Skyrocketing murder rates in El Salvador led the country to surpass Honduras as the deadliest country in the Western Hemisphere. Yesterday, the General Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of 21 people involved in the 2012 controversial gang truce that crumbled in 2014.
In 2012, rival leaders of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 were brought together to stop acts of violence– the first part of a controversial peace process that unfortunately never moved beyond the initial phase. Without financial assistance, the government was prevented from making improvements to overcrowded prisons and creating programs to help released cons re-integrate into the community (4). In exchange for the ceasefire in homicides, incarcerated gang members were transferred from maximum-security prisons to jails closer to their families (6). As a result, the murder rate fell by half, but some hesitate to uphold the claim that violence declined as much as the government claims. Although homicides fell, disappearances increased. The truce collapsed in 2014. By 2015, El Salvador was swarmed with reinvigorated violence with a 70% rise in violence deaths making it the bloodiest year since the country’s civil war (2).
The election of former leftist guerilla President Salvador Sanchez Ceren in 2014 imposed an aggressive stance against gangs (6). On March 25, 2016, MS-13 and 2 factions of Barrio 18 announced a cease-fire to their street war against each other and the government, claiming that they are uniting to stop the violence assaulting their country (5). Both government and gangs are claiming responsibility for the recent decreases in violence. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the government efforts would have such a dramatic and quick effect – the Special Forces unit that one government official listed as cause for the government’s supposed success in curbing gang violence was only deployed last month. On April 18, gang leaders of the recent ceasefire attributed the fall in homicides to their truce, claiming it proved the gangs are “men of their word” (1).
Although the arrests of those involved in the gang negotiations have been applauded by the public majority who blame the gangs for the violence that has earned their country one of the most deadliest reputations, some experts are warning that politically motivated arrests may lead to dire consequences (2). Many of the senior negotiations have not been detained, whereas half of those arrested held low-level administrative roles, including psychologists, teachers, senior police officers and prison wardens.
1. http://qcostarica.com/government-and-gangs-claim-credit-for-sharp-drop-in-el-salvador-murders/
2. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/04/el-salvador-arrests-negotiators-gang-truce
3. http://latindispatch.com/2016/05/04/21578/
4. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/04/el-salvador-violence-deaths-murder-2015 (2)
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/el-salvadors-gangs-call-a-cease-fire-but-many-doubt-it-will-hold/2016/04/02/79222748-f5c2-11e5-958d-d038dac6e718_story.html
6. http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-el-salvador-gangs-20150418-story.html
TRANS-NATIONAL CRIME AND TERRORISM 