Emma Lightizer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Salvador has been gripped by violence since its twelve-year civil war<\/a> that ended in 1992. At the time, thousands of Salvadorans sought asylum in the United States, and some of them ended up forming gangs for mutual protection in Los Angeles<\/a>. When the United States initiated its policy of deporting foreign nationals found guilty of committing a crime in the United States, gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha<\/a> and Barrio 18<\/a> were exported to El Salvador and grew to unprecedented levels of membership and violence. Decades after that initial increase in gang activity, what does violence in El Salvador look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most violence comes in the form of extortion, rape, and murders (especially of people aligned with rival gangs). Extortion is the main source of income for many cliques<\/a> (Wolf 78). Gang members feel entitled to demand \u201crent\u201d from local businesses: regular payments from bus drivers, local shops, restaurants, students, and teachers (Savenije 153). These payments are accompanied with threats of physical violence, robbery, or murder, and if anyone is unable to pay, they are forced out of business or killed (Wolf 78). An inability or unwillingness to pay gangs extortion money leads to hundreds of retaliatory murders and dozens of arson cases, among other violent consequences (Wolf 78). Gang members have no remorse for this method of getting money because \u201cnobody gives us [gang members] work,\u201d (Savenije 153). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rape of women and children is also common in El Salvador<\/a>. Gang members often demand sex and use their power<\/a> over certain territories to force women and girls to comply (UNHCR 9). They sometimes use rape as a bargaining tool, promising not to use other forms of violence if girls are compliant: for example, gang members told one eight-year-old girl that they wouldn\u2019t kill her little brother if she let them rape her, then they killed both children anyway (Mart\u00ednez 118).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In El Salvador, many types of\nmurders are common; these include retaliatory killings in cases of extortion or\nrefusal to join a gang, the murder of women or girls who refuse to sleep with\ngang members, and sicariato<\/em> (murder\nfor hire) (Wolf 85). It is also common for gang members to kidnap and murder\nwealthier individuals as an additional source of income; they use their credit\ncards, steal their belongings, or post a ransom for them under the false\npremise that they are not yet dead (Wolf 82). Murder is also common against\nex-gang members who testify in court; for example, El Ni\u00f1o Hollywood was\nmurdered in 2014 after he testified against nineteen fellow gang members for\nmurder (Mart\u00ednez 139). Although he was supposedly under witness protection by\nthe state, and although his murder occurred within mere meters of the police\nstation, \u201cthere was never any search for or investigation of the killers\u201d\n(Mart\u00ednez 139). El Ni\u00f1o\u2019s case was not unusual: most murders in El Salvador go\nuninvestigated, and even when investigations into murders or mass graves do\noccur, they are often underfunded and therefore unsuccessful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A large portion of the murders that\noccur are directed against rival gang members (Wolf 85). Disputes over\nterritory lead to shoot-outs, and murders of rival gang members are sometimes\nrequired as initiation rites (Wolf 72). Additionally, gangs sometimes kill\n\u201chomeboys that couldn\u2019t handle their shit\u201d: that is, they kill fellow gang\nmembers who endanger other members through recklessness or who cannot deal with\nthe harshness of gang life (Mart\u00ednez 99). Even within overfilled jails,\nrivalries are not controlled and sometimes lead to massacres (Mart\u00ednez 176). In\ncases like the Mariona massacre of 2004 or the Apanteos massacre in 2011,\nrivalries between MS-13, Barrio 18, and civilian prisoners erupt and inmates\nbreak down the walls in order to \u201cpull out nails,\u201d or collect payment for debts\nand exact revenge for past wrongs (Mart\u00ednez 174). Guards are unable to stop\nthese massacres from happening and often don\u2019t even try to. For example, the\nwarden of Apanteos said of the 2011 massacre that \u201c[w]e can\u2019t be held\nresponsible for what we can\u2019t avoid\u201d (Mart\u00ednez 169). The lack of resources both\ninside and outside of jails means that impunity is widespread for crimes\ncommitted by Salvadoran gangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChildren on the Run – Full Report.\u201d UNHCR<\/em>, 2014, www.unhcr.org\/en-us\/about-us\/\nbackground\/56fc266f4\/children-on-the-run-full-report.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mart\u00ednez, \u00d3scar Enrique. A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America<\/em>. London:\nVerso, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Savenije, Wim. Maras Y\nBarras: Pandillas Y Violencia Juvenil En Los Barrios Marginales De\nCentroam\u00e9rica<\/em>. El Salvador: Facultad Latinoamericana De Ciencias Sociales,\n2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wolf, Sonja. \u201cMara Salvatrucha: The Most Dangerous Street\nGang in the Americas?\u201d. Latin American\nPolitics and Society<\/em> 54, no. 1 (2012): 65-99. (JSTOR)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further\nReading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/diary-of-not-excavating-a-mass-grave-in-el-salvador\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2018\/03\/el-salvador-women-gangs-ms-13-trump-violence\/554804\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n