On December 11, 2018, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador funded the destruction of 24,306 small arms ammunition carried out by the organization Hazardous Areas Life-Support Operations (HALO) Trust and the Armed Forces of El Salvador. The small arms were confiscated from various criminal groups by the Department of Confiscations and Storage Control of the Logistics Direction of the Minister of Defense in El Salvador. The items were destroyed to ensure that the ammunition will not be used in any future criminal activity in the country.
The destruction took place at the Battalion of Logistical Support with the attendance of representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, the National Civil Police, the General Prosecutor and the Embassy of United States in El Salvador.
HALO’s Technical Manager in the Northern Triangle, Antonio Alpresa stated that “incineration is a fast and safe method of elimination of small caliber munitions. By destroying these items, we are supporting the processes to ensure safety in El Salvador”.
Thanks to a $350,000 grant by the U.S. government, the HALO Trust began working in El Salvador in October 2017, with the purpose of contributing to strengthening security, disarmament, and weapons and ammunition stockpile management. Since its arrival in the country, HALO has supported the destruction of more than 1,800 weapons, in addition to 127,606 small arms ammunition, and has supported the Armed Forces in the refurbishment of two weapons storage facilities. The HALO trust is a humanitarian organization focused on clearance of anti-personal and anti-tank mines, weapons, ammunition and explosives destruction, capacity building to support the non-proliferation of weapons and physical security, and stockpile management upgrades to explosive storehouses or armories to support the non-proliferation of weapons and to avoid unplanned explosions. Learn more about HALO Trust at https://www.halotrust.org.
In El Salvador, the U.S. State Department has invested a total of $650,000 to support weapons and ammunition disposal as well as capacity building for officers of the PNC’s Arms and Explosives Division in both weapons disposal and storage. State Department investments are also supporting construction upgrades to selected military deposits. The State Department is investing in the Government of El Salvador’s efforts to improve the secure storage of military and law enforcement weapons, and facilitating the destruction of weapons no longer needed, in order to prevent their theft or illegal sale, thereby improving the security situation for the citizens of El Salvador.
