El Salvador's former attorney general taken into custody
Last night in El Salvador authorities detained former attorney general Luis Martinez. Also detained was businessman Enrique Rais and his nephew Hugo Blanco Rais, former prosecutor Julio Arriaza, and Rais' lawyer, Ernesto Gutiérrez.
There are probably better translations but Martinez is accused of failure to investigate and fraudulent litigation (omisión de investigación y fraude procesal) and Enrique Rais of false testimony, procedural fraud, and passive bribery (falsedad ideológica, fraude procesal y cohecho pasivo).
The "new" attorney general Douglas Melendez is sure making a splash in El Salvador. Former President Mauricio Funes and his allies are already under investigation. Several people connected to irregularities in the 2012 gang truce and the MS-13 are as well.
There's good reason to be skeptical of these arrests until the evidence is presented in a court of law. There have been plenty of other arrests in El Salvador over the years (Francisco Flores) that seemed to have been more show than anything else. Hopefully, this time is different. There's a new attorney general; the US and the international community seem more committed to anti-corruption initiatives than they were previously; and the Salvadoran people and CICIG in neighboring Guatemala have raised the expectations for what is expected of public officials.
I also hear that there is growing momentum to seriously pursue charges against former president Tony Saca and a close confidant of the current president. Again, the FMLN had an opportunity to distance the party from former presidents Funes and Saca. Perhaps for political reasons, the 2012, 2014, and 2015 elections, they did not do so. They have no one to blame but themselves.
There are probably better translations but Martinez is accused of failure to investigate and fraudulent litigation (omisión de investigación y fraude procesal) and Enrique Rais of false testimony, procedural fraud, and passive bribery (falsedad ideológica, fraude procesal y cohecho pasivo).
The "new" attorney general Douglas Melendez is sure making a splash in El Salvador. Former President Mauricio Funes and his allies are already under investigation. Several people connected to irregularities in the 2012 gang truce and the MS-13 are as well.
There's good reason to be skeptical of these arrests until the evidence is presented in a court of law. There have been plenty of other arrests in El Salvador over the years (Francisco Flores) that seemed to have been more show than anything else. Hopefully, this time is different. There's a new attorney general; the US and the international community seem more committed to anti-corruption initiatives than they were previously; and the Salvadoran people and CICIG in neighboring Guatemala have raised the expectations for what is expected of public officials.
I also hear that there is growing momentum to seriously pursue charges against former president Tony Saca and a close confidant of the current president. Again, the FMLN had an opportunity to distance the party from former presidents Funes and Saca. Perhaps for political reasons, the 2012, 2014, and 2015 elections, they did not do so. They have no one to blame but themselves.
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