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{"code":"26193","sect":"El Salvador","sect_slug":"el-salvador","hits":"1147","link":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202205\/el_salvador\/26193","link_edit":"","name":"El Salvador Supreme Court Magistrate was Former Defense Attorney for Head of MS-13","slug":"el-salvador-supreme-court-magistrate-was-former-defense-attorney-for-head-of-ms-13","info":"","mtag":"Politics","noun":{"html":"\u003Cspan class='tint-text--dark' data_href='\/user\/profile\/glabrador'\u003E Gabriel Labrador\u003C\/span\u003E","data":{"gabriel-labrador":{"sort":"glabrador","slug":"gabriel-labrador","path":"gabriel_labrador","name":"Gabriel Labrador","edge":"0","init":"0"}}},"view":"1147","pict":{"cms-image-000037554-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"37554","name":"cms-image-000037554.jpg","link":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037554.jpg","path":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037554.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037554-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;Borromeo Henr\u00edquez, \"Diablito de Hollywood,\" in a press conference on Jan. 19, 2013 responding to questions from journalists after announcing new commitments made by the Mara Salvatrucha in the Municipalities Free from Violence. Photo: El Faro Archive&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EBorromeo Henr\u00edquez, \"Diablito de Hollywood,\" in a press conference on Jan. 19, 2013 responding to questions from journalists after announcing new commitments made by the Mara Salvatrucha in the Municipalities Free from Violence. Photo: El Faro Archive\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000037555-jpg":{"feat":"1","sort":"37555","name":"cms-image-000037555.jpg","link":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037555.jpg","path":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037555.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037555-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;Judge Miguel \u00c1ngel Flores Durel, a magistrate in the Penal Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice from 2021 to 2030. Photo: Supreme Court&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EJudge Miguel \u00c1ngel Flores Durel, a magistrate in the Penal Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice from 2021 to 2030. Photo: Supreme Court\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000037556-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"37556","name":"cms-image-000037556.jpg","link":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037556.jpg","path":"http:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037556.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037556-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;Mara Salvatrucha leaders Borromeo Henr\u00edquez (\"Diablo de Hollywood\") and Sa\u00fal \u00c1ngel Turcios (\"El 13\"), during a mass officiated by Apostolic Nuncio Luigi Pezzuto and Monsignor Fabio Colindres at Ciudad Barrios Prison in San Miguel on Mar. 26, 2012.\u00a0 Photo: El Faro Archive&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EMara Salvatrucha leaders Borromeo Henr\u00edquez (\"Diablo de Hollywood\") and Sa\u00fal \u00c1ngel Turcios (\"El 13\"), during a mass officiated by Apostolic Nuncio Luigi Pezzuto and Monsignor Fabio Colindres at Ciudad Barrios Prison in San Miguel on Mar. 26, 2012.\u00a0 Photo: El Faro Archive\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":37555,"date":{"live":"2022\/05\/26"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2022","data_post_dateLive_MM":"05","data_post_dateLive_DD":"26","text":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202205\/el_salvador\/26185\/Magistrado-se-excusa-de-debatir-extradici%C3%B3n-de-Diablito-de-Hollywood-porque-fue-su-defensor.htm\"\u003ELeer en espa\u00f1ol\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJudge Miguel \u00c1ngel Flores Durel, a magistrate on the Salvadoran Supreme Court (CSJ), formerly worked as defense attorney for the most influential leader of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Borromeo Enrique Henr\u00edquez, alias \u201cDiablito de Hollywood,\u201d according to CSJ documents published on Wednesday. The magistrate was \u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202106\/el_salvador\/25581\/Nuevas-Ideas-nombra-a-su-Corte-Suprema-para-nueve-a%C3%B1os.htm\"\u003Eselected by President Nayib Bukele's party to the country\u2019s highest court\u003C\/a\u003E in June of 2021, during illegal court nominations by the Bukele-controlled legislature. The court publicly acknowledged Flores Durel\u2019s former defense work on behalf of El Salvador\u2019s largest gang in a resolution allowing the magistrate to recuse himself from ruling on the ongoing U.S. request to extradite Henr\u00edquez on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe Supreme Court granted Flores Durel\u2019s recusal on March 10. In a phone call with El Faro, the magistrate declined to comment on the resolution, arguing that the information was sealed by the CSJ. The court then released the resolution on Wednesday, after El Faro had asked for a comment from the magistrate and hours prior to publication. A draft of the resolution obtained by El Faro includes the MS-13 leader\u2019s name and full alias, Diablito de Hollywood, however in the document published by the court Henr\u00edquez\u2019s identity has been redacted, referenced only by the initials of his alias and first and last names.