{"code":"26351","sect":"El Salvador","sect_slug":"el-salvador","hits":"1479","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202208\/el_salvador\/26351","link_edit":"","name":"Two Months after Wrongful Arrest, Don Paco Returned Home in a Casket","slug":"two-months-after-wrongful-arrest-don-paco-returned-home-in-a-casket","info":"The Salvadoran coroner\u2019s office reported that half of those who have died in custody under the state of exception succumbed to pulmonary edema and showed signs of torture. One of them was a dairy producer, 64, who for two decades worked in the U.S. for a recycling company.","mtag":"Violence","noun":{"html":"\u003Cspan class='tint-text--dark' data_href='\/user\/profile\/elemus'\u003E Efren Lemus\u003C\/span\u003E","data":{"efren-lemus":{"sort":"elemus","slug":"efren-lemus","path":"efren_lemus","name":"Efren Lemus","edge":"0","init":"0"}}},"view":"1479","pict":{"cms-image-000037945-jpg":{"feat":"1","sort":"37945","name":"cms-image-000037945.JPG","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037945.JPG","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037945.JPG","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037945-jpg","text":"<p>Family and neighbors gather in La Reina, Chalatenango, for the funeral of respected local dairy producer Francisco Huezo L\u00f3pez, one of 35 in-custody deaths with signs of torture documented by the Salvadoran coroner's office in the first five months of the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EFamily and neighbors gather in La Reina, Chalatenango, for the funeral of respected local dairy producer Francisco Huezo L\u00f3pez, one of 35 in-custody deaths with signs of torture documented by the Salvadoran coroner's office in the first five months of the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000037946-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"37946","name":"cms-image-000037946.JPG","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037946.JPG","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037946.JPG","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037946-jpg","text":"<p>Francisco Huezo, 43, at the funeral for his father of the same name, who died in Mariona Prison during the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EFrancisco Huezo, 43, at the funeral for his father of the same name, who died in Mariona Prison during the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000037947-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"37947","name":"cms-image-000037947.JPG","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037947.JPG","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037947.JPG","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037947-jpg","text":"<p>Family and neighbors at the burial on Aug. 26, 2022, for Francisco Huezo. A respected dairy producer from La Reina, Chalatenango, he died at 64 in Mariona Prison during the state of exception enacted in March, 2022. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EFamily and neighbors at the burial on Aug. 26, 2022, for Francisco Huezo. A respected dairy producer from La Reina, Chalatenango, he died at 64 in Mariona Prison during the state of exception enacted in March, 2022. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000037948-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"37948","name":"cms-image-000037948.JPG","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037948.JPG","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000037948.JPG","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000037948-jpg","text":"<p>\"Silence in the face of justice is complicity with the oppressor. You'll always live in our hearts,\" reads a sign carried by the family of Francisco Huezo, who died in Mariona Prison on Aug. 24, 2022, after his wrongful arrest two months earlier. \"The people are with you! We demand justice!\" Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003E\"Silence in the face of justice is complicity with the oppressor. You'll always live in our hearts,\" reads a sign carried by the family of Francisco Huezo, who died in Mariona Prison on Aug. 24, 2022, after his wrongful arrest two months earlier. \"The people are with you! We demand justice!\" Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":37945,"date":{"live":"2022\/08\/31"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2022","data_post_dateLive_MM":"08","data_post_dateLive_DD":"31","text":"\u003Cp id=\"docs-internal-guid-934a12ab-7fff-70ca-d17b-94e71115db4b\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202208\/el_salvador\/26344\/Dos-meses-despu%C3%A9s-de-su-captura-el-cuerpo-vapuleado-de-Don-Paco-regres%C3%B3-a-casa-en-un-ata%C3%BAd.htm\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELeer en espa\u00f1ol\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ll interview you, and if you've done nothing wrong, then you\u2019ll go home,\u201d a police officer told Francisco Huezo L\u00f3pez, 64, at his house in La Reina, Chalatenango. It was 6:30 in the evening on June 27, 2022, three months into El Salvador\u2019s state of exception. Two months after he arrived at the police station, the burly man's body was returned to his family with a blow to the head and bruises on his right cheek, arms, and feet. He had died in Mariona Prison on August 24.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHuezo\u2019s autopsy report establishes his cause of death as pulmonary edema \u2014flooding of the lungs usually caused by heart problems, pneumonia, or blunt force trauma\u2014 but leaves room for other possibilities: \u201cCause of death still under review,\u201d it reads.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHe\u2019s not alone. La Prensa Gr\u00e1fica (LPG) reported on August 10 that Medicina Legal, the coroner\u2019s office, found signs of torture and murder in at least 35 of 69 registered deaths. All 35 autopsies reported the same cause of death and note of ongoing evaluation as Huezo\u2019s file.