Femicide rocks El Salvador
CHALCHUAPA, El Salvador: Neighbours knew something was wrong in that squat green house when a young woman’s screams pierced the quiet of their small town about 80km from San Salvador, this nation’s capital.
Jacquelinne Palomo Lima, 26, and her mother had been lured to the windowless dwelling by the man who lived there, 51-year-old former policeman Hugo Osorio, who had promised them information about Palomo’s missing brother, Alexis.
Neighbours called police when they heard Palomo’s screams on the night of May 7 as she fled the home only to be overtaken by Osorio, who allegedly hit her in the head with a metal pipe and dragged her back inside. By the time authorities arrived, the bodies of Palomo, her brother and her mother were found, along with another 14 corpses initially discovered in a mass grave behind the home, Justice and Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro told journalists on May 20.
El Salvador has long had one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. But even in this country inured to mayhem, the Osorio case has shocked the public. Local media have dubbed the dwelling the “House of Horrors.”
There were many more bodies buried on the property, Osorio allegedly told police in a confession published on June 12 by Salvadoran digital outlet Revista Factum. There could be up to 40 bodies in several graves, according to investigators, Factum said. The publication took down that report two days after El Salvador’s attorney-general obtained a court order forcing it to.
Reuters was unable to reach Osorio or a lawyer for him, and could not independently verify the authenticity of the alleged confession. The A-Gs office declined to comment, saying the case was confidential.
Osorio was charged on May 12 on two counts of femicide, prosecutors later added two counts of homicide. At least nine other people have also been charged with aggravated homicide and femicide in connection with the slayings.
In exchange for his testimony and collaboration in nine of the cases involving other alleged accomplices, prosecutors offered Osorio a deal they referred to as “opportunity of partiality,” they said in a news conference on May 21.
The macabre discovery has sent a chill through a nation that’s no stranger to brutality. This country of 6.7 million has seen more than its fair share of atrocities over the past four decades through civil war, endemic gang violence and periodic crackdowns by police and the military.
Authorities have portrayed Osorio as an opportunist who preyed on the vulnerable. According to details of Osorio’s alleged confession, he purportedly admitted targeting mostly poor women and girls, luring them to his home with the promise of jobs or help in migrating to the US. Villatoro, the security minister, called him a “psychopath”.
But Osorio’s law enforcement background, the large number of potential accomplices, and the dearth of public information about the case have some Salvadorans unsure of what to believe.
Exhumation of the bodies in Chalchuapa concluded this month, Villatoro said in a news conference last week. He did not disclose the total number of victims, and public officials have from the start provided conflicting accounts of the tally. Israel Ticas, a criminologist in charge of the investigation, was sanctioned by the government for suggesting to the media there could be at least 40 victims – information that A-G Rodolfo Delgado dismissed as unproven.
Jose de la Cruz, Palomo’s 79-yearold grandfather, said the trail of blood his granddaughter left leading to Osorio’s door is the only reason his slain family members were discovered.
What is not in dispute is that families from across El Salvador have traveled to Chalchuapa clutching photos of missing loved ones, hoping for clues – and closure. Many are seeking missing mothers, sisters and daughters. The country has long been a dangerous place for women.