San Salvador, Feb 9 (EFE). – Lawyer Lucrecia Landaverde denounced Friday that the body of Alejandro Muyshondt, former national security adviser to the government of Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, who died in state custody, showed signs of torture.
“There is a sea of doubt about how this person died. The body has several bruises, several signs that show he was tortured in some way,” the lawyer told journalists.
Patricia Alvarez, Muyshondt’s mother, who was also present, explained that she learned of her son’s death through rumors on social media the day before and had to personally confirm his death with the hospital.
Landaverde denounced the condition in which the family received the body, saying: “You can see the blows, you can see the bruises, the body has holes and it seems that he had a lobotomy.”
The lawyer also pointed out that the family has been unable to proceed with the burial since the hospital and the General Attorney’s office have denied them the necessary documentation.
“They gave us the body yesterday (Thursday), but they hid and disappeared the information from the Zaldaña Hospital, where he supposedly died, and they do not have a single piece of paper that allows us to accredit that he died there or at least that he received some medical attention there,” the lawyer explained.
Speaking to the local press, Landaverde explained that Muyshondt’s mother received a call from the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) from a prosecutor who identified himself as Orif García, who told her to go to the FGR headquarters for the necessary procedures.
When they arrived, however, they were told that this attorney did not exist and that “the autopsy had not yet been done,” even though the authorities had already handed over the body to the state forensic agency, which released it to the family.
Patricia Alvárez mentioned the forensic report indicated that the cause of death was “pulmonary edema” but hinted that this was the cause listed in many cases and that information was likely to be added later.
This cause of death is consistent with those found in other autopsies of inmates who have died in custody during the emergency regime in place since 2019 in El Salvador, according to local press.
“No mother should have to receive her child like this,” Alvarez said, referring to the condition of her son’s body.
Since Muyshondt’s arrest in August, Álvarez requested access to her son or to his medical records on several occasions.
In October, she was informed that he had suffered a stroke while in pre-trial custody.
“I insisted that they give me ‘proof of life’, which they did in a roundabout way, it was a propaganda-style video to show that he was indeed alive. A video that left me with more questions than answers,” Alvarez told the local press in November.
On Friday, she stated that they did a craniotomy on her son at the hospital, after which he got meningitis and was very sick until December.
She has denounced the surgery on several occasions, claiming it was brutal and said he was operated on by “matasanos,” a Spanish expression used to describe dubious doctors and which literally translates to “kills the healthy.”
Alejandro Muyshondt was arrested on Aug. 9, 2023, after a public confrontation with the official New Ideas party Congressman Erick Garcia, whom he accused of having ties to drug trafficking.
President Nayib Bukele attributed Muyshondt’s arrest to “internal investigations” that revealed that the security advisor was a “double agent” and that he had leaked government information to former President Mauricio Funes (2009-2014).
Muyshondt was accused of disclosure of facts, acts, or secret documents by a public servant and favoring evasion for the benefit of the former president.
Nayib Bukele was re-elected on Sunday for another five years, despite the country’s constitution forbidding immediate re-election. EFE
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