Police director and fugitive banker among 9 dead in El Salvador military helicopter crash

The director of the national police, other senior police officials and a fugitive banker are among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in a rural part of the country, El Salvador’s military said.

The cause of Sunday night’s crash is under investigation. It happened after the banker, Manuel Coto, was arrested in Honduras over the weekend and handed over to Salvadoran authorities at the border.

Coto, the former manager of the savings and credit cooperative COSAVI, was the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and was one of 32 people involved in the embezzlement of more than $35 million by the cooperative’s directors and employees.

Coto was arrested Sunday while “driving with a human smuggler to the United States,” Honduran Security Minister Gustavo Sanchez said.

The El Salvadoran military reported in a social media post that the air force helicopter crash occurred in the area of ​​San Eduardo, Pasaquina, La Union. It said that the director general of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, was on board.

State-run Canal 10 TV reported that David Cruz, the communications chief for El Salvador’s Security Ministry, also died in the crash. Others aboard the Salvadoran Air Force UH-1H helicopter were two high commissioners, a corporal, a sergeant and two lieutenant pilots, officials and the Defense Ministry said.

The President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele said in a message on X that “what happened cannot remain as a simple ‘accident'” and must be thoroughly investigated “and the ultimate consequences. We will ask for international assistance.”

Bukele noted that Arriaza Chicas led the government’s fight against the gangs that once dominated the daily lives of much of the Salvadoran population. Bukele’s crackdown on the gangs and mass arrests of more than 80,000 people with little due process have been condemned by human rights groups.

“Your legacy will remain forever in our thoughts, your tireless dedication to the transformation of this country will live on in the hearts of thousands of Salvadorans,” Bukele wrote on social media.

Security specialist Luis Contreras said Arriaza Chicas’ death is unlikely to have a negative impact on the war against the gangs, which the government says it has all but eradicated.

“In El Salvador there are many experienced people and police chiefs who could replace the deceased director,” Contreras said.

Contreras insisted that the gangs no longer have the capacity to respond. “Crime has not been eliminated, but rather neutralized,” he said. “The neutralization that the government of El Salvador has achieved against the gangs is almost 90 percent.”

Bukele on Monday ordered flags to be flown at half-mast in memory of Arriaza Chicas, whom he described as a “national hero”.

“All flags, throughout the national territory, as well as at our embassies and consulates, will be flown at half-mast for three days in honor of the director of the National Civil Police,” Bukele said on social media.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims were taken to the capital in a police-guarded caravan.

Bukele’s crackdown on gangs has led to criticism from human rights groups but has earned him sky-high approval ratings.

Supporters agree that he has brought a sense of normalcy to a society plagued by violence.

Last year, the country recorded its lowest murder rate in 30 years, transforming it from one of the deadliest countries in Latin America to one of the safest.

But that does have a price.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reported killings and torture of prisoners. Thousands of innocent people, including minors, are among those detained.

According to Amnesty International, more than 78,000 arbitrary detentions have been recorded as of February this year, leading to prison overcrowding of around 148%, with at least 235 deaths in state custody. The organization also reported 327 enforced disappearances.

AFP contributed to this report.