EL SALVADOR-GANGS Salvadoran government turns back on truce with violent gangs

Record ID: 579841

  • Title: EL SALVADOR-GANGS Salvadoran government turns back on truce with violent gangs
  • Date: 7th February 2015
  • Summary: EL SALVADOR, SAN SALVADOR (RECENT) (REUTERS) BANNER THAT READS: "HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION, DIALOGUE, INITIATIVE, COORDINATION" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EL SALVADOR GANG TRUCE MEDIATOR RAUL MIJANGO, SAYING: "A unilateral decision (on behalf of the gangs) was taken a while ago to make an effort to try to send the message that there still is will on the part of the gangs to want
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: El Salvador
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5UE8PXP2N4B17NFSUZBSZO6UN
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES
    Police raids searching for gang members have become a common sight in El Salvador.
    And the soaring violence in the Central American country may only getting worse. Last month, leaders of El Salvador's main street gangs urged the government to begin a dialogue to reduce violence and tone down its tough stance against their members after the country's vice president said police could open fire on them if necessary. But the government has made it clear it plans to pursue a hard line as it loses patience with truces and other internal diplomacy.
    Indeed, violence in El Salvador has jumped over the past year after a truce signed in 2012 between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and rival gang Barrio 18 unravelled. And so just last month, the country's Vice President Oscar Ortiz said police should respond with force "without any fear of suffering consequences" if threatened by gang members.
    Of note, the following day saw no murders in the country for a 24-hour stretch, the first such day in more than two and a half years, according to the police.
    Nevertheless, San Salvador resident Idalia de Alvarez said local residents are frightened.
    "You can feel the fear among the population because, at least in my case, I leave (my house) praying to God that nothing bad will happen to me, because you do not know if you are going to make it back. You go out not knowing if you will make it back home," she said.
    Newspaper headlines about massacres are a regular occurrence, as proven by headlines like, "Another two murdered policemen."
    Another local resident, Evert Ruiz, also from capital San Salvador, said even the armed forces are frightened.
    "They (government) can send the army and police but as they also fear them (criminals) they don't do anything," said Ruiz.
    In public statements, the gang leaders have dismissed attempts by the government to improve matters.
    Vice President Ortiz recently emphasised the government's opposition to negotiation.
    "We have said once, ten and 100 times, we don't negotiate with those who are promoting and carrying out criminal acts. There will be no special conditions (relating to the treatment of the criminals). The criminals will have to pay and it will be a hefty price. Anyone who attacks our established institutions (police) need to understand the punishment will be severe," Oritz said during a public statement.
    In fact, Honduras has the world's highest murder rate of 90.4 murders per 100,000 people, according to the United Nations. Neighbouring El Salvador, for its part, is in third place with 41.2 murders per 100,000 people.
    Yet the number of murders last year in El Salvador jumped by nearly 60 percent to an average of 12 killings a day as a truce between its most powerful gangs collapsed.
    The pact between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and its rival Barrio 18 helped reduce the murder rate in mid-2013 to around five per day - a 10-year low.
    But as the truce crumbled, police began to die in greater numbers. Last year, 39 cops were executed by suspected gang members, and seven have died so far in 2015, according to official figures.
    El Salvador gang truce mediator Raul Mijango spoke to Reuters about the challenges of putting together an accord.
    "A unilateral decision (on behalf of the gangs) was taken a while ago to make an effort to try to send the message that there still is will on the part of the gangs to want to contribute to the solution of this problem. Obviously they (the gang members) are clear in expressing they're operating under under difficult conditions that means they can't guarantee (the solution) will be long-lasting," he said.
    Yet the government maintains its plans to continue a hard-line approach when necessary.
    "We are not discussing in the government a truce or negotiation. What we are discussing and I say this clearly to everyone is how to strengthen the instruments that allow us to ensure progress in the fight against the lack of security of any form," Salvadoran Interior Minister Hato Hasbun has said..
    Last month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was on visit to the country. He urged El Salvador to remember that spirit of reconciliation as it grapples with the rising spate of gang warfare.
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