A serious challenge

One of the most serious challenges facing El Salvador is from the organized drug trade. Its corrupting influence has proved irresistible to some within El Salvador's police as the online site Inside Costa Rica describes:
San Salvador - Salvadorian interim Attorney General Astor Escalante confirmed that the drug trade has penetrated top national police authorities, evidenced Saturday after a drug dealer was sent to prison.

There has been information for long time about those relations, but the recent capture of Reynerio Flores by INTERPOL in Honduras and his imprisonment in a maximum security penitentiary, prove the need to continue investigating.

The most important thing is that we are strengthening institutionality, and when we are provided with incriminating information we are severe in using the full weight of the law, said Escalante Saturday in La Prensa Grafica daily.

Interviewed on television, head of attorneys of the Unit against the Organized Crime Rodolfo Delgado said drug dealers in eastern Salvador managed to infiltrate the National Civil Police (DAN) Anti-Drug Division.

A DAN member that was tried was linked to members of the criminal Los Perrones group, led by Flores, something revealed by his drug purchases in Guatemala, he said.

He included two anti-drug officers among those mentioned. One was arrested in April, 2008, in possession of over $23,000 to buy drugs, according to his confession.

Comments

Jorge said…
Hi Tim,
I read your blog with great interest, being a Salvadorian national (now living in Australia) it is good to read what is going on in El Salvador(ES).

I'm currently studying Social work at Uni and this Blog has proven a great source for identifying some of the issues that ES faces in the post-war period. Thanks for the blog and keep up the great work.
Regards.
10:24 PM
Anonymous said…
It is amazing how we so much concentrate on the public state of things, that we neglect the private side of them. For example, yes drug trade has infiltrated the police, may it be for several conditions, like poor work conditions the police receive, but what about the businesses that facilitate money laundering, drug trafficking, etc.? In the media we rarely see talks about these, only the public side of things gets demonized, when in reality, the public side is subservient to the private end of things.

Secondly, I am among those who promotes the taxation, legalization, of drugs by the government, and making the gov. prime distributor of drugs, to make sure proper dosages are administered, users get psychological help necessary if their addictive and use of drugs is due to mental diseases, make sure that drug users make use of drugs in a safe environment where if anything goes wrong they are easily accesible, and in the end gov. keep closer tabs on the usage and of drugs, rather than forcing it to further go underground and be the generator of illicit money and trouble
3:49 AM
Anonymous said…
Wow, Anonymous so in general what you are saying is that U favor illegal drug activity? Are you sure you are not a drug dealer yourself?
10:09 AM
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