The Salvadoran Armed Forces reported on the night of September 8 the crash of a helicopter carrying the director general of the National Civil Police (PNC), Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, the former manager of a cooperative investigated for a multimillion-dollar embezzlement, Manuel Coto, and other Army officers.
Although the number of crew members traveling in the Salvadoran Armed Forces helicopter is unknown, authorities confirmed that there were no survivors.
Arriaza Chicas, Coto and the rest of the passengers were returning from the border with Honduras after the authorities of that country handed over the former manager of the Santa Victoria Cooperative (COSAVI de RL), Coto, accused of the crimes of defrauding the economy and money laundering.
According to Honduran authorities, Coto “was traveling with a human trafficker to the United States” when he was captured.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he will request international support to investigate the plane crash.
“What happened cannot be considered a simple ‘accident’, it must be investigated thoroughly and to the last consequences. We will request international help,” the president said on his X account.
“Director Arriaza Chicas was a key piece in bringing peace and security to our people. He was not just any director that the Police had; he was the Police Director of the Territorial Control Plan, of the Exception Regime, and of the War Against Gangs,” the president added.
Girls He was one of the officials who transported the executive to San Salvador, where he faced charges of embezzling $35 million.
However, this was not the first time that the former general manager of the COSAVI cooperative was captured.
In late July, El Salvador’s Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado reported that Coto had been detained in Panama and that El Salvador was making arrangements for his return.
However, neither Panama nor Honduras nor El Salvador have given details as to why Coto, who had already been arrested in July, was currently fleeing justice in Honduran territory.
In early May, Salvadoran authorities announced an investigation into several COSAVI executives after discovering that “senior executives of this entity diverted approximately 35 million dollars, which were periodically and illegally removed from the cooperative’s assets for their own benefit.”
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