2023-07-21 06:00:22
12:41 AM
The government of Nayib Bukele gave an ultimatum to the “false tourists” who go to El Salvador to commit crimes: they must leave the country as soon as possible so that later they do not have to regret it.
The message had a clear objective towards those who have dedicated themselves to extorting Salvadorans through the well-known “drop by drop”, a criminal modality that is practiced, for the most part, by Colombians.
“The clock is ticking, all the fake tourists who are members of this extortion and money laundering structure, take advantage and get out of our country quickly. Later we will not hear regrets, ”Bukele wrote on his Twitter account.
His pronouncement came following it became known that the authorities of El Salvador have arrested some 110 people, mostly Colombians, accused of being part of a network that laundered money and defrauded thousands of citizens of that country.
The detainees, including ex-military and ex-police officers, entered El Salvador at different times “as tourists” and offered credits, but were not registered with the Superintendency of the Financial System.
“The existence of a criminal organization made up of foreigners, mainly of Colombian nationality, has been established,” Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado declared at a press conference.
The detainees are 105 Colombians, an Argentine, a Guatemalan and 3 Salvadorans.
The structure offered loans at 20% interest and people who defaulted were threatened or “usurped their identity” to manage bank accounts or debit cards through which the money was sent abroad, according to the authorities. “When the victims cannot pay, the collectors resort to threats and then pretend to want to help them, telling them that their debt will be canceled if they open bank accounts and give them all the data and access to them,” according to a joint statement from the Police and Prosecutor’s Office.
From 2021 to date, according to Delgado, the structure sent Colombia “more than 20 million dollars.”
The prosecutor specified that they received some 3,000 complaints of “fraud and computer scams, which have been committed by Colombians.”
The detainees would be part of the “Gota a Gota structure” that was born in the Colombian cartels in 1998 and that would have operated in different countries, said the Minister of Justice and Security, Gustavo Villatoro.
In El Salvador, according to Villatoro, there are some 400 Colombians whose immigration permit “expired” and who would be part of this network.
“Those more than 400 Colombians who are still here irregularly, and are carrying out activities for this money laundering structure of international drug trafficking cartels, have 72 hours to leave this country,” Villatoro said.
For his part, President Nayib Bukele assured that Colombians “will have to face Salvadoran justice, whoever claims it.”
The president invited “good Colombians” to visit El Salvador to “vacation, invest, work or emigrate” and promised them that they will have “legal security” and other guarantees.
However, he warned that “criminals, drug traffickers, fraudsters and some of the so-called ‘peace managers’ better not come to our country looking for trouble, because our prisons are waiting for them.”
The “peace managers” seems to be an allusion to the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, with whom Bukele has had some controversies.
Foreign Ministry says there are 63 Colombians
Through an official statement, the Colombian Foreign Ministry ruled on the detention of more than 60 Colombians in El Salvador for being part of this alleged “drop by drop” network. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that from March 2022 to date, the consular section has had full knowledge of a total of 63 arrests of compatriots investigated for this cause. It also stated that consular attention has been provided to all of them and “periodic visits have been made to detention centers and guidance has been provided to compatriots deprived of their liberty and their families.”
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