Considering New Options for Solutions to Violence
Brian Rude, a Board member of Christians for Peace in El Salvador, has dedicated his life to working with at-risk youth throughout the country, especially those caught up in the violence of the country’s youth gangs. Brian is the founder of Quetzalcuatl, an organization that works in prison ministry, and educational programming for at risk youth. Following is a reflection from Brian on the current state-of-affairs in El Salvador
By Rev. Brian Rude
Up until two decades ago, as the armed conflict in El Salvador Los Angeles , many others practically abandoned in their home neighbourhoods in El Salvador
Anyone who followed or who remembers the brutality of government "security" forces during the war years could hardly label these youth as being anti-social in this context. They adapted remarkably well and with amazing creativity and organizational skills to the society which surrounded them, conforming to and reshaping this culture of military, police and death-squad assassinations and massacres, a perverse and pervasive reality which no doubt served as one of their models, at least subconsciously.
One could approach the current reality from a statistical perspective, though statistics are hard to come by, distressingly diverse, and often unreliable. How many gang members are there? The number of those in prison -- about 8,000, 1/3 of the total number of inmates in El Salvadoran prisons -- is perhaps the most reliable indicator here. More than double, or even triple, that number could be outside the prison walls. Harsher laws have led to greater mobility and flexibility on their part. They have largely abandoned their former passion for defending their "barrio" or neighborhoods. Their territory might now well be their clientele, rather than any particular geographical space.
A variant question might better be posed: how many potential gang members are living in Salvadoran barrios? What factors might affect whether or not young Salvadorans follow in the footsteps of their older siblings, their parents, their neighbours, who often serve as their models, even their heroes? As with those who have gone before, these potential recruits have few other options or opportunities to pursue. The reality which surrounds them easily draws them in.
The debate concerning what percentage of homicides, extortion, drug trafficking, etc., is attributable to the gang population is quite speculative, leading to wildly diverse "statistics", ranging from 90 percent (previous "iron fist" ARENA presidents and mass media) to 50 percent (National Civilian Police, 2010) to 10-12 percent (forensic medicine, 2009, 2010). The media, of course, rely heavily on the sensationalist 90 percent end of the scale. With this bias, they play their role as shapers of public opinion. The public, in turn, is applying pressure for public policy to meet the ensuing demand. Gangs, of course, are rarely given a voice, or a chance to speak for themselves.
Gang relationships to organized crime is also a matter of constant speculation, with little evidence to indicate the true reality. One former president even linked the gangs to Al Qaeda. More recently they tend to be linked to "Los Zeta", a Mexican drug cartel of ex police officers apparently making inroads intoCentral America . If levels of involvement are difficult to determine, even more so would be the level of self-determination or leadership these gangs might have in such relationships. Are they pawns or
partners?
Gang culture is not monolithic or uniform. While there are two primary opposing gangs inEl Salvador
Few in Salvadoran society, especially the authorities or spokespersons, would recognize these youth as their own sons and daughters, their own flesh and blood, the offspring of the patria. Few would be willing to acknowledge them as mirrors of society. They are denigrated and demonized unceasingly, especially by politicians and the media. Those making the laws have perhaps never had a personal, face-to-face conversation with a gang member. The chasm dividing gang culture from much of everyday society
is enormous. Conversation and dialogue are ruled out as potential strategies for overcoming the gap and the animosities: What was learned from the process of dialogue leading to the Peace Accords in 1992 is not being applied to this armed conflict.
Ever harsher, more humiliating, even inhumane, treatment, on the streets and in the prisons, is considered to be the most appropriate, productive solution. The military, the Armed Forces, is considered to be the best option for putting these youth in their places, an option being questioned with ever greater concern by those affected and those involved, including the rapporteur for the Organization of American States, reporting on a monitoring visit to the nation's penitentiary system conducted in October, 2010. A new proscription law, passed in September 2010, is now being implemented, after some delays due to technical interpretations. This law imposes a 7-year prison sentence for belonging to a gang, and several more years for a leadership role within the gang.
There are some, such as the members of a coalition of NGO's, who consider that a more respectful, more humane strategy would bear better fruits. Inclusion, rather than further isolation -- a strategy rarely considered, never attempted and certainly never implemented with this sector -- could potentially draw them into society in a healthier, more productive way.
There is a growing effort to approach this phenomenon through personal story-telling. Documentaries, articles, movies, websites and books are being dedicated to presenting these gang members as human beings, as individuals with families, personal histories, dreams and aspirations, emotions . . . Not many citizens have the chance, or the desire, to rub shoulders with these individuals, much less the opportunity to hear their stories face to face, smile to smile, followed by a big hug.
What gang members -- as we all -- need, is not to be penned off, surrounded by machine guns toted by masked, anonymous, ominous soldiers, isolated from their families and all of society, but an open heart and a listening ear. To the measure that they are included in the human community, they could well respond in surprisingly affirming ways. We hope it's not too late to pursue this option.
One could approach the current reality from a statistical perspective, though statistics are hard to come by, distressingly diverse, and often unreliable. How many gang members are there? The number of those in prison -- about 8,000, 1/3 of the total number of inmates in El Salvadoran prisons -- is perhaps the most reliable indicator here. More than double, or even triple, that number could be outside the prison walls. Harsher laws have led to greater mobility and flexibility on their part. They have largely abandoned their former passion for defending their "barrio" or neighborhoods. Their territory might now well be their clientele, rather than any particular geographical space.
