FMLN dirigente investigated on drug and weapons trafficking allegations

Senator Marco Rubio made news in El Salvador last week when he accused FMLN member José Luis Merino of being involved in money laundering and arms trafficking. Senator Rubio was questioning our government's continued cooperation with the FMLN and wondering why we had yet to sanction Merino.

As Tim wrote at the time, the accusations are nothing new. However, that is all that they have been. Accusations. But given that so few people in El Salvador are ever investigated, let alone prosecuted, the simple fact that Merino has never been formally investigated or prosecuted doesn't really tell us much about him. It speaks more about the weakness of the Salvadoran justice system.

Well, it turns out that the Salvadoran attorney general's office is looking into the allegations against Merino.

"There is an investigation of events related to Mr. Merino that was opened in 2014," Meléndez told reporters in El Salvador, adding that it was "related to the issue of drugs and weapons."

"We are going to review that information and pick it up," Meléndez said.

A source in Meléndez's office told InSight Crime that the attorney general has asked his staff to review the old accusations and include them in a new file that he decided to open after hearing Rubio's statement. "He has asked for everything we have on Merino, and will go on from there," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"Given these statements from a public official of another country, and given that they are addressing a politician and public official of our country, we can't not investigate," Meléndez told reporters.

Corruption knows no ideology. Neither parties on the left nor the right are immune from the multimillion dollar payouts dangled in front of them with little risk of prosecution. I hoped that the FMLN would be different but the allegations against Funes, Ortiz, and Merino lead me to believe that not to be the case.