El Salvador police chief dies in helicopter crash

El Salvador’s police chief, known for leading the country’s “war” against gangs, has been killed along with several others in a helicopter crash, the military said Monday.

Police Chief General Mauricio Arriaza Chicas has led the crackdown on criminal gangs in El Salvador since March 2022. The campaign has already netted nearly 82,000 suspected gang members, thanks to a system that allows arrests without a warrant.

“We regret to confirm the death of all occupants of the Salvadoran Air Force UH-1H helicopter that crashed in Pasaquina,” about 180 kilometers (112 miles) east of the capital San Salvador, the military said on the social media platform X.

Also on the helicopter was Manuel Coto, a former manager of the credit union Cosavi, who was under police guard, the report said.

According to police, the deputy director of the investigation, Romulo Pompilio Romero, and another officer, Corporal Abel Antonio Arevalo, were killed in the crash.

According to state television channel Canal 10, David Cruz, head of communications for the Ministry of Justice, was also killed.

Authorities have not yet identified the plane’s crew.

Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado said on X that his teams were doing everything possible “to accelerate the rescue and identification of the victims.”

Civil Protection tactical teams were on their way to the crash site to provide assistance, the service reported on X.

President Nayib Bukele said he would seek international help in investigating the crash.

“What happened cannot remain an ‘accident’, it must be thoroughly investigated and to the final consequences. We will ask for international help,” Bukele wrote on X.

“Director Arriaza Chicas played a fundamental role in bringing peace and security to our people,” he said.

“We will investigate this to the end, but no one can bring back our national hero.”

Defense Minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy described Arriaza Chicas as “a strategist who changed the course of the (national police).”

“We will continue to fulfill the mission until we reach the land you dreamed of,” he wrote on X.

Bukele ordered all flags in the country, including those at El Salvador’s embassies and consulates, to be flown at half-mast for three days in honor of Arriaza Chicas.

The president’s brutal crackdown on gangs has been criticized by human rights groups, but has also earned him skyrocketing popularity. Supporters credit him with bringing a sense of normalcy to a society plagued by violence.

Coto was on the run after allegedly embezzling some $35 million.

He was arrested in Honduras on Sunday while “traveling to the United States with a human trafficker,” after which he was handed over to Salvadoran authorities through Interpol, Honduran Security Minister Gustavo Sanchez said on X.