HomeNewsAnalysisImages from El Salvador, World's New Murder Capital
ANALYSIS

Images from El Salvador, World's New Murder Capital

EL SALVADOR / 11 MAR 2016 BY SALVADOR MELÉNDEZ* EN

Salvador Meléndez, a photographer for Revista Factum, has put together an album on the violence gripping El Salvador. His photos begin in 2010, recalling the horrific scene in which members of the Barrio 18 street gang set fire to a bus full of people. These images are a powerful testimonial to the social upheaval Meléndez refers to as the "war without commanders."

Social violence. War. Last year, 6,657 murders. Between January 1 and February 21 of this year, 1,622 murders. An average of 23 Salvadorans assassinated every day during 2016, as confirmed recently by Howard Augusto Cotto, the director of the National Civil Police (PNC).

This article originally appeared in Revista Factum and was translated, edited for clarity, and reprinted with permission, but does not necessarily reflect the views of InSight Crime. See the Spanish original here.

The victims can be gang members or the neighbor who sells stuffed tortillas in gang territory, where the army has no control. This is not to mention forced displacements, in which entire families must leave their homes behind out of fear.

One Salvadoran dies every 60 minutes in El Salvador, one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Here, one has to flee to survive. And while the river of blood continues to flow in neighborhoods and communities, politicians shout themselves hoarse, making headlines with accusations about what and who is behind the violence. Empty accusations.

{module The War Without Commanders}

Photos taken by the author

Violence comes in many shapes and under many names. There are massacres. Clashes between police and gangs. Police killings. Executions. Dismemberments. Machine-gunnings. Death threats. Evictions. We become indifferent to so much bloodshed in the country. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

But people keep dying. There are days in which up to 52 people die, as on August 23, 2015, the most violent day of the decade. That month there were 911 murders, according to El Salvador's Institute of Forensic Medicine (Instituto de Medicina Legal - IML). In January, 336; in February, 307; in March, 484, in April, 418; in May, 643, in June, 677; in July, 477 … 6,657 murders by the end of 2015.

Before the end of the failed gang truce that was backed by the administration of former President Mauricio Funes, violence was already a registered trademark in El Salvador.

On June 20, 2010, a group of Barrio 18 gang members hijacked a bus in Mejicanos, locked the passengers inside, drenched them in gasoline and set fire to them. The result: 13 incinerated people. Some bodies melted into the iron of the vehicle…


That day, the gangs showed they had the government and the country on its knees.

On that day I was 13,374 kilometers from San Salvador and in a time zone with eight hours' difference. I was covering the Brazil - Ivory Coast soccer match during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the only violence I filmed with El Gráfico's camera was a foul against Keita by Kaká in the 88th minute, which got the Brazilian kicked out of the game. The only cries that I could hear were those of the fans and players complaining, along with some scuffling between the two sides.

May 23, 2014 was another terrible day. The gangs called it "black Friday." That day, the gangs showed they had the government and the country on its knees. A group of gang members disguised as Road Maintenance Fund (Fondo de Conservación Vial - FOVIAL) employees machine-gunned the inside of a bus on route 302, killing six people, including guards from the maximum security prison of Zacatecoluca. That day, 38 families mourned.

SEE ALSO: Barrio 18 News and Profile

In 2014, the man appointed to put an end to the work of General David Munguía Payés and his "gang truce" was the engineer Ricardo Perdomo, the former chief of the State Intelligence Agency (Organismo de Inteligencia del Estado - OIE) who became the Minister of Justice and Public Security. Perdomo began making changes, and sparked a reaction that reached the administration of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, who on January 5, 2015, declared that negotiations with gangs would no longer continue.

On July 28 and 29 of last year, thanks in part to their accumulated power, the gangs carried out a forced strike that left Sánchez Cerén's government begging the public to not let themselves be intimidated.

During these days of resignation, ordinary Salvadorans, those older than 40 who take the bus every day to get to work early, have relived scenes from the 1980s, during the civil war years, when the streets were guarded by tanks and armored vehicles provided public transportation.

The last PNC report counts around 100 armed clashes so far in 2016 between police, military and gangs. The war without commanders continues.

*This article originally appeared in Revista Factum and was translated, edited for clarity, and reprinted with permission, but does not necessarily reflect the views of InSight Crime. See the Spanish original here.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

EL SALVADOR / 28 APR 2022

The notorious MS13 street gang boasts a diverse criminal portfolio – including prostitution. Through violence, abuse and intimidation, the gang…

EL SALVADOR / 20 JUL 2022

The US government has added dozens of individuals to a list of allegedly corrupt actors in Central America.

BOLIVIA / 3 MAR 2023

As the CITES treaty hits 50, we take a look at its successes, failures, and future challenges in reducing the…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…