Anti-Bitcoin Law Activist Mario Gomez, Arrested in El Salvador

The arrest of activist Mario Gomez, who has been a prominent critic of President Nayib Bukele's newly enacted Bitcoin Law, which makes bitcoin legal tender, has been announced by the El Salvadorian police.

According to local sources, police in El Salvador have apprehended cryptocurrency and computer systems expert Mario Gomez, who has been a vociferous critic of the country's recently passed Bitcoin Law since its passage.

With the passage of El Salvador's controversial Bitcoin Law, sponsored by President Nayib Bukele, cryptocurrency has been declared legal tender in the country, on par with the United States dollar, and most merchants are now required to accept it as payment.

Gómez, the founder of the tech incubator Hackerspace, is one of the most well-known Salvadorans who has spoken out against the implementation of the new law.

In an interview with the local newspaper La Prensa Grafica, Mario de Gomez's mother, Elena de Gomez, stated that she was uninformed of the reason for her son's detention, despite the fact that police believe the analyst is being investigated for suspicions of financial fraud.

Following the arrest, according to a report by La Prensa Grafica, police from El Salvador's Operational Tactical Section (the Salvadoran equivalent of SWAT) attempted to seize Gomez's computer, but were forced to relent as reporters approached the scene.

According to local media accounts, Gomez was transferred to the Special Crimes Unit of the National Civil Police Central Investigations Division shortly after his detention.

According to the police, Gomez is being probed for sending “fake emails to a number of bank users whose accounts had been compromised.” Salvadoran authorities are attempting to gain access to Gomez's cell phone and computer.

Intervenimos a Mario Gómez en vías de investigación por los delitos de fraude financiero, relacionados a correos electrónicos falsos enviados a muchos usuarios del sistema bancario, donde sus estados de cuenta han quedado vulnerados.

— PNC El Salvador (@PNCSV) September 1, 2021

Over the last week, Gomez participated in several forums and video conferences to detail what he considered to be the flaws and risks associated with the Bukele government’s implementation of the Bitcoin Law.

Gomez is also credited for leaking key details of the country’s Chivo cryptocurrency wallet, which was created by the government to control the dollar-to-bitcoin exchange process and is promoted as the official Salvadoran Bitcoin wallet.

The analyst pointed to several design features in the Chivo wallet that concerned him, including the fact that the operating costs of the “zero-fee service” would be paid for with tax money.

Hours before his arrest, Mario sent a cryptic message to El Salvador’s Intelligence Agency: “It is not me. It is your own people. The more you try to hide what you do, the more people will come out and expose what you hide.”

Mensaje para mis seguidores del OIE: Yo no soy. Es su misma gente… Mientras más traten de ocultar lo que hacen… Más gente va a salir a contar lo que esconden.

Yo solo dejo que pase⌛️, 👁️ y 📢.

Fin del comunicado. 🙃

— mxgxw.α (@mxgxw_alpha) August 31, 2021

At this time, no new remarks have been published by the police, and officials of the National Civil Police have not responded to Decrypt's request for comment. It appears that both the Hackerspace and Gomez's personal Twitter account have been deactivated.