Truce unravels between rival Salvadoran gangs

Two years after a peace agreement, the Central American country's main street gangs seem to be reverting to the appalling violence of the past.

content.time.com

Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Barrio 18 – El Salvador's two main rival street gangs – seem to be returning to the searing violence that prevailed before they signed a truce two years ago. The pact now seems to be collapsing.

File this sorry piece of news under peace agreements that were apparently too good to last.

Two years after El Salvador’s main street gangs agreed to stop killing each other at a horrific rate, they are back to killing each other at a horrific rate.

During the first three months of 2014, according to a Reuters report, the country’s murder rate rose by 44 per cent compared to the same period last year – 794 killings by the end of March, up from 551 during the same period in 2013.

Most of that bloodshed has resulted from turf battles between the Central American country’s two main street gangs, Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Barrio 18.

In mid-2012, during peace talks brokered by the Catholic Church and the Organization of American States, the two sides agreed to a truce. At the time, El Salvador’s annual murder rate was running at 66 per 100,000 population, which at the time was the world’s highest. Canada, by way of contrast, has an annual murder rate of 1.6.

At first, the Salvadoran truce seemed to be working, but peace is a delicate affair.

Police stepped up their pressure on the gangs, which normally you might regard as a good thing. Unfortunately, the strategy has had the effect of reducing revenues for both gangs, and they have responded by competing more fiercely – and more violently.

Bloodshed is nothing new to El Salvador. Like most of Central America – Costa Rica is a notable exception – the country’s history has often been marred by violent confrontation of one sort or another. During the 1980s, a long civil war convulsed the land and claimed 70,000 civilian lives during 12 years of fighting.

That was a bleak, unnerving period, and yet it was not uncommon only two years ago to find Salvadorans who insisted that the gang violence of more recent times was even worse than the war.

Here's hoping Salvadorans are not headed down that same grim path again.

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.