“Cartel of Texis” under investigation in El Salvador

A report May 17 in the digital news magazine El Faro confirmed recent news reports that the Salvadoran government is investigating the purported drug gang “The Cartel of Texis” for its involvement in drug trafficking in El Salvador. El Pais, the Spanish newspaper, also reported this week that an investigation of the group was under way in El Salvador. Reports state that the cartel is alleged to traffic in cocaine in El Salvador, as a mid-point between South American sites and the United States.

            On Tuesday, Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador, confirmed the existence of the drug network in the northern and northwestern parts of El Salvador, and that the group was called the Cartel of Texis, a reference to its operating in the northern municipality of Texistepeque, where it is alleged that the cartel has infiltrated business, government and police leadership from top to bottom. El Faro also reports that a group of Mexican hitmen known as The Zeds, are freely operating nearby in Guatemala.

            In March, The Los Angeles Times reported that Mexican drug gangs making major and rapid inroads into El Salvador call the small Central American nation “El Caminito,” The Little Pathway, due to is recent role in the increase in the narco trade in Mexico and parts south. The Times reported that new highway systems leading to and running through El Salvador have helped fuel the growth in trafficking, allowing the drug lords to use the highways as overland routes for their deadly cargos.

            In addition, the Times noted that El Salvador’s use of the United States dollar as its official currency “makes the nation “a money-launderer’s paradise.”