The United States Department of Justice confirmed this Friday (February 24) the capture of three high-ranking officers of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), who are accused of various crimes of terrorism and extortion.
They are Vladimir Arévalo Chávez, alias Vampiro, from Monserrat Criminales; Walter Hernández Rivera, aka Baxter, of Park View, and Marlon Menjivar Portillo, aka Rojo, of Park View, who were deported to Texas after their arrest.
The three join another list of 10 MS-13 gang members, six of them in custody of El Salvador, who are accused in the United States of committing crimes of terrorism, extortion, kidnapping, murder and manipulation of the electoral process for two decades. in the Central American country.
The attorney general of the United States, Merrick Garland, highlighted in a statement that the measures taken against these 13 people show that “There is no hiding place anywhere in the world” for those who “terrorize American communities.”
assured that “They will continue to work to dismantle MS-13 and other transnational criminal organizations and hold their leaders accountable.”
The three were transferred to New York to be tried by the Central Islip court, attached to the Brooklyn Federal Court, judicial sources announced.
The US justice system indicated that 13 leaders of the Central American gang Salvatrucha (MS-13) are responsible for crimes of narcoterrorism that they would have committed for two decades in the United States, El Salvador and Mexico.
Four other defendants, José Wilfredo Ayala Alcántara, alias Indio, of Hollywood; Jorge Alexander De La Cruz, Pedestrian Cruger; Juan Antonio Martínez Abrego, aka Mary Jane, of Hollywood, and Francisco Javier Román Bardales, a Tribal Veteran, are on the run.
US security forces offer $20,000 reward for information that may lead to his capture.
It is believed that six other defendants are detained in El Salvador, according to the prosecution, which announced that it “explores” options with that country for their extradition to the United States.
The head of the Department of Justice pointed out that “will continue to use the full force of our law enforcement to disrupt and dismantle MS-13 and other transnational criminal organizations and try their leaders.”
The 13 defendants are part of the command and control structure of the MS-13, made up of Ranfla Nacional, Ranfla en Las Calles, and Ranfla en Los Penales, and performed “important leadership roles in the organization’s operations in El Salvador, Mexico, the United States and around the world,” according to a statement.
The same court had already indicted another 14 members belonging to the “council of directors” of MS-13.
Justice requested the extradition of 12 of these members, who are believed to be detained in El Salvador. The other two are still on the run from justice.
All are accused of resorting to terrorist violence to intimidate the civilian population. and obtaining benefits and concessions from the Salvadoran security forces and authorities, as well as manufacturing and using homemade explosives, in addition to trying to manipulate the electoral process in the Central American country. Added to this are murders, assaults, extortions and kidnappings.
Since its creation in 2019, the Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV) has carried out an operation to combat MS-13, in coordination with the security forces of El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
Transfer of the first 2,000 gang members to a mega-prison
The announcement of the Department of Justice of the United States is known shortly after the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, published on his Twitter profile a video of the operation carried out this Friday in which The first 2,000 imprisoned gang members were transferred to the new prison set up in Tecoluca, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot).
“Today at dawn, in a single operation, we transferred the first 2,000 gang members to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot),” said President Bukele on his Twitter account, referring to that center.
“This will be their new house, where they will live for decades, mixed, without being able to do more harm to the population,” The president pointed out in his message, which has been applauded by his allies, between demands so that the prisoners do not see “not a ray of sunshine” and criticism of previous administrations.
It is a gigantic prison, equipped with high technology for surveillance, which was inaugurated at the beginning of February by Bukele himself.
Built in a rural valley on the outskirts of the city of Tecoluca, some 74 km southeast of San Salvador, Cecot stands out for its rigorous entry controls.
In a video that the president shared on Twitter, many gang members can be seen with their bare torsos, wearing only white shorts and barefoot, guarded by police and lined up in a large courtyard of another prison in the west of the country.
Then, With their hands handcuffed behind their backs, they are loaded onto buses and transported under tight security. which included the overflight of various military helicopters over Cecot, where they arrived at dawn.
“This will be their new house, where they will live for decades, mixed, without being able to do more harm to the population,” Bukele said.
Once in the gigantic prison, the gang members belonging mainly to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, were entering several cells in groups.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice and Security, Gustavo Villatoro, said on his Twitter account: “Thanks to the leadership of President Nayib Bukele We have taken another forceful step in this war against gangs.”
And he added: “cell by cell we are eliminating this cancer from society. Know that you will not walk out of Cecot again, you will pay for what you are… cowardly terrorists”.
The Presidio It was built to detain a part of the little more than 64,000 gang members detained so far under an exception regime decreed by Congress at the request of Bukele, in response to an escalation of violence that claimed the lives of 87 people between March 25 and 27, 2022.
To build the prison, the State bought 166 hectares, 23 of which house eight pavilions located within a perimeter surrounded by a concrete wall 11 meters high and 2.1 kilometers long, protected by electrified barbed wire.
*With information from Europa Press and AFP.
