El Salvador Roundup: Human traffickers, pneumonia, road accidents, strong winds, Funes
Human traffickers arrested
The Attorney General's Office (FGR) of El Salvador announced the arrest of three men allegedly affiliated with an illicit human trafficking organisation. The suspects were acused of charging $15,000 to transport victims to the United States. “The @FGR_SV in coordination with the @PNCSV carried out the capture of 3 members of a gang of human traffickers. According to the investigations, these subjects charged up to $15,000.00 to take the victims to the United States illegally,” said the FGR in a statement on social media.
Pneumonia deaths
The Ministry of Health in El Salvador has reported that between January 1 and November 25, 2023, at least 674 people died from pneumonia in the Latin American nation. The number of pneumonia-related deaths recorded in 2023 is lower than the previous year when 1,126 people died from the disease. However, hospitalisations for pneumonia increased by 90% in 2023 compared to 2022, with 15,557 people hospitalised as of November.
Drunk driving road accidents
Driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs is the seventh most common cause of road accidents in El Salvador, according to El Salvador's National Road Safety Observatory. As of December 13, there had been 630 accidents resulting in 475 injuries and 44 fatalities. Humanitarian aid organisation Cruz Verde Salvadoreña (CVS) reports that most of these accidents occur mainly during the night hours between Thursday and Sunday. “In the care that we provide as an institution, in traffic accident care, we could mention that the days that are close to the weekend, we are talking about Thursday and Friday, we have an increase in accidents. Saturday and Sunday are the same. The trend in this type of attention is that drunk people are involved,” said the CEO of CVS, quoted by local media El Diario de Hoy.
Strong winds expected
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) in El Salvador has reported that strong winds from the north of El Salvador are expected in the Latin nation within the coming days. The Ministry announced that the winds might start from December 19 to December 21. “They will be accentuated in high areas of hills, mountains and volcanoes and the maximum expected values will range between 45 and 55 kilometres per hour,” said the MARN, quoted by local media Diario 1.
Former president Mauricio Funes’s reimbursement
The Attorney General's Office of El Salvador has requested the Second Civil Chamber of the State of San Salvador to enforce the reimbursement of $409,145.09 by former President Mauricio Funes and his son, Diego Roberto Funes Cañas, to the state, after they were convicted of illicit enrichment in 2017, local media El Mundo reports. Former president Funes was convicted for illicit wealth of $206,660.55, while Cañas was convicted after failing to prove the legal origin of $212,484.54.
