A turnaround in El Salvador’s position on extraditing gang members has come amid US pressure and rumblings in the criminal underworld.
El Salvador has arrested over 40,000 alleged gang members. This seems shocking but it is not without precedent in the country.
El Salvador's sweeping crackdown, which has seen over 30,000 people arrested, may in fact drive many desperate young people straight into the arms of the gangs.
Flaca was devoted to the MS13. But after suffering violence, abuse and rape, she turned to the one escape open to her: religion…
The MS13 gang and the Pentecostal Church are two worlds seemingly at odds. One man, known as Elvis, has a foot in both.
Since El Salvador's government began a campaign of mass arrests two months ago in a gang crackdown, fewer than 60 suspected gang members fleeing the country have been arrested in…
As part of his sweeping gang crackdown, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has overseen the mass imprisonment of tens of thousands of people, potentially jeopardizing recent efforts to mitigate overcrowding…
Gang members' romantic partners are often also their victims, subordinate to the whims of their companions. MS13 members have been able to exploit these connections to dominate the lives of…
The notorious MS13 street gang boasts a diverse criminal portfolio – including prostitution. Through violence, abuse and intimidation, the gang has steadily gained control of this illicit economy on the…
With a near unprecedented wave of arrests, the El Salvador government is doubling down and expanding on heavy-handed security policies, known as mano dura, that have consistently failed to yield…
Between July 2021 and February 2022, the government of President Nayib Bukele released four top leaders of the MS13 in El Salvador, all of whom were facing extradition to the…
A killing spree unlike anything seen since El Salvador’s civil war has delivered a macabre message from the country’s street gangs, which have learned that spikes in homicides speak to…
About InSight Crime
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