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Date: April 28, 2024 Sun
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el salvador
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302 total results foundAuthor: Yule, Alison Title: Investing in Youth for Violence Prevention: Gang Rehabilitation Programs in El Salvador Summary: El Salvador's armed conflict came to an end with Peace Accords signed in 1992. However the political war in El Salvador has now transformed into a social war. Gangs are feared as the most dangerous perpetrators of social violence. In the past, as an attempt to improve citizen security and attract voters, the government introduced a package of controversial anti-gang laws designed as a temporary means to criminalize gangs, violating several codes of international human rights. In response to failed repressive approaches, a shift towards a rehabilitative approach is now being encouraged whereby gang members deactivate and then reintegrate back into normal society. This research seeks to define gang rehabilitation and looks at what constitutes a rehabilitated gang member. Details: Utrecht: Utrecht University, Institute of Development Studies, 2008. 65p. Source: Thesis Year: 2008 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gangs (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 118309 |
Author: Wolf, Sonja Title: The Politics of Gang Control: NGO Advocacy in Post-War El Salvador Summary: This thesis examines the advocacy strategies of three Salvadoran non-governmental organizations (NGOs) aimed at achieving a comprehensive and rights-respecting gang policy. Adopting an ethnographic approach, the study considers the ways in which the socio-political context and the inner workings of (NGOs) shape their advocacy strategies and ultimately their political outcomes. Details: Aberystwyth, Wales: University of Wales, 2008. 367p. Source: Doctoral Thesis Year: 2008 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gangs (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 117792 |
Author: Buchanan, Cate Title: Guns and Violence in the El Salvador Peace Negotiations Summary: This report examines the peace negotiation process that put an end to a twelve- year-long civil war in El Salvador. The report aims to show how the various negotiators approached the multiple tasks of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of rebel and government forces; security sector reform; the control of vast quantities of weapons in circulation throughout the country after decades of militarisation; and strategies for assisting those traumatised and disabled by armed violence. Details: Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2008. 46p. Source: Internet Resource; Negotiating Disarmament: Country Study, No. 3 Year: 2008 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Armed Violence (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 119438 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Organized Crime in El Salvador: The Homegrown and Transnational Dimensions Summary: When El Salvador's brutal civil war ended in a negotiated settlement in 1992 after 12 years and some 75,000 dead, it was widely hoped that the peace agreements would usher in a new era of democratic governance, rule of law, and economic growth. Yet today El Salvador is a crucial part of a transnational “pipeline” or series of overlapping, recombinant chains of actors and routes that transnational criminal organizations use to move illicit products, money, weapons, personnel, and goods. The results are devastating and wide-ranging in the Massachusetts-sized country, and are a key part of the crisis of governance and rule of law crippling the Central American region and Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin American Program, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on Organized Crime in Central America: Accessed April 7, 2011 at: http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.236/pub_detail.asp Year: 2011 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Organized Crime (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 121273 |
Author: Cano, Ignacio Title: Living Without Arms? Evaluation of the Arms-Free Municipalities Project: An Experience in Risk-Tasking in a Risky Contect Summary: In El Salvador, it is estimated that around half a million firearms are in circulation—arms that cause 80 of every 100 murders that take place in one of the most homicide-prone countries in Latin America, with a rate of over 55 for every 100,000 inhabitants. With exceedingly lax legislation and a segment of the population imbued of an arms culture that considers their need to be armed an indisputable right, few are the practical initiatives undertaken in an attempt to correct this situation. The National Council on Public Security (CNSP), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), put its stakes on a project that was aimed at improving human development in two pilot municipalities—San Martín and Ilopango—through a reduction in armed violence. The project had been conceived of with a dual strategic perspective: on the one hand, to serve as a model to other municipalities, particularly within the country, but also abroad, and on the other, to stimulate greater debate in favour of putting legal limits on the carrying of firearms at the national level. Two years later, several things have shifted in El Salvador regarding the controversial topic of arms. All public opinion polls concur in pointing toward greater public rejection of the carrying of arms in public places (now around 90%), and even of the possession of firearms. The Firearms Law was just amended by the Legislative Assembly at the behest of the National Commission on Citizen Security and Social Peace, created recently by the President of El Salvador, where different political forces, university rectors, churches and private enterprise are represented. The amendment broadened the prohibition on carrying arms to include plazas, parks and petrol stations, and now provides the option of decreeing spatial and temporal moratoriums in determined places and municipalities. The National Commission also recommended that the President analyze the possibility of, at a minimum, extending the Arms- Free Municipalities Project to the 20 localities in the country with the highest rates of violence and crime. No doubt these are small steps, but significant ones, on the road toward prohibiting the carrying of firearms by civilians in public places in El Salvador. Has the Arms-Free Municipalities project been a total success? Although we do not conceal our pride at the results attained by this pilot project, it would be imprudent, even presumptuous, to attribute to this initiative all the progress made over the last two years in building public awareness and in limiting firearms in El Salvador. No, the Arms-Free Municipalities project, with its bright spots and dark spots, its hits and its misses, is not the only thing responsible for these achievements. But, no doubt it has contributed to sparking new local and national debate, not only on the proliferation of firearms, but also on the right way to design the approach to a problem—escalating violence, crime and insecurity—whose magnitude already borders on the tragic. Likewise, it has also contributed to progress in other essential aspects, such as local management of citizen security. The implementation of this initiative and, especially, the astonishing finding of a notable reduction in homicides (47%) in San Martín, in an almost generalized context of mounting lethal violence, has encouraged other localities such as Santa Tecla, Santa Ana and, lately, San Salvador, the capital, to undertake similar initiatives. The people governing these municipalities, against the current in a strongly centralized and centralist country, where the vision and resources for local management of security are almost nonexistent, have begun to take the reins of a politically sensitive issue. Details: San Salvador, El Salvador: United Nations Development Programme, 2008. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2012 at: http://www.pnud.org.sv/2007/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,19/Itemid,56/?mosmsg=Est%E1+intentando+acceder+desde+un+dominio+no+autorizado.+%28www.google.com%29 Year: 2008 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gun Control Shelf Number: 125071 |
Author: Harvard Law School, Human Rights Program, International Human Rights Clinic Title: No Place to Hide: Gang, State, and Clandestine Violence in El Salvador Summary: Fifteen years after the civil war in El Salvador came to an end, violence and insecurity continue to shape the daily lives of many Salvadorans. This report examines the phenomenon of youth gangs and documents human rights violations associated with gang violence and Salvadoran governmental responses to it. Our examination is situated in the context of an assessment of the current state of the rule of law in El Salvador. The war in El Salvador during the 1980s was one of the bloodiest and most brutal in a region gripped with civil conflicts throughout that decade. The Salvadoran conflict gained worldwide notoriety for the prevalence of human rights abuses and death squads, that operated with the apparent acquiescence of state authorities, to terrorize civilian populations. Unfortunately, as discussed in Section I of this report, efforts since the war to build functioning democratic institutions in El Salvador have largely failed to overcome the legacies of institutional incapacity and politicization. Current levels of violence are extraordinarily high. El Salvador’s homicide rate is nearly double the average for Latin America, a region with high levels of violence by global standards. Continued political polarization, weak judicial and law enforcement institutions, and the persistence of extra-judicial violence seriously undermine citizen security and the rule of law in El Salvador. Violent street gangs have grown rapidly in this fractured and dysfunctional socio-political context. The deportation of tens of thousands of Salvadorans from the United States since the late 1990s (a consequence of forced emigration of Salvadoran families during the civil war years and subsequent changes to U.S. immigration laws) helped spur the growth and development of these gangs, a process we describe in Section II. In recent years, and as a result of particularized political conditions and law enforcement responses in El Salvador, the dynamics of the gang phenomenon have evolved. The two major rival gangs – the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18, both of which have U.S. roots and a U.S. presence – engage in brutal battles for control of neighborhoods and communities throughout the country. Gangs’ methods of recruitment, and the sanctions they impose on members who demonstrate disloyalty or who attempt to withdraw from active gang life, are increasingly violent. Active and former gang members report that it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for young people to escape the pressure of gang recruitment or to leave a gang. Gangs frequently use extortion to gather funds and solidify territorial control. There is evidence that organized criminal networks are operating with growing sophistication and impunity in El Salvador. The relationship between these organized criminal networks and the upper tiers of gang hierarchies is uncertain, as is the role of state actors in these activities, but the effect on Salvadoran citizens – a deepening sense of impunity and insecurity – is clear. The primary governmental response to the gang phenomenon, which relies heavily on repressive law enforcement-military tactics, mass arrests, and profiling of youth and alleged gang members, has been ineffective and even counter-productive. Governmental responses to the gang phenomenon are explored in great depth in Section III of this report. Homicide rates have soared since 2003, when former President Francisco Flores launched the Mano Dura (“Iron Fist”) crackdown. Meanwhile, the government’s focus on anti-gang efforts has distorted the complex nature of violence in El Salvador. The vast majority of homicides in El Salvador remain in impunity. Human rights organizations and civil society observers believe that some of the upsurge in killings in recent years is attributable to death squads who target alleged gang members or other criminals and who operate with impunity. Also in the past several years, the political roots of violence in El Salvador have become increasingly visible. Clashes between protesters and police on July 5, 2006 are one example of the relationship between political polarization and violence in El Salvador, and spikes in unexplained, brutal homicides in periods prior to national elections are another. In the midst of this social and political conflict, individual Salvadorans living in poor and marginalized communities have no place to hide: they are targeted by violent actors on all sides. Young people and other residents of areas with a gang presence, active gang members, and inactive gang members are targeted for threats, abuses, and even killings by gangs, police, and clandestine actors like death squads. We present narrative excerpts from interviews with victims and witnesses of gang, police, and clandestine violence in El Salvador in Section IV. The report is based on fact-finding visits to El Salvador in March- April and August-September 2006, and months of follow-up research prior to and after these trips. It draws extensively on interviews with current and former gang members and other victims and witnesses of violence in El Salvador, as well as with staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental officials. To protect the safety of confidential sources, we refer to them only by pseudonyms and initials. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law School, Human Rights Program, 2007. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/documents/FinalElSalvadorReport(3-6-07).pdf Year: 2007 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 110108 |
Author: Donaldson, William Title: Gangbangers and Politicians: The Effects of Mano Dura on Salvadoran Politics Summary: In 2009, El Salvador’s homicide rate reached seventy-one deaths per 100,000 people, the highest in the world outside of active war-zones. In the same year Mauricio Funes, the candidate of the leftist FMLN party, was elected president, an unprecedented event that marked the end of the right-wing ARENA party’s hold on power since 1989. To describe the political landscape of El Salvador as polarized would be an understatement: the founder of ARENA was responsible for much of the right-wing death squad activity in El Salvador during the 1980s, while the FMLN originally was the umbrella organization of leftist guerrilla groups during the civil war from 1979 to 1992. Veterans of the civil war are involved in both political parties and decades-old grievances between the two sides manifest themselves in the contentious political debates surrounding free trade, El Salvador’s relationship with the United States, and socio-economic inequality among other topics. However, despite rhetoric to the contrary, both previous ARENA administrations and the Funes administration have adopted the same policies in regards to the post-war crime surge, specifically the problem of youth gangs like Mara Salvatrucha (MS13). The policies revolve around the controversial mano dura (“iron fist”) laws that advocate a strong law enforcement approach towards gangs or maras and involve questionable methods such as the arbitrary detention of suspected gang youth for simply wearing baggy pants or sporting tattoos. Details: New Orleans, LA: Tulane University, Stone Center for Latin American Studies, 2012. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 22, 2013 at: http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/uploads/Donaldson,_UploadVersion-1368207121.pdf Year: 2012 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gangs (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 129131 |
Author: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Title: Issue Paper: Youth Gang Organizations in El Salvador Summary: This Issue Paper was drafted by the Department of State’s Office of Asia and Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for use by the Executive Office of Immigration Review and the Department of Homeland Security in assessing asylum claims.a It is intended to provide a convenient, updated summary regarding gang organizations in El Salvador.b Under 8 C.F.R. 208.11 and 1208.11, the Department of State may provide information on country conditions that may be pertinent to the adjudication of asylum claims.c The purpose of this issue paper is to present information relating to such conditions;d it is not intended to convey a description of all of the possible circumstances from which legitimate asylum claims may arise. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2007. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 22, 2013 Year: 2007 Country: El Salvador Keywords: 18th Street Gang Shelf Number: 129136 |
