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El Salvador
Domestic issues, security threats, and global economic integration.

Jenny Jean Baptiste

Daniella Mesa
Curtis Wurster

INR3243
International Relations of Latin America
Professor Fonseca
December 7, 2014

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This paper analyzes the current issues that are relevant to El Salvadors Domestic
issues, security threats, and global economic integration.
El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated state in Central America. It
is an industrialized country that is still recovering from the aftermath of a 12 year civil
war.

El Salvador's economy is heavily dependent on remittances from abroad, especially the US

El Salvador is recognized throughout the international community as a small

country which has suffered through decades of violence and strife. Throughout the course
of its history, Salvadorans have been conquered by the Spanish, dealt with the civil war
and presently struggle for peace and prosperity. El Salvadors domestic issues, security
threats, foreign relations and lack of global economic integration have left the country
with an uncertain future. The developments of gangs are a result of domestic issues and
security threats, which have led to insecurity and criminal violence. Moreover, internal
security threats and kidnappings result in large amounts of human rights violations that
go unpunished. Because of the role of the international community, the ties to these
criminal acts have caused El Salvador to increase its efforts to dampen the threats caused
by criminal organizations and gangs. However, the country has many geographic enablers
that result in continued crime, violence and illicit drugs. According to Jose Louis Rocha,
the countrys high dependency on remittances and their inability to further develop their
economy through expanding their exports and becoming a more technological and
industrialized based society has dampened their efforts to become integrated into the
overall global economic system.

In recent

years, the insecurity and criminal violence in El Salvador has become its primary
structural problem. Presently, the subject of security is the number one priority of the
Salvadoran government, the private sector and the civil society. There are many factors;
however, one of the primary causes of insecurity is the tolerance of gangs, common crime
and organized crime. Conversely, the weakness of the state to implement security

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strategies for the short and long term has amplified the rise of the pandillas or maras.
Two of the most violent organized gangs are the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Both
groups consist of youth who have organized themselves into national structures. They are
actively engaged in kidnappings, extortion and domestic drug distribution throughout the
country. Additionally, they are hired by criminal organizations to carry out murders and
other tasks. Groups like these have become a growing national and regional problem.
According to the Bureau of Investigation, it is estimated that 60,000 maras have been
recruited thus far.

Domestic issues

associated with gang violence in El Salvador are mainly due to extremely unstable
environments, lack of access to education, limited work opportunities, interfamilial
violence, post conflict violence and social disintegration. The increase of violence was
furthered due to the initiation of the war between MS-13 and M18 in 2004. During that
time, the Salvadoran government implemented the super Mano Dura law as a way to
fight delinquency and to break up the gangs with the help of 14,000 effective policemen
and military personnel. Despite the large scale effort, the outcome of the strategy did not
come out as expected, because the focus on security did not include components of
restoration and reinsertion. In 2012, the government and church negotiated a truce
between MS-13 and M18, and it was seen as a start to a new era of peace. According to
insight crime The truce facilitated talks between the government and the gang members,
and resulted in a 40% reduction of the murder rate in El Salvador but in 2014, after the
gang truce broke down, violence once again rose to pre truce levels. Furthermore, the
United Nations reported 89 murders in just the first ten days of 2014, bringing the murder
rate back to the countrys 2011 levels.

Another major ongoing

problem in El Salvador has been the human rights abuses that occurred during its civil
war. The assassination of Archbishop Romero, was the catalyst for political violence in
the 70s, and bloomed into a full scale civil war in the 80s. During the 12 year civil war
that begun in the 1980s, the government security, the guerillas and military forces were
violent towards its people. They were responsible for the massacres of approximately
75,000 Salvadorans. Civilians were subject to torture, mass rape, mutilation,
disappearance, and horrendous systematic human rights violations. In 1989, the conflict
was escalated by the Jesuit massacre and the Atlacatl Brigade at the University of Central

