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They were each convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally. “This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Canadian authorities found the Patel family later that morning, dead from the cold. Rajinder Singh, 51, testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand.
Persons: Ramanlal Patel, Harry, , Steve Shand, Attorney Andy Luger, , ” Luger, Harshkumar Patel, Luger, Jagdish Patel, Vaishaliben, Dharmik, Jan, Patel, Shand, Prosecutors, Rajinder Singh, Singh, El Salvadorans, Jamie Holt, ” Holt, Kevin Paul, ” Paul Organizations: Fergus Falls , Minnesota AP, Indian, Minnesota U.S, Attorney, Minnesota -, Attorney’s, Associated Press, Immigration, Customs, Canadian Press, Bank, U.S ., The U.S . Border Patrol, Pew Research, Homeland Security Investigations Locations: Fergus Falls , Minnesota, Canada, U.S, American, Florida, Minnesota, Minnesota - Canadian, Harshkumar Patel Sherburne, India, Gujarat, , The U.S, El, Clearwater , Minnesota, North Dakota
They were each convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border,” Luger added. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Canadian authorities found the Patel family later that morning, dead from the cold. Rajinder Singh, 51, testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand.
Persons: FERGUS, Ramanlal Patel, Harry, , Steve Shand, Attorney Andy Luger, Harshkumar Patel, ” Luger, Luger, Jagdish Patel, Vaishaliben, Dharmik, Jan, Patel, Shand, Prosecutors, Rajinder Singh, Singh, John Woods, El Salvadorans, Jamie Holt, ” Holt, , Kevin Paul, ” Paul Organizations: Indian, Minnesota U.S, Attorney, Sherburne County Sheriff’s, , Minnesota -, Attorney’s, Associated Press, Canadian Press, Bank, U.S ., The U.S . Border Patrol, Pew Research, Homeland Security Investigations Locations: Minn, , Canada, U.S, American, Florida, Minnesota, Sherburne County, Elk River, Minnesota - Canadian, India, Fergus Falls , Minnesota, Gujarat, , United States, Emerson , Manitoba, The U.S, El, Clearwater , Minnesota, North Dakota
Prosecutors say Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, ran part of the scheme and recruited Steve Shand, 50, of Florida, to shuttle migrants across the border. Prosecutors say when Jagdish Patel’s body was found, he was holding Dharmik, who was wrapped in a blanket. Patel is a common Indian surname and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending this Sept. 30. Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five trips.
Persons: Ramanlal Patel, Steve Shand, John Tunheim, Shand, Jagdish Patel, Vaishaliben, Dharmik, Jagdish Patel’s, Patel, Harshkumar Patel, Harshkumar, Thomas Leinenweber, Shand messaged Patel, , messaged Patel, Satveer Chaudhary, ” Chaudhary Organizations: Prosecutors, U.S, District, The U.S . Border Patrol, Pew Research, Associated Press Locations: India, Canada, U.S, Florida, Minnesota, Dingucha, Gujarat, Washington, The U.S, El, America, Deltona , Florida, Orlando, Minneapolis, American
Tecoluca, El Salvador CNN —Sunlight pours into the cavernous building. Opened less than two years ago, it is already an iconic feature of the “new El Salvador” of President Nayib Bukele. The cells are meticulously clean — an intentional and stark contrast to the dingy and squalid prisons of El Salvador’s past. He even created his own clique, “Crazy Criminals,” now tattooed across his back, after he returned to El Salvador. Critics inside and outside El Salvador question the veracity of the government’s crime data and claimed success over the gangs.
