The Prosecutor’s Office The Savior presented before the courts the requirement of accusation against a group of at least 40 people, between Colombians and Salvadorans, accused of belonging to a “transnational” criminal organization dedicated to illegal money loans.
The detainees will be prosecuted for the crimes of illegal groups and reception, according to the Public Ministry, which has not included the crimes of fraud and money laundering.
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The Prosecutor’s Office, according to one of its representatives, requested that the people remain in pretrial detention while the investigations against them continue, which was accepted by the court that received the accusation.
These people will face, as the first stage of the criminal process against them, an initial hearing, the date of which was not provided.
The local newspaper Diario El Mundo published a video on its social networks in which one of the detainees apologized to the Salvadoran people “if we disrespected them”, “we saw the job opportunity, that’s why we decided to stay working,” he added.
Another of the detainees said that “we were working normal jobs that are not supposedly illegal.”
“We ask that they deport us, that they deport us to Colombia,” said a third prisoner.
The Attorney General of El Salvador, Rodolfo Delgado, pointed out on July 17 the existence in the country of an alleged “criminal” organization, made up of foreigners, mostly “Colombians”, dedicated to fraud and money laundering.
He indicated that 110 people linked to said structure were arrested, “the majority of them Colombians.” However, the prosecutor did not specify when these captures were made.
The Foreign Ministry, for its part, reported on July 19 in a statement that the authorities of El Salvador detained more than 60 Colombian citizens since 2022 accused of allegedly belonging to criminal organizations dedicated to illegal money loans.
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“From March 2022 to date, the Consular Section has learned of a total of 63 arrests of compatriots investigated for this cause,” according to official information.
The revelation by the Salvadoran authorities of the alleged criminal organization occurs at a time when relatives of Colombians have denounced, through the country’s human rights organizations, the capture of relatives within the framework of an exceptional regime implemented by the Government of President Nayib Bukele to end the gangs.