Author: Carranza, Marlon Title: Detention or Death: Where the “pandillero” kids of El Salvador are heading Summary: This report focuses on organised territorial youth gangs, known as ‘maras’ or ‘pandillas.’ The two pandillas focused on were: Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS) and Barrio 18. Part One gives a contextualised summary of these groups. Part Two takes a closer look at the human face of this phenomenon, with profiles of individuals involved. Part Three examines possible solutions to the problem, with an evaluation of relevant social programmes and policies. A full-length version of the report summarised in this chapter can be found at www.coav.org.br. Details: COAV (Children and youth in Organised Armed Violence’), 2004. 22p. (Executive Summary; Full Report in Spanish at www.coav.org.br) Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2013 at: http://www.coav.org.br/publique/media/elsalvadoring.pdf Year: 2004 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129163 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Mapping Transnational Crime in El Salvador: New Trends and Lessons from Colombia Summary: Since El Salvador‟s civil war formally ended in 1992 the small Central American nation has undergone profound social changes and significant reforms. However, few changes have been as important or as devastating as the nation's emergence as a central hub in the transnational criminal “pipeline” or series of recombinant, overlapping chains of routes and actors that illicit organizations use to traffic in drugs, money, weapons, human being, endangered animals and other products. The erasing of the once-clear ideological lines that drove the civil war and the ability of erstwhile enemies to join forces in criminal enterprises in the post-war period is an enduring and dangerous characteristic of El Salvador's transnational criminal evolution. Trained, elite cadres from both sides, with few legitimate job opportunities, found their skills were marketable in the growing criminal structures. The groups moved from kidnapping and extortion to providing protection services to transnational criminal organizations to becoming integral parts of the organizations themselves. The demand for specialized military and transportation services in El Salvador have exploded as the Mexican DTOs consolidate their hold on the cocaine market and their relationships with the transportista networks, which is still in flux. The value of their services has risen dramatically also because of the fact that multiple Mexican DTOs, at war with each other in Mexico and seeking to physically control the geographic space of the lucrative pipeline routes in from Guatemala to Panama, are eager to increase their military capabilities and intelligence gathering capacities. The emergence of multiple non-state armed groups, often with significant ties to the formal political structure (state) through webs of judicial, legislative and administrative corruption, has some striking parallels to Colombia in the 1980s, where multiple types of violence ultimately challenged the sovereignty of state and left a lasting legacy of embedded corruption within the nation's political structure. Organized crime in El Salvador is now transnational in nature and more integrated into stronger, more versatile global networks such as the Mexican DTOs. It is a hybrid of both local crime ―with gangs vying for control of specific geographic space so they can extract payment for the safe passage of illicit products― and transnational groups that need to use that space to successfully move their products. These symbiotic relationships are both complex and generally transient in nature but growing more consolidated and dangerous. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2011. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center. Paper 29; Accessed July 1, 2013 at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=whemsac Year: 2011 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 129224 |
Author: Whitfield, Teresa Title: Mediating Criminal Violence – Lessons from the gang truce in El Salvador Summary: During the 1980s El Salvador suffered a bitterly contested civil war. Negotiations mediated by the United Nations concluded in a peace agreement in 1992 and set the course for the, largely smooth, assimilation of former guerrillas in the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) into Salvadoran political life. Post-war, violence perpetrated by illegal armed groups escalated as a result of the involvement of gangs and a range of other criminal actors, in parallel to similar crises of security in Guatemala and Honduras. Honduras and El Salvador were subsequently placed first and second in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s global index of homicide with 92 and 69 homicides per 100,000 respectively in 2011. In a shift from previous policies which had emphasized the robust suppression of violent crime, in March 2012 facilitators answerable to the Salvadoran government mediated a controversial truce between the country’s two main gangs. The truce brought about a dramatic reduction in the country’s homicide rate whilst raising multiple questions about the risks and benefits of direct engagement with criminal actors. This paper has been written while the outcomes of the gang truce in El Salvador are still unfolding. It suggests that the truce has been imperfectly managed and remains fragile, but is also a considerable achievement. Lessons that may be derived from it are limited by the specific characteristics and circumstances of the Salvadoran gangs. Yet, they merit consideration for several reasons. The Salvadoran truce, and the arrival in Mexico of a government determined to address the country’s spiralling violence, much of which is exacerbated by competition for the gains of the illicit economy and drug trade, have placed new emphasis on alternative paths to pacification. More broadly, counternarcotics policies that for decades have been framed as a “war on drugs” are being challenged, most recently in a groundbreaking report by the Organization of American States (OAS) that specifically addresses – among other issues – “the violence and suffering associated with the drug problem” in the Americas. Elsewhere, national and international actors are struggling to craft and implement responses to organised violence and crime in situations in which criminal activities have developed as a result of unresolved conflict grievances (in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Kosovo, for example), or where they seek to shape electoral politics (in Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands), or where they hide behind grievances which are fuelling armed conflict (in Colombia, Mali and Myanmar to name but three examples). They, too, can benefit from the lessons and questions that emerge from the Salvadoran experience. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2013. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Oslo Forum Papers No. 001: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://www.hdcentre.org/uploads/tx_news/Mediating-Criminal-Violence.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Drug-Related Violence Shelf Number: 129373 |
Author: Dudley, Steven Title: The El Salvador Gang Truce and the Church - What was the role of the Catholic Church? Summary: El Salvador and its Central American neighbors are experiencing a terrible tide of criminal violence. Homicide rates are some of the highest in the world. This scourge of violent crime is a major concern of policymakers both in the region and in Washington, DC. Indeed, through regional security initiatives the U.S. government has invested more than $500 million in violence reduction programs during the last five years. European development agencies and international NGOs, similarly, have privileged violence reduction in their programs of financial and technical assistance to El Salvador and neighboring countries. Until recently, however, no policy initiatives seem to have made a significant dent in the problem. This paper addresses one development that has been portrayed in some circles as game-changing, and that now constitutes a critical point of reference for violence reduction programs going forward. The truce among rival gangs in El Salvador worked out in March 2012, which has held since that time, has reduced homicides to half their previous levels. The paper examines in particular the widely held belief that the Catholic Church “brokered” that truce in light of the wider set of actors actually responsible and considers the various ways that religion may have an impact on contemporary violence in the region. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Latin American & Latino Studies, American University, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: CLALS White Paper Series, No. 1: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://www.american.edu/clals/upload/CLALS_White_Paper_Series_No-_1_The_El_Salvador_Gang_Truce_and_the_Church.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129375 |
Author: Carroll, Theodore Title: Where Do We Go From Here?: Assessing the USAID Crime and Violence Prevention Project in El Salvador and Understanding its Effects on Participating Communities Summary: El Salvador, the smallest nation in Latin America, has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the most violent in the world. In 2010, with a population of 7 million people and an area just smaller than the U.S. state of Massachusetts, this tiny country had a rate of 65 homicides per 100,000 residents; this is one of the highest murder rates in the world. This level of murder is several times higher than the rate of 10 per 100,000 – the rate that the United Nations considers a sign of an epidemic. According to the National Civil Police (PNC for its acronym in Spanish), more than half of the murders are related to gang activity. The Salvadoran Armed Forces state that it is more likely that the figure is closer to 90%. Youth gang violence in Central America is a serious problem. The most well known gangs that operate in this region are the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street. These two gangs often engage in violent competition with each other and are involved in various criminal activities including local drug dealing, extortion, assault, rape, and robbery. The violence they perpetrate makes daily headlines in newspapers across from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. While government in Central America have tried to address the problem with mano dura, iron-fisted policies, many researchers believe that the most effective response to gang violence is a comprehensive, community-based approach that includes prevention, intervention, rehabilitation, in addition to law enforcement. This study will focus on one specific program being implemented at the primary level of prevention in El Salvador by Research Triangle Institute International. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2012. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin American & Hemispheric Studies Capstone: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://elliott.gwu.edu/assets/docs/acad/lahs/el-salvador-usaid-2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129377 |
Author: Santacruz-Giralt, Maria Title: Inside the Neighborhood: Salvadoran Street Gangs Violent Solidarity Summary: During the last decade, there has been a considerable increase in the level of violence and victimization among street gangs in El Salvador. According to the Salvadoran Institute of Legal Medicine (1999), the highest mortality rates due to homicide occur in young men aged 15 to 24, 41% of which were committed with a firearm. Many people around this age are currently joining a street gang or are already members of it. Although gang membership is not new for Salvadoran society, there is a great deal of concern because it constitutes one of the major reasons for the premature death of hundreds of young people, insecurity in an increasingly number of areas in the country, and bloody fights between rival groups that usually end tragically. Thus, the relevance of the situation is not only related to the fact that gang membership is becoming one of the options preferred by an increasingly number of adolescents, but also to the fact that the dynamic of violence that distinguishes these groups puts them at risk of violence both as victims and as perpetrators. Objectives Ø To provide and update information on the situation of hundreds of young Salvadoran gang members. Ø To propose an approach to identifying predictors of gang criminal violence and victimization. Ø To provide useful information for policy makers addressed to violence prevention. Method A five-section questionnaire was applied to 938 gang members (82.7% male, 17.3% female), most of whom belong to two of the biggest gangs in the country (the 18th Street and the Mara Salvatrucha). The questionnaire consisted of 75 questions that assessed · demographic information, · process and characteristics of gang membership, · consumption of alcohol and drugs, · type and frequency of violent acts carried out and received, and · history and characteristics of early victimization and exposure to violence at home and in their environment. A probability sampling was not possible in this survey due to the inherent difficulty of interviewing a street-gang member and to the nonexistence of a registry that can give an accurate idea of the number of people involved in gangs. Trained former gang members from the Homies Unidos team were the interviewers. Technical support, training and supervision were done by IUDOP members. Results · The mean age for becoming an active gang member is 15.2 years. · Seven out of ten gang members declared having weapons on them (mostly handguns, knives, "homemade" guns, explosives and rifles). This is most frequent among active, older male gang members. · The number of young people involved in gang activities who do not want to quit behaving violently and consuming drugs has decreased, compared to a previous study carried out in 1996 (1996 = 84.9%; 2000 = 42.8%). · 85% of the interviewees confessed to drug consumption during the 30 days prior to the interview. Among the most frequently consumed drugs were alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, crack, inhalants or combinations of these. · A multiple linear regression model was used to identify those factors more strongly correlated with criminal violence and victimization. The variables detected as more robust for aggression were as follows: - being an active gang member - having been in prison - using and abusing alcohol and drugs - being male - having a history of domestic violence. The predictors detected as more robust for criminal victimization were - being female in the gang - high consumption of illegal drugs - being an active member of the gang - being employed, and - having been a victim of violence at home. Conclusions The problem of gang violence as witnessed and perpetrated within the group, especially toward members of the "rival gang", as well as excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs, have worsened in comparison to previous studies. In addition to this, the study shows an increased number of gang members who want to remain active in his/her gang; thus, the probability of their becoming a lethal victim of street violence has shown an exponential increase. The problem with street gang has worsened, among other things, because the leading factors—both personal and socioeconomic—have not been effectively addressed. Hence, primary prevention becomes an important tool to reduce or avoid gang membership and violent activities. However, gang membership—as any other problem that has its roots in the social structure—has to be taken care of, and prevented, by means of directing efforts and resources towards its multiple dimensions. This study is a valuable source of information for policy-making. Although gang violence is quite complex, it can be understood and potentially prevented by using good and reliable information on its risk factors. This research offers concrete guidelines on factors that increase the likelihood of a young people joining gangs, committing acts of criminal violence, and becoming one more victim of the cycle of violence. Details: Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization, 2001. (Executive summary available in English; Full report is available in Spanish). 169p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2013 at: http://www1.paho.org/English/AD/DPC/NC/barrio-adentro-exec-sum.pdf Year: 2001 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gangs (El Salvador) Shelf Number: 129398 |
Author: Cruz, Jose Miguel Title: Global Gangs in El Salvador: Maras and the Politics of Violence Summary: Where does Mara Salvatrucha come from? How did the U.S.-born Eighteenth Street Gang become a powerhouse of the Salvadoran streets? The Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS- 13, and the Eighteenth Street Gang, branded also as Barrio 18, are the two major youth gangs in El Salvador. According to different sources (Aguilar and Miranda 2006; USAID 2006), between 2002 and 2006, both gangs comprised more than 87 percent of gang membership in El Salvador. These gangs are known not only because of their control of the Salvadoran neighborhoods and most of the prisons nowadays, but also because groups of street gangs using those same names are found in every country of the North American hemisphere from Canada to Honduras, and even some cliques have been reported in distant countries such as Australia, Germany and Bolivia. Yet, the common answer to the question as to why MS-13 and the Eighteenth Street Gang are the major gangs in this Central American country is usually narrowed to the backwardand- forward migration of Salvadorans to the United States. The evidence, however, points to a more intricate response. Migration and deportation policies in the United States have indeed played an important role in boosting the phenomenon of street gangs in El Salvador, but it is an overstatement and a naivety to say that the dominance of MS-13 and Barrio 18 in Central America and their seemingly growing transnational character is essentially the result of the circular Salvadoran migration to the U.S. Should we accept this argument alone, we would find difficult to explain why the Eighteenth Street Gang, a gang originally formed by Chicanos and Mexican immigrants, have not put down roots in Mexican soil as they have done in El Salvador; or why the Belizean Crips and Bloods have not developed in the same way as the Salvadoran gangs. Gangs are the outcome of different factors. Marginalization, migration, street cross-culturalization, and —what I shall call— the politics of violence, being the key ones to explain the rise and predominance of the youth gangs in El Salvador, also locally known as maras. This article draws substantial theoretical insight from the work of Vigil (2002) on multiple marginalization, Hagedorn (2008) on gang institutionalization, and Decker on the dynamics of gang violence (Decker 1996; Decker, Bynum, and Weisel 1998; Decker and Van Winkle 1996); and is based on the research program on gangs developed by the University of Central America in San Salvador (Aguilar 2007; Carranza 2005; Cruz and Portillo Peña 1998; ERIC et al. 2001; Santacruz and Concha-Eastman 2001) and other institutions (Smutt and Miranda 1998). It argues that contemporary street Salvadoran gangs emerged as a result of social conditions in El Salvador, then they were shaped by the intensive exchange of young people, cultural goods and policies between the U.S. and El Salvador, and were finally strengthened by the need to deal with the mano dura (firm hand) policies, and extralegal violent actors stemming from state institutions and civil society. The paper is divided in three sections. The first part addresses the factors that lie behind the emergence of gangs as a major social issue in El Salvador; then, it reviews the path of gangs strengthening and the process through which they became street powerhouses not only in El Salvador but also in the region. Finally, the paper analyzes the link between gangs and violence in a country considered one of the most violent nations in the western hemisphere (UNODC 2007). Details: Paper presented at the Global Gangs Workshop, Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding, Geneva, May 14-15, 2009. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2013 at: http://graduateinstitute.ch/webdav/site/ccdp/shared/5039/Cruz-global-gangs-in-el-salvador.pdf Year: 2009 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129410 |
