The Wall Street Journal
WHY ARE PEOPLE FLEEING CENTRAL AMERICA? A NEW BREED OF GANGS IS TAKING OVER
Text by Robbie Whelan
APOPA, El Salvador—The Congress of El Salvador agreed in April to extend the authority of jailers to keep gang leaders in solitary confinement. Over the next five days, the two reigning street gangs killed more than 100 people.
With the highest homicide rate of all countries in the world, El Salvador is a nation held hostage.
Law-enforcement officials estimate that one gang, MS-13, operates an extortion racket with little pressure from authorities in 248 of the 262 of the country’s municipalities. It battles for neighborhood control with another gang, Barrio 18, which runs its own protection scheme in nearly as many regions.
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A law-enforcement officer checks the phone of a man suspected of working as a gang lookout during a police sweep this year in a neighborhood of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.
José Gualberto Claro Iglesias, 48, sent his family out of El Salvador, fearing for their safety.
A skull examined for homicide clues by authorities in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador and the world’s sixth deadliest city.
Two bodies await an autopsy in April, part of a killing spree that followed the extension of a law making it easier to keep gang leaders in solitary confinement.
The father of a young man found slain in Apopa, El Salvador, helped load the body into a coroner’s vehicle. Authorities believe the young man and a friend were fatally stabbed as they headed to play in a soccer game in April.
The widow of Elmer Mauricio Beltrán. Mr. Beltrán, a police officer, was 43 when he was fatally shot in August.