Crime in El Salvador
[2] El Salvador is one of the three countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, along with neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, which are all afflicted with high levels of violence.
The roots of gang violence arises from issues like social and economic inequality, and changes made during the Salvadoran Civil War.
[5] These gangs were created in the streets of Los Angeles by the refugees children[5] who were trying to escape the war that was happening in El Salvador.
TPS was given by the U.S. government in the 1990s [7] allowing them to stay in The United States for a short period of time while the Salvadoran Civil War was happening.
Throughout the war, nearly half of the country's population fled from violence and poverty, and children were recruited as soldiers by both the military-run government and the guerrilla group Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).
[12] In 2012, El Salvador saw a 41% drop in crime compared to 2011 figures due to what the Salvadoran government called a gang truce.
Today, El Salvador has to fix the current problems the Civil War has left and additionally the issue of organized crime.
In recent years, the homicide rate of El Salvador has plummeted drastically, both before and since the 2022 Salvadoran gang crackdown.
[6] MS-13 and Barrio 18 are powerful gangs that have great control over citizens in El Salvador causing people to feel fear and displacement.
The presence of one or more of these factors may compel an adolescent or child to turn to gangs in hope of finding a familial environment, social status, and economic opportunities.
El Salvador police report that traffickers cultivate ties and build alliances with gangs that eventually mature into international syndicates.
"[33] Before this policy was ruled unconstitutional, it put tens of thousands of gang members as young as 12 years old in jail between 2003 and 2004.
Despite these policies' purpose of decreasing the violence happening in El Salvador, they create judgment internationally because they violate the basic human rights of their citizens.
The researcher Juan Pappier, saw that a usual approach in Latin America was to talk about the significant security challenges by restricting or suspending the citizens’ rights.
This success dwindled beginning in the next year, and as of 2005, El Salvador had 65 homicides per 100000 inhabitants, more than triple the current rate of Mexico.
[38][39][40] Human Rights Watch has criticized the treatment of prisoners as humiliating, degrading, and endangering their health in the midst of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
This truce was established as a collaborative effort with the Salvadoran government to attempt to reduce the number of gang related homicides.
[45] The crackdown is part of the government's mano dura or "iron fist" approach, which has been criticized for its indiscriminate use of force against predominantly young male targets, suspected to be gang members.
[12] The organization helps navigate the complicated and dangerous gang geography of El Salvador for deportees[12] and also provides programming and care for young people in both locations.
The organization encourages employment, education, and physical and mental health and provides tools and resources for achieving these things, such as tattoo removal and job connections.
Family members had been killed or had fled the country, leaving the children alone with few other options other than joining the war effort.
The presence of one or more of these factors may compel an adolescent or child to turn to gangs in hope of finding a familial environment, social status, and economic opportunities.
[9] Some of these young people grew up in Los Angeles as the children of war refugees, and experienced gang involvement there.
[12] Gang members are "jumped in," an initiation process through which they have to prove their loyalty by committing criminal acts such as murder, theft or violence.
[50] Since the breakdown of the gang peace agreement in 2012, the number of these Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) encountered in the U.S. has risen dramatically.
[52] The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a program that gives migrants from unsafe countries the opportunity to reside and work in the United States temporarily.
[54] In over 200 cases, there has been a connection that was identified between the violence or harm experienced by deportees upon their return to El Salvador and the main reasons why they left the country.
