El Salvador national security advisor arrested, deemed 'double agent'
3 Min Read
Alejandro Muyshondt, El Salvador's national security advisor, was arrested, and will be tried in court over several crimes.
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Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's photo during the Central American and Caribbean Games ceremony in San Salvadore, El Salvador's Gonzalez stadium, on June 23, 2023. (AP)
Alejandro Muyshondt, the Salvadoran national security advisor, was detained, according to El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele.
Investigations revealed that Muyshondt served as a "double agent" for former president Mauricio Funes, who is currently living in exile in Nicaragua and is wanted by Salvadoran authorities for a number of crimes.
Bukele underscored, in a lengthy statement to Salvadorans, that all the information he was giving had been declassified by him, under his direction, and in accordance with local laws.
"As for the ex-National Security Advisor Alejandro Muysondt, he has been arrested and will be delivered to the tribunals over several crimes, amongst them that of favoring the evasion and disclosure of secret documents by an official employee in favor of former President Mauricio Funes among others," Bukele said in a Wednesday post on X.
The office of the national security advisor was one of the few who had access to certain pieces of evidence regarding ongoing investigations after the country's new anti-corruption initiative was launched in June, which effectively allowed the seizing of all the assets of former Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani.
NS Deputy also under investigation
According to the State Intelligence Agency's (OIE) investigations, Muyshondt has been acting as a "double agent" since 2019. While working for Funes, he shared changed versions of leaked secret papers with journalists, citizens of numerous different nations, and an unnamed foreign government.
"There also are direct proofs that the National Security Advisor helped former president Funes to evade justice and avoid being captured," Bukele continued.
He also disclosed damaging information about Erick Garcia, a politician for the ruling party, after an OIE official notified Muyshondt of an impending probe into him. This information included that Garcia had purchased drugs from a drug dealer.
While other of Garcia's potential crimes were still under investigation, according to Bukele, the Attorney General's Office inquiry found that Garcia had actually violated the public trust.
"Proofs are sufficient to prosecute the lawmaker over ideological falsehood, to strip him of parliamentary immunity, and to suspended him from his position as a lawmaker," he continued.
The Salvadoran president noted that Muyshondt’s alternate deputy and candidate for alternate deputy to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), Nidia Turcios, was also the subject of an investigation.
In a June report for The National Interest, John Bugnacki shedded light on the lack of consistency of US foreign policy in regard to El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, condemning the former's anti-gang crackdown as authoritarian while tolerating the latter's preventative detention as being justified measures.
Ever since President Nayib Bukele assumed office, he has committed himself to a policy of reclaiming all gang-controlled areas in El Salvador in what he dubbed the Territorial Control Plan.
El Salvador has long been regarded as one of the most violent countries in the world, with gangs mushrooming all across the nation and undermining the rule of law.
Nayib's policies have expanded the police's authority and increased the duration of pre-trial detention from three to fifteen days.
