HomeNewsBriefEl Salvador Gangs Call on New Government to Revive Truce
BRIEF

El Salvador Gangs Call on New Government to Revive Truce

BARRIO 18 / 6 JUN 2014 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

El Salvador's principal gangs -- among them the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 -- have called on the new administration to maintain the country's gang truce, in what appears to be a last ditch effort to save both the pact and the benefits it has brought them.

"The historic opportunity to recover peace that began on March 9, 2012 remains open; taking advantage of this to the country's benefit depends on everyone," gang leaders announced in a June 3 statement (see attached document). They highlighted their early and consistent support for the government of recently instated President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, and asked the administration, the church, civil society and businessmen to join them in this cause.

The gang spokespeople blamed rising violence in the past year on poor government policy -- likely an implicit reference to the policies of Security Minister Ricardo Perdomo, a major truce critic.

Additionally, the gangs asked the new government to confront the "death squads" that had "recently taken the lives of many of our members, family members and civilians," stating that some of these groups operated inside the state apparatus.

The gangs denied reports they had recently been enforcing curfews on the population, blaming these instead on people who wanted to justify the death squads' actions.

InSight Crime Analysis

The outgoing Salvadoran government was instrumental in facilitating the truce between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18, but changed its rhetoric in mid-2013 -- around the same time that dramatic security improvements began to reverse and homicides began to rise again. Security Minister Perdomo was one of the main protagonists in this, closing channels of communication between imprisoned gang members and claiming the gangs had used the truce to increase involvement in transnational drug trafficking. Shortly before leaving office, outgoing President Mauricio Funes announced the truce had "failed."

SEE ALSO: El Salvador Gang Truce: Positives and Negatives

With the most recent statement, it appears the gangs are attempting to appeal to the Sanchez Ceren government before the process can be shut down completely -- which would lead to a loss of the political capital and other benefits the initiative gave them.

Meanwhile, the denial of forced gang curfews -- which have been reported in various regions -- could indicate that the central leadership's control over their members is slipping, and that some local factions, or "cliques," are acting without their knowledge or approval.

The mention of death squads is also of interest. There have been recent reports of a resurgence of La Sombra Negra -- a death squad primarily active in the 1990s -- as well as the emergence of other groups involving security forces. While the government has denied these reports, the gangs' concern adds weight to fears the threat from the groups is real.

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 / 17 JAN 2023

To Desafio, the Barrio 18 gang in Honduras was everything. It provided a family, a sense of belonging. Until his…

GUATEMALA / 7 FEB 2022

In this run-down neighborhood in Guatemala City, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) does not exist. And yet, there are still a…

COCAINE / 12 JAN 2022

El Salvador’s Navy has seized record amounts of cocaine recently, indicating a possible resurgence of maritime trafficking off the country’s…

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…