It's complicated



Phillips describes the tightrope walked by Romero in the complicated world of someone who may (or may not) be attempting to put gang life behind:
Indeed, Dany Romero is an outlier. Few homies achieve as much as he has. They never get flown to Europe for a conference, or negotiate with a government, or receive public support from a diplomat. He entered a rarefied world. But at the same time, he stayed tight with the gang. It would be like standing on the shore and placing one foot in a boat: Sooner or later, the laws of physics demand that you choose. Dany Romero tried not to choose, to remain in both. Eventually, he fell.
Read the rest of Phillips' article here for its excellent look at why everything about gangs, government, and policing in El Salvador is complicated.