Nia Applewhite

Professor Bennett
December 10, 2019
The impact of gang violence in the country of El Salvador

In the beginning of 1980, it was a gang called MS- 13 that started in Los Angeles,

California that continues to make an impact in Central America but especially in El Salvador.

MS- 13 stands for the Mara Salvatrucha which happens to be the largest gang in El Salvador. The

gang violence in El Salvador has become a huge issue to the point that officers are fleeing the

country, citizens of El Salvador are seeking asylum in the United States, and people are being

killed by gang members in the country. Gang violence in El Salvador continues to grow as

people are seeking asylum in the U.S. countries. It has been said that people join these gangs to

protect themselves and their loved ones from any danger. Instead of the gangs protecting their

people, the gangs are harming their people. As El Salvador continues to grow, citizens in the

country are losing their freedom and lives from the gang, MS-13.

In El Salvador, there are around 60,000 gang members that enforce their borders and

transits different areas such as public transportation, schools, and markets (Roth, 2019). Today,

MS- 13 has become a major part with the government in El Salvador. Political leaders,

government officials, and other people of the community have teamed up with MS- 13 for

negotiation in certain cases whether that is a campaign or a regular day. In the country, citizens

can feel very powerless because there is not a lot of government officials that can or have the

power to protect their people. Unfortunately, citizens have to find their own way to stay safe

because the citizens have to find their own ways to protect themselves from MS- 13 and gang

violence as a whole over there.

and danger for loved ones. In some cases, the gangs give citizens certain restrictions to the point

that citizens feel as if they cannot report their situation in El Salvador, “Elena told of what

happened after Rita refused to pay... Her daughter was raped by eight men next to the pump

where she had gone to fetch water. She was too afraid to report the crime for fear of reprisal.

Even the doctor who attended to her injuries was afraid to write the word rape in the medical

report. Contacted by a reporter, he declined to speak and pleaded to not be quoted or mentioned

or ever contacted again. “If you go to the police, the gang will know and they will kill you,”

Elena said” (Patricio, 2019). In this situation, Elena told that her friend Rita refused to pay a

gang and it resulted in Rita’s daughter getting raped by eight men. This shows the retaliation that

gang members make happen when they feel resistance from their residents. Citizens are afraid to

report their situations that involve the gang violence because of the possibility of retaliation and

the fear of having the report harm them instead of help them.

When it comes to the protection of the people, the security forces in El Salvador can have

some challenges with that. Although the government is trying to take control of the gang

violence, reports have shown that even government officials such as police officers can have

problems with reporting the crimes. Police officers have stated that it can be dangerous for them

to be very proactive because they live in the neighborhoods where the gang members stay at the

end of the day. So, not only can it be challenging and dangerous but it can cause paranoia for

people. “Gangs continued in 2018 to exercise territorial control and extort residents in

municipalities throughout the country. They forcibly recruit children and subject some women,

girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals to sexual slavery. Gangs
kill, disappear, rape, or displace those who resist them, including government officials, security

forces, and journalists. Security forces have been largely ineffective in protecting the population

from gang violence and have committed egregious abuses, including the extrajudicial execution

of alleged gang members, sexual assaults, and enforced disappearances” (Roth, 2019). So, the

citizens of El Salvador cannot really count on their government to protect them because

government officials harm citizens themselves.

“There is no list in either El Salvador or the United States of Salvadoran police officers

who have fled the country. But The Washington Post has identified 15 officers in the process of

being resettled as refugees by the United Nations and six officers who have either recently

received asylum or have scheduled asylum hearings in U.S. immigration courts” (Sieff, 2019).

The gang violence of MS- 13 has become so bad that the police officers of El Salvador are trying

to find their way to safety to another country and fleeing their country. Although the police

officers have decreased the homicide rate in El Salvador ever since they were trained by FBI

agents (Sieff, 2019), they were not able to fully stop the gang violent situation from happening.

The MS- 13 gang violence situation is very important because not only is it affecting the

Salvadoran residents but it is affecting the youth. “El Salvador had one of the highest rates of

homicide in the world, with 61 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011. In this context, youth are most at

risk from violence, either as perpetrators or victims. More than 50% of the homicide victims are

aged between 15 and 29 years; the majority of them are young men from poor urban areas,

however, homicide rates for young women increased alarmingly in recent years” (“Key Issues

affecting Youth in El Salvador”). This situation has made an increasing number of high risk

situations that involve things such as the youth dropping out, gun violence, drug trafficking, and
access to illegal substances. The youth violence has increased because so many teenagers are

entering MS- 13 to the point that the government has lowered their criminal age which makes

preteens eligible to go to become incarcerated. The situation has become concerning because the

gang members’ ages fall between the ages of 15 to 20 years old so people are dying because

people are trying to become “socially exclusive” to the peers (“Key Issues affecting Youth in El

Salvador”). The MS-13 gang violence has made an impact by making an increase on the youth

violence rate.

MS- 13 can make the country a dangerous place for children who wish to not join the

organization for their own sake. “Those who cannot afford to send their children out of the

country are forced to seek safety in the shrinking areas of the national territory where the gangs

are not fully in control. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes due to gang

expansion, violence and threats, primarily against minors who do not want to join” (Farah and

Babineau, 2017). Residents of El Salvador are seeking asylum for their safety because of the

gang violence that MS- 13 continues to make happen. But the safety of their loved ones can also

be in danger because MS- 13 gang members start recruiting children as young as 11 years old.

In conclusion, Mara Salvatrucha has made it harder for the residents of El Salvador to

have their own freedom and trust in their community. Between negotiations with the

government, harassment towards citizens, ineffective protection from security officials, and an

increase of youth homicide; the citizens of El Salvador have to keep eyes in the back of their

heads and stay safe at all times. Although some police officers have applied for asylum and fled

the country due to gang violence, the government is finding ways to help out the residents by
imprisoning members of MS-13. As MS- 13 still sticks around El Salvador, the government

continues to find impactful ways to protect and help the people of their country feel safe.
 Works Cited

Farah, D., & Babineau, K. (2017, September 14). The Evolution of MS 13 in El Salvador

and Honduras. Retrieved from

https://cco.ndu.edu/News/Article/1298326/the-evolution-of-ms-13-in-el-salvador-and-honduras/.

“Key Issues Affecting Youth in El Salvador.” OECD,

https://www.oecd.org/dev/inclusivesocietiesanddevelopment/youth-issues-in-el-salvador.htm.

Patricio, Miguel. “Violent Gangs Saturate El Salvador From Top to Bottom.” CNS, 12

Aug. 2019,

https://www.courthousenews.com/violent-gangs-saturate-el-salvador-from-top-to-bottom/.

Roth, Kenneth. “World Report 2019: Rights Trends in El Salvador.” Human Rights

Watch, 17 Jan. 2019, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/el-salvador.

Sieff, Kevin. “It's so Dangerous to Police MS-13 in El Salvador That Officers Are

Fleeing the Country.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 8 Mar. 2019,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/its-so-dangerous-to-police-ms-13-in-el-sal

vador-that-officers-are-fleeing-the-country/2019/03/03/e897dbaa-2287-11e9-b5b4-1d18dfb7b08

4_story.html.