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Carmen Gentile
Time Magazine
The two most famous exports of El Salvador are rivals. Unfortunately, they are also ferocious gangs: Mara 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha. They have exported their gang culture — learned by expatriates returned from undocumented existence in the big cities of the United States — to other countries in Central and South America, re-exporting their influence back to the U.S., moving beyond petty thievery, flashy tattoos and thuggish violence, to drug-trafficking and large-scale extortion.
For the last three decades, successive Salvadoran governments have tried to curtail the two Maras. In the 1990s the Salvadoran government instituted a policy that became known as the Mano Duro (Strong Hand) [sic.], that saw thousands of gang members jailed. But Mano Duro has not stopped the gangs. Corruption at the highest levels of government has allowed many leaders to go free or conduct business from behind bars. Saul Turcios Angel, also known as the “Pitbull,” ran a kidnapping and extortion ring as part of Mara Salvatrucha. He escaped from a Salvadoran prison last year and was apprehended in Nicaragua earlier this week. Turcios faces possible extradition to the U.S. to face charges that, while behind bars, he phoned fellow gang members in a Maryland suburb, ordering them to commit murders and other crimes. (See pictures of the gangs of El Salvador.)
Earlier this week as well, gang members are suspected of killing the photographer and documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda, who spent years chronicling their activity and evolution. Poveda was shot in the head, killed, say police, by the very gang members he had been filming earlier in the day. Gang related deaths average about 10 a day throughout the country, according to local newspaper accounts, which splash news of the mayhem across their front pages daily.
While some gang members say they are virtual prisoners of their poor neighborhoods, unable to leave the slums because of police crackdowns and threats from rival gangs, gang culture continues to spread. It has moved well beyond its original bases in the impoverished suburbs of the capital like Apopa and Soyapango. It has now taken root in San Miguel, the country’s second-largest city, and the port of La Union, which they now utilize for trafficking drugs abroad. Nowadays, gangs threaten businesses large and small, demanding kickbacks for not shutting them down. They are even said to force the country’s public transportation system to pay millions of dollars annually in protection money. (Read about U.S. programs that attempt to turn around gang members.)
Many observers believe that newly elected Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes will ease the Mano Duro policy and, instead, implement social programs aimed at dissuading the country’s youth into joining gangs. But, says Samuel Logan, an expert on Latin American gang culture, “The current administration still has not made an effort to to adopt a less punitive position in dealing with the gangs.” Ironically, one of the loudest advocates for rolling back Mano Duro ways Poveda, who photographed the El Salvaor civil war for TIME in the 1980s. Poveda said in a recent interview that El Salvador’s political corruption and abject poverty made most gang members “victims of society.” (Read about the election of Salvadoran President Maurico Funes.)
But social programs are expensive for a country that depends for survival largely on remittances from citizens who work abroad, from relatives and friends in the United States. El Salvador’s local economy has been hit particularly hard in recent months due to the global economic downturn and slumping U.S. economy, says Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, creating “a society unable to fulfill expectations of a large portion of the population.” Says Birns, “El Salvador simply can’t afford a full-scale war on crime and gangs.” And so the Maras will continue to grow and export themselves.
Should really be Mano Dura, as that is the phrase used (mano is f. noun)
With such a basic error in the research, not sure how seriously to take the rest, but thanks.
The highlighted part of the last paragraph is only half the story, as during economic prosperity gangs constitute just as much of a problem as in times of economic woe. With much of the population of El Salvador living in poverty anyway, the notion of a downturn is really something quite marginal for people with not a lot to begin with.
This is a direct reproduction of an article in the September issue of Time Magazine; the highlighted section is a contribution by our executive director to the piece. We are aware of the error, but I am sure Time Magazine would appreciate your correction. Thank you for your response.
Best,
COHA Staff
57.
Some times, you cannot just watch a video and pass judgement on people and a country.
El salvador is going through a change, drastic cultural change , and the said change is taking us through the path of fighting crime with all we got, just like the united states has done through out its history.
What el salvador needs, is not bad press, nor prejudiced comments, its needs a buddy system, meaning, a group of countries with the know how and funds to erradicate the issue at its roots.
yes, i know, it is in fact a an ideal and utopic dream, but it could in fact work.
if we say that what we have is a socio-cultural problem, then lets start by fighting the first part of this socio-cultural problem, not the end product. what we need is,
1- identify-analyse and create a solution for each of the items found, such us;
* lack of parental supervision
* lack of family unity
* lack of work training related programs
* lack of police brutality supervision
* lack of abuse protection laws and its enforcement.
* lack of mental health services for those ” so called children of war”
putting gang members in prison is just the temporary solution to the problem< when you put a gang member in jail, we perpetuate the cycle of abuse and violence talked about by many profesionals, what we need is to stop. think and process the right solutions.
this documentary, is closed to 1% of the real truth of el salvador, because it could only show the street value of the gangs, it did not show the profesional and corporate value of the same gangs. it is in those levels that has to be stopped first. but off course, it is impossible to stop it at those levels, but it could be reduced to lower levels.
to those judging el salvador based on this or many other videos, i ask you to create instead of destroy the image of el salvador.
look for funds outside el salvador, and create programs that could in fact
think and look for ways of supporting programs to assist these gang members on their way out of the gangs.
for people that have reached a higher level of profesionalism and have ventured into politics. help push for AID programs for el salvador.
but not programs ran by locals, they have to be programs ran by foreigners willing to give all for the cause and to keep them effective until the end.
lets creat an international agency, to focus on developing programs (specifically for gang related individuals and gang affected communities)
as government they are doing what they can, but as citizens, we as well are responsible of helping end this problem, or at least, just at least find a common ground for all of us.
lets think and create
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by the way,, the police program, is indeed calle MANO DURA> AS TRYING TO SAY, TO PUNISH THE CRIMINALS HARDER.