Gang truce charges dismissed, what's next?

The judge overseeing the trial of government officials involved in the 2012 gang truce in El Salvador has dismissed the charges against all the defendants.   The judge ruled that the prosecutors had failed to prove their case, and pointed primarily at the Minister of Justice and Public Security, David Munguía Payés, who is now the Minister of Defense in El Salvador.   Munguía Payés initiated and authorized the government's participation in the truce, according to the court, and the judge also pointed at the likely involvement of then president Mauricio Funes.   The defendants in the case were simply implementing a plan created at the top levels of the administration of president Funes.

El Salvador's Attorney General announced on Thursday that he will appeal the dismissal of the charges.

Beyond the appeal, one open question is whether Attorney General Douglas Melendez will ever pursue  Munguía Payés and Funes?    The other question is whether prosecutors will follow up on the testimony in the trial that leaders of the FMLN and ARENA paid $350,000 to the gangs in an attempt to garner votes in the 2014 presidential election.  

Funes and  Munguía Payés