Parents
El Salvador’s House of Terror becomes a terrifying emblem of war against women
Authorities have buried up to 40 bodies (mainly women), despite forensic scientists arresting nine other suspects working at the home of former police officer Hugo Ernesto Osorio. I’m trying to portray a possible former police officer as a strange psychopath. It is believed that at least 15 and 40 bodies have been buried. Photo: Marvin Recinos / AFP / Getty Images Every day, they flock to the emerald greenhouses on Esteves Street, seeking news of their loved ones who have disappeared without a trace. “It’s said that there are a lot of people there, probably 40,” said a 38-year-old housewife who traveled 20 miles to reach a heavily guarded building in the harsh midday sun. , Said Jessenia Elizabeth Francia. Francia came to Chalchuapa, a small town in western El Salvador, in search of her son, Luis Fernando, who disappeared seven years ago at the age of 16. “Find peace,” she said, clasping a cell phone showing a picture of her missing child and the words “I have faith.” Hugo Ernest Osorio, a serial killer who is feared that others may have buried daughters and wives, and Central American women buried homeowners, former police officers, and victims. I was afraid to be a prey to Chavez. “She was 24 years old,” said Candelaria Calanza Castro, a silver-haired mother who visited her home on Monday after her daughter went missing in July 2015. “No matter what happens, I want to find her.” On the night of May 7, a mass grave on No11 Estévez Street was discovered after a neighbor heard a young woman screaming and called the police. I did. By the time police arrived more than an hour later, she and her mother were dead – reportedly beaten to death by Osorio, who confessed to the crime. While detaining a 51-year-old boy, police encountered half-buried bodies of two men on a house patio and found more bodies in a series of holes when they began digging. I did. Authorities have not yet announced the exact number of bodies buried inside, but believe that there are as many as 40, more than 15 possible excavators investigating the basis. Officials say most of the victims believe that Osorio is a young woman who promised to help find a job in Mexico and invited her home. At least three were infants aged 2, 7, and 9. Nine other suspects have been arrested. Among them are traffickers and other former police and military members, and Osorio has also fueled suspicions of using his secret graveyard to dispose of other people’s victims. “We didn’t expect something like him,” said Arnoldo González, a 40-year-old neighbor, in a one-story dwelling in Osorio, where the family in search is in a rural suburban village in Chalchuapa. I said when I kept arriving outside. “He was always on the bike, very easygoing and really normal. He was sometimes said to have worked as a private detective or bodyguard, but since he was a policeman before, we There was nothing to doubt, “said Gonzales, one of the only locals who dared to provide his ideas. The incident sent a shock wave to El Salvador, highlighting the murders that raged throughout Latin America, from Argentina to Mexico. In 2019 alone, 4,000 women were killed there. El Salvador has long been considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. This is the reality that many are forced to flee north to find shelter in the United States. According to Ormusa, the Salvador Women’s Organization for Peace, 541 women disappeared in the country, with a population of 6.7 million, last year. “The female serial killer in Chalchuapa is not an isolated case,” said feminist and social activist Morena Elera. “This is an incident rooted in two factors: social tolerance for violence against women and institutional collusion. El Salvador’s facilities care little about women’s lives. I’m not just talking about police. “Herrera added. Relatives looking for a family outside Chalchuapa’s house. Photo: Bryan Avelar Since taking office two years ago, El Salvador’s populist president Nayib Bukele has seen a dramatic drop in the country’s homicide rate, reducing the average daily homicide from nine to three. I admit. However, the question is raised whether the reduction is the result of the government’s hard-line security promotion or, in fact, a secret deal with El Salvador’s largest criminal organization, Malasal Battlecha (MS-13). It has been. Last year, Salvador newsgroup El Faro said government officials persuaded prison gang bosses to “squeeze” the country’s infamous streets and provide political support in exchange for better treatment. Published a cache of alleged leaked documents. While El Salvador’s homicide rate is declining, some have pointed out that the number of disappearances is increasing in countries where thousands disappeared during the 1979-1992 civil war. Mass graves further weakened the claim from 39-year-old Bukele, whose increasingly authoritarian attitude is causing international vigilance that El Salvador is safer. Authorities were clearly upset by protests that local newspapers called the “Chalchuapa massacre,” but arrests of former members of security forces appeared to have weakened, but confused the killings. I tried to describe it as a strange behavior of a “psychopath”. That story. “Thanks to the swift action of our officers and investigators, he will spend at least 100 years in prison,” the president, who is familiar with El Salvador’s social media, tweeted last Friday. Earlier that day, Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado attacked media “morbid” coverage, and security minister Gustavo Villatro used the case to criticize “malicious” journalists in Central America. Increased country and disappearance. Last week, a man was seen near the house of former police officer Hugo Ernesto Osorio in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. Photo: Marvin Resinos / AFP / Getty Images For the missing family in El Salvador, the discovery provided a small light of hope for those looking for missing relatives that there may be at least some answers. .. A guard guarding the crime scene said up to 15 people arrived daily in search of answers and bodies. On Friday, the Guardian met six families who came to Chalchuapa, about 50 miles northwest of the capital San Salvador, hoping to finally find their loved ones. Francia remembered sending her son to buy lunch on August 30, 2014 in Ahuachapan, a town 30 minutes west of Chalchuapa, while sitting in the shade near the closed grounds of Osorio. .. “He went away and I never saw him again,” she said, explaining her tireless quest to track him. “We looked for him in the hospital. We looked for him in the morgue. We saw him everywhere … but it was all in vain,” Francia said. Karanza said she was shown a photo album of her personal belongings found at home in case it was owned by her daughter, Allery Alacery Antilon. “I’ve seen clothes, shoes and jewelry,” said a woman who completely remembered what her child wore when she disappeared. “But there’s nothing about her. There’s nothing at all.” “Maybe they’ll find something later, you never know,” her sister who took her home. Said with confidence. Karanza, hugging a portrait of a child she hadn’t seen for six years, replied, “Maybe.”