Author: Santacruz-Giralt, Maria Title: Summary: The lives and situation of the women in the maras or gangs is a dimension that has been, to date, explored little by empirical research and, in general, little is known about it in civil society. Stereotypes and social images that have been built up around them are, in essence, masculine. The socio-cultural identities prevalent in the social imaginaries are those of young men that are covered in tattoos, are extremely violent and are linked to delinquent activities. Actually, although El Salvador has advanced in its understanding of the phenomenon, from the perspective of academic research, most of the studies have focused their sights on the analysis of its characteristics, the group logic, and the violent social dynamics that are built up within these organizations. The emphasis on these aspects has given rise to great voids in terms of the factors that pressure girls and adolescents to join these groups, the conditions they are inserted in, and the ruptures and contradictions they face once they have joined. The IUDOP, based on a line of investigation about juvenile violence developed since 1996, has sought in most of its research to reveal the gender differences that exist inside these groups, considering the limitations imposed by the study of groups where there are enormous disparities between men and women. In this sense, this approach to the lives of a group of women gang-members who have been deprived of liberty, from the perspective of qualitative research, has made it possible to penetrate the subjective aspects of their lives, and firmly denude the circles of violence, exclusion, oppression, and abandon that they are exposed to from early childhood. The analysis of these personal stories and their life experiences offer clues to the complex processes of group socialization experienced by the girls and adolescents who comprise the gangs, and the breakages with their families and the rest of society following their membership in these groups. Likewise, this paper shows the gains and profit that these groups offer them, in a context of multiple shortages and weaknesses, but above all, the multiple vulnerabilities and risks the adolescents and youth are subjected to once they have entered the gangs. With this as a background, the paper that is being shared presently offers a first approximation to the life and role of the women in these groups, based on their own life experiences and personal stories, in order to contribute to formulating policy that addresses differentially the needs and risks faced by the girls and youth that are inserted in these aggregations. Details: San Salvador: The University Institute of Public Opinion (Instituto Universitario de Opinion Publica-IUDOP), 2010. 400p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 25, 2015 at: http://www.uca.edu.sv/publica/iudop/libros/SegIN.pdf Year: 2010 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Female Gang Members Shelf Number: 134670 |
Author: Peeters, Timo Title: Truce on a tightrope: risks and lessons from El Salvador's bid to end gang warfare Summary: On 14 March 2012, current affairs website Elfaro broke the story of a truce facilitated by the government between El Salvador's two most powerful gangs, leading to an instant reduction in the country's homicides. Over one and a half years later, the truce is still intact. However, the government's reluctance to take full responsibility for the pacification process, the lack of a comprehensive policy to address root causes of violence, and the fear that the process might strengthen gangs by giving them political power have placed numerous pitfalls in its path. Neither the El Salvadorean public nor the inter-national community is united in its support for negotiating with the maras. Even so, the truce serves as an important example of a more balanced approach to gang violence, and a source of insight into how local patterns of marginalisation and crime, fuelled by rapid urbanisation of the world's population, may on occasion be managed through dialogue. Details: The Hague: Clingendael Institute, 2013. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: CRU Policy Brief No. 27: Accessed April 2, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/CRU%20Policy%20Brief%2027.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 135130 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Homicide in El Salvador's Municipalities: Spatial Clusters and the Causal Role of Neighborhood Effects, Population Pressures, Poverty, and Education Summary: Violence directly affects individual and community well-being, and is also increasingly understood to undercut democracy and development. For public health scholars, violence presents a direct harm to health and well-being. In the worst cases, violence is lethal. Violence also generates serious costs to democracy. Fear and insecurity erode public trust and interpersonal confidence, hindering civic engagement and participation in public life. Further, low public trust undermines the legitimacy of democratic institutions, and persistent insecurity can generate support for heavy-handed or authoritarian policies. Indeed, in some new democracies in the region, including El Salvador, frustration with criminal violence has led majorities to support a return to authoritarian government. Across the region, polls identify crime and citizen security as top policy priorities. Thus, the prevention and reduction of violence is crucial to democratic stability. Lastly, violence generates heavy economic costs, dampening development. In the U.S., Miller and Cohen (1997) estimated the annual financial costs of gun shots alone at $126 billion. Similarly, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) found that the health care costs of violence constituted 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product in Brazil, 5.0 percent in Colombia, 4.3 percent in El Salvador, 1.3 percent in Mexico, 1. percent in Peru and 0.3 percent in Venezuela5. Along with law enforcement costs, costs to the court system, economic losses due to violence, and the cost of private security, violent crime has been estimated to cost Brazil 10.5 percent of GDP, Venezuela 11.3 percent, Mexico 12.3 percent, and El Salvador and Colombia more than 24 percent of GDP. Restating, violence costs several countries, including El Salvador, 10-20 percent of GDP. Given that GDP growth rates of three to four percent would be considered healthy, a substantial reduction of violence in these countries would have dramatic benefits for development. In sum, concerns about public health, democracy, and development motivate the need for a better understanding of the patterns and causes of violence, and of the need to translate this understanding into improved violence-reduction policies. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin American Program, 2014. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed August 4, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Homicides_El_Salvador.pdf Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 136308 |
Author: Godoy, Angelina Snodgrass Title: God Alone was with Us: The Santa Cruz massacre Summary: This report represents the first attempt to systematically document the massacre of Santa Cruz, which occurred in the context of a November 1981 scorched earth operation in Cabanas department in northern El Salvador. The massacre is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation in El Salvador; survivors attribute command responsibility for the atrocity to Col. Sigifredo Ochoa Perez (Ret.), currently a member of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, among other parties. The research presented here draws on numerous sources. First, we have collaborated extensively with the Instituto de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Centroamericana "Jose Simeon Canas," whose lawyers represent several victims seeking justice in this case and whose research team conducted related investigations in 2013. We also draw on conversations our research team has held with survivors in both El Salvador and the United States, some of whom have given public testimony about these events, and others with whom our researchers spoke to in confidence, due to ongoing concerns for their safety. We have conducted extensive research through declassified documents from various United States government agencies, using documents that were already public as a result of requests from past researchers, as well as documents we obtained through over one hundred Freedom of Information Requests filed since 2012. Lastly, we consulted news media from the period, reviewed the reports by human rights organizations, and perused scholarly publications for additional information pertaining to these events. Taken together, these sources provide powerful evidence that crimes against humanity occurred in the area surrounding Santa Marta, in the municipality of Victoria, Cabanas, during the military operation of November 11-19, 1981. While this report documents significant evidence of major atrocities, it is offered in full recognition of the fact that further investigation remains necessary to establish the details of everything that transpired. Indeed, such a task is urgent, both to preserve historical memory and to pursue legal accountability for these crimes. We hope that our efforts here might help spur those with the responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation, including forensic exhumations of the numerous reported gravesites, to do so. Details: Seattle, WA: University of Washington, Center for Human Rights, 2015. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 5, 2015 at: http://unfinishedsentences.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GodAloneWasWithUs.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 136962 |
Author: Lohmuller, Michael Title: El Salvador's Gangs & Prevailing Gang Paradigms in a Post-Truce Context Summary: This paper examines the relevance of prevailing gang paradigms as it relates to the case of El Salvador. It is particularly concerned with the concept of 'Third Generation Gangs,' which holds that Salvadoran street gangs are becoming sophisticated political actors seeking to maintain an international reach, and are increasingly capable of confronting the state. El Salvador is in the midst of a violent upheaval. In 2012, El Salvador's two main street gangs signed a truce, which was tacitly endorsed and facilitated by the government. However, following the breakdown of the truce, violence in El Salvador has rapidly escalated, with the gangs increasingly targeting security forces. This paper discusses whether this rising violence is indicative of the gangs' collective maturation process into a 'Third Generation Gang,' or, alternatively, if autonomous spasms of violence by individual gang factions as a means of self-preservation are being misinterpreted as a collective maturation process. Details: Washington, DC: Security Studies Program, George Washington University(?), 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/LohmullerElSalGangs.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 137568 |
Author: Boogert, Laura van den Title: The securitization of street gangs in El Salvador: An analysis of anti-gang policies and the gang truce of 2012 Summary: Twenty-three years have passed since the peace accords were signed in El Salvador in 1992. Ever since, its authoritarian rule and bloody civil war has ended. However, the country is far from being peaceful nowadays. On the contrary, El Salvador is among the most violent countries in the world today (SICA 2014, UNODC 2014). In the last decade, crime and homicide rates have been skyrocketing and amongst the highest in the world. Levels of violence in the region are as high as, or even higher than during the state terror, insurgency and war of the 1970's and 1980's (Oettler 2011: 262). Much of the crime in El Salvador and its neighboring countries has been ascribed to youth gangs, also known as Maras or Pandillas (Rodgers and Muggah 2009; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Cruz 2010; Wolf 2011; Aguilar 2012). In the first decade of the 21st century these gangs have been portrayed as a major security threat by the media, the public, and their respective governments (Hume 2007; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Bruneau 2011; Peetz 2011). Security grew into the number one priority issue in the region and became the rationale for all of the policies formulated by political leaders in Central America (Bruneau 2011: 3). The Salvadoran administration started a 'war on gangs' and carried out severe and repressive anti-gang policies, also known as Mano Dura. The idea was that security could only be safeguarded if gangs were to be repressed and more penalties and tougher sanctions would dissuade criminals and reduce criminality (Apel & Nagin 2011). However, it soon became apparent that these security policies failed shortly after they were introduced and seemed counterproductive, with gang related activity and violence rates higher than ever (Hume 2007; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Rodgers 2009; Cruz 2011, Gutierrez Rivera 2011). Note that in the last few years several authors do see a trend towards a more integrated gang policy (Jutersjonke et al. 2009) and there have been several experiments with prevention and rehabilitation programs. Nonetheless, these softer approaches were never fully implemented and remained underfunded (ibid). Despite some initiatives and changes of different governmental regimes, Mano Dura continued to be the preferred choice in gang policy in the last decade. However, March 2012 heralded an important event: a unique gang truce took place in El Salvador. The two biggest and most powerful rival gangs; the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Barrio Dieciocho (M-18) signed a truce with each other, 'facilitated' by the government and brokered by the catholic church and a former guerrilla commander. Essentially, the truce entailed an agreement between the gangs, in which they pledged to stop killing each other and end attacks on police, military and prison staff (Cruz 2013). The Salvadoran Mara truce appeared to have a dramatic effect on violence levels. Especially in the months following the truce the murder rate dropped with a 50 percent; from an average of roughly 14 murders per day to 5.5 per day (Seelke 2014a: 11). The truce process however, is surrounded with ambiguity. Not only its level of success and its sustainability, but above all, the role the government played in it and its attitude towards it. Initially, authorities denied any involvement in the truce. Even when a Salvadoran newspaper broke the news that the truce was secretly facilitated by the Salvadoran government, the authorities kept on announcing different and contradictory stories of their role in the whole process. This generated strong criticism and enormous distrust among civil society, influential academic writers and political opponents, even within the government itself. The truce suggests that 'negotiated' solutions to counter a security problem are indeed possible (see also Farah 2013; Figueroa et al 2013; Peeters et al 2013; Seelke 2013; Van der Borgh et al 2015). The facilitation of the truce may be seen as a new 'dialogue centred' policy approach, and a step away from the government's repressive anti-gang strategies of the last decade. But the ambiguous attitude and contrasting stories of the Salvadoran government with regards to the cease-fire process, does not indicate an equivocal clear-cut and well-defined government plan, nor policy. The main aim of the thesis is to understand and explain the attitude of the Salvadoran government towards gangs and the recent gang truce. To achieve this, the thesis has a dual approach. Firstly, it seeks to investigate the development and framing of the anti-gang policies in the years preceding the gang truce (2003-2012), while uncovering the incentives and consequences behind the anti-gang policies. Secondly, this paper places a big emphasis on the gang truce of 2012 itself and the role and attitude of the government in this process. It analyzes the build-up to and implementation of the truce process, and tries to understand and explain the contradictory role of different governmental actors (proponents and opponents). In the years leading up to the truce the government had an equivocal anti-gang approach, advocated a Mano Dura gang policy and successfully 'securitized' the gang issue (Van der Borgh et al 2015). The truce could be seen as a different approach. Both government proponents and opponents of the truce framed the process and legitimized their actions in different ways. How and why did these 'securitizing actors' try to convince the public? The main question of the thesis is: "How and why did (different key actors within) the Salvadoran government frame gangs and relate to the gang truce of 2012?". To answer this question, one has to take a broader look at the government's anti-gang approach in the years preceding the truce in which the gangs were framed as a security threat. To explain and understand these policies, the research is built on the advancements of the securitization theory (Buzan, Waever 1998; Balzacq 2009). Details: Utrecht, NETH: Utrecht University, 2015. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 10. 2016 at: http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/327446/Thesis_LvdBoogert_Gangs_v2.def.pdf?sequence=2 Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 139365 |