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ELPG published three coroner\u2019s reports of deaths in Mariona of pulmonary edema with signs of lacerations. On June 28, the paper wrote that Medicina Legal contradicted prosecutors\u2019 claim that Carlos Cabrera, 32, died of an ulcer. Four days earlier, the coroner noted that the body of Julio C\u00e9sar Mendoza Ram\u00edrez, 25, showed signs of strangulation. In the third case, the family of Dionicio Adonay Ram\u00edrez, 24, questioned the official cause of death, citing a deep perforation at his collarbone.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHuezo\u2019s oldest son, of the same name, recalls their last exchange. \u201c\u2018Look, dad,\u2019 I told him. \u2018I only ask that you stay strong. Lots of people are going to support us, but we\u2019ll have nowhere to turn.\u2019\u201d The police arrested his father for a single entry in his police report: having been declared innocent in November 2021 of charges of illicit association with gangs.\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=2000&ImageId=37946 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Francisco Huezo, 43, at the funeral for his father of the same name, who died in Mariona Prison during the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\" \/\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 Francisco Huezo, 43, at the funeral for his father of the same name, who died in Mariona Prison during the state of exception. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EPresident Nayib Bukele ordered a month-long state of exception on March 27, 2022, that suspended the rights to defense, communications privacy, and free association on the heels of the most violent weekend since the end of the civil war that marked a \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202205\/el_salvador\/26177\/Collapsed-Government-Talks-with-MS-13-Sparked-Record-Homicides-in-El-Salvador-Audios-Reveal.htm\"\u003Ecollapse in his government\u2019s covert gang negotiations\u003C\/a\u003E. Through August 23, after four extensions of the measures, authorities reported 50,500 arrests, an average of 338 per day.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn the same span, human rights monitor Cristosal reported 2,650 arbitrary arrests. Hundreds of detentions reviewed by El Faro were made \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202208\/el_salvador\/26298\/State-of-Exception-Files-Hundreds-Arrested-for-Prior-Convictions-or-%E2%80%9CLooking-Nervous%E2%80%9D.htm\"\u003Ebased on spurious police reports\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 some of which were even written after the arrests, showing how the emergency measures enabled Salvadoran police officers to capture first and investigate later.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHuezo was processed by one of many judges in courts created under the state of exception to \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202207\/el_salvador\/26253\/Diary-of-a-Public-Defender-Drowning-in-the-State-of-Exception.htm\"\u003Ehold hearings for hundreds of the accused at once\u003C\/a\u003E, denying bail on evidence sometimes as threadbare as \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202208\/el_salvador\/26298\/State-of-Exception-Files-Hundreds-Arrested-for-Prior-Convictions-or-%E2%80%9CLooking-Nervous%E2%80%9D.htm\"\u003Ehaving shown \u201cnervousness\u201d at the presence of police or soldiers\u003C\/a\u003E. A judge convened Huezo\u2019s first hearing without notifying his family nor allowing him to present documents of a blood pressure condition to argue for bail. His family sought a public defender, but the institution said it had no information on detainees or the dates of hearings.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn his first hearing on July 11, a judge sentenced him to six months of pre-trial detention without his family\u2019s knowledge. The Public Defender\u2019s Office scheduled a meeting with his son for August 29 to review documents to present in his second pre-trial hearing, so the family sought a private attorney to push for a quicker review of the denial of bail. The court set a hearing for August 25, but he died the day before.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENot Guilty\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ELa Reina is a hilly livestock community some 40 miles north of San Salvador. Huezo ran a shop out of his home near the town square, in the neighborhood Las Delicias, producing dairy products to sell from his shop and distribute in San Salvador. His family says that he worked in the trade since he was seven years old. After suffering an assault in 1994, at 36, he sold some of his cows and migrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked for a recycling firm, leaving his dairy business in the hands of his wife and oldest son. Three of his four children and most of his six grandchildren also moved to the United States.\u00a0\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=2000&ImageId=37947 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Family and neighbors at the burial on Aug. 26, 2022, for Francisco Huezo. A respected dairy producer from La Reina, Chalatenango, he died at 64 in Mariona Prison during the state of exception enacted in March, 2022. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\" \/\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 Family and neighbors at the burial on Aug. 26, 2022, for Francisco Huezo. A respected dairy producer from La Reina, Chalatenango, he died at 64 in Mariona Prison during the state of exception enacted in March, 2022. Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn February, 2010, Huezo, who goes by Don Paco, returned home. \u201cHe came on his own; he wasn\u2019t deported. He felt he had already spent a long time there,\u201d says his son, a secretary in the La Reina mayor\u2019s office, currently led by a coalition between ruling party Nuevas Ideas and ally GANA. Upon returning home, his father picked up his milk and cheese business. Then came his arrest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThree years ago, a member of the Mara Salvatrucha and protected cooperating state witness claimed to know the inner workings of the MS-13 clique Fulton Locos Salvatrucha, of the Hollywood program. He confessed in court to 14 homicides, named his accomplices, and revealed the names of 132 people who he claimed belonged to or collaborated with the gang. On Nov. 19, 2019, police mounted an operation in various municipalities in the department of Chalatenango and captured every last one of them \u2014 Huezo included.