In a letter addressed to government officials, gang leaders in El Salvador have called for the reinstatement of a gang truce, challenging the government’s hardline security policies.
The letter was made public on July 15, a month after it was delivered to authorities in mid-June, reported La Prensa Grafica. In the body of the letter, gang leaders ask for a “mechanism” that would allow for dialogue and an eventual peace agreement. The gang leaders who signed this latest statement are all currently being held in El Salvador’s maximum security prison.
News of the letter comes amid a slight dip in homicide numbers, with police reporting that the first two weeks of July saw an average of 14 killings a day, down from 22 in May and June. This follows what has been reported as record levels of violence for the country.
Unsurprisingly, government officials have responded dismissively to the letter. Vice President Oscar Ortiz told reporters that El Salvador has a “very clear security strategy” and that “you cannot want to negotiate with people who are attacking police officers, prosecutors, and judges.”
However, representatives of the Catholic and Lutheran Church who sit on a national citizen security council — a core initiative of the government’s security policy — are publicly supporting the idea of increased dialogue with gangs.
InSight Crime Analysis
This is not the first time that gang leaders have called for the renewal of a truce. The message that they have been delivering over the last several months has been remarkably consistent: violence will continue to rise unless the government calls off its hardline security offensive.
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While gangs promise a decrease in violence in exchange for a truce, it is worth noting that there are legitimate concerns about whether gang leaders can make good on that promise. Many of the leaders responsible for such claims are behind bars and have limited operational control over daily gang activities. That said, violence was down significantly during the last gang truce, only for homicides to surge after the agreement fell apart.