U.S. preparing indictments against Salvadoran officials over alleged pact with gangs –sources

(SAN SALVADOR Reuters) - U.S. authorities are preparing criminal charges against El Salvador’s deputy justice minister Osiris Luna and another senior official, accusing them of negotiating a secret truce with gangs, two sources said, amid rising tensions between Washington and President Nayib Bukele’s government.

According to the sources, the indictments are being prepared by a Department of Justice (DOJ) taskforce against Luna and Carlos Marroquin, a close Bukele ally who heads a Salvadoran government social welfare agency.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Luna and Marroquin on Wednesday, accusing them of cutting a deal with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs, in which the gangs would reduce violence in El Salvador and provide political backing in return for money and easier prison conditions.

Bukele has repeatedly denied his government negotiated any truce and denounced the sanctions.

The two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the DOJ was now preparing criminal charges against Luna and Marroquin.

Luna, a member of Bukele’s cabinet who is also in charge of El Salvador’s prison system, and Marroquin did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The DOJ declined to comment.

The investigation is being handled by the Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), a DOJ unit set up in 2019 to coordinate efforts by U.S. law enforcement agencies to dismantle MS-13, which has made inroads in U.S. cities and prisons, both sources said. U.S. officials say the gangs have ordered murders on U.S. soil from inside prisons in El Salvador.

The U.S. government claims broad authority to prosecute for a wide range of crimes committed abroad, including for acts committed by or against American citizens.