US blamed for El Salvador gang unrest
SAN SALVADOR — Mass deportations to El Salvador in the 1990s and a failure to coordinate with Salvadoran authorities make the United States partly responsible for the rise of violent gangs in the Central American country, Salvadoran observers said.
Following a wave of armed violence and murders that claimed the lives of 87 people in 72 hours, the Salvadoran government on March 27 launched an offensive against the gangs under a “state of exception” set by the country’s Constitution.
So far, the authorities have arrested more than 21,000 suspected gang members and collaborators, leading to a drop in homicides, disappearances, extortion and other violent crimes, according to official sources.
Salvadoran anthropologist and political analyst Marvin Aguilar said the government crackdown on gangs enjoys great popular support from a public weary of the constant violence that has marred life in El Salvador for the past 30 years.
Over that period, Aguilar said, the gangs have grown out of control, increasingly aware of their own power and capacity to terrorize and dominate entire communities.
While the successive SalvadoThe ran governments since 1992, when peace accords that put an end to years of civil war were signed, also bore blame for the proliferation of the gangs, the US played a role by “mass deporting Salvadorans it considered a nuisance … without taking any preventive measures”, said Aguilar.
The emergence of the criminal gangs that plagued El Salvador and other Central American countries, such as Honduras and Guatemala, can be traced back to the 1980s in Los Angeles, California, studies showed.
Many Salvadorans who fled the civil war settled in the US city, gradually organizing to defend themselves from discrimination and abuse.
US government’s response was to deport gang members, who brought their gang way of life to their countries of origin.
The US fueled the problem of violence and insecurity, since the deported “were young people, some of whom had not even lived in El Salvador, and they were thrown into the streets outside the airport”, Aguilar said.
“The way they found to survive was to recruit young people in the poorest communities, making them see that solidarity and brotherhood could solve the problems of poverty and marginalization,” Aguilar added.
According to Salvadoran security and criminology expert Ricardo Sosa, as long as the US continues to summarily deport Salvadorans who break the law in the country, it will be difficult to rein in the gang violence.
At the same time, it has criticized El Salvador’s offensive against the gangs, expressing “concern” over alleged human rights violations.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has accused US officials of being insincere when they claim Washington supports the fight against gang violence in El Salvador and Central America.
(The US played a role by) mass deporting Salvadorans it considered a nuisance … without taking any preventive measures.”
Marvin Aguilar, Salvadoran political analyst