Editor of online newspaper flees El Salvador due to threats from criminal elements

Carlos Dada, the editor of the San Salvador-based online newspaper El Faro, told Reporters Without Borders he planned to leave El Salvador today as a temporary safety measure after failing to obtain internal security ministry protection from the serious threats he has been receiving.

Dada declined to tell Reporters Without Borders where he was going or how long he planned to spend out of the country, but he flatly denied recent claims that he had been offered protection by the internal security minister, Gen. David Munguía Payés.

Members of El Faro’s staff had reported being under surveillance and followed in way they found they disturbing ever since the online newspaper posted an article in May 2011 about the so-called Texis Cartel, an alleged network of connections between gang leaders and leading local businessmen and politicians in the Chalatenango and Santa Ana regions. Read Article Reporters Without Borders