HomeNewsBriefEl Salvador’s Black Widows - Female Leadership in MS13
BRIEF

El Salvador’s Black Widows - Female Leadership in MS13

EL SALVADOR / 25 MAR 2020 BY ABIGAIL ZISLIS EN

An MS13 linked gang in El Salvador known as the Black Widows has been convicted of forcing women to marry men and then killing their new husbands as part of a complex life insurance scheme — a case which helps shed light on women in organized crime in Central America.

On March 4, seven of the Black Widows, a group with male and female members, were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on charges of sexual exploitation and forced marriage. The gang's ringleader was Esmeralda Aravel Flores Acosta, a woman who had been convicted previously on similar charges, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office.

The Black Widows tracked down and deceived wealthy men into marrying certain women, under the guise that the marriages would help them obtain legal residency in the United States. A life insurance policy was also a “pre-requisite” for the US residency, according to the scheme.

The group subsequently had MS13 members murder the husbands and force the wives to collect the life insurance payouts. The BBC reported that the Black Widows collected at least $100,000 from this scheme.

SEE ALSO: The Mara Women: Gender Roles in CentAm Street Gangs

The women, between 18 and 23 years old, were kidnapped after being lured by Flores Acosta with offers of domestic work. They were then forced into the marriages and even made to behave as grieving widows after the men were killed.

Violeta Olivares, head of El Salvador’s Unit Against Illegal Trafficking and Human Trafficking, told the BBC that only 50 to 60 cases of human trafficking are registered in El Salvador each year, the majority involving sexual exploitation or forced labor. Until recently, no human trafficking through coerced marriage had ever been identified -- let alone prosecuted -- in Central America, according to the BBC.

InSight Crime Analysis

The Black Widows’ case represents a type of covert violence less frequently seen in the region, as it relies on female trickery, deception, and psychological control. This type of human trafficking has received comparatively little attention in the country.

The female leader of the Black Widows also serves as an example of a woman linked to the MS13 who acted with same freedom and murderous tendencies as her male counterparts. 

But while examples of such female leadership are increasing, this case is not representative of the less prominent positions women have usually played in the gang, involved in micro-trafficking or working as drug mules.

Female members continue to be relegated to the MS13’s periphery and have limited autonomy when it comes to decision-making, said Juan Martínez d’Aubuisson, an anthropologist and author of various studies on the MS13. “In the event that they are given a voice, women most often derive their agency from male members who are incarcerated or in hiding," he told InSight Crime.

SEE ALSO: MS13 News and Profile

But more recently, women in the MS13 have begun to take on more active roles by participating in robberies, kidnappings, and targeted killings alongside male gang members, UCLA anthropology professor Jorja Leap told Univision. An InSight Crime report on the role of women in organized crime, published in March 2020, also pointed to the Black Widows as an example of women who have increasingly adopted positions of leadership within criminal structures.

The Black Widows’ successful life insurance fraud scheme certainly lends credence to the latter argument, challenging assumptions that female participation in organized crime is either always passive or caused by men compelling them to act.

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

GENDER AND CRIME / 21 SEP 2022

Accused drug trafficker Sandra Ávila Beltrán is demanding she be paid royalties for the “Queen of the South” Netflix series.

BARRIO 18 / 26 JUL 2022

Almost four months into a nationwide crackdown, El Salvador's government has failed to disarm its notorious street gangs.

EL SALVADOR / 15 JUN 2022

Flaca was devoted to the MS13. But after suffering violence, abuse and rape, she turned to the one escape open…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…