Author: Garrett, Linda Title: The First Year: A Chronology of the Gang Truce and Peace Process in El Salvador: March 2012 - March 2013 Summary: Since March of 2012, El Salvador has experienced an unprecedented drop in violence due to a truce between the countrys two largest street gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18. Exceeding many early expectations, the truce has lasted over a year, and evolved to encompass a broader peace process within Salvadoran society. The extent to which the Salvadoran government has been involved in the process, even the nature of its involvement, remains uncertain and is a source of contention. But, the ongoing truce and peace process presents real lessons and serious public policy implications and now, with many communities signing on to the "violence-free municipality" initiative and thousands of lives saved by an over 50% reduction in homicides, much is at stake. Even before news of the truce was broadly known, the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) had been monitoring the unfolding process in El Salvador, when a Salvadoran government official hinted to us in February 2012 that a dialogue between the gangs might be underway. In the pages below, we present our chronology of the process compiled over the last year, which details this historic series of events. The chronology provides a more complete picture of the process as it developed day-by-day during the first year: from the original confusing, contradictory versions of its creation, to the various commitments and good-will gestures offered by gang leaders. The truces advances and setbacks are chronicled, alongside the suspicions and distrust expressed by many Salvadorans. It also records the critical support provided by the Organization of American States (OAS). Finally, the chronology helps us understand the motivations of the facilitators and gang leaders. It gives us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of young people who are struggling to find a way out of tumultuous lives of poverty, crime and often unspeakable violence. This chronology, focused on the gang truce and peace process, complements CDA's extensive coverage of developments in El Salvador. It is CDA's hope that the full telling of this story will encourage the debate and reflection, already underway in El Salvador, about the issues of exclusion and poverty, so closely connected to the causes of and solutions for the violence. The human dimensions highlighted here are crucial when considering policy choices; choices that heavily impact the lives of so many Salvadorans, not only in El Salvador but also in the diaspora. The Salvadoran government faces the challenges of developing a coherent public policy, that recognizes the possibility of human transformation from criminal to productive lives, and providing resources to implement that policy. If successful, the peace process could perhaps be the most significant legacy of the current government. It should be emphasized that the truce in itself is not the solution, but it has transformed the conversation from repression to prevention and rehabilitation. As President Funes said, the only options for youth have been to emigrate or join a gang for survival. To change that dynamic, the peace process must be institutionalized and funded as part of a long-term strategy to provide educational and job opportunities to all at-risk youth in the historically impoverished barrios and municipalities of the country. Advocacy of the peace process does not signify impunity for crimes committed. Nor does it reflect ignorance of the horrific violence inflicted on the Salvadoran people and their communities in recent decades: the murders of thousands of youths; the savagery of sexual violence; dismembered bodies; clandestine cemeteries; the uprooting of fearful families, and the scourge of extortion. Advocacy does mean a belief in the possibility of redemption. It reflects aspirations for an inclusive, nonviolent, democratic future for the country. "If it doesn't work," Bishop Colindres said, "we will have lost a little effort and illusions, but if it works the country will have found peace." Details: Washington, DC: Center for Democracy in the Americas, 2013. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://democracyinamericas.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/First-Year-Chronology-of-El-Salvadors-Gang-Truce.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Barrio 18 Shelf Number: 139373 |
Author: Carballo, Willian Title: The truce and everyday life in a violence-free municipality: The case of Santa Tecla in El Salvador Summary: Youth gangs are the main source of violence in El Salvador. After repressive measures to defeat the gangs failed, the government decided in 2012 to support a process called the "truce." Under its terms, El Salvador's two most important gangs pledged to reduce violence in exchange for an end to state repression against gang members and the establishment of reintegration programs. On the local level, the process led to the creation of violence-free municipalities - areas in which local authorities promote and support the truce through reintegration and violence prevention measures. Lately, in violence-free municipalities the gangs have boosted their role as agents of control through the "administration" of the crime rate. In this study I investigate the impact of the truce at the local level and in the everyday lives of the inhabitants of the municipality of Santa Tecla, and in particular the communities of San Rafael and San Jose El Pino. I look into the community members' perceptions of the truce, the actual impact of the truce at the local level, as well as the role that gangs now play in these municipalities. Details: Bielefeld, Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project - Papers - No. 11: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/carballo.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 139379 |
Author: Salguero, Jose Alberto Title: A Tale of Two Cities: Violence and Non-Violent Neighborhoods within the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador Summary: The purpose of this research was to explore how control measures work within a specific neighborhood in order to reduce the incidence of crime there. Two cases were selected from the historical centers of San Salvador and Santa Tecla. The study findings suggest that for social control measures by local residents to succeed, certain conditions should be met, such as clear territorial control, openness to citizen's participation, and efforts to include gang-controlled communities in local socioeconomic life, rather than choosing direct confrontation with law-enforcement agents. Details: Bielefeld, Germany: Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project - Papers - No. 5: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/salguero.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 139380 |
Author: Hernandez Anzora, Marion Title: Salvadoran Gangs: Political Actors in the Making? Summary: The debate on Salvadoran gangs is dominated by security issues, with little regard to gangs' interactions with political actors and their growing influence in Salvadoran society. In this paper I examine these gangs as violent entrepreneurs at the gates of politics, arguing that more than twenty years after the end of the civil war, they are using violence as a means of exerting pressure to get access to the political system. They are, therefore, political actors in the making, although their use of violence is still not entirely politically motivated. Details: Bielefeld, Germany: Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project - Papers - No. 6: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/hernandez.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 139381 |
Author: Molina, Noemy Title: No Peace, No Truce for Women in El Salvador: A study of the meaning of domestic violence from the perspective of women in one of the many invisible community of San Salvador Summary: In a country where violence has become part of everyday life for its citizens, certain forms of violence appear to be silenced by the enormous weight of the social context. In particular, violence against women (VAW), VAW, seems to have been sidelined by the importance of violent murders of young men and gang violence. Thus, VAW receives less attention in the mainstream social and political discourses. Given this vacuum, the focus of this research is to understand "How do women perceive their experiences of domestic violence, and react to these, in a violent community of El Salvador". By approaching institutional authorities and women who have suffered violence and using in-depth interviews, I sought to explain how VAW is understood in a small marginalized community of the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador; and how these women explain, justify, and respond to their realities. At the same time, I explored how the community and political contexts influence how these realities are seen in El Salvador. Details: Bielefeld, Germany: Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project - Papers - No. 7: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/molina.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Domestic Violence Shelf Number: 139383 |
Author: Zinecker, Heidrun Title: From Exodus to Exitus: Causes of post-war violence in El Salvador Summary: With the Chapultepec Peace Accords, signed on 16 January 1992, the twelve-year civil war in El Salvador came to an end, having claimed 75,000 victims. While the peace making is documented as a model case, the subsequent peace building proved to be far from quite so exemplary. It brought a variety of ambivalent factors to light. The most crucial of these was the fact that although a stable, concurrent period of peace (i.e. absence of war) has been achieved in El Salvador, the same cannot be said of any civilized life for its citizens (in the sense of a fundamental freedom from violence). On the contrary, El Salvador currently has the highest levels of violence in Latin America. Moreover, the present violence is almost exclusively criminal in nature, rather than still political. The aim of this report is to explain why post-war levels of violence in El Salvador have remained so high to date, and the highest in Central America, despite the fact that socioeconomic and political indicators are really positive, more positive than in any other country in Central America, with the exception of Costa Rica, and including even Nicaragua, which has very much lower levels of violence than El Salvador. Any investigation of this must look for factors which have just as pronounced an effect as violence, so that a correlation between them and high levels of violence can be established, and causality derived on this basis. The report identifies high rates of migration, and of the remittances (remesas) associated with it, as a key causal factor for the high incidence of violence. Remittances are income earned by working abroad, which the (in this case Salvadoran) migrants send back home, mainly from the USA. The title of this report, "From Exodus to Exitus", derives from this. A secondary causal factor, but nonetheless a crucial trigger, is identified as a specific combination of poor performance and repressive behaviour by the security sector (police, judiciary and penal system). This accounts for the peaks and the trough in the sine curve progression of post-war homicide rates. Details: Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, 2007. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: PRIF Reports No. 80: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.hsfk.de/fileadmin/HSFK/hsfk_downloads/prif80.pdf Year: 2007 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 139386 |
Author: Hume, Mo Title: Armed violence and poverty in El Salvador: A mini case study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative Summary: One of the most powerful conflicts to affect Central America in the 1980s was that in El Salvador (1980-1992), resulting in the death of more than 80,000 citizens. This report on El Salvador is one of 13 case studies (all of the case studies can be found at www.bradford.ac.uk/cics). This research draws upon secondary data sources including existing research studies, reports and evaluations commissioned by operational agencies, and early warning and survey data where this has been available. These secondary sources have been complemented by interviews with government officers, aid policymakers and practitioners, researchers and members of the local population. The analysis and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policy of DFID or the UK government Details: Bradford, UK: University of Bradford, Centre for International Cooperation and Security, 2004. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 6, 2016 at: https://core.ac.uk/download/files/10/6001.pdf Year: 2004 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Armed Violence Shelf Number: 140019 |
Author: Cordova, Ricardo Title: Social Capital, Collective Efficacy and Community Based Crime Prevention in El Salvador Summary: The following paper explores the extent to which crime and violence prevention initiatives that promote social capital and collective efficacy are successful in reducing crime and violence in Latin America, more specifically through a case study of El Salvador. Some of the latest efforts to prevent crime in Latin America propose to strengthen social capital and social cohesion in order to reduce risk factors and fear of crime. That is based on studies conducted mostly in the United States and in Europe over the past 30 years. The use of this conceptual framework to carry out empirical studies in Latin America has been very limited; in fact there have been only a few studies in this vein conducted in recent years, in countries such as Mexico and Colombia. There is still plenty of room to explore and contribute to this important debate with more studies conducted in Latin America. We are interested in exploring the extent to which crime and violence prevention initiatives that promote social capital and collective efficacy are successful in reducing crime and violence in Latin America, more specifically through a case study of El Salvador. Details: Lima, Peru: ELLA (Evidence and Lessons from Latin America), 2016. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2016 at: http://ella.practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/VER-II-REP-FundaUngo-Social-Capital-Collective-Efficacy-and-CBCP.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Collective Efficacy Shelf Number: 140862 |
Author: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Research Directorate Title: Gangs in El Salvador and the Situation of Witnesses of Crime and Corruption Summary: The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is involved in an ongoing capacity's building initiative carried out jointly by the United States, Mexico, Canada and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Under this initiative, which seeks to enhance asylum systems in the Americas, the IRB, in conjunction with its partners, conducted an information-gathering mission to El Salvador. During the mission, IRB officials held meetings with experts and representatives from relevant governmental, non-governmental, academic and research-focused organizations, as well as with journalists. The purpose of the mission to El Salvador was to gather information related to state efforts to combat crime; the structure of criminal gangs, their areas of operation, activities and recruitment practices; the situation of gender-based and domestic violence against women; the situation of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) people; and the efficacy of the police and judiciary to provide recourse to victims of crime, to investigate and to prosecute crimes. Details: Ottawa: The Board, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: El Salvador: Information Gathering Mission Report - Part 1: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P1.aspx Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 146285 |
Author: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Research Directorate Title: The Situation of Women Victims of Violence and of Sexual Minorities in El Salvador Summary: In 2013, Canada and the United States began working together to identify opportunities to establish new modes of cooperation in the areas of asylum and immigration; this collaboration is known as the Asylum Cooperation Action Plan (ACAP). The ACAP, through the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), approached the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada to seek the IRB's interest in supporting the capacity building activities to be undertaken in the Americas with the objective of improving asylum systems in the region. In May 2015, the Deputy Chairperson of the IRB's Refugee Protection Division (RPD) participated in a meeting between Canada, Mexico and the United States, where it was agreed that the IRB would undertake a number of activities to support the development of quality refugee status determination by Mexico. One of these activities involved IRB participation in a joint information-gathering mission (henceforth referred to as the "mission") to El Salvador, in conjunction with representatives from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Mexican government's Commission for Refugee Aid (Comision Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados, COMAR), and the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, SRE) of Mexico, under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico and El Salvador. A representative of the Mexican Embassy in San Salvador also participated. The joint mission was carried out from 11 to 15 April 2016. Following the completion of the joint mission, the IRB conducted its own research for one further week in El Salvador. The purpose of this was to meet with additional expert sources not included in the joint mission agenda due to time constraints, to gather corroborating and contrasting information, and to enable the IRB's Research Directorate to develop new contacts, strengthen existing ones, and obtain information uniquely needed to support the IRB's decision-making on refugee status determination now or in the future. The purpose of the mission to El Salvador was to gather information related to state efforts to combat crime; the structure of criminal gangs, their areas of operation, activities, and recruitment practices; the situation of gender-based and domestic violence against women; the situation of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) people; and the efficacy of the police and judiciary to provide recourse to victims of crime, investigate and prosecute crimes. This report summarizes the information gathered by the representatives of the IRB during both the joint mission and during the IRB's additional week of research. Details: Ottawa: The Board, 2016. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: El Salvador: Information Gathering Mission Report - Part 2: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P2.aspx Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 146284 |
Author: Mesa de Sociedad Civil contra el Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia y Crimen Organizado en El Salvacor Title: Desplazamiento Interno Por Violencia: Y Crimen Organizado en El Salvador. Informe 2016 (International Displacement Due to Violence and Organized Gang Violence in El Salvador) Summary: The government of El Salvador has been unable to deter organized gang violence plaguing many of its municipalities and communities. Violence against children, extortion of businesses and land owners, femicide, physical assaults, and threats from local and rival gangs has contributed to forced displacement among El Salvador's citizens. Several international non-government organizations are working with the El Salvadoran government in search of solutions. The impact of gang violence has many citizens seeking asylum in the United States and other areas. Details: La mesa de Sociedad Civil contra el Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia y Crimen Organizado de El, 2016. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: (In Spanish): Accessed February 15, 2017 at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5784803ebe6594ad5e34ea63/t/5880c66b2994ca6b1b94bb77/1484834488111/Desplazamiento+interno+por+violencia+-+Informe+2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Extortion Shelf Number: 147327 |
