A multi-million dollar network of businesses created by leaders of El Salvador’s most powerful street gang has been exposed by authorities as part of a investigation targeting the groups’ finances.



Police and prosecutors announced a series of high-profile raids on Thursday against alleged leaders and business associates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang, claiming to have delivered a severe blow to the group’s financial operations.

Five MS-13 leaders – including the gang’s alleged “CEO”, who posed as an evangelical preacher – were among 77 people arrested across the country after a year-long investigation known as Operation Checkmate.

Police seized weapons, cash and vehicles during raids at motels, brothels, bars, car dealerships and bus and taxi firms – businesses they claim were created using illicit funds, mainly from extortion rackets.

The arrests came amid growing international concern about the government’s mano dura – or iron fist – security policy which has outlawed dialogue with the warring street gangs and seen them designated as terrorist groups.

In May police arrested 16 people who had helped negotiate a controversial 2012 truce between MS13 and its biggest rival, Calle 18. After the truce, homicides dropped by 50% but collapsed after a year amid patchy support from the international community.

This week’s operation marks the first serious attempt by Salvadoran authorities to target the gang’s ill-gotten gains – a strategy widely used in the US against national and international crime groups.

Authorities were at pains yesterday to distinguish between the riches enjoyed by the MS-13’s national leaders and the poverty endured by the vast majority of the gang’s 40,000 members.

Howard Cotto, director of the national police, said at the press conference: “The majority of gang members live in deplorable, very depressed places. The ringleaders have been very careful to keep secret the way in which they live … some have even have decided to pay extortion rather than allow members know that these businesses belong to them.”

Cotto pointed to Marvin Quintanilla, 35, who ran a network of evangelical pastors after his release from prison last year. Cotto said the investigation found evidence that Quintanilla’s church role was simply a front to hide criminal activities.

But amid widespread praise for the investigation, including congratulatory messages on Twitter by the US ambassador in San Salvador, there was concern that the roundup also targeted activists seeking to stop gang violence.

Dany Romero, a former MS-13 member who has dedicated himself to human rights and gang prevention work since he was released from prison in 2006, was arrested and accused of using his NGO OPERA as a front for criminal activities.

Romero, who has won several prizes for his activism, has in recent years documented human rights abuses carried out by state security services against alleged gang members in deprived communities. Documents containing information on more than 150 cases, including extrajudicial killings, were taken by police during his arrest.

The documents were copied and shared by Romero with international organisations in recent weeks after his name was added to the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanction list.

Romero, and human rights organisations who work closely with him, have consistently rejected the allegations against him.

Rafa Gude, an academic researcher on Salvadoran gang violence, said: “Dany served his time in prison, but since his release has been recognized for the great work he’s done in favour of human rights in prisons and relatives of prisoners. I, along with many others, don’t have any reason to doubt his innocence. We need more ex-gang members to do the work that Dany does, and this arrest sends a clear message to those who would follow his footsteps; people doing violence intervention are increasingly criminalized for the work they do.”



Wilson Alvarado, a psychologist and founder of the NGO Nahual which provides legal aid to imprisoned gang members and their families, was also accused – but not arrested – of using his organisation as a front to shield gang activities.