A WARNING NOTE ON VIGILANTE JUSTICE

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 002038

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KJUS PGOV ES
SUBJECT: A WARNING NOTE ON VIGILANTE JUSTICE



1. (SBU) Summary: Two men who murdered three gang members
who had killed their brother are in jail awaiting trial, in
what is one of the first cases of open vigilante justice in
response to the current elevated murder rates in El Salvador.
The men confessed to the murders, and will likely be found
guilty and receive stiff sentences. The publicizing of their
punishment, however, may not fully deter future actions by
citizens, in the face of real and perceived weaknesses in the
justice sector and an astronomical murder rate. End Summary.

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Taking the Law into Their Own Hands
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2. (U) On July 9, Wilfredy and Osmin Carillo tracked down and
hacked to death with machetes three gang members, and injured
two more, who were allegedly responsible for their brother's
recent death. The two men confessed the revenge killings to
the police and were immediately detained. On July 13, a
judge ordered them held until their trial could begin,
rejecting their argument of "self defense."


3. (SBU) The brothers alleged that they killed the gang
members because the GOES "Super Hard Hand Plan" does not
work. (Note: The Super Hard Hand Plan is an interagency
effort designed to reduce violent crime in communities that
suffer from high gang activity; its methods include targeted
application of searches and arrests of gang leaders. End
Note.) In addition, Panchimalco, the poor village in which
the crimes took place, has a particularly strong traditional
family clan structure, which made a reprisal of this nature
more likely.

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Comment: A Cautionary Note
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4. (SBU) Given a daily death toll that averages 9-10 and that
has reached as high as 22 (in a country of 6.5 million),and
because successful investigations, prosecutions, and jailings
of murderers are rare, it is surprising that there are not
more cases of vigilante justice. Judges, prosecutors, and
police, especially in rural areas, are either unwilling or
unable to prevent gang members' assaults and intimidation.
Witnesses are murdered, along with members of their families,
intimidating the most important sources of information to
break the cycle of impunity.


5. (SBU) The Prosecutor General told one Embassy contact
that, "We were unable to prevent the guerrilla insurgency in
the 1970's, and we were unable to prevent the crime wave of
the mid-1990's. I don't want to see us fail to prevent
vigilantism." The Saca Administration is working to address
the violence issue, but measures to date have not brought the
murder rate down. New legal tools are needed such as
rigorous rules of evidence (which have been developed with
U.S. assistance but may be stalled because judges fear losing
their prerogatives) and a Witness Protection Law (recently
introduced to the Assembly, and likely to pass). The threat
from those who are out of patience with gang violence is not
just against their presumed tormentors, but against El
Salvador's painstakingly-reconstructed postwar law
enforcement institutions. End Comment.
Silverman