Gang Violence Thrives in Modern El Salvador
Matthew D. Laplante has this revealing report in the Sun about the out-of-control gang violence in El Salvador. According to the article, “Not since El Salvador’s 12-year civil war, which ended in 1992, has the death toll been this high. At least 42 people were killed on Aug. 27 in Central America’s smallest nation. That morbid mark for a day of killing thrust the number of dead above 800 in August — a record in a year in which more than 4,000 people have been killed so far.”
The violence are the result of failed economic policies, broken truces with two Los Angeles-born gangs, and a steady demand for narcotics in the United States and beyond. Social and political scientists say the recent violence also stems from El Salvador’s civil war, which raged from 1979 to 1992 and left more than 70,000 dead. Many Salvadorans fleeing the violence emigrated to Los Angeles, where they became involved in street gangs before returning home (including many deported under the criminal removal provisions of the U.S. immigration laws).
KJ