Persons: El Salvador ”, Nayib Bukele, , Cecot, Belarmino, Gustavo Villatoro, , El Salvador —, , Marvin Vásquez, he’s, , Vásquez, ” Vásquez, “ Rob, it’s, “ It’s, García, Bukele, ” Bukele, , Juan Carlos Sánchez, Belarmino García, David Culver, Evelio Contreras, Cecot’s García, El, Salvador Molinas, Molina, we’ve Organizations: El Salvador CNN, El, CNN, Central American, Barrio, Law Foundation, Bukele Locations: El Salvador, El Salvador’s, El, Los Angeles, Cecot, America, San Salvador
San Salvador, El Salvador CNN —For decades, life choices were bleak for many in El Salvador: Leave or die. El Salvador, once synonymous with violence and waves of emigration, saw a dramatic drop in crime. We are not stupid.”Villatoro’s words echo the brutal reality El Salvador has faced for years. Unlike in places like Cuba or China, where residents can seem nervous to criticize repressive regimes, in El Salvador the optimism appears real. Evelio Contreras/CNNTeresa Lilian Gutierrez is caught in the middle, and her experience shows the many complexities of life in El Salvador today.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Victor Bolaños, Blanca, , ” Victor, ” Blanca, Evelio Contreras, Bukele, Victor, Diego Morales, , El, ” Diego, Salvadorans, Diego, Jairo, “ We’ve, … it’s, ” Jairo, , El Salvador, , Cecot, Gustavo Villatoro, they’ll, Bukele’s, Donald Trump, ” Trump, ” Villatoro, Juan Carlos Cornejo, Juan Carlos, Socorro Jurídico, Juan Carlos ’, Critics, CNN Teresa Lilian Gutierrez, San Salvador . “, “ He’s, , they’re, René Merino, Merino, Blanca Bolaños Organizations: San Salvador , El, San Salvador , El Salvador CNN —, New, New York City, CNN, El, Central, Rights Watch, Northern, Customs, Border Protection, World Bank, Houston, La Libertad, Barrio, El Salvador Presidency Central, , Republican National Convention, Salvadoran, Officials Locations: San Salvador ,, San Salvador , El Salvador, El Salvador, New York, Denver, San Salvador, Central American, Central America, Honduras, Guatemala, El, Houston, Florida, Austin, Hawaii, Tamanique, Salvadoran, United States of America, Santa Ana, , Socorro, Cuba, China, La Campanera, San Salvador ., Mariona, America, Bukele
Alex Sanchez is a former high-ranking member of MS-13. He became involved in the gang in the 1980s in Los Angeles and participated in its expansion. He is now the executive director of Homies Unidos and is a violence-prevention worker and expert on gang culture. He speaks with Business Insider about the Los Angeles Police Department, tattooing, rules and codes, media perception, and the political language used to depict the gang, such as Donald Trump's comments in 2018. Sanchez's story is profiled in the books "MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang" and "Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas."
Persons: Alex Sanchez, Sanchez, Donald Trump's Organizations: El, Homies, Los Angeles Police Department Locations: Los Angeles, El Salvador, Americas
Voters in El Salvador this week gave their tough-on-crime president a sweeping mandate: Keep going. Mr. Bukele’s unparalleled rise comes down to a single factor: El Salvador’s stunning crime drop. The crackdown Mr. Bukele has led on organized crime has all but dismantled the infamous street gangs that terrorized the population for decades. Since March 2022, when Mr. Bukele declared a state of emergency that suspended basic civil liberties, security forces have locked up roughly 75,000 people. The conditions that enabled Mr. Bukele’s success and political stardom are unique to El Salvador, and can’t be exported.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, Bukele, Locations: El Salvador
U.S. Mends Fences With El Salvador's Bukele as China Lurks
  + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com   time to read: +6 min
Now, more than ever, the U.S. needs Central American nations like El Salvador to curb migration to the southern border. In October, the State Department's top Latin America diplomat, Brian Nichols, visited El Salvador and posed for photos with Bukele. WAITING IN THE WINGSAt the same time, there are growing ties between China and El Salvador. Although of limited commercial importance in itself, El Salvador offers China a foothold in Central America, and in 2017 broke relations with Taiwan in favor of China. "El Salvador wants to do trade with everyone," Bukele said during his victory speech on Sunday night.
