El Salvador Gangs

Today, nearly 7,000 gang members are currently behind bars in El Salvador, representing a third of the national prison population. El Salvador is the smallest, most densely populated area in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvadoran gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha, known as the MS, and the Pandilla 18 fill the jails in El Salvador and rule the system through murder and extortion. At Ciudad Barrios, a jail, the prison guards will get killed if they ever hit one of the gang members or take money for a deal and don’t carry out their end of it. Since early last year, two prison guards have been brutally murdered. The gang members in jail activate their gang members outside the jail by use of mobile phone. The gang emerged in the 1980s, formed by Salvadoreans living in the United States. It quickly spread throughout Central America. The impact can be seen just a few hundred meters from the confines of Ciudad Barrios, in what seems like quiet, coffee-growing country. Coffee cultivation has been the mainstay of the El Salvadoran economy for the past century. A sop owner in the jail’s city received text messages demanding large amounts of money immediately and threatens her by listing her family’s daily routine. The money the gang members receive is used to fund elaborate break-out plans from jail. In April, a tunnel being built from a nearby house to the jail was discovered. Now, prison guards surveillance surrounding houses and suspects.

I think this is an interesting article because the gang members basically control the jail system. The system needs to make serious changes like cutting off satellite signal so inmates cannot contact gang members outside of confinement so the guards can control them and run the jail. Christian Poveda’s 2008 film La Vida Loca followed the violent lives of members of the Mara 18 street gang. On September 3 the French filmmaker was shot dead and discovered in his car. El Salvador must take action to protect the lives of innocent people and crack down on the gangs that rule the jail system.