El Salvador’s murder rate rose 70% from 2015, giving them the name of the highest murder rate in the western hemisphere and one of the deadliest countries outside of a warzone. There were 6,600 homicides last year in a small country of six million people. How could such a small country be so dangerous?
El Salvador broke out into a civil war in 1980. For years beforehand, there were issues with class and wealth distribution when money started to flow in from exporting coffee. A guerilla group named the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Group (FMLN) formed in opposition to what they felt was an unrepresentative government and unfair distribution of wealth. The United States funded military cracked down on the group, committing massacres of hundreds to thousands of people who were suspected of being FMLN supporters. The war went on to kill about 75,000 people. The war ended in a stalemate.
The volatile environment that came from the war is what influenced the growth of the gangs to what they are now. In 2014 there was a truce between the two largest gangs in the country, the 18th street gang and MS-13, a truce that curbed the issue back a great amount. Last year the truce fell apart and the murder rate skyrocketed to the highest in the world.
This violence is a complex and difficult issue to solve. During the civil war, when many Salvadorans escaped to Los Angeles, gangs formed to protect themselves in tough areas of the city. When the United States began to crack down and deport these gang members, the issue followed back to the country. While deportations are a reason, they are not completely to blame. Violence has long been in El Salvador, the 1932 genocide of indigenous Salvadorans, the notorious civil war, and gang violence that started in the 60’s. Instability is a perfect fertilizer for gang violence to grow, and El Salvador has had plenty of it in recent years.
But citizens and gang members alike see the government as simplifying the very complex issue. They say that all they want to do is add more police, who intensify an already intense situation, though the government wants strong, zero tolerance policies.
“The murder rate spiked after the truce fell apart then there’s clearly evidence that they can make it work and that they don't need police enforcement to make them not kill each other. So I think looser laws would work better.” NHS Sophomore Arline Almeter said.
The current president of El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, is implementing a mano dura plan to end the violence. It is very controversial. The plan stresses police crackdowns and a zero tolerance policy towards gang members and crime. It also rules out gang truces.
After any war, there will be instability, and El Salvador is no exception. Since the war, the economy has been bad. That is one reason why the country is equal to China in the amount of immigrants that live in the United States, a country two hundred times the size of El Salvador. This immigration has taken a toll. Many immigrants seek jobs to benefit their families back home, but this means that typically fathers are leaving their small children and wives to another country. The gangs typically scout young men who have no father figure (which is prevalent due to immigration) or who are in poverty. Gangs thrive in environments where there is a high poverty rate, and just having a civil war makes the situation even worse.
The violence has forced many out of the country, immigrating, often illegally, to the United States. The United States has recently deported 77 undocumented immigrants, the raid happening on New Year’s Day. Though there were no Salvadorans involved in the crackdown, most of those deported were sent back to neighboring Central American countries; which are almost equally unsafe. Pro- Immigrant activists have shamed the government for performing these deportations,
“I think they should not deport people back to countries with high murder rates because they are not taking into consideration the person’s wellbeing or the reasons they had to come here. Like, if they’re reason (for leaving) is because of the high murder rate, they they’d be sending them back to somewhere they could be in danger” Almeter said.
The Government is staying tough on their stance that they will only tolerate documented immigrants.
Image Courtesy of scar.gmu.edu