El Salvador Gangs violent and murders

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

Reuters  |  Posted: 07/05/2013 10:33 pm EDT

FOLLOW:

Voces de ContraPunto, El Salvador Crime, El Salvador Deaths, El Salvador Gang Truce, El Salvador Gang Violence, El Salvador Gangs, El Salvador Homicides, El Salvador Murders, El Salvador Violence, Reuters, World News

SAN SALVADOR, July 5 (Reuters) - El Salvador has seen a burst of violence, with 103 homicides this week, the government said on Friday, as a year-long truce between the country's violent gangs appeared to be crumbling.

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Salvador gang truce wobbles as violent murders mount

·          

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Principio del formulario Globalist Perspective > Global Security Curbing Gang Violence in Central America By César Chelala | Saturday, July 06, 2013 Each July 4th weekend, the United States reflects on its proudest achievements. On such occasions, it is always important to remember one's shortcomings and to work to fix them. César Chelala highlights the U.S.'s "export" of gang violence to Central America. Fortunately, there are solutions to curbing the problem if Americans get serious about tackling it. As July 4th passes, a day in which U.S. patriots show pride in their country, it may be worth reflecting on where the United States and other governments may have fallen below their own standards of social justice. Many gang members living in the U.S. have been deported, fueling serious social problems in their home countries. The relevant question is to consider how they may rectify the situation. Exploring the issue of gang violence across the Americas — an increasingly serious social problem — provides such an opportunity. Gang violence, fueled by the drug traffic in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean, is having a serious effect on people's lives. Most poignantly, it threatens to alter the social fabric of the countries in the region. Central American gangs, also called maras are named after the voracious ants known as marabuntas. The gangs are involved in a wide range of criminal activities, such as arms and drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, people smuggling and illegal immigration. One of the best-known Central American gangs, Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, has an estimated 70,000 members that are active in urban and suburban areas across North America. Offering job training, loans and mental health help to youngsters may be the best counter-measure. It originated in Los Angeles in the 1960s and then spread to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. The gang's activities have caught the attention of the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which have conducted raids and arrested hundreds of gang members. The FBI called MS-13 "America's most violent gang." MS-13 has been particularly active in Los Angeles County, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., Long Island, New York, and the Boston area. Their code of conduct includes fierce revenge and cruel retributions. Members of this gang were originally recruited by the Sinaloa in their battle against the Los Zetas Mexican cartel in their ongoing drug war south of the U.S. border. Many gang members living in the United States have been deported back to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. To Americans, that may look like a problem solved. In reality though, it only adds to the already serious social problems in those countries. The returning gang members bring back with them crack cocaine. Predictably, drug-related crimes are soon on a steep increase. Those gang members deported from the United States enlarge the local groups and find easy recruits among the local disenfranchised youth. Today, most of the members are in their twenties, while their leaders are in the late 30s and 40s. Controlling gang violence demands long-term action, even when it might not show immediate results. The gangs' battles with the police for control of working-class neighborhoods involve in each case heavy-handed tactics by the police. They also prove unproductive, since they unleash more random violence and terror. As an almost logical result of each government's efforts to eliminate them, many gang members have but one incentive — return to the United States. There, they continue their involvement in criminal activities. And so the vicious cycle begins anew. Today, the gangs have expanded into southern Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. This arouses calls for a more organized effort to combat them. Because of the great loss of the lives violence causes, the Pan American Health Organization and also the World Assembly of the World Health Organizationhave defined violence as a "public health problem." They proposed an epidemiological approach to address it that consists of Defining the problem and gathering information Identifying causes and risk factors, Developing and trying out specific interventions Evaluating policies' effectiveness. In the past, this approach was used successfully in Colombia. There, in the 1990s, an agreement was signed between government officials and the leaders of gangs that had been operating in the city of Cali. As a result, the gangs' leaders stopped their criminal activities and the government officials made a commitment to provide loans and technical training to gang members so that they might become productive members of society. Gang violence threatens to alter the social fabric of the countries in the region. A similar approach is now being used in El Salvador. There, the government is trying to curb gang activity through an ambitious jobs program. This is complemented by other social measures, such as training and provision of jobs that could be followed by the other countries in the region. Successful approaches suggest that controlling gang violence demands long-term action, even when it might not show immediate results. Prevention activities must also be targeted at the youngest sectors of the population, particularly those suffering from abusive conditions at home. After all, gang violence is often the direct result of poverty and no formal education. Among these actions to be taken is providing job training and psychological assistance, as well as job opportunities and loans to those youngsters. The use of a multifaceted approach may be the best guarantor against the social scourge of gang violence in the Central American region. Final del formulario

	Copyright © 2000-2013 by The Globalist. Reproduction of content on this site without The Globalist's written permission is strictly prohibited. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy 1100 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036