POLICE CORRUPTION IN SAN MIGUEL

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 001525

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PGOV PHUM PREL ES
SUBJECT: POLICE CORRUPTION IN SAN MIGUEL

REF: A. SAN SALVADOR 1248


B. SAN SALVADOR 1485


1. (U) Summary: Three current and former members of El
Salvador's National Civilian Police (PNC) were arrested on
July 29 and charged with carrying out a contract killing.
Several local businessmen have also been implicated in what
press reports describe as an extortion, racketeering and
assassination network operating in the eastern Salvadoran
city of San Miguel. To complicate matters further, ongoing
press speculation alleges a link between the criminal network
and the populist mayor of the city of San Miguel. End
summary.

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Murder for Hire?
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2. (U) On July 29 Nelson Arriaza Delgado, a police sergeant
from the criminal investigations unit of the National
Civilian Police (PNC) in San Miguel was arrested and charged
with murder for his alleged role in the assassination of an
individual purported to have connections to street gangs
operating in Nueva Sparta, a municipality in the nearby
department of La Union. Arriaza and two former policemen are
accused of being part of an organized network of killers for
hire which is suspected of involvement in upwards of 15
unsolved killings.


3. (U) On August 1 PNC Director Rodrigo Avila stated that
that several San Miguel businessmen were under investigation
for "recruiting" corrupt police officers into a network
engaged in the murder of criminals and gang members. In an
interview with local paper Diario de Hoy, Avila compared the
San Miguel network to the notorious "Sombra Negra" ('black
shadow'),a right-wing death squad that targeted gang members
and criminals during the Salvadoran civil war. Avila alleged
that the San Miguel group was not only involved in what he
referred to as "social cleansing," but also complicit in
murder and intimidation in support of their legitimate
business interests, as well as smuggling, extortion, and drug
and human trafficking. (Comment: The Sombra Negra was one of
the most notorious right-wing death squads of the civil war
era. Unless Avila has far more serious information regarding
the activities of the San Miguel group which he has yet to
make public, the comments he made to the press on August 1
are almost certainly overblown. End comment).

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Politics Unusual
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4. (SBU) San Miguel, El Salvador's third largest city, is
situated in the far eastern part of the country and is an
important agricultural and industrial center. As such, San
Miguel's mayor has a certain level of national prominence.
To complicate matters further, San Miguel's mayor, Wilfredo
"Will" Salgado, is himself a controversial figure. Salgado
once described the Sombra Negra as a "necessary evil" and is
alleged to have been involved in human and arms trafficking
in the past, though never directly implicated. The mayor,
often described as a populist with "authoritarian tendencies"
was expelled from the National Conciliation Party (PCN)
earlier this year (reftel A),and has declared himself a
Presidential candidate in the 2009 elections (Comment:
Salgado is not considered to have any reasonable chance of
garnering sufficient support for a realistic presidential
bid, though his presence in the race could alter the
landscape enough to have both major parties concerned. End
comment) Salgado has distanced himself from this case and
its investigation, dismissing any connection to the alleged
criminals saying only that he is a supporter of the police
"from afar." Unsubstantiated media speculation has linked
ARENA and members of the PNC with a desire to use the San
Miguel events to further discredit Salgado.


5. (U) The Ministry of Public Security and the PNC have been
quick to label this an isolated incident rather than evidence
of a widespread problem within the PNC. The PNC is widely
regarded as a reputable and 'clean' police force, in marked
contrast to the police forces of some other Central American
countries. The opposition FMLN, which has used recent
arrests in Suchitoto to criticize ARENA's human rights record
(reftel B),has attempted to use this case as an example of
the corruption of the PNC and by extension the ruling ARENA
party. This allegation has by and large been met with both
media and public skepticism.

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Comment
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6. (SBU) Accusations of corruption are particularly damaging
to the PNC. The institution has been working hard to
establish its bona fides with a Salvadoran population
increasingly frustrated by corruption and the inability of
the central government to gain the upper hand against street
gangs and other violent criminals. Allegations of death
squads and extra-judicial killings hearken back to the
darkest days of the Salvadoran civil war, and risk setting in
motion further political polarization over public safety and
crime control policy. Moreover, the recent arrests in
Suchitoto have raised the political temperature and placed
the ARENA government on the defensive against FMLN (and U.S.
NGO) charges of backsliding on human rights. Though by all
appearances the indicted police officers were motivated by
corruption and greed rather than an overtly political or
ideological agenda, further political ramifications could
ensue from the unfolding San Miguel PNC investigations. End
Comment.
Butler