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User:Salvadoran director of National Civil Police Mauricio Arriaza Chicas dies in helicopter crash

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Thursday, September 12, 2024

Mauricio Arriaza Chicas in 2022.
Image: La Prensa Gráfica.

On Monday September nine,2024, the Salvadoran authorities confirmed that nine people, including the Salvadoran director of the country's National Civil Police -- reported as 'Police Chief' by several English sources -- Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, died in a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crash on Sunday. The aircraft was transporting the suspected fugitive Manuel Coto from Cholulteca, Honduras to San Salvador, El Salvador. Coto was captured on the Nicaragua border on September 9. The aircraft departed Cholulteca without reporting any problems but crashed minutes after takeoff, leaving no survivors.

A witness told El Heraldo that he and his seven-year old son saw the aircraft going down and feared there was no hope anyone would survive. According to El Heraldo, the witnesses observed the aircraft flying too low and erratic.

A Bell UH-1 Iroquois.
Image: airwolfhound.

The president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele has declared three days of mourning in El Salvador. According to ABC News, Bukele wrote on social media, "What happened cannot remain as a simple ‘accident’ and must be investigated thoroughly and to the ultimate consequences. We will request international help."

In addition to Arriaza and Coto, the other seven victims of the crash were Alexis Alberto Quijano, Gerson Ricardo Batres Lucero, and Jonathan Alexander Raymundo Morán, who were part of the Salvadoran Air Force; Douglas Omar García Funes, Abel Antonio Arévalo, Rómulo Pompilio Romero Torres, who worked as policemen; and David Cruz Guevara, who worked as news reporter. Authorities recovered all of the bodies and began transporting them to the capital by land transport.

Manuel Coto managed Cooperative Savings and Credit Association (COSAVI) and was one of the 32 people suspected of embezzling what was reported as "around USD35 million," The Australian reported. He was allegedly fleeing El Salvador with the intent to enter the US, when on Sunday he was captured and transferred to Salvadoran authorities at the border, according to the reports. He had an Interpol arrest warrant against him. BBC reported the suspects allegedly embezzled money to buy "luxury flats and cars, among other items," and 15 people had been detained so far, including Manuel Coto's parents.

Arriaza led a police campaign against criminal gangs since March 2022, with 82,000 suspected criminal gang members being arrested. The police campaign included the right to arrest suspects without a warrant. Mauricio Arriaza Chicas's role in El Salvador was to oversee and manage the country's national police force. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have alleged there was unfair processes and lack of access to justice.

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