Salvadoran ex-prosecutor says government quashed probe into pact with gangs

SAN SALVADOR, (Reuters) - A former senior Salvadoran anti-corruption prosecutor said President Nayib Bukele’s government shut down his unit’s investigation into its alleged negotiations with violent street gangs to help expand its power, as the United States steps up pressure on the Central American country over those talks.

German Arriaza, who headed an anti-corruption unit within the attorney general's office, said his team compiled documentary and photographic evidence that Bukele's government struck a deal with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs in 2019 to reduce murder rates and help the ruling New Ideas party win legislative elections in February.

Arriaza's comments mark the first time a former Salvadoran official has publicly accused the Bukele government of making a deal with the gangs, which have plagued the country with often brutal murders and extortions for at least two decades. The ending of Arriaza's investigation and his flight abroad have not been reported before.

On Dec. 8, the U.S. Treasury Department also claimed the talks took place and imposed sanctions on two Salvadoran government officials it says led them, as part of a series of similar actions to mark a democracy summit hosted by President Joe Biden.

The United States is stepping up pressure on Bukele's administration for what Washington says are anti-democratic practices such as a gutting of the judiciary. A U.S. Justice Department task force that combats M-13 crime in the United States is preparing charges against the two Salvadoran officials for their alleged role in the negotiations, two sources told Reuters this month.

The government removed Arriaza from his role in May 2021, according to his transfer notice which was seen by Reuters, after a purge by Bukele’s legislative allies that got rid of five constitutional judges and the country’s top prosecutor who were replaced by government loyalists.

Arriaza, a source in the Salvadoran Attorney General's office and two U.S. justice officials say the probe was then ended. Fearing retaliation from the Salvadoran government for launching the investigation, Arriaza said he immediately went into exile and the members of his team, known as the Special Anti-mafia Group (GEA), either went into exile or were transferred.

"Our investigations were what led to the government dissolving the anti-corruption body," Arriaza said from a location outside El Salvador that he asked Reuters not to disclose. Bukele's press office and the Attorney General's office did not answer requests for comment about Arriaza's work and the fate of his probe.

The president has frequently denied media reports and opposition allegations that it negotiated a truce with the gangs.