Author: Davis, Ashley Title: Citizen Security in El Salvador: Improving the Effectiveness of International Aid Summary: This policy report examines the ways in which the international aid community can better support the citizen security needs of the Central American people. El Salvador serves as an appropriate case study in this context, as it currently has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. While international donors have committed significant resources and developed a wide range of projects in response to the nation's escalating violence rates, such efforts have yet to produce appreciable results. International donors and multi-lateral banks have thus far indirectly supported the government of El Salvador in its framing of the violence from a national security perspective through direct military support and indirect budgetary support. This has translated to increasingly militarized solutions that are in conflict with the objectives of local community organizations that view the violence as a product of social exclusion and lack of opportunities. Details: Seattle: University of Washington, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, 2012. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Student Research Paper: Accessed February 18, 2017 at: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/19667 Year: 2012 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Citizen Security Shelf Number: 141102 |
Author: Savenije, Wim Title: Políticas de seguridad en El Salvador (Security Policies in El Salvador) Summary: English Summary: This article analyzes the policies implemented in El Salvador with the aim of reducing violence and crimes related to street gangs between 2003 and 2013. After analyzing the central features of these policies, it concludes that despite the profound differences, In all cases of short-term measures, which sought instant solutions to complicated and long-term security problems - whether in a hard-hitting style or in the form of dialogue with gangs and facilitating a truce - have failed to improve the situation of insecurity. Far from it, they have strengthened the gangs and have caused a severe restriction of the opportunities of the young people not included in this type of organization. Details: Buenos Aires: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences. National University of La Plata, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Cuestiones de Sociología, nº 10; Accessed March 3, 2017 at: http://www.cuestionessociologia.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/article/view/CSn10a09/6073 Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 141310 |
Author: Palomo Contreras, Areli Title: Friendly Mistrust: Coping with the Rule of Gangs in a Salvadoran Community Summary: This study focuses on strategies or practices that members of a Salvadoran community have incorporated to their everyday life in order to cope with gangs. Through time, gangs in El Salvador have transformed into powerful social actors, and currently, their dynamics distort the quotidian life of those who live under their rule. I argue that gangs have imposed rules or constraints to people's behavior, and that community members have incorporated these rules and produced practices to co-exist with gangs or to survive their rule. Among these practices of co-existence, I describe precautionary strategies, negotiations and finally exile. This research is based on an ethnographic fieldwork that took place from July to September 2014 in a Salvadoran community of the state of La Libertad. I conducted 35 semi-structured interviews and participant observation during the above-mentioned period. I conclude that, through these strategies, it is possible to observe that gangs are parallel structures of power to the Salvadoran state and that in some cases strategies to cope with gangs also reproduce their power. Details: San Diego: University of California at San Diego, 2016. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16p6z2d9 Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 141314 |
Author: Dudley, Steven Title: El Salvador Gang Truce: Positives and Negatives Summary: The truce between El Salvador's two largest gangs -- the MS-13 and Barrio 18 -- opens up new possibilities in how to deal with the seemingly intractable issue of street gangs. But it also creates new dangers. Whether it is sustainable or not, the truce -- which the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 put into place in March 2012 -- has changed the conventional thinking about who the gangs are and what is the best way to handle the most difficult law and order issue in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Put simply, the gangs have stretched these governments to their limits. Gangs run large swathes of urban and semi-urban areas, prisons are overflowing and are largely administered by the gangs, and actions of the gangs may be upgrading to more sophisticated criminal activities. While it is unpopular among some observers, the gang truce in El Salvador has opened up a possibility that did not exist just a few months ago. What's more, Honduras is already experimenting with a similar pact. Although the ongoing process in Honduras brings more questions than answers, the involvement of high level Church authorities and international mediators gives hope that a similar truce may emerge and help lower what is currently one of the world's highest homicide rates. In Guatemala, similar rumblings of a gang truce have been heard but nothing concrete has emerged. In this context, it is time to take stock of the positives and the negatives of this truce. The Positives 1) Less homicides. Undoubtedly, the greatest benefit of this truce has been the startling drop in homicides. From a murder rate of 72 per 100,000, El Salvador now hovers around 36 per 100,000. There are questions about disappearances and manipulation of murders statistics, but even the most skeptical observers agree that homicides are much lower. The drop in murders has also helped illuminate the breadth of the gang problem. Prior to the truce, gangs were thought to be responsible for some 10 to 30 percent of the homicides in El Salvador. The new homicide rate gives us an indication of exactly how many are getting killed because of the gang phenomenon. 2) More trust among key stakeholders. Peace negotiations are about trust. Trust comes from meeting with the adversary, talking through issues and trading one action in the hopes that it will be rewarded by the actions of the other. This has happened in more than one way during this process. First, the gangs themselves have largely obeyed the orders from their leaders to slow the pace of homicides, which included a large number of attacks on one another. Second, the government moved the gang leaders into medium-security prisons, giving them more access to their families, and their rank-and-file gang members so they could maintain the truce. Third, the gangs and the government have begun a process of developing "peace zones," areas where gangs are supposed to limit criminal activities and the government is supposed to implement social, educational, and job training programs. 3) More emphasis on a soft-side approach. Prior to the truce, the gang debate centered around how aggressively they should be repressed, and which security institution would be responsible for implementing that strategy. The result was counterproductive: mass incarcerations led to more gang activity, which led to more repression, which led to more incarcerations and so on. The gang truce has opened a door to talk about what gangs are and how best to integrate them into Salvadoran life. For perhaps the first time, local and federal government bureaucrats, politicians, and functionaries are asking themselves what they need to do to establish effective prevention and rehabilitation programs. They are trying to calculate the costs, they are turning to those who have long worked with at-risk youth, and they are developing programs in conjunction with international donors. This could result in the implementation of a new strategy that could have long-term implications, regardless of the success or failure of this truce. The Negatives 1) Criminal activity = political capital. There is a dangerous message being sent to the gangs and other criminal actors: the government can be held hostage with violence and criminal activity. This is why the government has spent so much time trying to distance itself from this truce even when it is clear it is the designer and key implementer: the gang truce is, in essence, a tacit admission by the government that it has lost the battle with the gangs. On the flip side, the gangs understand that by upping the criminal ante -- via homicides, extortion, or other means -- they can gain political capital and obtain a proverbial seat at the table. Indeed, the gangs already employed this tactic. On the eve of the truce, gang leaders threatened to unleash their members to disrupt local elections. The government balked and transferred them to the medium security prisons, thus starting this process on what was a sour note. In addition, there is a fear that the gangs, who claim to have no ideology and no interest creating political parties, will use this political capital to help them develop criminal enterprises or shield themselves from prosecution. 2) More space for criminal activities. When insurgencies and governments negotiate, war normally continues apace and can even accelerate as both sides try to garner more power at the negotiating table. El Salvador's gang truce has been characterized by the opposite: lower homicides. But while homicides are down, there is little indication that other criminal activities are as well. Extortion, the gangs' main source of income, continues unabated. Drug trafficking activities, including by gang members, seems to be proceeding without interruption. This reality may help bolster one theory that the gang truce was really an effort by larger criminal interests to grant the MS-13 and Barrio 18 more breathing room for their operations. Such an allegation, however, remains unsubstantiated. Also worrying is the fact that by maintaining the truce for considerably longer than expected, the gangs have proved they have the discipline needed to operate more sophisticated criminal enterprises. The gang truce may grant them the space needed to try and do so, especially as the government focuses on instituting more "peace zones." Such was the case in Colombia, when the government cleared out an area the size of Switzerland to negotiate with the hemisphere's oldest insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in 1999. In what would ultimately become a failed negotiation with the government, the FARC used the area to hold kidnapping victims, retrain their forces, and deepen their involvement with drug trafficking operations, among other activities. 3) Less trust in the government. The truce has been exclusionary and has suffered from a lack of transparency. While this can lead to positive results (see the Colombian government's current peace talks with the FARC), in this case it is eroding people's confidence and trust in the government. Major civil society actors have not been included, and even the Catholic Church, part of which helped mediate the talks, recently declared that "the truce had not produced any benefit for the honorable and working society." In a hasty effort to correct this image, the mediators created the Fundacion Humanitaria. However, that organization may be meant to do nothing more besides channel the expected windfall from the international donor community for rehabilitation, job training, and prevention programs. In the meantime, there is a fear that these programs will just benefit gang members and not the "honorable and working society." According to polls, most people do not believe the truce will ever benefit them. Until the process is more open and inclusive, the government will have a hard time selling the benefits and opening the way for the next phase. Details: s.l.: InSight Crime, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2017 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2016/El_Salvador_Gang_Truce_Positives_and_Negatives.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Shelf Number: 144607 |
Author: Cruz, Jose Miguel Title: The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador Summary: Can a member of a Salvadoran youth gang, locally known as 'maras,' leave the gang and start a new life away from crime and violence? To answer this question, the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center and the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University, with the support of the Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE), conducted a study with Salvadoran gang members and former gang members across the country. The study, which is based on a survey with a combination of a convenience and purposive sample of 1,196 respondents with record of gang membership and 32 in-depth interviews, reveals that desistance from the gang is possible in El Salvador but, in the short-term, it depends on two factors. First, it depends on the individual and active commitment of gang members to abandon gang life and stop partaking in violent activities. Second, it depends on the tacit or explicit consent of the leaders of the gang organization. Hence, in El Salvador, gang desistance—which, according to some authors, is the declining probability of gang membership—involves the acquiescence of the group. The study builds on previous academic scholarship on gangs in El Salvador and Central America as well as on the general criminological literature on youth gangs. The results indicate that youth gangs remain a predominantly male phenomenon and that the average age of joining the gang does not seem to have changed significantly in comparison with data from 10 years ago. Nearly 40% of the subjects interviewed for this study are active members of the gang, while the rest are in different stages of calming down and leaving the gang. Approximately 50% of the subjects interviewed in the survey belong—or have belonged—to Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13); 23% expressed their loyalty to the 18th Street Gang Sureños; while only 11% mentioned they were part of the 18th Street Revolucionarios. The rest of the interviewees indicated past or present membership in peripheral gang groups: Mirada Locos, Mara Máquina, Mao-Mao, etc. Across the survey and in-depth interviews, MS-13 emerged not only as the largest gang organization but also as the most structured and regulated national group. MS-13 members interviewed in this research report the highest levels of participation in criminal activities and also have the lowest levels of intentions to leave the gang. Contrary to the widespread view that Salvadoran gangs are comprised of a large number of deportees and returned migrants from the United States, the study found little evidence of a direct influence of migration in the composition and the dynamics of local gangs. Almost all of the surveyed gang members and subjects of this study were born and raised in El Salvador, and very few maintain regular contact with their peers in the United States. The vast majority of people with a record of gang membership interviewed for this study come from the most underprivileged sectors of Salvadoran society. Most respondents dropped out of school before turning 16 and did not even complete middle school. Seven out of ten are from households with a monthly income below $250 and more than 80% have not had a regular job, either in the formal or informal sector. In addition, most respondents come from dysfunctional and disintegrated families. Nearly half of gang members and former gang members reported having run away from their family’s home before turning 15 years old, primarily due to domestic violence and family problems. Furthermore, more than half of gang members have children of their own, with a higher prevalence of parenthood (nearly 90%) among females affiliated with gangs. Violence and criminal activities remain essential components of gang life. Murder and extortions are the most common crimes gang members are accused of, with nearly 67% of the respondents being accused of committing these types of crimes in addition to assaults, armed robberies, kidnappings, and rapes. In some gangs, most notably MS-13, numerous assassinations and the capability to control new territories through the use of extortions, threats, and strategic murders are critical strategies for ascending within the gang structure. In the past, gang members only had to complete a "mission" to join the gang. In contrast, and according to the information collected by the study, today gang members would have had to commit more than one murder even to be considered as a potential candidate for gang membership. More than two-thirds of the respondents have been arrested more than once and have spent time incarcerated in the Salvadoran detention centers. A significant share of the gang member sample (45.5%) also reported being attacked and injured by police officers and security forces in the last years, in addition to rival gangs (28.2%), friendly gangs (13%), and other actors. Gang structures are significantly more developed now than they were 10 or 20 years ago when the gang phenomenon started to expand in El Salvador. They also seem to be more structured and tend to regulate the life of the average gang member more strictly than in most of the cases reported in the literature elsewhere, especially in the United States. Gangs operating at the local level preserve some levels of autonomy that allows them high levels of adaptation and transformation in the face of challenges and threats. Again, MS-13 stands out among the gang groups due to its high level of organization and territorial control. MS-13's structure includes different levels of management, which typically start with the clique as its lowest operational level (i.e. at the neighborhood level). Some cliques have managed to expand beyond their original neighborhood structure, to what they call "sectores," which function as a franchise of the initial clique. The next organizational level is the "programas," which operate at the regional level. Finally, the top level in the organization is the national "ranfla." The “ranfla” includes a group of leaders who manage the entire gang structure and serve as a decision-making board. According to some informants, the "ranfla" is divided into two sub-structures: one that is formed by leaders serving time in the national prisons, and the other which is comprised of principals operating on the street. In contrast, the 18th Street groups are less well-structured regarding their organization. In many cases, it was difficult to establish a unique organizational pattern based on the statements of the experts interviewed. However, and according to some informants, the 18th Street groups divide their organization in "canchas," which operate at the neighborhood level and the city level, and "tribus," which extend to the regional scale. Most of the people interviewed in the survey (76.2%) held what can be considered a regular (homeboy or soldier) position within the structure of the gang. However, nearly 9% of the respondents had some position of leadership, and 15% were aspiring members of the gang. Although the latter are not formally considered members of the gang organizations yet, their activities for the benefit of the gang and their loyalty to the gang clique and group highlight the significant role they play in the dynamics of gang survival and effort for territorial control. The size of the clique varies significantly depending on the gang organization, the neighborhood, and other factors. According to the results of the survey, the average number of members in a Salvatrucha clique is 85, while the 18th Street groups tend to have fewer members per clique. The average number in the Sureños is 66 compared to 31 in the Revolucionarios cliques. The largest reported cliques seem to be comprised of the peripheral gang groups: members of the Mirada Locos and other organizations tend to have bigger cliques with an average size of 160 members per clique. The results of the study suggest that Salvadoran youths keep joining the gangs as a result of problematic families, lack of opportunities, and a heightened perception of deprivation of social respect and affection in their communities. Gang organizations tap into such shortages to recruit and maintain an army that becomes instrumental in the control of new territories and the waging of war with enemies, including the police and security forces. However, from the standpoint of the gang members and former gang members, the main reasons why people continue joining the gang still revolve around the excitement from hanging out with peers and the development of social respect and public recognition. Young kids continue joining gang organizations because they provide assets that were not provided by their families and community, namely: friendship, protection, resources, and self-confidence. Thus, the gang becomes the center of the lives of the youngsters who joined at early ages. This view of the gangs remains unchallenged during the adolescent years, but starts to fade as the person matures, forms a family of his/her own, and faces the hardships brought by gang violence and law enforcement persecution. Details: Miami: Florida International University, 2017. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 28, 2017 at: https://lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-new-face-of-street-gangs_final-report_eng.pdf Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Extortion Shelf Number: 144609 |
