El Salvador gang truce
From Predators to Partners: How Gangs are Taking San Salvador
This is the second part of a three-part series on San Salvador’s Historic Center, the heart of the country’s informal urban markets and a long-time bastion of...
Analysis /
3 Dirty Secrets Revealed by the El Salvador Gang ‘Negotiations’
The El Faro media group reported that the El Salvador government is “negotiating” with street gangs to keep homicide levels low, which may come as a surprise to...
Analysis /
Homicide Drop in El Salvador: Presidential Triumph or Gang Trend?
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has credited his crime-fighting plan for a 60 percent drop in homicides this year. But the country’s violent street gangs...
Analysis /
El Salvador Arrests General Behind 2012 Gang Truce
Salvadoran authorities have arrested General David Munguía Payés, a former defense minister who spearheaded a controversial truce between the government of former...
Analysis /
El Salvador’s Prosecutions of Officials Who Negotiated With Gangs Explained
Prosecutors in El Salvador have charged high-ranking politicians with electoral fraud in connection to their controversial negotiations with gang leaders, opening a...
Analysis /
Tip of the Iceberg: Former El Salvador Presidential Candidate Accused of Negotiating with Gangs
The top prosecutor in El Salvador has asked congress to strip immunity from a legislator he says negotiated with gangs for political benefit during the 2014...
Analysis /
Who Taught the MS13 Politics?
The first MS13 and Barrio 18 gang members to arrive in El Salvador were deported from the United States in the late 1980s. Some even fought in the civil war, which...
Analysis /
Negotiations Between El Salvador Govt, MS13 Prove Elusive
The administration of El Salvador President Salvador Sánchez Cerén insists that it will not negotiate with the MS13 gang, which made a public proposal at the...
Brief /
El Salvador Disappearances Down From Post-Gang Truce Peak
Newly reported statistics from El Salvador's National Civil Police indicate that disappearances have declined from a peak reached in 2014 after the dissolution of a...
Analysis /
Case Against El Salvador’s MS13 Reveals State Role in Gang’s Growth
A massive operation that has bared the finances of El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang offers compelling evidence of a long suspected theory: government...
Analysis /
Gangs Find Common Ground in El Salvador Crackdown
El Salvadors three main gangs have moved toward forming a common front with a coordinating committee and a nonaggression pact that prohibits the invasion of other...
Analysis /
Criminal Truces in Latin America: The Ultimate Catch-22
A recent report examining the effect of criminal truces in Latin America is both promising and discouraging; although we have the tools to bring a measure of peace...