Rodolfo Antonio Delgado Montes is a Salvadoran lawyer who currently serves as the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. He was appointed as attorney general by the Legislative Assembly in May 2021 after his predecessor,

Raúl Melara Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

, was removed by the

Nuevas Ideas Nuevas Ideas (; abbreviated N or NI) is the current ruling political party of El Salvador. The party was founded on 25 October 2017 by Nayib Bukele, the then-mayor of San Salvador, and was registered by the Supreme Electoral Court (El Salvado ...

-led legislature. Prior to his appointment as attorney general, he worked for the Office of the Attorney General from 1995 to 2017 in various roles.

Early life

Rodolfo Antonio Delgado Montes attended the

José Matías Delgado University Dr. José Matías Delgado University (, UJMD), is a Private university, private university located in Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad Department (El Salvador), La Libertad, El Salvador. Founded on September 15, 1977, it was one of the first priva ...

from 1992 to 1997, graduating as a

Doctor of Juridical Science A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD; ), is a research doctorate degree in law that is equivalent to a Ph.D. degree. In most countries, it is the most advanced law degree that can be earned. Australia ...

. In 2007, he earned a diploma of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences from the José Simeón Cañas University.

Legal career

Early career

In April 1995, Delgado became the 3rd assistant attorney general for First Criminal Court of the

Sonsonate Department Sonsonate () is a department of El Salvador in the western part of the country. The capital is Sonsonate. The department has an area of 1,226 km². Created on June 12, 1824, the El Salvador National Parliament decided on January 29, 1859 ...

. In May 1995, he transferred to the

San Vicente Department San Vicente () is a department of El Salvador in the center of the country. The capital is San Vicente. On October 4, 1834, San Vicente City of Austria and Lorenzana (Ciudad de San Vicente de Austria y Lorenzana) was made the capital of State o ...

Regional Court as the 2nd assistant attorney general for the Crimes Against Minors and Women in their Family Relationships Unit and the Crimes Against Life Unit. In January 1997, he became the 2nd assistant attorney general for the national government's Crimes Against Minors and Women in their Family Relationships Unit. In August 1997, Delgado was transferred to serve as the 2nd assistant attorney general of the national government's Department of Anti-Narcotrafficking. In March 2001, he became the coordinator of the Organized Crime Unit. In December 2004, Delgado became the Organized Crime Unit's special prosecutor, supervising and overseeing investigations into

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and defrauding the Public Treasury. He served as special prosecutor until July 2014, when he became the director of the Directorate of the Defense of State Interests, where he oversaw the State Criminal Unit, the Civil Unit, the Accounts and Fines Trial Unit, the Tax Unit, and the State Asset Control Unit. In January 2016, Delgado was appointed by Attorney General Douglas Meléndez as an advisor for constitutional and administrative processes. In November 2016, a former agent of the United States

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

(DEA) revealed acusations of Delgado helping the Texis Cartel smuggle

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and weapons from El Salvador to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. The Office of the Attorney General did not take any action against Delgado. Delgado's service as an advisor ended in October 2017. From 2017 to 2021, Delgado worked as a lawyer in free practice. In 2017, he was the defense attorney for Byron Larrazabal, an associate of former President of the Legislative Assembly

Sigfrido Reyes Morales Othon Sigfrido Reyes Morales (born 3 September 1960), is a Salvadoran politician. He served as President of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador from 2011 to 2015. Early life and education He completed his undergraduate studies at the Inst ...

. In 2020, he was the defense attorney for

Mauricio Arriaza Chicas Mauricio Antonio Arriaza Chicas (16 December 1964 – 8 September 2024) was a Salvadoran police officer who served as the director of the National Civil Police (PNC) of El Salvador from 2019 until his death in a helicopter crash in 2024. Ea ...

, the incumbent director of the National Civil Police, during an investigation into his role in the

2020 Salvadoran political crisis The 2020 Salvadoran political crisis, commonly referred to in El Salvador as the numeronym 9F or , was an incident in El Salvador on 9 February 2020. During the political crisis, Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele sent 40 soldiers of the Salvad ...

