In late March, a wave of homicides in El Salvador left 87 people dead in three days, 62 of them in a single day. This was the bloodiest 24 hours in the country’s recent history; a country plagued by gang violence, but which had managed to reduce its crime rate significantly in recent years. In response on March 26, a state of emergency was declared with key personal freedoms suspended, harsher sentences introduced, and retaliatory measures were taken in prisons. On Thursday, May 19 the police also announced that more than 32,000 people had been arrested.
Many attributed the sudden outbreak of killings to the breakdown of a secret agreement between gangs and Nayib Bukele’s government – the existence of which the latter continues to deny. On Tuesday, May 17, an investigation by the online media El Faro gave support to this theory. The murderous weekend would have been carried out by the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) gang, in retaliation for a "betrayal" by the government of the pact made two and a half years earlier. This was confirmed through conversations recorded without his knowledge and authenticated by El Faro between Carlos Marroquin, an official in Mr. Bukele's government, and members of MS-13, as well as statements by leaders of the gang.
Ultimatum
The agreement broke down "because they [the government] did things they shouldn't have done," one MS-13 member told El Faro. The trigger for the group's anger was the arrest of several of its members which the agreement was supposed to prevent. MS-13 then reportedly sent an ultimatum to the president for their release. "I told Batman [reportedly the pseudonym of the head of state] that he had 72 hours to respond. (...) He didn't take it well, like: ‘No one threatens me'," said Mr. Marroquin in the recording; 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 country's three main gangs - MS-13, Barrio 18 Revolucionarios and Barrio 18 Sureños - to reduce the homicide rate, a policy that had been followed by previous governments. The investigation showed the role played by Mr. Marroquin and Osiris Luna Meza, vice minister of justice and director general of prisons. Both were subsequently sanctioned by the United States. In late April, members of Barrio 18 Sureños confirmed to the BBC the existence of a "dialogue" that had been ongoing with the government since December 2019, six months after Mr. Bukele took office.
You have 44.65% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.