El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in a briefing during a press conference in San Salvador. MARVIN RECINOS (AFP)
“Colombians are our brothers, but as in any society, there is always a small percentage who want to take advantage of others; Some of them have come to commit crimes in our country,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday. And he judged: “These people must face the Salvadoran justice, whoever claims it.”
Bukele’s message comes in response to a press conference by El Salvador’s Attorney General, which announced the arrest of 110 people, “most of them Colombians,” allegedly belonging to a criminal money-lending network. “In the past few days, we have been investigating, together with El Salvador’s immigration authorities and the police, what happened to a network of Colombians posing as unregistered microfinance companies,” prosecutor Rodolfo Delgado denounced.
According to Delgado, the initial investigations enabled the arrest of 105 Colombians, an Argentine, a Guatemalan and three Salvadorans who were part of the criminal network and who were staying in different colonies of the Central American country. “These people were eager to offer loans at 20% interest and later opened collection channels for people who fell for their deceptions.”
Colombians are our brothers, but as in any society, there is always a small percentage who want to take advantage of others; Some of them have come to commit crimes in our country.
These people must face Salvadoran justice no matter who claims it. https://t.co/RgpYGG4DNp
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) July 17, 2023
The prosecutor also denounced that the members of the lender network “demanded the payment of the money through threats and insults”. When a victim failed to repay the loan, they usurped their identity, obtained their bank accounts, and transferred the money abroad. According to prosecutors, from 2021 to date, more than $20 million in remittances have been made to Colombia and “approximately 3,000 complaints of crime, mainly fraud and computer fraud, committed by Colombians have been identified.”
El Salvador’s Minister of Justice and Security, Gustavo Villatoro, also said of the arrests: “We will not allow them to continue to exploit the Salvadorans, we will fully protect our population.” “We do not work for criminals and against this heavy blow this international criminal organization is the beginning. Be aware that we will fully neutralize this new threat,” he said.
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Villatoro confirmed that there are currently more than 400 irregular Colombians in El Salvador whose immigration permits have already expired. “They have 72 hours to leave this country, otherwise they will of course be handed over to the Salvadoran judiciary,” the minister said on his Twitter account. And he added: “El Salvador will never fall into the hands of criminal organizations again. The law and the state are respected here.”
However, human rights lawyer Ingrid Escobar, head of the NGO Socoro Jurídico, stated on her Twitter account that usury is not illegal in El Salvador. “If that’s the allegation, he should be prosecuted for the right offense and not gangs like they initially accused. We have the case of 20 families who sent us roots and who never had a criminal record.”
Usury is not illegal. If that’s the charge, let him be prosecuted for the right crime, not gangs like they initially accused. We have the case of 20 families who sent us roots who never had a criminal record. #presumption of innocence https://t.co/ZBN4rr1kiQ
— 💫 Ingrid Escobar 🎧 #JusticiaParaLosINOCENTES🇸🇻 (@Ingrydadriana) July 18, 2023
Escobar and other lawyers are currently helping more than 20 Colombians previously detained by the Bukele regime, who have not been guaranteed any of their rights as defendants. Many of them were arrested without warrants, without criminal records, without prior investigation, without evidence. None of them has been able to communicate with their family in more than six months of detention.
In an interview with EL PAÍS a few weeks ago, Escobar explained the conditions under which Colombians are imprisoned: “There are repeated human rights violations against Colombians imprisoned in El Salvador.” We do not know exactly how many Colombians are imprisoned, but more than 20 families contacted our organization and asked for help. “Many of those arrested are not given hygiene kits or food and are being held in the same prisons with murderers, rapists and actual gang members,” Escobar said over the phone. And he adds: “Bukele’s exceptional regime served to trap crowds, but not to bring about justice.”
Claudia Marcela Colpas, mother of Brandon Loaiza, one of the Colombians detained by the regime, says her son arrived in the Central American country on January 25 in search of a better future for him and his family. Beguiled by Bitcoin’s seeming prosperity and perceived return of security, Brandon quit his job at Pereira Country Club to go to El Salvador for dollars. He hadn’t even been there a month when he was captured. “My son was arrested because he was Colombian, he was poor and he had tattoos,” he says.
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