Representatives of the Salvadoran gangs MS-13 and Neighborhood 18 denied in a public statement that leaders of their groups made a deal with the government to lower their number of killings and crimes, as was published in the newspaper El Faro, reported ContraPunto.
On the evening of Thursday, March 22, a radio program on YSKL station read out the statement, according to La Página. Meanwhile, the founder and director of El Faro, Carlos Dada, participated in a TV program, 8 en Punto, on the channel Canal 33, in which Dada said that El Faro's journalists had no fear of the gangs and their actions, but instead they feared corrupt politicians, police chiefs, and prosecutors that are involved in organized crime, reported ContraPunto.
Raul Mijango, a former Congressman who made the gangs' statement public, on Tuesday, March 20, held a press conference explaining that the lower number of killings was due to a peace agreement made between the two gangs and mediated by bishop Fabio Colindres, and not due to a deal with the government, according to El Faro.
On Friday, March 16, the government excluded El Faro's journalists from a press meeting, where public officials said that the reporters of this newspaper were in danger however, authorities offer El Faro no protection, according to a report from the Knight Center.
“We are concerned about El Faro's employees' safety and we are closely monitoring the situation," said Carlos Lauría of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He added, "We hold the Salvadoran government responsible for the well being of El Faro's journalists."
