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Perrones

The Perrones are El Salvador's most infamous transportation group. Made up of a mix of hoteliers, human smugglers, and contraband traders, the group's activities stretch from Panama to Guatemala. Working from their eastern front, along the border with Honduras, many of them carry dual citizenship with the neighboring country, which allows them to move easily across the porous borders they…

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Latest News

EL SALVADOR / 2 APR 2021

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has appointed a new security minister whose alleged ties to officials and political operators accused…

BARRIO 18 / 24 MAR 2021

Though a relatively minor player in the transnational drug trade, El Salvador's overland smuggling routes have undergone a moderate revival…

EL SALVADOR / 1 JUN 2017

The arrest in El Salvador of a mayor suspected of drug trafficking has raised new questions about politicians' complicity with…

CHEPE DIABLO / 17 JUN 2016

Former DEA agent in El Salvador Danny Dalton doesn't mince words: Central America's drug trafficking organizations would not be so…

EL SALVADOR / 18 FEB 2015

A couple convicted of money laundering are set to be the first members of Salvadoran drug trafficking group the Perrones…

BARRIO 18 / 31 JUL 2014

Police in El Salvador have dismantled a criminal network run by a member of the Perrones with Barrio 18 gang…

Key Actors

Reynerio Flores Lazo

EL SALVADOR / 2017-03-09 22:27:26

While Reynerio Flores is serving an 80-year jail term, he remains one of the most notorious and important leaders of Perrones, one of the most significant cocaine smuggling gangs in…

José Natividad Luna Pereira, alias ‘Chepe Luna’

EL SALVADOR / 2020-03-10 22:29:20

Once the most powerful boss of the Perrones "transportista" syndicate, Jose Natividad Luna Pereira, alias "Chepe Luna," was murdered in Honduras in June 2014. Before his death, Luna built a…

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