Author: Silva Avalos, Hector Title: Corruption in El Salvador: Politians, Police, and Transportistas Summary: Corruption and the infiltration of public institutions in Central America by organized crime groups is an unaddressed issue that lies at the core of the increasing violence and democratic instability that has afflicted the region in the last decade. In El Salvador, infiltration has mutated into a system capable of determining important political and strategic decisions, such as the election of high-level judicial officials and the shaping of the state approach to fighting crime. This paper addresses corruption in El Salvador's National Civil Police (PNC), the law enforcement agency created under the auspices of the 1992 Peace Accord that ended the country's 12-year civil war. Archival and field research presented here demonstrates that the PNC has been plagued by its own "original sin": the inclusion of former soldiers that worked with criminal groups and preserved a closed power structure that prevented any authority from investigating them for over two decades. This original sin has allowed criminal bands formed in the 1980s as weapon or drug smugglers to forge connections with the PNC and to develop into sophisticated drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). These new DTOs are now involved in money laundering, have secured pacts with major criminal players in the region - such as Mexican and Colombian cartels - and have learned how to use the formal economy and financial system. These "entrepreneurs" of crime, long tolerated and nurtured by law enforcement officials and politicians in El Salvador, are now major regional players themselves. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Latin American & Latino Studies, American University, 2014. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: CLALS Working Paper Series, No. 4: Accessed June 26, 2017 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2419174 Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 146382 |
Author: Kalsi, Priti Title: Not my Problem: The Impact of U.S. Deportation of Criminals on Education in El Salvador Summary: .Exploiting a change in American immigration policy that increased deportations of criminals and introduced U.S.-based gangs to El Salvador, I study the impact of the ex- expansion of U.S.-based gangs on gender-specific education accumulation in El Salvador. I identify regions with high U.S.-based gang presence by locating areas with large drops in homicides after a recent truce between two major U.S.-based gangs. I show that these areas became disproportionately more violent as more criminals were deported from the United States to El Salvador. Using variation in both timing of American policy and gang intensity within a location, I estimate a dfference-in-dfferences model to study the impact of increased gang exposure on children's education. I find that the establishment of gangs hinders basic education (comparable to U.S. grades 1-9) attainment for boys. The results for girls are weaker and mostly statistically indistinguishable from zero. Age-specific analysis reveals that exposure to gangs starts to negatively impact boys' schooling in their pre-teen years. Supporting the exogeneity of the law-change, I find that the timing of the American immigration policy is important in explaining the effects. I show that only children who were young at the time of the policy exhibit lower education completion, while individuals who were old enough to have completed their schooling are not impacted. I further argue that the results are not driven by selective migration within El Salvador or abroad. Finally, the mechanism explaining the results in this paper appears to be exposure to gangs and not just high rates of violence. I do not find evidence suggesting that boys joining gangs explain the effects. Instead, a likely mechanism is that boys in gang areas increase employment perhaps in response to gangs' extortion practices. Details: Chico, CA: Department of Economics, California State University at Chico, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 27, 2017 at: http://www.sole-jole.org/16147.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Deportation Shelf Number: 146583 |
Author: Ojebode, A. Title: Community-Based Crime Prevention Practices in El Salvador an Nigeria: Understanding Communities' Willingness to Act Summary: The inability of many governments to provide adequate security for their citizens is a major reason behind the adoption of non-state approaches to crime prevention. These include community-based crime prevention (CBCP) projects and practices which form the focus of this study. As can be expected, there is wide variation in the structure, objectives and outcomes of CBCP projects and practices because they have been implemented in different social, political and cultural realities, including contexts where the severity of crime varies. Where crime is severe, it might be expected that it overpowers the resources and capacities of communities to respond. Yet, existing literature shows that in some communities members continue to act together to prevent or reduce crime even under these conditions. Why, then, are some communities able to withstand high rates of crime and others are not? Given that CBCP operates in contexts that are far from uniform, what can be learnt in terms of the factors that explain their success or failure? Our study seeks to answer this question through a comparative analysis of communities located in severe crime zones in El Salvador and Nigeria. These two countries demonstrate some of the highest crime rates in Africa and Latin America and their governments are actively seeking to adopt or expand community-based crime prevention practices. We investigated the interplay between severity of crime, level of trust, community participation, social ties and willingness to act as they define, explain and condition CBCP efforts in both countries. The study was conducted in fourteen communities; 7 with high levels of insecurity (4 in El Salvador and 3 in Nigeria) and 7 with low levels of insecurity (4 in El Salvador and 3 in Nigeria). A total of 560 survey questionnaires were administered in the two countries; 280 in communities with high levels and 280 in communities with low levels of crime. From this sample, only communities with a high presence of violent crime were selected for in-depth analysis, which focused on three dependent variables - trust, willingness to act and perception of insecurity - as well as three independent variables, namely severity of crime, social ties and state capacity. Though levels of crime and trust are high in both countries, willingness to act together, social ties and civic participation are higher in Nigeria than in El Salvador. Strong state presence in El Salvador partly explains the success of community-based crime prevention, while strong community coordination explains success in Nigeria. Communities in Nigeria deploy their collective action, social ties, trust and civic participation to prevent and control crimes. Importantly, communities with strong social ties withstand severe crime better than those without such ties. The study concludes that efforts aimed at improving CBCP in El Salvador should seek to strengthen and sustain social ties, collective action and civic participation, while in Nigeria state actors should seek to effectively complement on-going CBCP efforts. While El Salvador can learn from strong and successful CBCP efforts in Nigeria, the Nigerian government also needs to learn from El Salvador, the structure and operation of state actors in crime prevention. Details: Lima, Peru: ELLA (Evidence and Lessons from Latin America:2017. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 25, 2017 at: http://ella.practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CEP-Community-based-crime-prevention-practices.pdf Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Community-Based Programs Shelf Number: 146902 |
Author: Berk-Seligson, Susan Title: Impact Evaluation of USAID's Community-Based Crime and Violence Prevention Approach in Central America: El Salvador Country Report Summary: El Salvador, and its neighboring countries in Central America, Guatemala and Honduras, are among the most criminally violent nations in the world. The USAID Missions (specifically, Democracy and Governance (DG) and other offices within the Missions) in five Central American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) have administered and overseen the execution of the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) interventions-a set of programs with the objective of reducing crime rates and improving security in Central America by strengthening community capacity to combat crimes and creating educational and employment opportunities for at-risk youth. USAID/Washington, via its Cooperative Agreement with the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University, asked LAPOP to design and carry out an impact evaluation of the CARSI interventions in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama, as part of a broader effort to establish the effectiveness of USAID democracy and governance interventions through scientifically rigorous studies such as those recommended in the comprehensive study by the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council 2008). LAPOP has had more than 20 years of experience in carrying out policy-relevant surveys in Latin America, having conducted hundreds of country-based surveys, including many specialized studies designed to evaluate programs. This impact evaluation was designed to measure the overall impact of the interventions, not to distinguish among the specific types of interventions, nor to evaluate the implementing partners, per se. To have done so would have required a very different (and more costly) research design, and most likely would have duplicated at least some of the evaluation efforts involved in each implementing partner's contract with USAID. Nonetheless, as noted later in this report, statistical tests performed clearly suggest that the impacts found were generalizable and not confined to one implementing partner versus the other. Ultimately, however, the initial decision made to limit each implementing partner's scope to specific, non-overlapping municipalities makes it impossible to disaggregate statistically the impact of the partner's efforts vs. the conditions of the municipalities in which it operated. That is to say, all of the treated communities in a given municipality experienced the same treatment approach, while all of those of a different municipality received a different partner's treatment. Thus municipal conditions and implemention are indistinguishable. Moreover, because a variety of interventions were used in the neighborhoods (some of which were used by both implementing partners), it is impossible to disentangle the effect of each type of intervention from any other. Details: Nashville, TN: The Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), Vanderbilt University , 2014. 299p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2017 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/carsi/El_Salvador_v22_English_W_2_04.08.15.pdf Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: At-risk Youth Shelf Number: 147037 |
Author: Kinosian, Sarah Title: El Salvador's Violence: No Easy Way Out Summary: El Salvador closed out 2015 with 6,657 murders, replacing Honduras as the murder capital of the world. That averages out to over 18 murders a day, a 70% increase compared to the previous year, making it the highest murder rate for any country in the world in almost 20 years. Right now, there is little hope that 2016 will be much better. In January, the country registered 738 homicides, and the government has said murder levels are likely to remain high through the year. These numbers are alarming, but they incorporate only what the police have documented and do not include unreported murders or the hundreds (or more) of disappearance cases. This violence, paired with a lack of opportunity, has caused Salvadorans, including growing numbers of women and children, to flee the country in droves. Whether they are refugees fleeing violence or economic migrants without specific grounds to receive asylum is a vital question now part of the U.S. national political debate. In an attempt to understand the different sources and dynamics of violence, the Center for International Policy and the Latin America Working Group Education Fund traveled to El Salvador late last year. We interviewed journalists, analysts, government officials, judges, police officers, citizens, activists, humanitarian workers, diplomats, and academics. Our series of posts in the coming days will lay out El Salvador's current security situation and provide recommendations for U.S. policy. What we found was evidence of a grim, multi-sided conflict with no clear end in sight: Gangs are now present in each of the country's 14 regional departments, controlling entire neighborhoods and imposing untold violence and fear on the population. Evidence is emerging that some members of the military and police, now engaged in a war against the gangs, are involved in extrajudicial killings. Many Salvadoran citizens are in favor of the government's militarized measures and are calling for the gangs' blood, adopting a 'kill them all' mantra in hopes that some sort of peace will emerge once the gangs are gone. But the gangs are a moving target, whose operations involve a substantial part of the population and who continue to re-fill their ranks with young, marginalized boys who have grown up in areas where criminal groups hold more clout than the state. The Salvadoran government developed a relatively well-regarded plan that promises a more balanced approach to the gangs, but there is little funding for the program and international donors have been slow to buy in. The hard security strategy is what is most evident on the streets. In the backdrop of all of this, or perhaps driving it, are problems rooted in the legacy of the country's bloody civil war, which lasted from 1980 to 1992. The problems of social inequality and elite dominance of state institutions that contributed to the conflict are still in place, and it is evident that the inheritance of the use of force as a first resort still casts a shadow over El Salvador. Politics remain extremely polarized, corruption is rampant, impunity is high, transparency is low and justice is rare. But despite all obstacles, a comprehensive, rights-respecting way out must be sought. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group, 2016. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2017 at: http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/El_Salvadors_Violence-No_Easy_Way_Out.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 147841 |
Author: Rivard Piche, Gaelle Title: The Gradual Emergence of Second Generation Security Sector Reform in El Salvador Summary: First generation security sector reform (SSR) was implemented in El Salvador following the end of the civil war. Despite institutional reforms, Salvadoran SSR remains unfinished. Today, 12 years after the deployment of the new civilian police force, El Salvador is plagued by crime and violence. New strategies are necessary to increase the effectiveness of the security and justice sector to control crime and address insecurity, a primary objective of SSR. This paper argues that renewed SSR should address violence and crime through local initiatives that can then inform the national debate and policy-making process. In that perspective, it looks at two initiatives that were put in place in recent years to address crime and violence in El Salvador: the US Central America Regional Security Initiative and the gang truce. These efforts point to the need to rethink how security is delivered and how the state can tackle crime and violence. Most importantly, the case of El Salvador demonstrates that non-state criminal actors who play an important role in the control of communities cannot be left out of the picture when it comes to violence control and SSR. As such, donors and policy makers must rethink how to deal with those armed actors and adopt more flexible, less state-centric strategies that are more likely to bear results. Details: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada: Centre for Security Governance, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: CSG Paper no. 14: Accessed november 17, 2017 at: http://secgovcentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Second-Generation-SSR-in-El-Salvador-January-2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Crime Shelf Number: 148220 |
