National police director, fugitive banker among 9 dead in El Salvador helicopter crash

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El Salvador’s military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.

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

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

El Salvador’s military in a post on X said the air force helicopter crash occurred in the area of San Eduardo, Pasaquina, La Union. It said the director general of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, and two deputies were aboard.

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El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X that “what happened cannot remain as a simple ‘accident’” and must be investigated thoroughly “and to the ultimate consequences. We will request international help.”

FILE – El Salvador’s National Police Director Mauricio Arriaza salutes during the launch ceremony of the new border patrol on the border with Guatemala in La Hachadura, El Salvador, Sept. 12, 2019. El Salvador’s military says Arriaza, other high-ranking police officials, and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash late Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

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

Security specialist Luis Contreras, said it was unlikely Arriaza Chicas’ death would negatively impact the war against the gangs, which the government claims it has all but eliminated.

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

Contreras maintained that the gangs no longer have the capacity to react. “Crime is not eliminated, but rather neutralized,” he said. “The neutralization El Salvador’s government has achieved against the gangs has been almost 90%.”

Bukele ordered flags to fly at half-staff Monday in remembrance of Arriaza Chicas, whom he described as a “national hero.”

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

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