El Salvador congress votes to strip politician of immunity

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s congress has voted to strip a politician accused of making a deal with the country’s powerful street gangs of the legislative immunity that had prevented his prosecution. Sixty-six of the Legislative Assembly’s 84 lawmakers voted Wednesday to support the attorney general’s petition to open Norman Quijano to prosecution. Twelve lawmakers from his conservative party left the chamber for the vote. Quijano was elected this year to serve a five-year term in the Central American Parliament. Prior to that he had served as a federal lawmaker and mayor of San Salvador. Quijano left El Salvador just before the end of his legislative term earlier this year before his election to the regional body.