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El Salvador’s police chief, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, was killed in a helicopter crash along with several others on Monday, according to the army.
Arriaza Chicas was leading the country’s strict anti-gang campaign since March 2022, responsible for the arrest of nearly 82,000 suspected gang members without warrants.
The Salvadoran air force helicopter, a UH-1H, crashed in Pasaquina, about 180 kilometers east of the capital, San Salvador.
The crash also took the lives of Manuel Coto, a former manager of the Cosavi credit union who was under police custody, as well as Deputy Director of Investigations Romulo Pompilio Romero, Corporal Abel Antonio Arevalo, and David Cruz, head of communications for the Justice Ministry.
The crew of the aircraft has not yet been identified. Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado stated that his teams are doing everything possible to expedite the rescue and identification of the victims.
“We regret to confirm the death of all those on board the UH-1H helicopter of the Salvadoran Air Force, which crashed in Pasaquina,” the military said on social media platform X.
Civil Protection tactical teams were dispatched to the crash site to provide assistance. President Nayib Bukele announced he would seek international aid to investigate the crash thoroughly.
“What happened cannot remain a mere ‘accident’, it must be investigated thoroughly and to the last consequences. We will ask for international assistance,” Bukele wrote on X. “Director Arriaza Chicas was a fundamental piece in bringing peace and security to our people.”
“We will investigate this to the end, but no one can bring back our national hero,” Bukele added.
Defense minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy described Arriaza Chicas as a significant figure in transforming the national police force.
“Director Arriaza Chicas was a strategist who changed the course of the (national police),” Merino Monroy wrote on X. “We will continue fulfilling the mission until we achieve the country you dreamed of.”
In honor of Arriaza Chicas, President Bukele ordered all flags in the country, as well as in El Salvador’s embassies and consulates, to fly at half-mast for three days.
Bukele’s rigorous crackdown on gangs has drawn criticism from rights groups but has garnered him high approval ratings from supporters who credit him with restoring a sense of normality to a violence-weary society.
Manuel Coto had been a fugitive for allegedly embezzling around $35 million.
He was arrested in Honduras on Sunday while “driving with a human trafficker to the United States,” before being handed over to Salvadoran authorities through Interpol, Honduran security minister Gustavo Sanchez confirmed on X.
Arriaza Chicas was leading the country’s strict anti-gang campaign since March 2022, responsible for the arrest of nearly 82,000 suspected gang members without warrants.
The Salvadoran air force helicopter, a UH-1H, crashed in Pasaquina, about 180 kilometers east of the capital, San Salvador.
The crash also took the lives of Manuel Coto, a former manager of the Cosavi credit union who was under police custody, as well as Deputy Director of Investigations Romulo Pompilio Romero, Corporal Abel Antonio Arevalo, and David Cruz, head of communications for the Justice Ministry.
The crew of the aircraft has not yet been identified. Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado stated that his teams are doing everything possible to expedite the rescue and identification of the victims.
“We regret to confirm the death of all those on board the UH-1H helicopter of the Salvadoran Air Force, which crashed in Pasaquina,” the military said on social media platform X.
Civil Protection tactical teams were dispatched to the crash site to provide assistance. President Nayib Bukele announced he would seek international aid to investigate the crash thoroughly.
“What happened cannot remain a mere ‘accident’, it must be investigated thoroughly and to the last consequences. We will ask for international assistance,” Bukele wrote on X. “Director Arriaza Chicas was a fundamental piece in bringing peace and security to our people.”
“We will investigate this to the end, but no one can bring back our national hero,” Bukele added.
Defense minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy described Arriaza Chicas as a significant figure in transforming the national police force.
“Director Arriaza Chicas was a strategist who changed the course of the (national police),” Merino Monroy wrote on X. “We will continue fulfilling the mission until we achieve the country you dreamed of.”
In honor of Arriaza Chicas, President Bukele ordered all flags in the country, as well as in El Salvador’s embassies and consulates, to fly at half-mast for three days.
Bukele’s rigorous crackdown on gangs has drawn criticism from rights groups but has garnered him high approval ratings from supporters who credit him with restoring a sense of normality to a violence-weary society.
Manuel Coto had been a fugitive for allegedly embezzling around $35 million.
He was arrested in Honduras on Sunday while “driving with a human trafficker to the United States,” before being handed over to Salvadoran authorities through Interpol, Honduran security minister Gustavo Sanchez confirmed on X.