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America in 1989. The Jesuit massacre convinced the US Congress to begin an
investigation into crimes committed by the Salvadoran government. In January of 1992,
the United Nations signed a peace accord in Mexico City. As part of the settlement, a
U.N. Truth Commission was appointed by the Salvadoran government and the FMLN to
conduct an investigation in regards to the human rights abuses committed during the war.
The official report was released in 1993, and highlighted that the majority of the killings
and abuses were conducted by the Salvadoran armed forces and the paramilitaries that
were assigned to protect its people. Due to the report, the legislative assembly in El
Salvador decided to adopt a blanket amnesty law that protected the military and its
guerilla forces from being prosecuted for the abuses committed during the war. Today, the
amnesty law is still in effect. This lack of accountability facilitates human right abuses
that continue to go unaddressed by the government. Therefore, the El Salvadoran
amnesty blanket has created a culture of impunity were few cases, past or present, have
resulted in a just resolution. Today, the UN commission feels that there must be justice
and punishments are demanded for the violation of human rights. At the moment, the
Salvadoran justice system is unable to assess and carry out punishments and due to that,
the Commission feels it cannot recommend judicial proceedings in El Salvador against
the persons named in its report until after judicial reforms are carried out.
Furthermore, El
Salvador has witnessed large scale violence considering the country is smaller than the
state of Massachusetts. According to crime and safety report, it is a country with one of
the highest crime rates. Crime never stops, regardless of the time of day; criminals do not
stop committing acts of violence. Statistically, most of the criminal activities in this
country are homicides and gang related activities. According to the United States
Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the main reasons for the deaths that
occur in El Salvador are caused by homicides. In 2012, U.S. fatalities included 11 nonnatural deaths: seven homicides, two vehicle accidents, one suicide, and one drowning;
then, 2011 saw eight non-natural deaths; four homicides, two vehicle accidents, and two
drowning. And in 2010, there were 13 non-natural deaths, including: 11 homicides, one
vehicle accident, and one drowning. Out of 32 non-natural deaths from January 2010 to
December 2012, 22 were in the form of homicides. As shown in these statistics, the

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deaths that are caused by homicides are the most recurrent ones.

Following

homicides, the second most common type of crimes committed in El Salvador is gang
related crimes. This country has a population of six million, and out of those six million,
thousands are involved in gangs. The main gangs Barrio 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha
commenced their ongoing rivalry in the streets of Los Angeles in the 1950s. Since then,
their rivalry has grown rapidly throughout the various Central American countries,
inclusive of El Salvador, the United States and Canada. The 18th street gang became so
notorious that the Federal Bureau of Investigation tried bringing it down by capturing its
leaders, but this actually did not go as planned and it backfired on the FBI. After the
capture of the leaders of the 18th street gang, they started recruiting members and became
an established gang in prison. This gang presents itself as a great threat to countries like
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador due to the lack of control these countries have on
them. The way the Barrio 18 gang operates is by committing criminal acts such as
extortion, kidnapping, contract killings and they also do a bit of drug trafficking. All of
these violent actions evoke internal security threats to El Salvador.
The second most
prominent gang the Mara Salvatrucha was created in the poor neighborhoods of the city
of Los Angeles, and they have worked themselves down to countries like El Salvador and
Mexico. When this gang was started the majority of its members were from El Salvador.
After a while, the United States started noticing that this gang was becoming a more
prominent threat. In response to this, they started deporting its members back to their
home countries. The way this gang operates is through drug and human trafficking.
Through these illicit acts, the Mara Salvatrucha seek to impose a security threat for the
country and its neighbors. The neighboring countries that have been affected the most by
the Mara Salvatrucha are Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

Amongst other

internal security threats in El Salvador are robberies, rapes, home invasions, extortion,
and burglaries. Statistics show that the extents of these inner security threats are of great
magnitude. In fact, when one of these types of crimes decreases another one increases.
Overall it is safe to concur that the country is not safe. According to Overseas Security
Advisory Council, In 2012, armed robberies continued at the accelerated 2011 pace and
arguably these could be the single greatest security threats faced by the U.S. Embassy

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staff and business persons. In addition, OSACs statistics showed how a few years ago
extortion levels were at its peak and in the last two years extortion has dropped. This may
be attributed to the creation of a joint police-attorney general anti-extortion unit in 2009
or to the public trend toward underreporting or dismissing clearly ill-prepared extortion
attempts. However, extortions dropped nearly 11 percent in 2012, from 3,296 (2011) to
2,933 (2012). These statistics prove how while one crime decreases another one
increases.

Another very common security threat that

happens in El Salvador and instills fear not only onto the local population, but also its
tourists is kidnapping. The kidnappings have been attributed to: either gang members
taking kids that are really young to persuade them to join their gang; or people taken
hostage for the purpose of acquiring ransom money from their families.
When it comes to traveling to this country,
the United States has issued a travel warning. According to the U.S Department of State,
the country currently has a lot of crime going on. There have been incidents in which
joggers have been robbed and threatened with a gun around the United States Embassy in
El Salvador. Security officials from the embassy are advising all of its employees
currently living in El Salvador not to walk or do any physical activities outside of their
residency for their own safety. Overall, El Salvador has too many internal and external
security threats. These threats are not only crimes that are happening inside of the
country, but also in other countries including the United States. As a result, the internal
and external security threats to El Salvador, pose an issue to the security of the
international community.

