Texis Cartel

The cartel also allegedly received further support from Armando Portillo Portillo (the then-mayor of Texistepeque), Reynaldo Cardoza (a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador from Chalatenango), and Óscar Ortiz, the then-mayor of Santa Tecla and future vice president of El Salvador.

[2][4] In 2011, the United Nations confirmed that the Texis Cartel, along with the Los Perrones drug trafficking group, had received protection from Salvadoran government officials.

[2] Following the release of El Faro's report, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes announced that there was enough evidence to conduct a full investigation into the Texis Cartel.

[14] On 4 April 2017, Salazar Umaña was arrested in an operation by the National Civil Police under orders of the Office of the Attorney General (FGR).

[17] In October 2020, both men along with four other co-defendants went on trial, accused by the FGR of laundering US$500 million in connection to its investigation into the Texis Cartel, however, all defendants were found not guilty by the Second Penal Court on 21 May 2021 and released.

[2] The cartel utilized its business connections to help launder money and receive indirect loans from the Salvadoran government worth up to hundreds of thousands of United States dollars.

The Texis Cartel bribed several mayors and businessmen along this route to allow drug shipments to remain unhindered.

The cartel infrequently committed homicides, and its low-ranking members often did not carry weapons and instead relied on soldiers and police officers for protection.

[2][4][20] The Texis Cartel's wide network of connections to Salvadoran government officials helped the group make its drug trafficking operations more efficient.