Persons: Diego Oré, Sarah Kinosian, Nelson, Nayib Bukele, Jean Manes, Bukele's, Brian Nichols, Antony Blinken, Bukele, Manes, Ana Maria Mendez, Salvadorans, El Salvador, El, Margaret Myers, Diego Ore, Nelson Renteria, Christian Plumb, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: SALVADOR, Reuters, El Salvador, Central American, U.S, U.S ., Central, State Department's, El, U.S . State Department, Washington Office, U.S . Customs, USAID, The U.S, Inter, Huawei, Washington, Diego Locations: United States, U.S, El Salvador, Latin America, America, China, Honduras, Washington, China's, San Salvador, Central America, Taiwan, Mexico City
By Sarah Kinosian and Nelson RenteriaSAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The landslide re-election of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was cheered by supporters of his gang crackdown, but has worried opponents who fear the country is sliding into a de facto one-party state. El Salvador had "made history" for electing a single party "in a fully democratic system," he said. But rights groups said they are worried about where the country is headed and forecast further curbs on civil rights. They are just grateful he crushed the gang violence plaguing El Salvador for decades and that they can go outside after dark again. "Democratic spaces are closing in El Salvador, civil society is closing down and there is an environment of fear to speak out," said Claudia Ortiz, a lawmaker who has clashed with Bukele and ran for the upstart Vamos party.
Persons: Sarah Kinosian, Nelson, Nayib Bukele, Bukele, El Salvador, Gabriela Santos, State Anthony Blinken, Daniel Ortega, Gladis Munoz, Claudia Ortiz, Nelson Renteria, Drazen Jorgic, Christian Plumb, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: SALVADOR, Reuters, El Salvador, U.S, Human Rights, University of Central America, El, State, Bukele Locations: El Salvador, U.S, Central America, El, Nicaragua, Venezuela
Nayib Bukele, the millennial president who reshaped El Salvador by cracking down on both gangs and civil liberties, looked poised to win another five years in office after polls closed on Sunday. The electoral authorities had not released official results by Sunday night, but Mr. Bukele claimed victory in a post on X, saying he had won more than 85 percent of the vote. Legal scholars say Mr. Bukele violated the Constitution of El Salvador by seeking a second consecutive term, but most Salvadorans don’t seem to care. Since imposing a state of emergency in the spring of 2022. the Bukele government has arrested tens of thousands of people with no due process, filled the streets with soldiers and suspended key civil liberties. But the gangs that once ruled over much of the country have been decimated — making the 42-year-old leader enormously popular.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Bukele Locations: El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadorans are headed out to vote Sunday in a presidential and legislative elections that’s largely about the tradeoff between security and democracy. Nonetheless, about eight out of 10 of voters support Bukele, according to a January poll from the University of Central America. "He just needs a little bit more time, the time he needs to keep improving the country,” Mena said. In the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, Bukele made no public campaign appearances. “There’s this growing rejection of the basic principles of democracy and human rights, and support for authoritarian populism among people who feel that, concepts like democracy and human rights and due process have failed them,” said Tyler Mattiace, Americas researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Persons: , Bukele, El, Farabundo, , Marleny Mena, Mena, ” Mena, , Tyler Mattiace Organizations: SALVADOR, University of Central, Nationalist Republican Alliance, Liberation Front, Human Rights Watch Locations: El Salvador, University of Central America, San Salvador's, Americas
El Salvador’s government has jailed thousands of innocent people, suspended key civil liberties indefinitely and flooded the streets with soldiers. Now the president overseeing it all, Nayib Bukele, is being accused of violating the constitution by seeking re-election. And even his vice-presidential running mate admits their goal is “eliminating” what he sees as the broken democracy of the past. But polls show most Salvadorans support Mr. Bukele, often not in spite of his strongman tactics — but because of them. In elections on Sunday, voters are expected to hand Mr. Bukele and his New Ideas party a resounding victory, cementing the millennial president’s control over every branch of government.