Author: Puerta, Felipe Title: Symbiosis: Gangs and Municipal Power in Apopa, El Salvador Summary: The story of Jose Elias Hernandez, the mayor of Apopa, El Salvador, illustrates the dark alliances between gangs and politicians in Central America. Details: Insight Crime, 2017. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 1, 2017 at: https://www.insightcrime.org/investigations/symbiosis-gangs-municipal-power-apopa-el-salvador/ Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Shelf Number: 148669 |
Author: Parakilas, Jacob Title: The Devil's Trade: Guns and Violence in El Salvador Summary: El Salvador is a country with a troubled past and a troubled present. It is home to two of the most powerful and violent criminal gangs in the world - the Calle 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13). And it is haunted by the constant presence of violence. Ravaged by a civil war in the 1980s and 90s, this Central American nation has the highest concentration of gang members of all of the 'Northern Triangle' countries - and its homicide and gun violence rates are shockingly high - well above global averages. In 2011, El Salvador, this country of just over six million , saw nearly 70 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. That year it had over 4,000 homicides, just under half the number of murders seen in the US, a country over fifty times its size.3 El Salvador is not just a country haunted by violent death. It is also a country where the gun is ubiquitous. In 2011, 70 per cent of homicides there were at the end of a gun. And thousands more are seriously wounded by gunfire every year. Despite a gang truce in 2012 between the Calle 18 and the MS-13, violence in El Salvador remains an ugly part of everyday life there. Understanding how guns end up in the hands of criminals is vital if we are to begin to understand something about the daily horrors of shootings and murders. Yet very little research has been done on arms trafficking anywhere south of the US-Mexico border. In this report, THE DEVIL'S TRADE, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) travelled to El Salvador and found that the number of illegal guns in El Salvador matches, and probably vastly exceeds, the estimated 250,000 legitimately owned guns in the country. It also found that obstacles and resistance from those with financial interests in the gun trade have crushed any attempts at firearms law reform. And that corruption in the sectors of the government responsible for gun law enforcement is rampant. THE DEVIL'S TRADE also found that very few guns are being successfully removed from circulation in El Salvador - or in Central America generally. Even confiscated weapons often make their way back into illicit circulation. With such access to weapons, Salvadoran criminal groups' ability to commit widespread violence with impunity remains uncontested, and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future despite attempts to broker a truce among the gangs. Details: London: Action on Armed Violence, 2014. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 31, 2018 at: https://aoav.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/the_devils_trade_lr.pdf Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Arms Trafficking Shelf Number: 148932 |
Author: Alpers, Philip Title: El Salvador -- Gun Facts, Figures and the Law Summary: Provides a bibliography of 153 short references on gun violence in El Salvador. Details: Sydney: University of Sydney, School of Public Health, 2018. Source: Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. GunPolicy.org, 8 December. Accessed 31 January 2018. at: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/el-salvador Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 148933 |
Author: Dahbura, Juan Nelson Martinez Title: The Short-Term Impact of Crime on School Enrollment and School Choice: Evidence from El Salvador Summary: This research employs household survey data from El Salvador to evaluate the short-term impact of several measures of crime and a truce between gangs during 2012 on school enrollment and the choice between public and private education for individuals 7 to 22 years old in 2013. The results show that homicides, thefts, robberies and extortions are significantly associated with lower school enrollment and higher attendance to public schools among boys in several age brackets. A robust positive impact of homicide rates and school enrollment for girls under 15 years old, and a positive association between property crimes and the choice of private schools for older girls is observed, possibly reflecting selective investment choices of parents. Details: Tokyo: Institute for Economic Studies, Keio University, 2016. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series : Accessed March 13, 2018 at: https://ies.keio.ac.jp/upload/pdf/en/DP2016-012.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Children and Violence Shelf Number: 149457 |
Author: Lynch, Edward Title: Responding to Gang Violence in El Salvador: What Homeboy Industries Can Teach Us About Reinsertion and Prevention Summary: n March of 2012, the MS-13 and Barrio 18 street gangs of EI Salvador declared a truce and end in their violent war for territory. National homicide rates decreased overnight and now the Salvadoran government has become involved in facilitating and maintaining the life and continuity of this truce. This thesis discusses the roots of these gangs in terms of historical events such as the Salvadoran Civil War and the United States' involvement through immigration and deportation. Analyzing past responses to Salvadoran gangs, I found a primarily repression-based strategy that served to radicalize, brutalize and solidify the gang. Some NGOs and progressive businesses have started to address the problem, but without government support, their efforts are ineffective. Prison conditions in EI Salvador only serve to exacerbate the situation. I looked at Greg Boyle's Homeboy Industries model in Los Angeles for some insights. Homeboy has created many great employment opportunities but also tries to address many of the social aspects of gang reformation. I came away from my study of Homeboy Industries with the notion that if we are really willing to reform gang members in EI Salvador, kinship has to be the driving influence. Details: Denver, CO: Regis University, 2013. 103p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://epublications.regis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 150100 |
Author: Acosta, Pablo Ariel Title: Public Works Programs and Crime: Evidence for El Salvador Summary: Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program, which aimed to guarantee a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for six months, as well as provide beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007 to 2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the Temporary Income Support Program can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a reduction in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the Temporary Income Support Program on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. Positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 kilometers. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2018. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Working Paper No. 8384: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29564/WPS8384.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Cash Transfers Shelf Number: 150131 |
Author: Dingeman-Cerda, Mary Kathleen Title: Bienvenidos a Casa? Deportation and the Making of Home in the U.S.-El Salvador Transnation Summary: This dissertation fills a gap in migration literature by analyzing the question of coerced return. It uncovers the conditions under which individuals deported from the U.S. feel like they have been warmly accepted "home" or have been marginalized and made to feel like strangers in their native country. It draws upon an ethnographic case study of El Salvador. Findings are informed by an inductive analysis of 100 life-history interviews with Salvadoran deportees, as well as observations in nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles and El Salvador and 20 unstructured interviews with experts on Salvadoran migration and deportation. It brings together literature on the meanings of 'home,' as well as immigrant incorporation and return migrant reintegration. It seeks to understand not only how contemporary deportation law impacts lives but how deportees make sense of their realities and adjust their behaviors to establish a sense of belonging upon return. The dissertation shows that post-deportation trajectories - the degree and ways of being embedded in El Salvador after return - are varied, non-linear, and sometimes paradoxical. They are determined by an interaction of deportees' personal characteristics and the trans/national and local levels contexts to which they return. In El Salvador, the context of return is experienced differently depending upon deportees' degree of acculturation in the U.S. versus El Salvador. Individuals with high levels of identification and affiliation with El Salvador - Salvadoran nationals - were more likely to experience a return 'homecomings,' but they maintained low levels of economic embeddedness. Conversely, U.S. nationals who grew up or spent significant time in the U.S. experienced removal as banishment from the 'homes' they built in the U.S. They were constructed as foreigners and as threats to national security in El Salvador and were thus regulated to socially and economically marginal positions. Persons with gang histories or who were presumed to have them were highly stigmatized and criminalized. They were also targets of state surveillance, police abuse, and violence from gangs. Though all deportees employed coping and homemaking strategies, those who were more socially accepted were more likely to claim El Salvador as their 'home.' Details: Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine, 2014. 318p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed June 19, 2018 at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/79c92564 Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Deportation Shelf Number: 150576 |
Author: Kalsi, Priti Title: The Impact of U.S. Deportation of Criminals on Gang Development and Education in El Salvador Summary: Exploiting the implementation of an American immigration policy that increased deportations of criminals and introduced U.S.-based gangs to El Salvador, I study the impact of the expansion of U.S.-based gangs on gender-specific education accumulation in El Salvador. Regions with high U.S.-based gang presence are identified by locating areas exhibiting a large decline in homicides after a recent truce between two major U.S.-based gangs in El Salvador. find that these areas became disproportionately more violent as more criminals were deported from the United States to El Salvador. Using variation in both timing of American immigration policy and gang intensity within a location, I estimate a difference-in-differences model to study the impact of increased gang exposure on children's education. I find that the establishment of gangs hinders basic education (comparable to U.S. grades 1-9) attainment for boys. The results for girls are weaker and mostly statistically indistinguishable from zero. The effect is directly linked to American criminal deportations by estimating effects based on the intensity of exposure to American criminal deportees experienced by a particular cohort. I further argue that the results are not driven by selective domestic or international migration. Finally, the mechanism explaining the results in this paper appears to be exposure to gangs and not just high rates of violence. I do not find evidence suggesting that boys joining gangs explain the effects. Instead, I argue that boys in gang areas increase employment likely in response to gangs' extortion practices. Details: Rochester, NY: Department of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2017. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2018 at: https://www.colgate.edu/docs/default-source/default-document-library/kalsi_criminal_deportations_gangs.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Deportations Shelf Number: 150731 |
Author: Van Gestel, Gregory Title: Expanding Mediation Theory: Gang Conflict and Mediation in El Salvador Summary: The field of mediation within peace and conflict studies has remained almost entirely focused on state-based armed conflicts and traditional non-state armed groups (NSAG). This restricts our ability to address other actors and emerging forms of conflict in non-conflict and postconflict settings. This includes a certain classification of gangs who display strong similarities to typical NSAGs. This study analyses gang mediation and its effects on levels of violence in gang conflicts in El Salvador through the lens of traditional mediation theory from the field of peace and conflict studies. It seeks to answer the question, how does mediation influence levels of violence within gang conflicts? More specifically, addressing the hypotheses that, mediation between gangs, and government support for mediation, will likely lead to lower levels of violence. Using a qualitative comparative case study method, employing a structured, focused comparison between three different time periods in El Salvador, I find support for both hypotheses, showing that gang mediation leads to a significant reduction in violence albeit conditional on government support. In addition, factors such as dialogue, information sharing, leverage, concessions and the signing of an agreement are essential in the process between mediation and lower levels of violence. Details: Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 2018. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 18, 2018 at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2b4b/f6c2a8fdde6c473a3ec15dc91bdce6b4adb4.pdf Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Conflict Resolution Shelf Number: 150909 |
Author: Castillo, Vogel Vladimir Title: A History of the Phenomenon of the Maras of El Salvador, 1971-1992 Summary: This thesis grounds its examination of the maras of El Salvador in the historical past (1971-1992) rather than the present, which constitutes a departure from current scholarship on the subject. This thesis revises our current understanding of the emergence and development of maras in El Salvador through the recovery, insertion and examination of key local events, conditions, and historical actors of the 1970s and 1980s. From signifying friendship and camaraderie prior to the late 1980s, the maras increasingly became the target of public concern and Salvadoran security forces over the course of the 1980. By the late 1980s the maras increasingly became associated with criminal activity in Salvadoran society and popular culture. To document these changed conditions, this thesis relies extensively on previously untapped and ignored primary sources: newspapers and oral history interviews. Details: University of North Texas, 2014. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 18, 2018 at: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799509/#description-content-main Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 150910 |
Author: Stal, Georgina Title: When We Get Out It's A Matter of Survival: The Challenges of Integrating Juvenile Offenders in El Salvador Summary: This investigation is an exploratory case study examining the challenges that juvenile offenders in El Salvador face in integrating into their communities after a significant period of confinement. Given the repressive trend to crime prevention in the Central American context, labeling theory was used as a lens to examine how stigmatization challenges youth's integration. Moreover, the theories of differential association and social learning highlight how incarceration increases likelihood of failed integration through its effect on peer association. The investigation relied primarily on previous research and ethnographic methods including participant observation in a Salvadoran Juvenile confinement center and interviews with professionals and youth. Results indicated that the stigmatization of Salvadoran youth limits opportunities available for the integration of juvenile offenders both within institutions and their communities, and drives youth's rejection of conventional society. Moreover youth's incarceration drives differential association with delinquent peers and the social learning consequences thereof. Thus, repression of criminal behavior in the form of stigmatization and policies such as incarceration seem to contribute to youth's failure to integrate and inadvertently fuel insecurity and the continuous cycle of violence characteristic of El Salvador and the Northern Triangle at-large. Details: Lund, Sweden: Lund University, Master of International Development and Management, 2012. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 26, 2018 at: http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=2543744&fileOId=2543759 Year: 2012 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Desistance Shelf Number: 150920 |
