WASHINGTON, Dec 8, Reuters - The United States imposed sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities in Europe and the Western Hemisphere over the past few days over alleged negotiations with the MS-13 gang and an organized crime group based in northern Kosovo.
The US Treasury Department said Wednesday that 16 individuals and 24 entities were targeted for corruption networks linked to transnational crime, the latest in a series of sanctions announced by President Joe Biden's democracy summit.
The Treasury said in a statement that it slapped sanctions on Osiris Luna Meza, chief of the Salvadoran Penal System and Vice Minister of Justice and Public Security, and Carlos Amilcar Marroquin Chica, Chairman of the Social Fabric Reconstruction Unit.
It accused the officials of running, facilitating, and organizing a number of secret meetings involving gang leaders as part of El Salvador's efforts to negotiate a secret truce with gang leadership. An investigation into officials of the Government of El Salvador and the incarcerated leaders of gangs, such as Treasury-designated Mara Salvatrucha 13 MS-13, has revealed covert negotiations between government officials and the criminal organization, the Treasury said in the statement.
The Treasury accused the government of having agreements with politicians to help their party win elections and contribute money to the candidates, as well as the Kosovan gang leader Zvonko Veselinovic and his brother.
The politicians would grant the brothers best infrastructure contracts, provide proprietary business information to support their investments, and give them control over certain areas of their businesses, the Treasury said.
Several other members of the organization and entities related to them were blacklisted, as well as some associates of Veselinovic.