Gangs making their own rules as bloodshed worsens in El Salvador
Government and police promising countrywide crackdown
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Word on the street is only girlfriends of gang members are allowed to be redheads or blonds.
So in this violent place, women are scurrying to salons to give up their blond hair and highlights, to dye it all black — not out of fashion sense, but out of fear.
“They also say you can’t wear yellow or red clothing,” said Claudia Castellanos, a beautician at an upscale salon. “Can you believe it? They’ve already attacked a woman on a bus for wearing yellow.”
There’s no evidence the rumours are true. The gangs, sophisticated criminal organizations, even issued a statement to deny the hair-colour decree.
But with violence in El Salvador reaching levels rivalling those of the civil war that ended more than two decades ago, few are willing to take risks.
El Salvador has just experienced one of its most violent months since the end of the civil war in 1992, with 635 homicides reported in May for the country of just over six million people. June is on track to break that mark, with the latest bloodshed coming Sunday when suspected gang members killed two soldiers guarding a bus terminal in the capital.
Fear is pervasive across San Salvador. As daylight fades, stores close early and streets empty. At night, roadblocks go up to thwart possible grenade attacks on police stations, where officers sleep rather than risk being attacked while riding buses home.
Taxi drivers memorize signals to give gang lookouts who guard neighbourhoods, flashing codes with their high beams and rolling down their windows to make themselves visible.
Castellanos counts the number of women who’ve come to her salon seeking to colour their hair dark: One, two, three ...
“You don’t wait for clarifications,” said Maria Jose Estrada, a former blond who lives on the outskirts of San Salvador. “These people ... will kill you.”
Police officials and others blame the worsening insecurity on the breakdown of a truce made between the gangs and the government in 2013. While the homicide rate plunged, critics say the truce gave the gangs time to strengthen, train and acquire heavier arms than they had in the past.
Jailed gang leaders were moved from maximum-security prisons to more lax facilities where they were able to run their criminal operations remotely.
But in January, the six-monthold government of President Salvador Sanchez Ceren publicly rejected any truce and launched an aggressive crackdown, putting gang leaders back in maximum-security cells. The change has meant the streets now are controlled by younger, betterarmed and reckless criminals.
“You take away the mature leadership, and you get a structure that is made up of younger, fanatical people who want to make a name for themselves,” said Raul Mijango, a former guerrilla and a facilitator of the truce. “They want war.”
The police say they are ready for battle.
“Things have to get worse before they get better,” said a police official, who agreed to comment only if not quoted by name for fear of reprisals. “When I see one (gang member) on the street, I’m going to shoot him before he shoots me.”
Officials say the crackdown on gang strongholds in the cities has caused members to flee to surrounding rural areas, bringing violence with them.
“This is like a virus that has spread throughout the country,” said Miguel Fortin Magana, chief forensics officer for the country’s Supreme Court said.