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIt became clear that the witness had lied when evidence contradicted his testimony. For example, he told the court that on May 23, 2014, he witnessed six gang members carrying shotguns and pistols all gun down two brothers by the last name Sosa. A ballistic report found that only two weapons had been used. In another homicide, he claimed they used a firearm and a corvo knife, but an autopsy found no evidence of use of a blade. He even misspoke on matters that he should have clearly recalled, like his entry into the gang: The gang leaders who he said gave him the initiation beating were detained at the alleged time of his rite of passage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHe also claimed that the gang gave $30,000 to three merchants in La Reina to be laundered and that one of them was Huezo. He was arrested and detained for six days until a court granted him conditional release at his first hearing due to his heart problems. On Dec. 17, 2020, he went to trial, and the witness contradicted himself again. At first he claimed that he had given each merchant $10,000, but under cross-examination said he had never handled more than $2,000 for the gang.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe judge dismissed the case against the merchants, and the Attorney General\u2019s Office lost an appeal in November 2021 on lack of evidence that Huezo had accepted illicit money and contradictions in the witness\u2019s testimony.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnonymous Source\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ETwo months ago, on June 27, two police officers reported that they arrested Huezo and \u00d3scar Edmundo Amaya Maldonado, a man exonerated in the same 2019 case, while on patrol. \u201cA consultation was made with an anonymous source in the neighborhood to look into the subjects. Sources said that they previously met with and collaborated with MS-13 members,\u201d they wrote.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EBut Huezo wasn\u2019t arrested during the patrol, the police didn\u2019t find him in the street, and he wasn\u2019t with Amaya. Security camera footage from his business shows that two police officers arrived by motorcycle to ask for Huezo, request his ID, and question him about his 2019 arrest. The family showed the officers documents of his exoneration, but they insisted that he should go to the police station to corroborate the information on his ID and answer questions from a detective. Huezo then climbed into his son\u2019s truck and traveled to the station, where he learned of his arrest for allegedly collaborating with a gang. He was held for three days at the station in La Reina and then transferred to Mariona Prison.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u201cI told the police that we\u2019re not against the president, or anything, even the state of exception. We support it, because we\u2019ve been harmed by the criminal organizations,\u201d Huezo\u2019s son told El Faro. \u201cWe\u2019ve paid extortion to live and work here. We\u2019ve been the victims. What we oppose, I told him, is you wanting to take a person away who has nothing to do with delinquency.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u201cI don\u2019t know if my dad received medical care or whether they simply pulled him out of prison already dead into an ambulance,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t want any other family to suffer as we are.\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=2000&ImageId=37948 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"\"Silence in the face of justice is complicity with the oppressor. You'll always live in our hearts,\" reads a sign carried by the family of Francisco Huezo, who died in Mariona Prison on Aug. 24, 2022, after his wrongful arrest two months earlier. \"The people are with you! We demand justice!\" Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro\" \/\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 \"Silence in the face of justice is complicity with the oppressor. You'll always live in our hearts,\" reads a sign carried by the family of Francisco Huezo, who died in Mariona Prison on Aug. 24, 2022, after his wrongful arrest two months earlier. \"The people are with you! We demand justice!\" Photo: V\u00edctor Pe\u00f1a\/El Faro \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp id=\"docs-internal-guid-c7646b7e-7fff-1db9-d3fc-cddc45cad50c\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003EEl Faro reviewed Huezo\u2019s police report and found no information on how he supposedly collaborated with the gang, or with whom or where he held the alleged meetings. The report only states that in 2019 he was detained \u201cfor terrorist organizations (sic)\u201d and contains photos taken from his Facebook account and the supposed gang alias \u201cPaco,\u201d the nickname used by family and friends. Multiple neighbors told El Faro that a second alleged gang alias in the file, \u201cCulo Azul\u201d (\u201cblue ass\u201d), refers to someone else in the town.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe police station in La Reina declined to comment to El Faro on Huezo\u2019s arrest, deflecting to departmental headquarters. \u201cYou have to call the real chief of communications, but they just moved her to a new post and haven\u2019t replaced her,\u201d said the local police representative.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHuezo\u2019s son recalls his trip to the coroner\u2019s office: \u201cThe person who greeted me at Medicina Legal told me that I should feel lucky about my tragedy. He told me, \u2018You\u2019ll be able to take your dad home and bury him. Lots of people don\u2019t have that same fortune. Nobody claimed them, so they end up in La Bermeja, a common grave.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EHe was buried on August 26, a sweltering Friday afternoon. His family marched with a sign with photos of his father and a message: \u201cSilence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E"}