el salvador gang and violence

7/28/2019 El Salvador Gang and Violence

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SALVADOREAN IMMIGRANTS

RETURN TO HELL

By Jorge Yeshayahu Gonzales Lara, Sociologit MA, CASAC-T

El Salvador has become one of the countries of Central America to live harder. Life

Salvadorian citizens are in the crossfire between gangs and social violence.

The decade of violence has left a series sequels. Gangs have become social actors of

violence, and the state, government and public security forces citizens have lost the battle, to

the point of negotiating with criminal gangs.

The victims of violence are the citizens of El Salvador, small merchants, housewives, young

students. Deported immigrants have become victims of gangs. They are extorted to pay

quotas; their small businesses are destroyed by the gang.

Among the stories of life, tells an immigrant from El Salvador who was deported back to his

Country, we report the following story of life.

"I was deported for mistakes I made as a young man, go back to Salvador and work on

my craft of tailoring and with the help of my family open small a shop, after a few

months the Gang-13, imposed a fee to pay. After the threats against my life and the

destruction of my business, I returned to immigrate to the United States.


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Saul's story is repeated in many voices of immigrants who returned to his native country,became victims of gangs. We selected three articles describing life in El Salvador.

El Salvador Gang Truce Crumbling, 103 Murders In Last Week Alone,

El Salvador gang truce wobbles as violent murders mount, and

Curbing Gang Violence in Central America

El Salvador Gang Truce Crumbling, 103Murders In Last Week AloneReuters | Posted: 07/05/2013 10:33 pm EDT


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FOLLOW:

Voces de ContraPunto, El Salvador Crime, El Salvador Deaths, El Salvador Gang Truce, El Salvador Gang Violence, El

Salvador Gangs, El Salvador Homicides, El Salvador Murders, El Salvador Violence, Reuters, World News

SAN SALVADOR, July 5 (Reuters) - El Salvador has seen a burst of violence, with 103

homicides this week, the government said on Friday, as a year-long truce between the

country's violent gangs appeared to be crumbling.

The uptick in murders in the Central American nation echoes killing rates before the March

2012 truce between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and rival Barrio 18.

"We said last year that the truce was fragile and that it could fracture in any moment. Time

has proven us right," Miguel Fortin, Director of the Supreme Court's Institute of Legal

Medicine (IML) told local media.

The truce, which is backed by the Catholic Church and the Organization of American States

(OAS), aimed to reducing homicide rates of 66 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according

to the United Nations, making El Salvador the world's most violent nation.

The unprecedented truce helped bring murders down to an average of five per day from 12

before the agreement. But killings have been rising since late May, with murders averaging

16 per day in early July.

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria, Writing by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Philip Barbara)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvadorhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-crimehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-deathshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gang-trucehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gang-violencehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gangshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gangshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-homicideshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-murdershttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-violencehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/reutershttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/worldhttp://www.reuters.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/worldhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/reutershttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-violencehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-murdershttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-homicideshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gangshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gangshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gang-violencehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-gang-trucehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-deathshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador-crimehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/el-salvador


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El Salvador gang truce wobbles

as violent murders mount

SAN SALVADOR | Sat Jul 6, 2013 3:39am BST

(Reuters) - El Salvador has seen a burst of violence, with 103homicides this week, the government said on Friday, as a year-longtruce between the country's violent gangs appeared to be crumbling.

The uptick in murders in the Central American nation echoes killing rates before the March 2012truce between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and rival Barrio 18.


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"We said last year that the truce was fragile and that it could fracture in any moment. Time hasproven us right," Miguel Fortin, Director of the Supreme Court's Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) toldlocal media.

The truce, which is backed by the Catholic Church and the Organization of American States (OAS),aimed to reducing homicide rates of 66 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according to the UnitedNations, making El Salvador the world's most violent nation.

The unprecedented truce helped bring murders down to an average of five per day from 12 beforethe agreement. But killings have been rising since late May, with murders averaging 16 per day inearly July.

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria, Writing by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Philip Barbara).

Globalist Perspective > Global SecurityCurbing Gang Violence inCentral AmericaBy Csar Chelala | Saturday, July 06, 2013Each July 4th weekend, the United States reflects on its proudest achievements.On such occasions, it is always important to remember one's shortcomings andto work to fix them. Csar Chelala highlights the U.S.'s "export" of gang violenceto Central America. Fortunately, there are solutions to curbing the problem if

Americans get serious about tackling it.

