be shown by conversations recorded without his knowledge and authenticated by El Faro between Carlos Marroquin, director of the reconstruction of the social fabric, and members of MS-13, as well as statements by leaders of the criminal group.
Ultimatum
The deal was broken ” because, [au gouvernement], they did things they shouldn’t have done”told the Faro a member of MS-13. The trigger for the group’s anger was reportedly the arrest of several of its members, which the agreement was supposed to prevent. The MS-13 would then have transmitted to the president an ultimatum for their release. “I told Batman [qui serait le pseudonyme du chef de l’Etat] that there were seventy-two hours to give an answer. (…) He took it badly, like: “I am not being threatened””claims Carlos Marroquin in the audio tape, blaming the arrests on the Minister of Security and Justice, Gustavo Villatoro.
In 2020 and 2021, El Faro revealed the existence of a pact between the government and the three main gangs in the country – MS-13, Barrio 18 Revolucionarios and Barrio 18 Sureños – to bring down the homicide rate, a policy already practiced by previous governments. The investigation showed the role played by Carlos Marroquin and Osiris Luna Meza, Deputy Minister of Justice and Director General of Prisons. Both were subsequently sanctioned by the United States. At the end of April, members of Barrio 18 Sureños had confirmed at the BBC the existence of a “dialogue” with the government since December 2019, six months after Nayib Bukele took over as president.
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