Corruption in El Salvador: Politicians, Police and Transportistas

EL SALVADOR / 6 MAR 2014

Since the end of El Salvador’s civil war, the country’s police has become a key player in the underworld. This series of five articles explore the dark ties between criminal organizations and the government’s key crime-fighting arm.

Chapter 1

The Infiltrators: Corruption in El Salvador's Police

CHEPE LUNA / 21 FEB 2014

Ricardo Mauricio Menesses Orellana liked horses, and the Pasaquina rodeo was a great opportunity to enjoy a party. He was joined at the event -- which was taking place in the…

Chapter 2

'Chepe Luna,' the Police and the Art of Escape

CHEPE LUNA / 21 FEB 2014

The United States -- which through its antinarcotics, judicial and police attaches was very familiar with the routes used for smuggling, and especially those used for people trafficking and understood…

Chapter 3

Operation Chameleon in El Salvador: Anatomy of a Failure

EL SALVADOR / 5 MAR 2014

The experience with Jose Natividad "Chepe" Luna -- the drug trafficker who had eluded a giant dragnet in 2004 -- had demonstrated that the leaks from the National Police of…

Chapter 4

How an El Salvador Drug Trafficker Smuggled Cocaine Into the US

EL SALVADOR / 6 MAR 2014

The woman phoned the office of the antinarcotics division (DAN) in Bolivar, in El Salvador's La Union province, on August 13, 2008, at 1:30 PM. Investigators later established that what…

Chapter 5

The Fixer and El Salvador's Missed Opportunity

EL SALVADOR / 6 MAR 2014

In the photograph, they are both smiling. In the foreground, on the left hand side, a man in a short-sleeved buttoned white shirt, jeans and a metal watch, holds a…

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