Who is alias “El Grillo”: Gang leader Mara Salvatrucha sentenced to 634 years in prison

For at least 23 murders, committed in different cities in El Salvador between 2011 and 2017, and other crimes, a leader of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS13) was prosecuted and convicted. He is nicknamed “El Grillo” and received the “mega sentence” of 634 years in prison.

On Tuesday, August 15, 2023, the verdict of a court against organized crime will be known.

However, the information offered does not indicate whether this subject was “captured in the context of an emergency regime introduced in El Salvador to combat gangs,” the EFE news agency reported.

The source, also added EFE, did not specify the number of years in prison the leader of the MS13 was given for each murder committed.

Gang leader Mara Salvatrucha sentenced to more than a thousand years in prison in El Salvador

Who is Amadeo Hernández, “El Grillo”

Amadeo Yovany Hernández Perla, alias “El Grillo”, who has two large letters MS (Mara Salvatrucha) tattooed on his chest, operated in municipalities in the eastern part of his country.

In addition to being tried for the 23 violent deaths, he faced justice for two counts of proposition and conspiracy to commit the crime of aggravated murder, terrorist organizations, as well as aggravated racketeering, aggravated robbery, robbery and attempted manslaughter.

The Salvadoran judiciary reported that the assessment and sentencing of the events that took place between 2011 and 2017 in several municipalities in the eastern zone was the responsibility of the Second Court -B- against organized crime of San Miguel.

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What is the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13

The Mara Salvatrucha gang, also identified as MS13, is present in several Central American countries and, according to what was published in El Universal, was founded in the 1980s in the poor refugee neighborhoods of Los Angeles, United States.

What do mara and salvatrucha mean?

In Central America, this outlet pointed out, “the word ‘mara’ is used colloquially to refer to a gang; ‘salva’ refers to El Salvador; and ‘trout’ is a slang term meaning ‘intelligent’ or ‘ smart’ means.

The number 13 is due to “the thirteenth of the alphabet, that is, the M”.

“Fight Gang Members”

France 24 recalled that in March 2022 “a spate of murders resulted in 87 deaths in two days”.

This medium reported that rivals Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18 caused the country to experience its deadliest 48 hours in decades.

Faced with this scenario, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, “launched his fierce fight against the gangs”.

The gangs, declared the Spanish news agency, “a phenomenon considered a legacy of the Salvadoran civil war (1980-1992) and reinforced by the deportation of gang members from the United States, are resisting the security plans that have been put in place in the last four governments had been implemented.”.

In 2021, according to The Voice of America, the Attorney of the Eastern District of New York charged 14 members of the National Ranfla of the Mara Salvatrucha with terrorism.

In that medium, they engrossed that the Salvadoran Supreme Court “denyed the extradition of four leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha, three of them founding members.” In the ruling, they would have made it clear that before they are sent to the United States, “they must serve their sentences in the Central American country”.

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