After a year of “war” against the “maras”, the criminal gangs that sowed terror in El Salvador, the population is rediscovering the pleasure of walking the streets without fear.
Now “we can walk (…). For me it’s good, what Mr. President did” Nayib Bukele, told AFP Norma Gomez, 58, who sells cosmetics in the streets of the capital San Salvador.
In the past, the neighborhoods were under the thumb of the competing “maras” Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, who enforced invisible “borders” and held residents and merchants to ransom, often resorting to summary “executions”.
“Today, I am calm when my son and my daughter leave school and come home alone by public transport, without fear that they will be intercepted by bandits”, comments Mauricio Reyes, an employee of 51 years old.
“Security is good, it was not the case before. Today, we can move freely,” adds Carlos Duenas, a 57-year-old street vendor.
Despite criticism from human rights defenders who denounce abuses, President Bukele enjoys great popularity: 92% of Salvadorans believe that insecurity has reduced thanks to him, according to a poll for the daily La Prensa Grafica.
A success from which the left-wing president Xiomara Castro of neighboring Honduras, also confronted with the scourge of the “maras”, wants to draw inspiration.
Born in the streets of Los Angeles, California, the “maras” invaded the country at the end of the civil war in the early 1990s and came to control up to 80% of Salvadoran territory, according to Mr. Bukele.
Living off racketeering, drug dealing and small businesses and businesses they controlled, these criminal gangs committed, according to the authorities, some 120,000 murders, a toll higher than the 75,000 deaths of the 12 years of civil war.
Since the proclamation on March 27, 2022 of the state of exception, in response to a wave of 87 assassinations in a few days, more than 65,000 suspected criminals have been arrested without a warrant and have gone to join the 16,000 “mareros” who were already behind bars.
To cope with these tens of thousands of arrests, President Bukele had a gigantic prison built – “the largest in America” ??- with a capacity of 40,000 inmates.
Now, “you can really penetrate many neighborhoods whereas before it was extremely difficult or dangerous”, recognizes Laura Andrade, director of the Institute of Public Opinion at the Central American University. But, she worries, the “maras” are trying to organize themselves differently, in a “much more complex” way to try to escape repression.
“What is obvious is the virtual neutralization” of the “maras” and the dismantling of their structures, greets Carlos Carcach, researcher at the School of Commerce and Economics. “The negative side”, he underlines however, is that “the population has traded (human) rights against an improvement in their security, real or apparent”.
For Judge Juan Antonio Duran, there is no doubt that the past year has been “harmful for criminal justice and with regard to human rights violations” of innocent people who have been arrested outside of any legal process.
Justice and Security Minister Gustavo Villatorio admitted that by mid-February 3,745 detainees had been released without any charges being brought against them.
“Before, our young people were the target of criminals (…) now they are afraid to go out because of the state of emergency, (for fear) of being caught if they are badly seen by the police or the ‘army,” said José Sanchez, a 55-year-old plumber.
For the American academic José Miguel Cruz, of the University of Florida, there is no doubt that the “war on crime” is in fact an “electoral strategy” of Nayib Bukele who wants to be re-elected in February 2024 after having lifted the constitutional ban on a second consecutive term by judges he himself appointed.
03/26/2023 07:43:50 – San Salvador (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