Moreover, illicit drugs also have a

great effect on the economy of El Salvador and tend to hamper the countries efforts to
become a greater part of the overall global economic system. Where there are drugs, there
is crime. The two go hand in hand when looking at the overall economic impact in El
Salvador. Crime tends to create less incentive to become a part of the working class in the
country. The money Salvadorans work for is constantly in jeopardy of being stolen
through robberies by the many gangs. This fear creates a greater incentive for individuals
to be on the wrong side of the law, selling and exporting drugs. These crimes are known
to be a much more lucrative area as opposed to simply working a day to day job.
Furthermore, with the prevalence of drug related

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gangs and crime, these gangs attempt to recruit and influence kids at a young age. The
youth is persuaded to join drug related gangs, which takes away from the possible
working pool in the country. The result can be seen in the creation of a domino effect,
where more people are taken out of the working class and enter into gangs. Thus, there
are more members to recruit perspective future members. In turn there is a drastic cut in
the amount of possible workers in day to day jobs.
Illicit drugs also lead to a rise in health care costs and
criminal justice costs which prevents money from being used in more important areas
such as developing new export and further industrializing the country. Therefore the
country is unable to expand their economy and possible exports and eventually become
integrated into the global economic system. The first step for countries to increase their
imports and exports and to increase their GDP is to become integrated into the global
economy. Since the 1980s, El Salvador has switched from a more agriculture based
economy and society, with the majority of exports being agriculture, and has progressed
now to more of an urbanized economy as the United States did in the late 19th to early
20th century. This of course has caused the rural sector of the economy to lose a lot of its
purchasing power at the expense of the urban sector.
First, many factors led to the change in the
economy including the countrys civil war. However, since the end of the war the budget
deficit has actually grown from 2 percent of the GDP to 4 percent and some of the debt
accumulation can be contributed to the civil war and the attempt the country made to
rebuild public infrastructure. Also during the civil war and after the civil war a lot of the
Salvadorans migrated to other places such as the US, Canada and Australia which has
actually helped the economy grow somewhat. After these migrants obtain work abroad,
they are able to send remittances back to their country and family. According to
Salvadoran economist Alexander Segovia one of the principle factors that explain the
reduction of poverty in El Salvador in the decade of the 90s is the influx of remittances,
which for the most part accrue to poor households (Segovia 2004).
Also, the economy was further integrated in the world with
the free trade agreements made with countries such as Mexico, Dominican Republic, and
Chile. According to Herman Rosa the strategic orientation for economic integration has

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been the search for tighter integration with the United States, through the full
dollarization of the economy in 2001 and the Central American Free Trade Agreement
with the United states. However, with the migration of its citizens to other countries for
remittances have been its biggest export, it has been unsuccessful with replacing its from
agricultural exports with a significant amount of exports in other areas (Rosa 2004).
Moreover, one of the first major exports in the country that was
not agriculture based was the export of maquila to the United States. The export further
integrated El Salvador into the global economy. These are when a country imports items
on a tariff free basis and assemble them and then export them back to the country in
which they were imported. According to Herman Rosa in the years ahead it is likely that
continued migration to the United States will be the privileged form of further economic
integration in El Salvador and the ties that remain between the people who migrate out of
the country and the ones who remain in the country(Rosa 2004).
Therefore, even though El Salvador has progressed at integrating its
economy with that of the rest of the world since the 1980s and civil war period they must
expand their urban base and expand their exports beyond that of people who migrate to
other countries and send back remittances to their family. They must also find a sufficient
replacement for their agriculture exports from the early 1980s and 1990s. This
integration will help reduce the income inequality that is currently present and will also
help to further reduce the poverty in the country, even further than was done when mass
migration started during and after the civil war.
In conclusion, the primary factor of the violence and insecurity
throughout El Salvador are due to the tolerance of gangs. Some of the most predominant
domestic issues that are associated with gang violence are the widespread poverty, the
extremely unstable environments, lack of access to education, social exclusion,
inequality, and interfamilial violence. Two of the most violent organized gangs: the
Mara Salvatruchas and Barrio 18 have taken the streets of El Salvador by storm and they
have constructed their identity through the use of violence. In addition, the culture of
violence allowed these gangs the norms and values that formed their phenomenon and
also constructed their pattern of behavior. In addition, human right abuses in El Salvador
have also been an ongoing problem. After their 12 year civil war and the massacres of

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approximately 75,000 Salvadorans, the blanket amnesty law was adopted and it did not
provide a measure of accountability to those who committed the crime. Still today, the
amnesty blanket has created a culture of impunity were few cases, past or present are
brought to justice. By having so many internal security threats such as high homicide
rates, kidnapping, drug and human trafficking, this country is known for its insecurity. It
is tough for the government to make sure that crime rates go down due to the poverty and
corruption that it has, therefore, it makes it an unsafe country. Also the fact that the gangs
are involved in most of these violent crimes and the fact that they are also spreading to
neighboring countries, the United States and even Canada makes them an external
security threat. It is also important to conclude that unless El Salvador is able to integrate
itself into the global economy it will be much more difficult to advance as a country. In
order for El Salvador to do this they must work on things such as expanding and
developing other areas of their economy to go with producing more exports. Along with
this they must also work on domestic issues including things such as gangs and the
amount of illicit drugs that is prevalent in the country.

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