Danary Ilhuicatzi

Article
March 27, 2015
Gang violence in America is not a sudden problem. It has been a part of urban-life for
years, metropolitan offering aggressive definition and identity to those seeking place to belong in
the chaos of large areas. -Dave Reichert
The Salvadoran war took place From 1979 through 1992. El Salvador was at war with
Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front (FMLN), a 'umbrella organization' of five left-wing
guerrilla groups. A coup was started on October 15,1979 which lasted over 4 years, leaving
thousands of bodies scattered on both sides.
The government-backed military targeted anyone who was suspected of supporting social
and economic reform. This led from denials of freedom, to village massacres. Generally, victims
were unionists, clergy, self-reliant farmers and university leaders. Over twelve years, thousands
of victims perished, including well known Archbishop Oscar Romero who was an outstanding
Roman catholic priest in El Salvador. After violating various human rights he began to stand up
for the poor and victims of repression. Oscar Romero was then shot to death in the 1980 because
of his rebel acts. The military death squads took-out entire villages who were believed to be
assisting the guerrillas. In 1981, the military killed over 1,000 people in the village of El Mozote
. Although at first the reports of attacks were denied by both El Salvador and the United States,
but after the amount of graves were unveiled, it was inevitable to deny what had happen. As the
military defended their stand of killing any alleged rebels, the FMLN worked to blow-up bridges,
cut power lines, destroy coffee plantations and anything else to demolish the economy's income.
The U.S then came in and saw the spread of communism to be a threat to the nation and invested

heavily in El Salvadors Civil War. The Soviet Union and other countries along with Cuba
formed a part of FMLN. The U.S. decided to invest heavily in the civil war. FMLN also
murdered and kidnapped people of the government . As time passed, their techniques became
more strategic and better planned terrorizing the country even more. The FMLN used machetes
and small pistols. They also generated grenade launchers and other imported arms. The war
persisted despite efforts from both sides to bring an end to the fighting. The FMLN refused to
participate in presidential elections, because they felt that elections could results in favor of
right-wing parties. The government refused to attend peace talks which were organized by the
FMLN.
The massacres caused by FMLN left salvadorans with no choice, but to leave there
country sacrificing there culture for a safer environment. Some came to San Diego, although
many went a little farther into California Los Angeles. In Los Angeles families had to adjust to a
new lifestyle. In the 1980s in Los Angeles California, Salvadoran youth and young adults were
deceived by other gangs leaving them with no other choice, but to assemble today's well known
MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) and just like that gaining a level of tact that shocked their rivals. MS13, was heavily involved in burglaries, auto thefts, home-invasion robberies, weapons
smuggling, narcotics sales, illegal firearm sales, carjackings, extortion, murder, rape, and
prostitution. MS-13 rapidly shifted and became known as one of the most brutal gangs in the
area because many of their founding members had involvement in the guerilla warfare.
A high percentage of gang members in L.A are undocumented immigrants. It is said that
regardless of their ethnicity, education, and age, undocumented immigrants are least likely to
commit crimes (TIMES magazine). Undocumented immigrants only account for about 17% of
the adult prison population, a recent report made by the Public Policy Institute of California

(PPIC) showed. That among men ages 18 to 40 demographically are most likely to be
imprisoned, on the other hand those native-born were 10 times more likely than foreign-born
men to be incarcerated.
In 1996, criminals with sentences of 5 years or less could be deported. It all changed later
that year when a law passed which allowed undocumented immigrants to be deported if they had
at least 1 year of a sentence. This led to the deportation of 10,000 gang members to central
america. When they arrived, they made gangs where many young people joined for the money.
Despite what someone wanted they were threatened if they don't join. There wasn't many other
choices for gang members because of the lack of opportunity in Central America. El
Salvadorians citizens were taken by surprise when these gang members were deported. The U.S
provided no record of these criminals to El Salvador. Making El Salvador vulnerable and
unprepared allowing these criminals to do as they pleased. Reporting at least 7 murders a day. In
fact 1 out of 4 Salvadorans have considered leaving the country because of the dangers.
Deportations continue to this day, authorities in the U.S should advise who they are
sending along with their record. El Salvador needed to have this data to make there country safe.
El Salvador does not stand a chance against a dangerous gang which has been growing in
magnified numbers.
Since October 2009, National Gang Center (NGC) merged with the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The National Gang Center works in partner with
the Department of Justice to bring reductions of gang- related crime and violence by providing
national leadership. National Gang Center is protected and funded by the U.S Department of
justice (DOJ) along the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

El Salvador ranked one of the most dangerous places in the world. With a homicide rate
of 41 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2012 a truce was made between the Salvadoran government
and the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Eighteenth Street (M-18)agreed to something along
the lines of no one will die, no murders at all. From a murder rate of 72 per 100,000 in 2012, a
year later into the truce, the rate hovered around 36 per 100,000. When the truce was broken
there was a dramatic drop from an average of 14 murders a day, to 5 and 6 at the same period. At
first, the main protagonists in this drama were able to keep the process of the truce lowkey. But
when word got out that some of El Salvador's most dangerous criminals were being moved from
high security penitentiaries to lower security prisons, some of the country's journalists began to
suspect that something was wrong. Eventually many people didn't find it ok to release dangerous
people so the truce was rejected. Unfortunately the truce collapse, citizen security started to
worsen, and murder rates raised.

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