. From 2018 to 2021, he was the defense attorney for Jorge Manuel Vega and Vanessa Beatriz Argüello de Vega, both alleged collaborators of

Mara Salvatrucha Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area ...

(MS-13), one of El Salvador's largest

street gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...

. Prosecutors alleged that Vega and Argüello had sold illegal drugs to MS-13 and allowed the gang to invest in motels with profits from extortions. Vega was acquitted in October 2020 while Argüello's case was closed in October 2021. A 2021 investigation conducted by journalist Héctor Silva found that Delgado had worked for Alba Petróleos de El Salvador, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...

, in 2019, during which, he earned US$46,600. The year prior, the company was being investigated for money laundering.

Attorney General of El Salvador

On 1 May 2021, the 13th session of the Legislative Assembly assumed office, and the

-led legislature voted to remove five justices of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and Attorney General

. The following day, the Legislative Assembly voted to replace Melara as

with Delgado. Two weeks later, Delgado appointed Carlos Rodolfo Linares Ascencio, a trial judge from the

Santa Ana Department Santa Ana () is a department of El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific O ...

, as his assistant attorney general. On 4 June 2021, Delgado ordered the closure of the (CICIES)—a joint anti-corruption commission between El Salvador and

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

(OAS)—after the OAS named

Ernesto Muyshondt Ernesto Luis Muyshondt García Prieto (born 30 August 1975) is a Salvadoran businessman, politician and member of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party. He served as the mayor of San Salvador, the capital and largest city in El Salv ...

, the former

mayor of San Salvador The Mayor of San Salvador (Spanish language, Spanish: ) is the head of the municipal government of the city of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. History The position of Mayor of San Salvador was established on 1 April 1525 with ...

, as an anti-corruption advisor. Muyshondt was subsequently arrested for alleged association with gangs during the 2014 presidential election in support of

Nationalist Republican Alliance The Nationalist Republican Alliance (, abbreviated ARENA) is a conservative, center-right to right-wing political party of El Salvador. It was founded on 30 September 1981 by retired Salvadoran Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. It defines itse ...

presidential candidate

Norman Quijano Norman Noel Quijano González (born 2 November 1946) is a Salvadoran politician and former Mayor of San Salvador, under the Nationalist Republican Alliance ticket, serving from 1 May 2009 until his resignation on 15 August 2013 in order to run ...

. In August 2021, Salvadoran President

Nayib Bukele Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez (; born 24 July 1981) is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who has served as the 81st president of El Salvador since 2019. In 1999, Bukele established an advertising company and worked at an advertising com ...

alleged that the United States had solicited him to not allow Delgado to be re-elected as attorney general. On 22 December 2021, 66 out of the 84 deputies of the Legislative Assembly voted to re-elect Delgado to serve as attorney general for the 6 January 2022 to 6 January 2025 term. In December 2022, a video published on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

falsely claimed that United States President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

ordered the removal of Delgado from office. Nayib Bukele and Rodolfo Delgado

On 1 June 2023, during a speech to the Legislative Assembly celebrating his fourth year in office, Bukele announced the beginning of the war against corruption and announced that Delgado was in the process of confiscating various properties and assets owned by former President

Alfredo Cristiani Alfredo Félix Cristiani Burkard (born 22 November 1947) is a Salvadoran politician who was President of El Salvador from 1989 to 1994. Life and career Born into a wealthy family in San Salvador, his father Felix Cristiani was an Italian im ...

. Later that month, Delgado questioned why

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

had not located or captured Salvadoran politicians accused of corruption, continuing by stating that Interpol believes that the cases are political in nature. On 28 November 2023, Bukele publicly asked Delgado to investigate his entire cabinet, stating that he wanted to leave a positive legacy of combatting corruption. On 23 December 2024, Delgado was re-elected by the Legislative Assembly to continue serving as attorney general from 2025 to 2028.

Honors and awards

Delgado has received recognition from the Office of the Attorney General for his investigations into kidnappings while he served as the coordinator of the Organized Crime Unit. For those same investigations, he also received the DECO Police Hero award from the National Civil Police. In 2013, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) sent Delgado a letter of gratitude for his assistance in locating and capturing Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias, who was listed by the FBI in its

Ten Most Wanted Fugitives The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Inv ...

list.

References