AP Photo: Edgar Romero CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR Evaluating State Capacity to Reduce Violence and Combat Organized Crime JULY 2020 | SERIES 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 KEY FINDINGS 6 CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR: EVALUATING STATE CAPACITY 7 TO REDUCE VIOLENCE AND COMBAT ORGANIZED CRIME CURRENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK 7 STATE STRUCTURE FOR FIGHTING ORGANIZED CRIME AND VIOLENCE 11 EFFECTIVENESS IN PROSECUTING VIOLENCE AND ORGANIZED CRIME 14 University Institute for Public Opinion José Simeón Cañas Central American University EMBLEMATIC CASES ON ORGANIZED CRIME 28 BIBLIOGRAPHY 34 Research Coordinator Laura Andrade NOTES 37 Primary Researchers Laura Andrade y Carmen E. Guevara Research Assistants Catherine Márquez y Daniel Nieto Cover: AP Photo – Edgar Romero First edition: July 2020 San Salvador, El Salvador July 2020 | Series 1 The researcher and WOLA are exclusively responsible for the opinions expressed in this document, which do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the sponsors of this publication. CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR JULY 2020 | 3 5. Strengthening civilian police forces; ABOUT THE RESEARCH FOR THIS 6. Limiting the role of the armed forces in public INTRODUCTION security activities; REPORT 7. Protecting human rights; In the last decade, the problem of insecurity The quantitative data in this report was obtained THE CENTRAL AMERICA MONITOR 8. Improving transparency. and impunity has deeply affected the people via the bibliographic review of official reports, of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, The Central America Monitor is based on the institutional annals, and relevant information The Monitor reports are published by area and making this region (known as the Northern premise that accurate, objective, and complete available on the official transparency web pages by country. The first series of reports will serve Triangle of Central America) one of the most data and information are necessary to reduce of the government bodies analyzed. In addition, as the baseline for subsequent analysis, which violent in the world. High levels of violence, the high levels of violence and insecurity, and requests for statistical information were made will be updated annually. Each annual series corruption, and impunity have eroded the establish rule of law and governance in a via the Public Information Access Law (Ley de of reports will be analyzed in comparison with capacity of the states to develop accessible democratic state. This will allow efforts to move Acceso a la Información Pública, LAIP) of El reports from the previous year. This allows and efficient institutions, and address the beyond abstract discussions of reform to specific Salvador, which establishes a specific process researchers, civil society organizations, and needs of their populations. measures of change. by which government agencies must receive other actors to assess the level of progress in information requests and respond within a set strengthening the rule of law and reducing The absence of effective responses has The Monitor is based on a series of more than timeframe. insecurity. weakened citizens’ confidence in state 100 quantitative and qualitative indicators that institutions, leading to an alarming number allow a more profound level of analysis of the This report specifically primarily analyzes The first round of Monitor reports will primarily of people who have been internally displaced successes or setbacks made in eight key areas statistical data provided by the Office of the focus on data sets from an approximate 4-year or forced to migrate to other countries to in each of the three countries.1 More than Prosecutor General of the Republic (Fiscalía time period, 2014 to 2017, in order to provide a escape the violence and lack of economic a comprehensive list, the indicators seek to General de la República, FGR). This information snapshot of Central America’s institutions. opportunities. identify a way to examine and assess the level of sheds light on the main types of crime occurring progress of the three countries in strengthening in the country and those which organized The Monitor will serve as a tool for searchable, Against this backdrop, the Washington the rule of law and democratic institutions. The criminal networks are perpetrating. easy-to-comprehend data, delineating trends, Office on Latin America (WOLA), the indicators seek to identify the main challenges progress, patterns, and gaps within and between University Institute for Public Opinion in each of the selected areas and examine how The judicial branch, namely the Supreme Court the three countries of the Northern Triangle. (Iudop) of the José Simeón Cañas Central institutions are (or are not) being strengthened of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia, CSJ), The data, graphics, charts, and reports will be American University (UCA) of El Salvador, over time. The Monitor uses information from did not provide fully categorized statistics available on the Monitor’s website. the University Institute on Democracy, different sources, including official documents on sentences issued. Sentences were not Peace and Security (IUDPAS) of Honduras, and statistics, surveys, interviews, information disaggregated by the type of crime committed and the Myrna Mack Foundation (FMM) from emblematic cases, and analysis of existing by offenders, given that the branch stopped of Guatemala have developed a tool for laws and regulations. producing these statistics, as mentioned in the monitoring and evaluating the policies and Central America Monitor report on corruption. strategies currently being implemented in The indicators were developed over several Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to months in a process that included an reduce insecurity and violence, strengthen extensive review of international standards the rule of law, improve transparency and and consultation with experts. The eight areas accountability, protect human rights, and analyzed by the Monitor include: fight corruption. This initiative has been 1. Strengthening the capacity of the justice made possible thanks to the support of the system; Latin America Division of the Swiss Agency 2. Cooperation with anti-impunity for Development and Cooperation, the commissions; Tinker Foundation, the Seattle International 3. Combatting corruption; Foundation (SIF), and the Moriah Fund. 4. Tackling violence and organized crime; CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR JULY 2020 | 4 CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR JULY 2020 | 5 KEY FINDINGS CRIME AND INSECURITY IN EL SALVADOR • This report details the broad range of legal resources for fighting violence and organized crime Evaluating State Capacity to Reduce Violence and in El Salvador. However, it seems as though the laws and policies meant to address organized crime are not the result of a comprehensive analysis of the various kind of violence affecting Combat Organized Crime citizens. Instead, these laws and policies appear to be the result of isolated legislative efforts aimed at providing a swift, short-sighted response, ultimately falling short of an effective and CURRENT LEGAL incorporated it into its domestic laws.5 Another efficient anti-crime policy. aspect of domestic Salvadoran law for fighting FRAMEWORK organized crime and violence is its diverse body • Accessing and analyzing statistics about criminal sentences for various types of crimes is of special laws, which regulate certain crimes extremely challenging, given that select offices within the Judiciary no longer process or track Violence and organized crime takes on various in greater detail and establish very specific this kind of information (this is also explained in detail in Central America Monitor reports forms in El Salvador. Statistics from the Office of procedural differences. This type of law aims Combatting Corruption and Strengthening the Capacity and Independence of Justice Systems). the Attorney General (Ministerio Público, MP) to address the different forms of operation of provide an idea of the scope of these phenomena. organized criminal groups, which usually involve • El Salvador has created special courts to help concentrate skills and resources, and thus They track cases opened by prosecutors, their multiple illegal activities. speed up court procedures for certain types of crimes. But upon looking at the number of progress through the administrative phase of emblematic organized crime cases between 2014 and 2017, there are major shortcomings the criminal investigation, and trials of these However, crimes like homicide with aggravating tied to a lack of independence, weak prosecutorial work, and courts that lack the power to cases in the judiciary. factors tied to premeditating, aiding and require that investigations be broadened to include all suspects. abetting, committing, or concealing offenses By defining crimes in its laws, the State seeks related to forms of organized crime, like • El Salvador’s seven specialized police units had a combined staff of over 170 in 2016 and 2017. to regulate behaviors considered serious and terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, However, in six of these special police units, 70 percent of the personnel consist of officers detrimental to the protection of the legal and and others, continue to be governed by the and corporals, the two lowest ranks within the police hierarchy. other rights considered priorities by society. main secondary legislation on criminal matters: This report will analyze the most important laws the Criminal Code (Código