Centroamérica
Authorities to launch legal proceedings against entire MS gang
The Minister of Security stated that legal proceedings will commence in the coming days against 494 members of the 32 MS programs and the members of the over 200 cliques of the MS operating throughout the country.
The Minister of Security, Gustavo Villatoro, affirmed on Thursday that legal proceedings will start in the next few days to charge members of the 32 programs and 230 cliques of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) that operated nationwide.
“In recent months, we have been preparing all the legal groundwork to charge the criminal corporation of the MS, those 32 programs operating throughout the country, whom we will process in the coming days, totaling 494 accused, and the largest process the world has known is 434,” stated the official.
Villatoro mentioned that, in addition to members of the 32 programs, they will also initiate charges against members of the 230 cliques that were active throughout Salvadoran territory.
“The MS had 230 cliques operating throughout the country; that will be the second part of the judicial process we will initiate in the coming days [after accusing the 494 accused of the 32 programs], charging each of the accused of these 230 cliques,” said the Minister of Security.
According to Villatoro, this accusation will reach the seedbed of the 15 program corridors of the MS nationwide, who kept the entire population subdued. He affirmed that all these processes will be achieved thanks to the legal tools provided by the state of exception.
“The last constitutional tool we had to restore the desired Rule of Law was the state of exception, and President Nayib Bukele had the courage to activate it. What the president wants with the initiation of these legal proceedings is to ensure that members of this criminal organization will not leave prison,” pointed out the official.
Villatoro explained that the new legal framework allows gang members who have not been arrested and those abroad to be prosecuted along with the rest who are already in prison.
“Gang members deported from other countries, upon entering El Salvador, will be added to the legal proceedings we will initiate in the coming days,” stated the official.
Villatoro indicated that, of the 494 gang members who will be prosecuted, the smallest group of all the legal processes to be initiated in the coming days, at least 403 have already been captured.
“403 of those 494 accused who were part of the 32 MS programs have already been captured and are in prison. The remaining 91, who are outside the country, will also receive their sentence and will be fulfilled from the moment they return to the country, regardless of their age,” affirmed the Minister of Security.
Centroamérica
White House rejects Maduro letter to Trump as full of lies
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump received a letter from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom she described as “illegitimate.” In the letter, Maduro expressed his willingness to engage in dialogue, but Leavitt warned that the document “contains many lies.”
“We have seen this letter. Frankly, I think Maduro repeated many lies in it, and the Administration’s stance on Venezuela has not changed,” Leavitt said during a press conference at the White House.
The spokesperson emphasized that Washington considers the Chavista regime illegitimate and underscored that “President Trump has clearly demonstrated his willingness to use all necessary means to stop the lethal drug trafficking from the Venezuelan regime to the United States.”
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed on Sunday that Maduro sent the letter to Trump and published it on Telegram.
Dated September 6, the letter expresses Maduro’s willingness to negotiate with U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell and denies any links to drug trafficking. “In recent weeks, absolutely false accusations have emerged about connections with mafias and drug trafficking gangs by the legitimate high authorities of Venezuela,” the letter reads.
Central America
UN experts label Nicaragua’s repression as crimes against humanity
These are just some of the violations of human integrity that the United Nations’ Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua considers crimes against humanity.
The expert team determined in its latest report, presented on April 3, that the “State is persecuting its own people” with repressive actions that, under international law, would fall into the category of crimes against humanity.
“This report is a wake-up call for the international community about the situation in Nicaragua and its duty to protect its population,” Jan-Michael Simon, a lawyer and president of the group, told BBC Mundo.
The document identifies 54 individuals, including ministers, members of the security forces, and civil society actors, as responsible for the “systematic and widespread repression” carried out by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Although this is not the first time the technical team created in 2022 has denounced the events that began with the 2018 protests in Nicaragua, the report now names the alleged perpetrators, whose guilt will have to be determined by international justice bodies such as the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
As a result of the report, the “co-presidents” Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo decided to withdraw their country from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“Nicaragua conveys its sovereign and irrevocable decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council and from all activities related to this council and all its satellite mechanisms,” Murillo announced.
Centroamérica
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora returns to prison after court revokes release
Businessman and journalist José Rubén Zamora was sent back to prison on Monday after the Second Multipersonal Criminal Court complied with an order from the Third Court of Appeals, which suspended his conditional release. The ruling followed a motion filed by the Public Ministry, arguing that Zamora posed a flight risk.
“I must comply with and enforce the order,” Judge Erick García stated during the hearing that revoked Zamora’s substitute measures, which had been in place since October last year.
Following the court’s decision, the founder of El Periódico was transferred back to prison, where he had already been incarcerated from July 2022 to October 2024.
Zamora’s defense team unsuccessfully requested the suspension of the hearing, citing two pending appeals aimed at overturning the Court of Appeals’ decision.
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