El Salvador refuses to extradite a dangerous MS-13 gang member to the US

The US will be left wanting to try Armando Eliú Melgar Díaz, alias “Blue”, a dangerous gang member who is accused by the US Department of Justice of terrorism, and who would be responsible for multiple crimes and directing dangerous cells of the MS-13 gang in that country.

On September 30, the deadline for the Salvadoran justice system to agree to extradite Melgar Díaz expired.something to which he had already agreed in June 2021, but which was stopped by an appeal filed by José Ángel Pérez Chacón, a former adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, who had recently become a magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).

In fact, Pérez Chacón is one of the magistrates who, on May 1, 2021, arrived at said Chamber —the highest court in El Salvador— following Congress, ally of President Nayib Bukele, He dismissed all the magistrates, in an action described by critics as illegal and even a coup d’état.

The extradition had remained in the air following the appeal filed, until a month later, in August of last year, it was learned that the CSJ had reversed the decision to send Melgar Díaz to the US. to answer for the accusations made by the Department of Justice.

The argument was that there were no guarantees that “Blue” would not be sentenced to death.

In any case, there was a deadline until September 30 of this year to finalize the extradition, but one day before, according to what was published by the media Done, the magistrates of the CSJ agreed not to hand him over, so that he might be prosecuted in El Salvador por the crimes of illicit groups, illicit traffic, proposition and conspiracy for the crime of homicide.

Will relations be strained?

This denial of El Salvador pmight further strain bilateral relations between the two countries, loaded with confrontational rhetoric since Bukele became President and that were accentuated when Joe Biden arrived at the White House.

An analysis by Insight Crime, a think tank specializing in organized crime and security in the Americas, says that Melga Díaz “He is not just any leader” of the MS-13 and that “the US government will consider the refusal to extradite him as a sign of contempt by President Bukele towards his prosecutors.”

It highlights that the then Attorney General Bill Barr announced the historic charges once morest Melgar Díaz from the White House with the presence of former President Donald Trump and that “Never have we seen such high-ranking officials deliberately single out MS-13 with so much hype.”

In addition, last June the US embassy in El Salvador had urged the authorities of that country to extradite Melgar Díaz and the other gang leaders, a call that, in light of the facts, had no effect.

LThe decision of the Salvadoran State continues to draw the attention of Salvadoran analysts who see it as contradictory that “Blue” is not handed over to US justice in the midst of the “anti-gang war” that Bukele has maintained since last March that has led him to promulgate states of emergency that have facilitated the arrest of some 50,000 people suspected of belonging to a gang.

Human rights organizations have denounced arbitrary and illegal detentions and abuses that have occurred as a result of states of emergency.

“It is a great contradiction because —Bukele— is in a war once morest the gangs, but he is protecting a gang member in a very dubious way, with dubious legal arguments,” Eduardo Escobar, a Salvadoran political analyst, told Prensa Libre.

He stressed that “probably” this protection is due to the fact that the Government intends to protect some official who might be accused in a US court if the “Blue” is finally taken to that country.

Some critics of Bukele claim that the government made agreements with gangs to reduce crime. (Free Press Photo: PL Hemeroteca)

Who is Blue?

The accusations of terrorism once morest Melgar Díaz in the US are part of a legal offensive that the government of former President Donald Trump istarted and continued under the current administration.

“The Blue” he is one of the leaders of the MS13 who has diverse backgrounds. The US Department of Justice indicated in a report that Melgar Díaz has an extensive criminal record.

He is charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists; kill or maim people abroad; commit acts of terrorism that transcend national borders; financing terrorism, and engaging in extortion and drug trafficking.