A variant question might better be posed: how many potential gang members are living in Salvadoran barrios? What factors might affect whether or not young Salvadorans follow in the footsteps of their older siblings, their parents, their neighbours, who often serve as their models, even their heroes? As with those who have gone before, these potential recruits have few other options or opportunities to pursue. The reality which surrounds them easily draws them in.
The debate concerning what percentage of homicides, extortion, drug trafficking, etc., is attributable to the gang population is quite speculative, leading to wildly diverse "statistics", ranging from 90 percent (previous "iron fist" ARENA presidents and mass media) to 50 percent (National Civilian Police, 2010) to 10-12 percent (forensic medicine, 2009, 2010). The media, of course, rely heavily on the sensationalist 90 percent end of the scale. With this bias, they play their role as shapers of public opinion. The public, in turn, is applying pressure for public policy to meet the ensuing demand. Gangs, of course, are rarely given a voice, or a chance to speak for themselves.
Gang relationships to organized crime is also a matter of constant speculation, with little evidence to indicate the true reality. One former president even linked the gangs to Al Qaeda. More recently they tend to be linked to "Los Zeta", a Mexican drug cartel of ex police officers apparently making inroads into
partners?
Gang culture is not monolithic or uniform. While there are two primary opposing gangs in
Few in Salvadoran society, especially the authorities or spokespersons, would recognize these youth as their own sons and daughters, their own flesh and blood, the offspring of the patria. Few would be willing to acknowledge them as mirrors of society. They are denigrated and demonized unceasingly, especially by politicians and the media. Those making the laws have perhaps never had a personal, face-to-face conversation with a gang member. The chasm dividing gang culture from much of everyday society
is enormous. Conversation and dialogue are ruled out as potential strategies for overcoming the gap and the animosities: What was learned from the process of dialogue leading to the Peace Accords in 1992 is not being applied to this armed conflict.
Ever harsher, more humiliating, even inhumane, treatment, on the streets and in the prisons, is considered to be the most appropriate, productive solution. The military, the Armed Forces, is considered to be the best option for putting these youth in their places, an option being questioned with ever greater concern by those affected and those involved, including the rapporteur for the Organization of American States, reporting on a monitoring visit to the nation's penitentiary system conducted in October, 2010. A new proscription law, passed in September 2010, is now being implemented, after some delays due to technical interpretations. This law imposes a 7-year prison sentence for belonging to a gang, and several more years for a leadership role within the gang.
There are some, such as the members of a coalition of NGO's, who consider that a more respectful, more humane strategy would bear better fruits. Inclusion, rather than further isolation -- a strategy rarely considered, never attempted and certainly never implemented with this sector -- could potentially draw them into society in a healthier, more productive way.
There is a growing effort to approach this phenomenon through personal story-telling. Documentaries, articles, movies, websites and books are being dedicated to presenting these gang members as human beings, as individuals with families, personal histories, dreams and aspirations, emotions . . . Not many citizens have the chance, or the desire, to rub shoulders with these individuals, much less the opportunity to hear their stories face to face, smile to smile, followed by a big hug.
What gang members -- as we all -- need, is not to be penned off, surrounded by machine guns toted by masked, anonymous, ominous soldiers, isolated from their families and all of society, but an open heart and a listening ear. To the measure that they are included in the human community, they could well respond in surprisingly affirming ways. We hope it's not too late to pursue this option.
Good other point of view. After living in El Salvador for > 1.5 years, I would say gang members "live and die by the sword."
ReplyDeleteI constantly hear the U.S. being blamed for gang insurgence due to their involvement in the war here. That may have planted some seeds, but what makes the gang members thrive is clear: POVERTY.
E.S. maintains an outdated colonial mindset that justifies labor wages which barely feed a person ($90-$192 a month, depending on job type: http://www.minimum-wage.org/international/es/El_Salvador ), so clearly gang membership enticing. To give perspective, the cheapest chicken sold here is $1.25 a pound - 1/5 a day’s pay at the ‘high end’ minimum wage.
However, I will not join the camp of those who staunchly defend pandilleros 'human rights', as day in and day out gang members themselves violate the human rights of their poor brothers. Every day cadavers are found on the street or in 'clandestine graves', poor vendors and bus drivers extorted and killed, people held up at knife-point (like my husband and several others on a bus 8/2009), missing persons, young girls killed for not being a gang-members girlfriend...the list goes on.
The gang members who proclaimed poverty is what pushes them into gang membership shortly after they burned nearly 20 people alive on the bus last June 2010 presented themselves as hypocrites. Gang membership due to poverty is one thing, but the actions a gang emits are another. What started as self-defense for youth 2 decades back has denigrated morally, and terrifies their fellow poor Salvadorans. If gang members want respect they must remember “do unto others as you would have done to you” and re-draw their moral boundaries.
And until El Salvador can produce a "living wage" the gangs will continue to thrive. How stupid are the rich for not coming to terms with and confronting this, but heck, what do they care? They don't ride the buses, have vigilantes and razor wire, and the majority of those who suffer from gang violence are other gang members and the poor anyway.