Founder and leader of Barrio 18 gang dies in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, May 21 - Carlos Mojica, a founder and longtime leader of the violent Central American gang Barrio 18, has died in El Salvador from liver complications, the government announced on Thursday.

Known as "El Viejo Lin," or Old Man Lin, Mojica had been in a maximum-security prison since 2003. He was convicted of ordering dozens of murders and faced accusations of other crimes.

He was deported to El Salvador in the 1990s from the United States, where he was part of emerging gang cells that were beginning to identify themselves as Barrio 18.

According to authorities, Mojica continued to lead the gang and order crimes from prison.

He was instrumental in facilitating a 2012 truce between his gang and its rival, MS-13, during the presidency of the late Mauricio Funes. The agreement led to a dramatic drop in El Salvador's homicide rate, from 14 to an average of five per day.

In 2024, he was diagnosed with kidney and liver problems, along with a suspected brain tumor.

Since Nayib Bukele became president in 2019, his administration's crime crackdowns and state of emergency declarations have significantly weakened the influence of Barrio 18, which had previously split into two factions: the Sureños and the Revolucionarios. REUTERS