Thread: El Salvador cracks down on gangs

El Salvador cracks down on gangs
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El Salvador orders the arrest of 300 gang members following attacks on members of the security forces and a gang-imposed public transport strike.

• 9 hours ago

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El Salvador gangs: Arrests of members ordered

• 9 hours ago

• From the section Latin America & Caribbean

Tension between the government and gangs in El Salvador has been on the rise

El Salvador's attorney general has issued about 300 arrest warrants for gang members suspected of "terrorist acts".

Last month, gang members paralysed public transport when they ordered drivers to go on strike.

They torched buses and killed at least seven drivers who did not comply.

El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, much of it caused by violence between two rival gangs.

Deadly toll

Following a truce between the Mara Salvatrucha and the Barrio 18 gang, brokered in 2012, the murder rate dropped by 40%.

Soldiers were deployed to protect bus drivers threatened by gang members

But as the truce crumbled, the number murders rose again.

So far in August, 24 people have been killed on average every day, police said on Monday.

Attorney General Luis Martinez said the gangs had "gone too far, they attack the police and prosecutors, they intimidate the population and force people to leave their homes".

This year alone, 41 police officers, 14 soldiers and a prosecutor have been killed.

Mr Martinez said the arrest warrants were part of "a new strategy to impose order".

The crackdown follows July's gang-imposed public transport strike which paralysed the capital, San Salvador.

The gangs called the strike as a means of pressuring the government into including them in talks on how to reduce urban violence.

President Salvador Sanchez Ceren has ruled out negotiating with the gangs.

There are an estimated 70,000 active gang members in El Salvador.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33880945

The United States does provide INTERNATIONAL anti gang training. I don't know how long these programs have been operating but we do officially encourage other countries to benefit from our law enforcement experience in dealing with gangs. ICE also offers international training since much of its works consist of combating international crime rings. I keep telling people who insist we need to allow refugees from Central America because somehow we have caused their problems:
1. Drug users and dealers have caused most of their problems
2. We already bear the burden of expert training offered to their societies
3. Government and charities already gives lots of time and money
4. They won't control their population crisis and keep bringing children into the world with no plan to take care of them
5. A shotgun in Central America really couldn't cost that much anyway!

Please see the US DOJ National Gang Center:
http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/