Persons: Nayib, Bukele Organizations: El, Sunday
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - At least 300 people protested in El Salvador on Saturday against an anti-gang crackdown they said was putting innocent people behind bars, hours before the Central American country hosts the Miss Universe competition for the first time since 1975. The crackdown is widely popular among Salvadorans and has helped reduce crime and homicide rates, attracting international events like Miss Universe, which El Salvador has reportedly invested $60 million to host. Protesters in the capital San Salvador marched on Saturday from the city's Monument to the Constitution to a hotel where dozens of Miss Universe delegates are staying. "We want Miss Universe to see that Salvadorans are suffering," said Guadalupe Avila, 67, whose 27-year-old son Carlos was arrested 19 months ago. Some protesters wore sashes that said "Miss Political Prisoners," "Miss Persecution," and "Miss Mass Trials," referencing group trials that have been announced for thousands of people arrested in the crackdown.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Guadalupe Avila, Carlos, Avila, Nelson Renteria, Chizu Nomiyama Organizations: SALVADOR, Reuters, Saturday, Central American, Miss, El, Protesters Locations: El Salvador, San Salvador
[1/3] Police officers stand guard at a protest to demand help for the release of people detained during the state of emergency decreed by the government to curb gang violence, ahead of the Miss Universe gala to be held in San Salvador, El Salvador November 18, 2023. The crackdown is widely popular among Salvadorans and has helped reduce crime and homicide rates, attracting international events like Miss Universe, which El Salvador has reportedly invested $60 million to host. Protesters in the capital San Salvador marched on Saturday from the city's Monument to the Constitution to a hotel where dozens of Miss Universe delegates are staying. "We want Miss Universe to see that Salvadorans are suffering," said Guadalupe Avila, 67, whose 27-year-old son Carlos was arrested 19 months ago. Some protesters wore sashes that said "Miss Political Prisoners," "Miss Persecution," and "Miss Mass Trials," referencing group trials that have been announced for thousands of people arrested in the crackdown.
Persons: Jose Cabezas, Nayib Bukele, Guadalupe Avila, Carlos, Avila, Nelson Renteria, Chizu Organizations: Police, Miss, San Salvador , El, REUTERS, SALVADOR, Saturday, Central American, El, Protesters, Thomson Locations: San Salvador ,, San Salvador , El Salvador, El Salvador, San Salvador
Since the end of October, citizens of 57 largely African countries and India have had to pay the fee, according to El Salvador’s aviation authority. Also, the U.S. has been pressuring Central American countries to curb migration flows to its border with Mexico. El Salvador’s aviation authority said most passengers who have to pay the fee are headed to Nicaragua on the commercial airline Avianca. Political Cartoons View All 1244 ImagesA flight itinerary of one Senegalese migrant seen by The Associated Press showed the migrant passing through Morocco, Spain and El Salvador before landing in Managua. “Part of me wonders ... we will not critique the Bukele administration as much because it’s supposedly reducing the levels of migrants?”___Associated Press writer Marcos Alemán in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.
Persons: — El, El Salvador’s, Nayib Bukele, Donald Trump's, Bukele, Joe Biden, , Biden, Pamela Ruiz, ” —, Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A, Nichols, , Ruiz, Marcos Alemán Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Aviation, Central, Associated Press, El Salvador, El, U.S . State Department, Central America, International Crisis, State, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Crisis Locations: MEXICO, India, U.S, Mexico . U.S, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba, Africa, Morocco, Spain, El Salvador, Managua, United States, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, San Salvador , El Salvador
The ruling, which extended Latin American’s trend of widening abortion access, happened a year after the court’s U.S. counterpart went in the opposite direction. Three years later, deeply conflicted by the inequality in abortion access, she became an activist and received training to become an acompañante. “We saw it in the United States.”Aguiar and her colleagues plan to keep advocating for reproductive rights. “To lead informative brigades and communicate that we can provide pills for those who can’t access abortion medication there.”It’s no coincidence that Lira’s views are influenced by migration. “But abortion access is just the tip of the iceberg.
Persons: , P, Lira, ” Lira, Roe, Wade, , Sofia Aguiar, , Eduardo Verástegui, Carlos Aguiar Retes, Rodrigo Iván Cortés, Aguiar, ” Aguiar, “ We’ve, Minerva, Monica Rosas, ” Rosas Organizations: World Health Organization, , Supreme, Information Group, Verástegui, Lira, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: TIJUANA, Mexico, U.S, Tijuana, Mexico’s, Mexican, Baja California, San Diego, Mexico City, GIRE, United States, California, Colombia, Central America
CNN —A sign greets visitors arriving at a sun-filled two-story house in El Salvador’s capital. But within El Salvador, a largely Catholic and evangelical Christian country, some viewed the women’s accounts with skepticism and hostility. Again, the UN’s human rights office weighed in, calling El Salvador’s laws “draconian.”Two months later, 11 justices from El Salvador’s Supreme Court commuted Vásquez’s sentence, saying evidence in the case did not prove that she had taken any action to end her baby’s life. The Harvard professor has been studying these women’s cases and the impact of El Salvador’s abortion restrictions for years. This shows her after a visit in August 2018, six months after El Salvador's Supreme Court commuted her sentence.
