Rep. McGovern Calls on Salvadoran President to Reopen Gilberto Soto Murder Case
August 12, 2009
Asks New President to Direct Justice Ministry to Investigate Perrones Gang in Connection with 2004 Murder
In June, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) authored a letter to Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, asking for the newly-elected leader to follow through on his commitment to strengthen the country’s justice system by reopening a number of cases that have been ignored for too long under the previous administration. Included in McGovern’s list was the unsolved murder of Teamsters Union International Representative Gilberto Soto.
Soto, 49, died almost instantly when he was shot in the back while visiting Usulutan, El Salvador on union business on November 5, 2004. To date, the police have done little to apprehend what appears to be a death squad that killed the union representative.
Soto, a prominent figure involved in organizing port drivers in the U.S., was visiting El Salvador on behalf of the Teamsters to meet with Central American trade union leaders and port drivers.
“It is my understanding that new evidence has emerged showing that lower-level members of the Perrones Gang have been involved in the November 2004 murder in Usulutan of U.S. Teamster labor organizer Gilberto Soto,” McGovern wrote. “This case has not duly advanced through the Salvadoran judicial system, and while Salvadoran authorities made arrest in the case, they have done little to fully investigate.”
McGovern respectfully requested that Funes direct the Justice Ministry to open and pursue an investigation into the Perrones Gang’s involvement in Soto’s murder.
Full text of the letter can be found here.
