US embassy cable - 05SANSALVADOR2038

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 002038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, KJUS, PGOV, ES 
SUBJECT: A WARNING NOTE ON VIGILANTE JUSTICE 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Two men who murdered three gang members 
who had killed their brother are in jail awaiting trial, in 
what is one of the first cases of open vigilante justice in 
response to the current elevated murder rates in El Salvador. 
 The men confessed to the murders, and will likely be found 
guilty and receive stiff sentences.  The publicizing of their 
punishment, however, may not fully deter future actions by 
citizens, in the face of real and perceived weaknesses in the 
justice sector and an astronomical murder rate.  End Summary. 
 
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Taking the Law into Their Own Hands 
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2. (U) On July 9, Wilfredy and Osmin Carillo tracked down and 
hacked to death with machetes three gang members, and injured 
two more, who were allegedly responsible for their brother's 
recent death.  The two men confessed the revenge killings to 
the police and were immediately detained.  On July 13, a 
judge ordered them held until their trial could begin, 
rejecting their argument of "self defense." 
 
3. (SBU) The brothers alleged that they killed the gang 
members because the GOES "Super Hard Hand Plan" does not 
work.  (Note: The Super Hard Hand Plan is an interagency 
effort designed to reduce violent crime in communities that 
suffer from high gang activity; its methods include targeted 
application of searches and arrests of gang leaders.  End 
Note.) In addition, Panchimalco, the poor village in which 
the crimes took place, has a particularly strong traditional 
family clan structure, which made a reprisal of this nature 
more likely. 
 
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Comment: A Cautionary Note 
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4. (SBU) Given a daily death toll that averages 9-10 and that 
has reached as high as 22 (in a country of 6.5 million), and 
because successful investigations, prosecutions, and jailings 
of murderers are rare, it is surprising that there are not 
more cases of vigilante justice.  Judges, prosecutors, and 
police, especially in rural areas, are either unwilling or 
unable to prevent gang members' assaults and intimidation. 
Witnesses are murdered, along with members of their families, 
intimidating the most important sources of information to 
break the cycle of impunity. 
 
5. (SBU) The Prosecutor General told one Embassy contact 
that, "We were unable to prevent the guerrilla insurgency in 
the 1970's, and we were unable to prevent the crime wave of 
the mid-1990's.  I don't want to see us fail to prevent 
vigilantism."  The Saca Administration is working to address 
the violence issue, but measures to date have not brought the 
murder rate down.  New legal tools are needed such as 
rigorous rules of evidence (which have been developed with 
U.S. assistance but may be stalled because judges fear losing 
their prerogatives) and a Witness Protection Law (recently 
introduced to the Assembly, and likely to pass).  The threat 
from those who are out of patience with gang violence is not 
just against their presumed tormentors, but against El 
Salvador's painstakingly-reconstructed postwar law 
enforcement institutions.  End Comment. 
Silverman