Weekly Report - 17 August 2017 (WR-17-32)

El Salvador’s police and attorney general’s office are preparing an offensive against public officials and private individuals suspected of financing death squads targeting mara gang members in the country. The director of the national police (PNC), Howard Cotto, divulged no further details other than to say that the death squads included some police officers and that “innocent people [had] also been killed” and that this would “not be tolerated”. Cotto’s announcement might have provided a source of comfort for human rights groups if it were not for the fact that he has sent out mixed messages on the contentious issue of the formation of self-defence groups by local communities (and provision of weapons) to combat the maras, an initiative advocated by the president of the legislative assembly, Guillermo Gallegos, in May.

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