Five men in El Salvador, including a police officer, were arrested Wednesday in connection with the killing last week of French filmmaker and photographer Christian Poveda, the country’s attorney general’s office said.
A sixth man who allegedly ordered the murder was already in prison, according to a statement from the agency. Poveda — who recently finished a documentary about a violent street gang, part of the Mara 18 gang in El Salvador — was found shot dead in the town of Tonacatepeque, about 10 miles northeast of the capital, San Salvador, on September 2, authorities said. Four of those arrested were members of the same Mara 18 gang that was the subject of Poveda’s film, the attorney general’s office said. National Civil Police Officer Juan Napoleon Espinoza also was arrested, it said. Poveda’s documentary, “La Vida Loca,” which follows the lives of members of the Mara 18 gang, had been screened at a handful of film festivals and is slated for wider release later this month. His body was found in an area controlled by that same gang, local reports said.
