According to official reports, all nine people on board a military helicopter were killed when it crashed in El Salvador, including the Central American country’s chief police officer. Commissioner General Mauricio Arriaza was a key figure in the fight against violent gangs in the country, said President Nayib Bukele. The government will ask for international support in determining the cause of the accident.
“What happened cannot be a simple ‘accident’, but must be thoroughly investigated down to the last consequences,” wrote Bukele on Platform X. The helicopter was on its way from El Amatillo on the border with Honduras to the capital San Salvador when it crashed in the middle of the night in the eastern town of San Eduardo. According to media reports, there was a heavy thunderstorm at the site of the accident at the time of the accident.
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Police and soldiers had previously picked up the fugitive former head of the credit association Cosavi at the border, who had been arrested in neighboring Honduras for fraud and money laundering. In addition to the police chief and the arrested man, three police officers, three members of the armed forces and a journalist were on board the crashed plane, the authorities said. As a sign of mourning, Bukele ordered the national flag to be flown at half-mast throughout the country and at embassies abroad.
In the fight against the gangs – the so-called Maras – a state of emergency with restrictions on basic rights has been in effect in El Salvador since March 2022. Since then, more than 80,000 suspected gang members have been arrested by the police. The murder rate has dropped significantly and, according to the president, the country is now the safest in Latin America. Activists, however, denounce arbitrary arrests, torture and the deaths of numerous people in the custody of the authorities.
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