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\"https:\/\/v.calameo.com\/?bkcode=006111931c899303633a0&mode=mini\" width=\"480\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EEl Faro also obtained resolutions in which Flores Durel appears as counsel for Henr\u00edquez\u2019s wife, Jenny Corado, and for other MS-13 members, including in cases ending in exonerations. In 2018 he was \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/historico.eldiariodehoy.com\/historico-edh\/77582\/pleito-entre-las-partes-del-juicio-de-operacion-jaque-y-con-dos-dias-de-retraso.html\"\u003Epart of the defense team\u003C\/a\u003E for 87 of the gang\u2019s members arrested in Operation Checkmate, billed by prosecutors as a sweeping offensive against the gang\u2019s finances.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EMagistrate Flores Durel\u2019s recusal from deliberations over the Henr\u00edquez extradition confirms that the CSJ has not yet ruled on the U.S. request. In December 2020 the Department of Justice filed indictments on drug trafficking and terrorism charges against 14 Mara Salvatrucha leaders, including Borromeo Henr\u00edquez. The State Department then requested their extradition. Two weeks ago El Faro confirmed that one of them \u2014\u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202205\/el_salvador\/26181\/Government-Negotiator-with-Gangs-Aided-in-Transnational-Jailbreak.htm\"\u003E\u00c9lmer Canales Rivera, alias \u201cCrook\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E\u2014 had been released and taken to Guatemala by a top Bukele administration official as a show of goodwill to the gang amid negotiations conducted by the Bukele administration. Newspaper La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica found that at least three others are, without explanation, no longer in custody despite ongoing criminal sentences in El Salvador.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EFlores Durel was selected to the high court by the Bukele-controlled Legislative Assembly, along with four other magistrates, on June 30, 2021. Their appointment received heavy criticism from legal observers due to the fact that, two months earlier, the president\u2019s party in the legislature had already illegally removed and replaced the five magistrates of the CSJ\u2019s Constitutional Chamber. While the constitution establishes that in each three-year term the legislature may replace five of the CSJ magistrates, the selection of the group including Flores Durel made for ten judges\u2014two-thirds of the court\u2014 approved in two months. During the Supreme Court nomination process his prior work for the Mara Salvatrucha was not made public.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Heavyweight Litigator\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EFlores Durel is a well-established defense attorney who says he has taken on clients ranging from millionaires to workers in the informal economy. For years he promoted his practice online as specializing in money laundering cases, and he tended to take on clients detained at the San Salvador airport with sums of cash they could not justify. He has also worked as a prosecutor and in 2015 launched an unsuccessful bid for attorney general.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHis highest-profile defense case was that of former first lady Ana Ligia Mixco Sol de Saca, for whom he achieved a reduced sentence of ten years in prison for laundering money alongside her husband, former Arena president El\u00edas Antonio Saca (2004-2009). He also defended the former head of the National Administration of Aqueducts and Sewage (ANDA), the water supply administrator, in a trial for multimillion-dollar embezzlement during the Calder\u00f3n Sol administration (1994-1999). In 2017 he defended the leader of the Texis Cartel, \u003Ca href=\"\/es\/201704\/el_salvador\/20243\/Por-qu%C3%A9-la-Fiscal%C3%ADa-cree-que-Chepe-Diablo-lav%C3%B3-$216-millones.htm\"\u003EJos\u00e9 Ad\u00e1n Salazar Uma\u00f1a, known as \u201cChepe Diablo,\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E who according to prosecutors operated a cocaine corridor in the northeastern corner of the country bordering on Honduras and Guatemala, with a network including businesspeople, police leaders, ex-legislators, mayors, and MS-13 members.