© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members wait to be escorted upon arrival on the maximum-security jail in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, January 31, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Picture
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – A prime chief of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang will stand trial in New York on terrorism expenses, the U.S. Justice Division stated on Wednesday.
El Salvador citizen Elmer Canales, referred to as “Crook de Hollywood,” was arrested by Mexican authorities final week and despatched to Texas, the place a federal courtroom on Wednesday ordered him to face trial in New York.
Canales, together with 13 different MS-13 members, was indicted in 2020 on terrorism expenses referring to his alleged involvement in organized crime within the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador over the previous 20 years.
He “bears responsibility for the gang’s efforts over decades to terrorize communities, target law enforcement, and sow violence here in the United States and abroad,” Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland stated within the Justice Division’s assertion on Wednesday.
When Canales’ indictment was unsealed in early 2021, he was behind bars in El Salvador, and the U.S. requested his extradition. However the Salvadoran authorities launched Canales round November 2021, and he illegally entered Guatemala, the Justice Division stated.
His launch has provoked criticism in El Salvador, the place a crackdown on alleged gang members has landed tens of hundreds in jail since March 2022, drawing accusations of human rights abuses and violations of due course of.
The federal government of President Nayib Bukele, which has denied taking part within the chief’s launch, has not commented on Criminal’s current detention.
Reuters didn’t obtain a direct response to a request for remark from Bukele’s workplace or from the safety and justice ministry.
Canales faces a most sentence of life in jail if convicted.