Persons: Teodora Vásquez, they’ll, It’s, El Salvador, it’s, Vásquez, who’ve, “ We’ve, ” Vásquez, , , Teodora, Oscar Rivera, Salvador Melendez, Jocelyn Viterna, ” Viterna, Viterna, Dana Sussman, , Benedicte, Ra’ad Al Hussein, José Miguel Fortín Magaña, Jose Cabezas, El, , ’ ” Vásquez, Libres, who've, Jessie Wardarski, “ I’ve, Jacqueline Castillo, “ It’s, ” Castillo, she’s, Mujeres, there’s, Marvin Recinos, She’s, Merlin Delcid, CNN’s Tierney Sneed Organizations: CNN, El, Getty, Hollywood, Amnesty, of Women, Harvard University, Salvadoran, Pregnancy, UN, Human Rights, El Salvador’s Institute of Legal Medicine, Reuters, Citizen Group, Harvard, Mujeres Libres El, Inter, American, of Human, , of Steel Locations: El Salvador’s, , Libres El Salvador, Mujeres, Salvadoran, El Salvador, United States, New York, El, San Salvador, Mujeres Libres, Mujeres Libres El Salvador, AFP
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, U.S., September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSAN SALVADOR, Oct 3 (Reuters) - El Salvador's political parties launched their campaigns for the upcoming presidential elections on Tuesday, amid vocal criticism from the opposition that President Nayib Bukele will seek re-election despite it being prohibited by the constitution. More than 6 million Salvadorans are set to hit the polls on Feb. 4 to elect a president and vice president, who govern for five-year terms. Bukele is heavily favored to win re-election in the Central American nation, whose constitution forbids consecutive terms. Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Eduardo Munoz, Francisco Gavidia, Felix Ulloa, Nelson Renteria, Kylie Madry, Josie Kao Organizations: El, General Assembly, REUTERS, SALVADOR, Central, Francisco Gavidia University's Citizen Studies Center, Reuters, Salvadoran, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Central American
Policemen prepare for an anti-gang patrol following a year-long state of emergency against gangs, in Soyapango, El Salvador March 24, 2023. It shows police believe 42,826 people, or 36% of those they say are tied to gangs, remain free. Of those, more than 20,000 are considered to be active gang members. Security forces have since arrested more than 72,000 suspected gang members and associates, giving the country the highest incarceration rate in the world. Authorities put alleged gang members into three categories: active members, aspiring members and collaborators, defined as people who assist the gang but are not members.
Persons: Jose Cabezas, Noah Bullock, they've, Nayib Bukele, Marvin Reyes, Reyes, Bullock, Sarah Kinosian, Nelson Renteria, Stephen Eisenhammer, Tom Hogue Organizations: REUTERS, SALVADOR, National Civil Police, Reuters, Gangs, Security, Police Workers Movement, Thomson Locations: Soyapango, El Salvador, El, Mexico City, San Salvador
The United States had 3.5 million residents who identify as Middle Eastern or North African, Venezuelans were the fastest-growing Hispanic group last decade and Chinese and Asian Indians were the two largest Asian groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. MIDDLE EASTERN OR NORTH AFRICAN POPULATIONThe 2020 census was the first to allow respondents to identify themselves as coming from a Middle Eastern or North African country, otherwise known as MENA. ASIAN POPULATIONMore than 5.2 million people identified as Chinese, the largest group among respondents who were Asian alone or in combination with another group. The Nepalese population was the fastest growing Asian group, growing from almost 52,000 people in 2010 to almost 206,000 people in 2020. Some 1.9 million respondents who picked “some other race” identified as multiracial or multi-ethnic, and more than a half million said they were Brazilian.
