HomeNewsBriefEl Salvador Doubles Down on 'Extraordinary' Anti-Gang Measures
BRIEF

El Salvador Doubles Down on 'Extraordinary' Anti-Gang Measures

EL SALVADOR / 9 AUG 2016 BY MIKE LASUSA EN

Officials in El Salvador announced a new phase of "extraordinary" anti-gang measures instituted earlier this year, despite questions about the effectiveness of these policies and concerns that they may be infringing on citizens' rights.  

On August 8, Security and Justice Minister Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde appeared on the television program "Diálogo," where he announced the government had begun a second phase of implementing special prison security measures approved by the congress in April.

"We are going to reinforce security in these centers with the adoption of a series of operational measures that seek to strengthen the activities of control and security in the centers," Ramírez said.

The security measures aim to prevent contraband from entering the prisons, and to cut off contact between incarcerated gang members and the outside world.

In order to accomplish those objectives, the government has focused on asserting control over residential areas surrounding correctional facilities by intensifying security operations and even proposing a law that would prohibit the use of the internet in those neighborhoods.

Rodil Hernández, the director of prisons, recently told La Prensa Gráfica that people in neighborhoods located near prisons represent a bigger challenge for prison authorities than corrupt guards.

Relating a story about local residents and inmates exchanging messages through notes lobbed over prison walls, Hernández said, "There must be some complicity by the guards, but it is minimal."

However, the news outlet also consulted a soldier tasked with guarding a prison who disagreed with Hernández's assessment.

"The government could have 1,000 police officers and 1,000 soldiers guarding every meter outside the prisons, preventing anyone from throwing illicit objects inside," the soldier said. "But the problem will continue because there are corrupt guards that take money in exchange for bringing in [phone] chips and cell phones."

National Civil Police Director Howard Cotto also recently indicated that lawyers had been used as messengers for incarcerated gang members, carrying instructions for murders, extortion and other crimes from inside the prison to gang operatives on the outside.

"The lawyers didn't just take messages to commit crimes, they also took orders and messages to move money and to increase the illicit assets" of the gang, Cotto said, explaining that the inmates trusted the attorneys more than lower-level gang members who were not aware of some of the financial dealings of more senior members.

InSight Crime Analysis

Salvadoran authorities have credited the extraordinary measures for a decline in violence over the past few months. However, it is unclear how much the government's anti-gang crackdown has contributed to this development. An alternative explanation for the reduction in violence is the March agreement among gang leaders to order an end to killings by rank-and-file members. Moreover, recent polling shows that a majority of citizens believe the government's policies have failed to meet their objectives.

SEE ALSO: El Salvador News and Profiles

In addition to lingering questions about the efficacy of the extraordinary measures, there are concerns that these policies may be unduly infringing on the rights and liberties of citizens. For example, efforts to block cell phone signals in the prisons in order to prevent gang members from communicating with those outside have also affected cell service for citizens in neighboring areas.

As El Salvador seeks solutions to ongoing security challenges, it will be important for lawmakers and law enforcement to take a balanced approach that respects citizens' rights and makes use of evidence-based strategies for tackling gang violence and corruption.  

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

BARRIO 18 / 29 NOV 2022

Honduras declared a state of exception as extortion cases rise, suspending constitutional rights in cities and deploying thousands of troops.

COLOMBIA / 6 MAR 2023

Siopas, a Gaitanista leader, was reportedly intending to break away from the criminal group before he was murdered.

EL SALVADOR / 15 JUN 2022

El Salvador's sweeping crackdown, which has seen over 30,000 people arrested, may in fact drive many desperate young people straight…

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…