Carlos Ernesto Mojica Lechuga, known as “El Viejo Lin” and considered one of the main historical leaders of the Barrio 18 gang in El Salvador, died on the night of May 20 while in the custody of the Salvadoran prison system, the country's authorities reported.

The General Directorate of Penal Centers (DGCP) indicated that Mojica died as a result of multiple organ failure caused by liver complications, after several years facing serious health problems. According to the official report, he suffered from liver cirrhosis, hepatorenal syndrome and a probable aggressive brain tumor, a condition that worsened after suffering severe digestive bleeding.

Mojica Lechuga, 63, was identified for decades as one of the founders and main leaders of the Sureños faction of the Barrio 18 gang, according to the newspaper La Huella.

Authorities linked him to homicides, extortion, rape and forced recruitment of minors during the 1990s and 2000s, a period marked by the rise of gangs in the Central American country.

According to the El Comercio site, his name achieved public notoriety in 2012, when he participated as spokesperson for Barrio 18 during the so-called truce between gangs promoted by the government of then-president Mauricio Funes.

At that stage, leaders of criminal structures held public appearances and promoted messages related to the reduction of homicides in the country.

According to court records, “Old Lin” was serving sentences totaling several decades in prison after being convicted of various crimes.

His death occurs in the midst of the state offensive against gangs developed by the government of President Nayib Bukele since 2022, under the emergency regime in force in the country.

With the death of Mojica Lechuga, one of the most emblematic and controversial figures in the recent history of Salvadoran gangs disappears, whose influence marked part of the criminal violence that affected El Salvador for more than two decades.