Author: International Crisis Group Title: El Salvador's Politics of Perpetual Violence Summary: El Salvador, a small country in the isthmus of Central America, is wracked by an implacable strain of gang warfare. Exceptionally intense and persistent violence pits rival street gangs against one another and in opposition to the police and state. Formerly hailed for its smooth transition to democracy and for turning the two foes of its 1980s civil war into political forces competing vigorously yet peaceably for power, El Salvador once again is famed for its bloodletting. Its recent murder rates rank among the highest in the world and its jails are among the most overcrowded. For the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, its main gang, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), personifies the menace of undocumented immigration. Although the Salvadoran state has developed a series of strategies for violence prevention, its mainly repressive efforts over the past fifteen years have checked the influence of these alternative approaches. It should now implement plans to prevent crime, rehabilitate gang members and spur development in marginalised communities. Most urgently, El Salvador will require protection from the turbulence that U.S. mass deportations could provoke. The permanence of violence owes as much to the success as to the failings of the peace accords. The two former wartime foes have jostled for democratic supremacy, repeatedly using security policy for electoral purposes by seeking to satisfy public demand for mano dura (iron fist) against the gangs. Although government has changed hands, security methods have not altered: mass detentions and incarceration, as well as militarisation of policing, have become standard procedure whether under the rule of right-wing elites or former guerrillas. U.S. authorities have recently offered support to this approach, pledging to "dismantle" the MS-13. In private, however, high-level officials from across the country's political divide lament the harmful effects of this crackdown on over-stretched courts and front-line police. Blueprints geared to preventing the drift of young men from low-income neighbourhoods into gang life have been drafted: the government launched the most recent, the "Safe El Salvador" plan, as a holistic strategy to restore the states territorial control. But as violence soared after 2014 following the disintegration of a truce with the gangs, extreme measures of jail confinement and police raids have once again become the government's predominant methods to choke the gangs. Allegations of police brutality and extrajudicial executions have multiplied. Recent surveys suggest that veteran members of these gangs wish to cease the violence. However, the economic dead-end of El Salvador's urban outskirts the countrys recent GDP growth rate of 1.9 per cent is among the lowest in Central America - continues to drive a supply of willing young recruits, and consolidate a rearguard of sympathisers dependent on income from the gangs' extortion schemes and other rackets. The reality and stigma of gang violence combine to block off alternative ways of life for those born into these communities, cutting years of schooling for young people in areas of high gang presence and alienating potential employers. Instead of succumbing to the state's offensive, gangs set up roadblocks in their neighbourhoods and impose their own law; their fight against security forces has claimed the lives of 45 police officers so far this year. The deadlock between a tarnished set of security policies and a gang phenomenon that thrives on the ostracism and contempt of mainstream Salvadoran society can only now be resolved by recasting the way the country treats its security dilemmas. Judicial and security institutions require careful reform to ensure resources are distributed to areas with the highest concentrations of violence, and used to boost intelligence-led policing that targets gang members committing the most serious crimes. Jail-based reinsertion schemes, and cooperation with diverse churches, NGOs and businesses that offer second chances to former gang members, must be strengthened to provide a legal framework for rehabilitation as well as material incentives for the gangs to eventually disband. Although the countrys main political parties and most of the public oppose any hint of negotiation with gangs, the reality in many poor areas is of constant daily encounters with these groups. Tolerance for these grassroots efforts, despite the existing legal restrictions on any contact with gangs, is essential to build the confidence that will be required for dialogue in the future. None of this will be easy, nor is it likely to be assisted by U.S. policy toward either gangs or Salvadoran immigrants. The potential cancellation of the rights to residency in the U.S. of 195,000 beneficiaries of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program threatens to overwhelm the Salvadoran state's capacity to accommodate returnees, not unlike the experience of the late 1990s when mass deportations of gang members from the U.S. to El Salvador exported the criminal capital that led to the lightning rise of the MS-13 and its main rival, the 18th Street gang. El Salvador is simply unprepared, economically and institutionally, to receive such an influx, or to handle their 192,700 U.S. children, many of them at the perfect age for recruitment or victimisation by gangs. At a time when levels of violence remain extraordinarily high, with exhaustion toward an unwinnable conflict voiced on both sides, the arrival of thousands of migrants back to their crime-affected homeland would impose huge strains. To escape its perpetual violence, El Salvador needs support, not the recurrence of past mistakes Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2018. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 64: July 30, 2018 at: https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/064-el-salvador-s-politics-of-perpetual-violence.pdf Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 150953 |
Author: Guerra, Margarita Isabel Penate Title: Estimacion del Costo Economico de la Violencia en El Salvador 2014 Summary: Violence is a worldwide problem, with varying intensity from region to region, but Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region. Polls say violence is the main problem in El Salvador and it's one of most important economic growth constraints as the Partnership for Growth initiative has established. This paper has the objective of quantify the economic cost of the violence as a percentage of El Salvador's 2014 Gross Domestic Product using the 2005 United Nations Development Programme Methodology. Details: San Salvador: Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador, 2016. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Documentos Ocasionales 2016-01: Accessed August 13, 2018 at: http://www.bcr.gob.sv/bcrsite/uploaded/content/category/494397239.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Costs of Crime Shelf Number: 151118 |
Author: El Salvador Unamonos Para Crecer Title: Plan El Salvador Seguro (Safe El Salvador Plan) Summary: Introduction Installed in September 2014, the National Security Council Citizen and Coexistence (CNSCC) is composed of institutions of the State, COMURES, churches, media, private enterprise, political parties, various representatives of civil society and the international community. Its main objectives are: - Providing inputs that help enrich policies and national justice plans, citizen security and coexistence. - Collect contributions from different sectors and facilitate dialogue with the society. - Propose actions that make the implementation of policies viable in matters of justice, citizen security and coexistence to find solutions together. - Follow up on public policies on justice, citizen security and coexistence and issue an opinion on their execution. - Submit periodic reports to the public about the work of the Advice. - Contribute to identify mechanisms for financing the policies and plans for justice, citizen security and coexistence. This Plan will be articulated with social and economic policies and complements other initiatives such as the Five-Year Development Plan, the Central American Security Strategy (ESCA), FOMILENIO II, the Alliance for the Prosperity of the Northern Triangle and other efforts of State institutions, private enterprise and local initiatives that are already underway in the country, as well as the work of other councils thematic areas that will be installed, such as the Board of Education, and the Pact for Employment and Productivity, among others. Details: San Salvadore, El Salvador: Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Ciudadana y Convivencia, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 12, 2019 at: http://www.presidencia.gob.sv/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/El-Salvador-Seguro.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Alliance for the Prosperity of the Northern Triang Shelf Number: 154094 |
Author: Mesa de Sociedad Civil contra el Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia y Crimen Organizado en El Salvacor Title: Informe Sobre Situacion de Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia Generalizada en El Salvador (Report on the Situation of Forced Displacement for Generalized Violence in El Salvador) Summary: PRESENTATION On October 19, 2015, a Thematic Hearing was held in Washington DC of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) in which members Commissioners of this instance called on the State of El Salvador to explain the measures you have taken to address the phenomenon of displacement internal populations generated by violence. The Thematic Hearing was requested to the IACHR by non-governmental organizations that make up the Civil Society Committee against Forced Displacement due to violence and organized crime in El Salvador, who presented and presented a report with a general overview of this phenomenon from specific cases catered. The Civil Society Board against forced displacement was represented before the IACHR by the organizations Foundation for Studies for the Application of Law (FESPAD); the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University (IDHUCA), Cristosal Foundation, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Group of Independent Monitoring of El Salvador (GMIES). The commissioners from the IACHR present at the Audience were Rosa Mara Ortiz, Tracy Robinson and Rose-Marie Belle Antoine. On the part of the Salvadoran State, the Deputy Director of the National Civil Police (PNC), Commissioner Howard Cotto, read a explanatory document on the current security policy promoted by the body Executive. Nonetheless, the IACHR noted that the victims of displacement forced are currently being served by rights defenders' organizations human rights and civil society, which is why the Commission asked the institutions of Salvadoran State officially recognize this problem and assist those who have forced to leave their homes because of violence generated by gang groups. Also, the president of the IACHR, Rose Marie Antoine, suggested the Salvadoran State be cautious when linking the term terrorism with youth gangs. This report is based on the presentation presented in the month of October 2015 by representatives of the Civil Society Committee against forced displacement before the IACHR. The information has been updated and covers the period August 2014 to December 2015 It is important to note that the data reported in tables, graphs and illustrations they constitute only a fragment of reality on the subject of displacement forced, given that they start from specific cases served directly by seven of the thirteen organizations that make up the table. The detail is attached to the report which supports the tables and related graphs. A special annex to the report consists of a description of the preconditions for Forced displacement of girls, boys, adolescents and young people in some communities with control or incidence of groups linked to gangs and crime organized. It is a specific population, that because it belongs to a group clearly identified as young, living in poor neighborhoods and controlled by criminal gangs, live in conditions of threat and confinement in their own homes in retaliation for not joining these groups or for refusing to commit actions criminal. As their families can no longer support this condition and increase the risks, these groups are forced to abandon their communities. A second annex collects different links with media and websites of agencies international events that covered the Thematic Hearing and follow-up on the topic on forced displacement. Finally, we would like to thank the support received from the Alliance for Migrations from Central America and Mexico (CAMMINA) and AVINA Americas, who have accompanied the work process of civil society organizations with population forcedly displaced, the presence of a representation of this effort in WDC and the necessary systematization for the preparation and publication of this report. Details: San Salvador, El Salvador: 2017. 40p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 19, 2019 at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5784803ebe6594ad5e34ea63/t/57ce04e42994ca4d3c1f2ace/1473119464705/Informe+2015-+situacio%C3%ACn+de+desplazamiento+forzado+%281%29.pdf Year: 2017 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Displacement Shelf Number: 154203 |
Author: Blackman, Kate Title: Gangs and Development in El Salvador Summary: As crime and violence are increasingly recognized as barriers to development, the global gang phenomenon is also becoming a concern. El Salvador boasts one of the most extreme examples of gang violence in the world. Gangs represent a significant portion of youth perpetuating crime and violence on a large scale thereby inhibiting economic, political, and human development. Due to the myriad of ways gangs barricade development, research is imperative for improving endeavours to cease their continuity. In this thesis, I will examine efforts of prevention, suppression and integration employed to address gangs. I will show that the gangs in El Salvador are a product of underdevelopment. Drawing from the experiences of the youth, we will see that the gangs provide basic needs for young people when unable to attain conventional success. Thus, in order to address gangs, development must be addressed. Details: Halifax, Nova Scotia: Saint Mary's University, 2014. 137p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed February 5, 2019 at: http://library2.smu.ca/handle/01/26276#.XFmqaVxKjcs Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Economic Development Shelf Number: 154495 |
Author: Knox, Vickie Title: An Atomised Crisis: Reframing displacement caused by crime and violence in El Salvador Summary: Preliminary findings from the El Salvador report reveal that criminal violence is highly targeted an individualised. In the absence of coordinated state support, people rely on their own networks and often don't report their situation for fear of reprisal. This means they have few safe options inside the country, which leads to repeated displacement, severe restrictions on freedom of movement and significant crossborder flight. The research also reveals that, in attempting to combat extremely high levels of violence in El Salvador, repressive state security measures have triggered new displacement, as gangs target police and their families, and security forces target young people in gang-affected areas. The study draws on extensive desk research covering the academic literature and latest empirical reports, and qualitative data collected in 51 interviews with 80 experts in El Salvador and Mexico City during March and April 2018. Details: Geneva, SWIt: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2018. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Thematic Report: Accessed February 5, 2019 at: http://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/201809-el-salvador-an-atomised-crisis-en.pdf Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Citizen Displacement Shelf Number: 154497 |
Author: Pavon Tercero, Viveca Title: Dynamics of Violence in El Salvador Summary: Central America is the deadliest region in the world. The UNODC reports that the level of violence in this region is higher than in any single nation, including those at war. El Salvador's 2015 homicide rate was listed as the highest for any country in nearly 20 years. This research seeks to better explain policies within El Salvador and how they continue to affect gang activities and crime. The research also seeks to fill in the gap on gang network dynamics and their level of power in affecting policies. I begin by exploring the policies implemented in the early 2000s and explaining how they have had a significant effect in gang development but also in political gain for acting parties. In an attempt to maintain control over a territory state leaders may chose policies that favor a public appearance of control. This study seeks to address if a country is willing to implement 'punitive populism' in exchange for votes by analyzing the case of El Salvador. I argue that despite numerous failed attempts at controlling violence through punitive policies the country continues to enforce these actions and use them as platforms for future elections. Chapter three in this research uses social network analysis (SNA) to identify the temporal relationship between paired municipalities according to homicide. This method looks at the interconnectivity of homicide counts from one year and the next between municipalities, meaning that it is evaluating how two seemingly distinct regions can be responding to each other when it comes to homicide rates. The idea is to identify which municipalities are responding to crime in other municipalities around the country. This becomes a critical aspect of violence in the country because gangs can react to a specific event by attacking regions where rival gangs operate, not necessarily adjacent areas. In this study I conducted a single datum correlation coefficient (SDCC) to create this network connection. Using SNA we can better identify what regions of the country are of interest during a specific point in time and can help policy makers establish areas needing additional backing. This novel method introduces a new way of observing criminal behavior and helps identify hubs of criminal activity as well as vulnerable relationships among municipalities which could be indicative of gang retaliation areas. The 2012 Peace agreement in El Salvador between Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 was an unprecedented truce between two of the deadliest rival gangs in Latin America. This agreement serves as an indication of cooperation with a greater purpose between groups that had been deemed unorganized. This raises concerns of what circumstances will facilitate cooperation between rival groups and what can be expected of this collaboration. Following the truce there was a genuine fear that gangs in El Salvador could become political actors by using Violent Lobbying and/or Violent Corruption. Even though the gangs have not proven to have political power there is still a fear that they can continue to influence politicians behind closed doors. This paper seeks to identify the tactics the gangs could use if they did attempt to lobby the state. These specific violent acts help us understand what pressures the government of El Salvador could have been facing that led to the truce being agreed upon. It also distinguishes what changes in violence the country experienced during and after the agreement. In order to identify these specific patterns I use event data analysis on newspaper stories from El Diario de Hoy to help identify is any coercive methods where used by las maras. These three chapters evaluate different aspects of violence in El Salvador originating from gang activity. I begin with a historical approach of policy implementation help introduce how the gangs developed and how they gained power to be able to influence violence beyond the reach of direct contiguity. I conclude by presenting past uses of violence with a direct purpose in order to understand the level of political power the gangs could obtain for future gain. Details: Dallas: University of Texas at Dallas, 2018. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 18, 2019 at: http://libtreasures.utdallas.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6315/ETD-5608-028-PAVONTERCERO-8728.63.pdf?sequence=5 Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 154653 |