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2001&ImageId=37555 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Judge Miguel \u00c1ngel Flores Durel, a magistrate in the Penal Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice from 2021 to 2030. Photo: Supreme Court\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Judge Miguel \u00c1ngel Flores Durel, a magistrate in the Penal Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice from 2021 to 2030. Photo: Supreme Court \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ENowhere in his resum\u00e9, nor in his interview with the Assembly in 2021 prior to taking the bench, did Judge Flores Durel mention he had taken on the case of Borromeo Enrique Henr\u00edquez, \u201cEl Diablo de Hollywood.\u201d There is no public information, nor has he provided additional clarification, about in which years, against which charges, or any other details about his defense of Henr\u00edquez during his private practice as a defense attorney.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E[newsletter]\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EBorromeo Enrique Henr\u00edquez is considered the most influential figure of the \u003Cem\u003ERanfla Nacional\u003C\/em\u003E, or senior leadership of MS-13. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence ordered in 1998 for homicide, and is facing additional charges for illicit association, aggravated threats, illegal ownership of firearms, and another homicide. He joined the Mara Salvatrucha in Los Angeles prior to his deportation to El Salvador as an adolescent during the 90s. In the early 2000s he became part of the gang\u2019s first senior leadership structure, known as the \u201c12 apostles,\u201d that formed in the Salvadoran prison system in response to mass raids carried out under the hardline anti-gang campaign of President Francisco Flores (1999-2004) known as \u201cMano Dura.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2011&ImageId=37554 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Borromeo Henr\u00edquez, \"Diablito de Hollywood,\" in a press conference on Jan. 19, 2013 responding to questions from journalists after announcing new commitments made by the Mara Salvatrucha in the Municipalities Free from Violence. Photo: El Faro Archive\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Borromeo Henr\u00edquez, \"Diablito de Hollywood,\" in a press conference on Jan. 19, 2013 responding to questions from journalists after announcing new commitments made by the Mara Salvatrucha in the Municipalities Free from Violence. Photo: El Faro Archive \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EWhile the gang\u2019s senior leadership does not have a single figurehead, Henr\u00edquez has been for more than a decade the most influential voice in the \u003Cem\u003ERanfla Hist\u00f3rica\u003C\/em\u003E, the senior segment of the Ranfla Nacional that controls gang activities in prisons and in the streets. He is also one of the main authority figures for dozens of cliques of the gang operating in the United States. The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted him in 2013.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHenr\u00edquez has been a key representative of the Mara Salvatrucha in the negotiations for a reduction in homicides led since 2019 by the administration of Nayib Bukele. The talks fell apart in late March amid a dramatic spike in killings followed by the enactment of a state of exception and a monthslong campaign of mass arrests. The administration and its allies have since \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202204\/el_salvador\/26128\/Gang-Expert-Flees-El-Salvador-after-Intimidation-from-Bukele.htm\"\u003Eaccused any and all critics of \u201cdefending gang members.\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E On March 28, the first day of the state of exception, Bukele \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1508616876917772294?s=20&t=WitlLDOMcPHROwkHeWeAMg\"\u003Etweeted\u003C\/a\u003E: \u201cThese international NGO freeloaders claim to look out for human rights, but they\u2019re uninterested in the victims. They only defend murderers. It\u2019s like they enjoy the bloodbaths.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EBukele has also \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202204\/el_salvador\/26120\/Gag-Order-for-Journalism-on-Gangs.htm\"\u003Ethreatened consequences for any judges perceived to benefit gangs\u003C\/a\u003E. Two days earlier, on the first day of El Salvador\u2019s homicide crisis, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1507890917138653188?s=20&t=b3X5Y7Qh811RJuTIZfqGig\"\u003Ehe wrote\u003C\/a\u003E: \u201cWe\u2019ll take note of any judges favoring delinquents.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E"}
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