Persons: Biden, , Maya Berry, it’s, Nicolás Maduro’s, Ernesto Ackerman, Mike Schneider Organizations: . Census, Bureau, Survey, Arab American Institute, Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, Puerto Ricans Locations: States, U.S, Jordanian, Moroccan, Washington, California, Michigan, New York, Venezuela, Miami, Puerto, American, U.S . New York, Texas
Bukele said that if El Salvador had listened to external critics — including some at the United Nations — the tiny Central American country would again be the murder capital of the world. They are irrefutable.”More than 72,000 people have been arrested under a state of emergency Bukele requested in March 2022 after a surge in gang violence. Political Cartoons View All 1169 ImagesIn March, the U.N. human rights office expressed concern over the year-long crackdown, noting widespread human rights violations, thousands of unsubstantiated arrests and dozens of in-custody deaths. In 2015, El Salvador was considered one of the world’s most violent as it recorded 6,656 homicides, or about 106 per 100,000 people. Bukele mentioned the Central American and Caribbean Games that El Salvador hosted in June and the upcoming Miss Universe competition that will come to El Salvador in November, as well as international surfing competitions that Bukele has promoted.
Persons: — El, Nayib Bukele, Bukele, El Salvador, ” Bukele, Salvadorans, El, , Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, General, United Nations, El, Legislative, National Civil Police, Central American, Caribbean Games, Miss Locations: — El Salvador, American, El Salvador
PoliticsSalvadorans protest against leader on Independence DayPostedThousands of Salvadorans marched on the country's Independence Day on Friday (September 15) to air their grievances against President Nayib Bukele, accusing him of violating the constitution by seeking re-election.
Persons: Salvadorans, Nayib Bukele
[1/2] El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during a ceremony to lay the first stone of a new public hospital, in San Salvador, El Salvador June 15, 2023. El Salvador has been under a state of emergency for 16 months, sparking the arrest of over 71,900 alleged gang members. Opposition politicians and rights groups say group trials risk depriving detainees of their right to due process and their individual presumption of innocence. On July 14 at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, rights organizations denounced the deaths of 174 people in state custody and over 6,400 documented human rights abuses during the state of emergency. Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; writing by Sarah Kinosian; Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Jose Cabezas, Nayib Bukele's, Gustavo Villatoro, Manuel Melendez, Ingrid Escobar, general's, Nelson Renteria, Sarah Kinosian, Matthew Lewis Organizations: El, San Salvador , El, REUTERS, SALVADOR, Central American, Justice, Salvadoran, Harvard University, Legal, Inter, American, Human Rights, Lawmakers, Thomson Locations: San Salvador ,, San Salvador , El Salvador, El Salvador, San Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, July 17 (Reuters) - Salvadoran police arrested more than a hundred Colombians for their alleged involvement in operating a microfinancing scheme that laundered money from drug running and gang activities, security officials said on Monday. The criminal group reportedly made loans, using funds obtained illegally, to individuals and small businesses with 20% interest, according to the officials. Some $20 million in money linked to drug trafficking gangs is estimated to have been sent to Colombia since 2021 under the scheme, added Delgado. Colombia's foreign ministry said it was in talks with its embassy and consulate in El Salvador over the arrests, but did not offer further comment on the accusations facing the Colombian nationals. Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Additional reporting by Oliver Griffin in Bogota Writing by Kylie Madry Editing by David Alire Garcia and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Rodolfo Delgado, Delgado, Bukele, Nelson Renteria, Oliver Griffin, Kylie Madry, David Alire Garcia, Matthew Lewis Organizations: SALVADOR, Salvadoran, Twitter, Colombian, Thomson Locations: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemalan, Argentine, San Salvador, Bogota
Salvadoran President Bukele's party names him as 2024 candidate
  + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
SAN SALVADOR, July 9 (Reuters) - Salvadoran political party Nuevas Ideas chose President Nayib Bukele on Sunday as its candidate for the presidential elections of early 2024, even though the country's constitution does not allow consecutive terms for the presidency. The president - favored in the 2024 election by nearly 70% of Salvadorans - and his Vice President Felix Ulloa still need to register as candidates with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to formalize their candidacy. His "war" against gangs in El Salvador has led to more than 66,000 people being imprisoned and earned Bukele unprecedented popularity. Bukele has denied the allegations but undercover negotiations with gangs have not been unusual in El Salvador. Salvadorans will vote on Feb. 4 next year to elect a president and vice president for the 2024-2029 term and legislators until 2027.
Persons: Nayib Bukele, Bukele, Felix Ulloa, Mauricio Funes, Salvadorans, Nelson Renteria, Anna, Catherine Brigida, Tom Hogue Organizations: SALVADOR, FMLN, Thomson Locations: Salvadoran, United States, El, El Salvador
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