Osiris Luna Meza (Luna), along with Carlos Amilcar Marroquin Chica (Marroquin), is alleged to have led, facilitated, and organized several secret meetings with incarcerated gang leaders from MS-13 and Barrio 18, in which known gang members were allowed to enter the prison facilities and meet with senior gang leadership. It is believed that Luna and Marroquin represented President Bukele’s administration’s efforts to negotiate a secret truce with gang leadership involving financial payments to reduce gang violence and homicides in 2020. Additionally, as a result of these negotiations, incarcerated gang leadership were allowed privileges such as the provision of mobile phones and prostitutes, and the Nuevas Ideas political party received political support from gang leaders in the 2021 elections.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Luna allegedly negotiated an agreement with gang for the support of President Bukele’s national quarantine in the gang-controlled areas. It is believed that Luna participated in a scheme to steal and re-sell government purchased staple goods originally destined for COVID-19 pandemic relief. These items were transferred to private companies and then resold on the private market or back to the government. Separately, Luna and his mother, Alma Yanira Meza Olivares (Meza), allegedly developed a scheme to embezzle millions of dollars from El Salvador’s prison commissary system by creating fraudulent jobs within the prison system. These supposed “employees” would receive monthly paychecks and return most of the earnings back to Luna and Meza. [1] [2]
Information
| IDENTIFYING INFORMATION | Chief of the Salvadoran Penal System and Vice Minister of Justice and Public Security |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 08.02.1989 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | El Salvador |
| NATIONALITY | El Salvador |
| COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE | El Salvador |
| FULL NAME | Osiris Luna Meza |
| ALIASES | Osiris Luna |
| FAMILY MEMBERS | Alma Yanira Meza Olivares - mother |
| FAMILY MEMBERS SUBJECT TO SANCTIONS | Alma Yanira Meza Olivares - mother [1] |
| ESTIMATES OF ASSETS FROZEN OR CONFISCATED | Unknown |
| ESTIMATES OF ASSETS RETURNED | None |
| SANCTIONS IMPOSED | US Global Magnitsky Sanctions. [1] |
| START OF SANCTIONS | 12.08.2021 [1] |