As July 4th passes, a day in which U.S. patriots show pride in their country, it

may be worth reflecting on where the United States and other governments mayhave fallen below their own standards of social justice.

The relevant question is to consider how they may rectifythe situation.

Exploring the issue of gang violence across the Americas

an increasingly serious social problem provides suchan opportunity.

Gang violence, fueled by the drug traffic in Latin America,

Central America and the Caribbean, is having a seriouseffect on people's lives. Most poignantly, it threatens toalter the social fabric of the countries in the region.

Central American gangs, also called maras are named after the voracious antsknown as marabuntas.

Many gangmembers livingin the U.S. havebeen deported,fueling serious

social problemsin their homecountries.
http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/united-nations?lc=int_mb_1001http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/united-nations?lc=int_mb_1001http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/united-nations?lc=int_mb_1001http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/united-nations?lc=int_mb_1001


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The gangs are involved in a wide range of criminal activities, such as arms and

drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, people smuggling and illegalimmigration.

One of the best-known Central American gangs,Mara Salvatruchaor MS-13,has an estimated 70,000 members that are active in urban and suburban areas

across North America.

It originated in Los Angeles in the 1960s and then spread

to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico and

Central America.

The gang's activities havecaught the attention of theFBIand the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,which have conducted raids and arrested hundreds ofgang members.

The FBI called MS-13 "America's most violent gang."

MS-13 has been particularly active in Los Angeles County, the San Francisco BayArea, Washington, D.C., Long Island, New York, and the Boston area.

Their code of conduct includes fierce revenge and cruel retributions. Members ofthis gang were originally recruited by the Sinaloa in their battle against the LosZetas Mexican cartel in their ongoing drug war south of the U.S. border.

Many gang members living in the United States have been deported back to ElSalvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

To Americans, that may look like a problem solved. In reality though, it onlyadds to the already serious social problems in those countries.

The returning gang members bring back with them crack cocaine. Predictably,drug-related crimes are soon on a steep increase.

Those gang members deported from the United States enlarge the local groups

and find easy recruits among the local disenfranchised youth. Today, most of the

members are in their twenties, while their leaders are inthe late 30s and 40s.

Offering jobtraining, loansand mentalhealth help toyoungsters maybe the bestcounter-measure.

Controlling gangviolence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Salvatruchahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Salvatruchahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Salvatruchahttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs_ms13taskforcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Salvatrucha


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The gangs' battles with the police for control of working-

class neighborhoods involve in each case heavy-handedtactics by the police.

They also prove unproductive, since they unleash morerandom violence and terror.

As an almost logical result of each government's efforts toeliminate them, many gang members have but one incentive return to theUnited States.

There, they continue their involvement in criminal activities. And so the viciouscycle begins anew.

Today, the gangs have expanded into southern Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Thisarouses calls for a more organized effort to combat them.

Because of the great loss of the lives violence causes, the Pan American Health

Organization and also the World Assembly of the World Health Organizationhavedefined violence as a "public health problem."

They proposed an epidemiological approach to address it that consists of

Defining the problem and gathering information

Identifying causes and risk factors,

Developing and trying out specific interventions Evaluating policies' effectiveness.

In the past, this approach was used successfully in Colombia. There, in the

1990s, an agreement was signed between government officials and the leaders

of gangs that had been operating in the city of Cali.

As a result, the gangs' leaders stopped their criminal activities and the

government officials made a commitment to provide loans and technical trainingto gang members so that they might become productive members of society.

A similar approach is now being used in El Salvador.

There, the government is trying to curb gang activitythrough an ambitious jobs program.

This is complemented by other social measures, such as

training and provision of jobs that could be followed bythe other countries in the region.

Successful approaches suggest that controlling gang violence demands long-termaction, even when it might not show immediate results.

Prevention activities must also be targeted at the youngest sectors of thepopulation, particularly those suffering from abusive conditions at home. Afterall, gang violence is often the direct result of poverty and no formal education.

demands long-term action, evenwhen it mightnot showimmediate

results.

Gang violencethreatens to alterthe social fabricof the countriesin the region.
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdfhttp://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdfhttp://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdfhttp://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdfhttp://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/introduction.pdf


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Among these actions to be taken is providing job training and psychologicalassistance, as well as job opportunities and loans to those youngsters.

The use of a multifaceted approach may be the best guarantor against the social

scourge of gang violence in the Central American region.

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