Isn't there a lot of violence in El Salvador?

In my conversations with people about my trip, the subject of violence almost always comes up.  People want to know if it is safe for me to go to El Salvador.  This is a difficult subject, and unfortunately, I have to tell people yes, there is violence in El Salvador.  I very much appreciate the concern, but I sincerely hope that no one will lose sleep worrying about me.  So, here is some information that I hope will put things in perspective and give you some more knowledge.

El Salvador has a violent history and it does indeed continue today. I won't bore you with a full history of El Salvador, so I'll start with the civil war.  For those of you who remember the news during late 70s through early 90s, you probably remember hearing about horrific violence in El Salvador. From 1980 until 1992, El Salvador was torn apart by a civil war between the Salvadoran government (backed by the U.S. government) and the Salvadoran guerrilla armed forces. There were a few events that made major international news such as the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the murder of four U.S. churchwomen in 1980, the massacre of the entire village of El Mozote in 1981, and the murder of six Jesuits and their housekeeper and her daughter in 1989.

The war ended with the signing of peace accords in January of 1992, but many Salvadorans and academics have declared that the violence in the past 18 years has been worse than the violence during the war.  The murder rate is one of the highest in the world, there is evidence that the "death squads" that were common during the civil war have reemerged, and violent robberies occur far too often.  So I along with others have wondered how it can be that there is more violence during a time of "peace" than there was during the war.  Shouldn't life be safer, easier, and better now that the war is over?  Did anything actually change as a result of the war in which thousands gave up their lives fighting for a more just society?  Furthermore, what can be done to stop violence in a time when there should be peace?  There are obviously no simple answers to these questions, but I'm nevertheless searching for whatever portion of an answer I can find.  

The Salvadoran government, media, and society in general have focused on the violence caused by the gangs over the past twenty years. The growth of gangs in El Salvador can be traced back the civil war. During the war thousands and thousands of Salvadorans migrated to the United States to escape the war. Many settled in the Los Angeles area, and it was there that the Salvadorans learned about and got involved with the U.S. gang culture. After the war, some Salvadorans returned voluntarily while others were deported. Most who were involved with gangs in the U.S. brought their gang culture back to El Salvador with them and gangs in El Salvador have grown drastically.  The drug trade does play a role in the gangs in El Salvador, but not to the great extent that it does in countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. Much of the gang violence in El Salvador is the result of conflict over territory or recruiting members.    

Blaming the violence on the gangs has provided the Salvadorans with a way to understand the violence in a time of "peace", but blaming the violence on the gangs has also given the government an easy way to escape the blame that the government leaders deserve.  During the civil war, violence was blamed on a conflict of politics, and now the government is trying to assert that the violence is not political.  However, in many instances the root causes of the violence today in El Salvador are very much linked to the political structure as well as the economic and social structures.

The Salvadoran government has made significant efforts to try to reduce the gang violence, but the government is dealing with the symptoms and not the causes.  The police and more recently the military have tried to crack down on gang violence, but the anti-gang laws have essentially made it illegal to be a young person.  No matter how successful the police and military are in finding gang members, jailing them, and punishing them for the crimes they have committed, the violence will continue because it is just not realistic to think that they can eliminate all the gang members.  Hardly any resources have been devoted to try to prevent young people from joining gangs and little has been done to help those who want to leave gangs.

With all the focus on gang violence the root causes of gang violence tend to be ignored. What I believe the to be the root causes of gang violence are in fact other forms of violence especially structural violence (i.e. violence that is caused by injustices in the political, economic, and social structures in a society).  A lack of family support pushes youth to join gangs in order to have the physical and emotional support of the gang. The economic inequality prevents youth from having any significant chance of finding meaningful employment so they have no other choice but to join a gang. The great social inequality between those in power and the majority of Salvadorans has also created people who are searching for belonging in a society where they are excluded by those in power. Joining a gang provides accesses to a sense of belonging and a sense of power of that comes as a result of joining a group such as a gang.  The repressive anti-gang laws have done very little to address the violence and in fact some people argue that the anti-gang laws have only made things worse.

Clearly there are many variables involved in the violence in El Salvador.  I hope that I managed to sum things up well.  In my next post I'm going to tell you about the research I'm planning to do while I'm in El Salvador to try to better understand the violence and what can be done to reduce it.  

My safety and the safety of my friends will constantly be at least at the back of my mind during my trip. I will indeed take proactive steps to minimize the chances that I will be a victim of violence such as not carrying around valuables, not going out late at night, and traveling around with Salvadorans.  My status as a foreigner and specifically as someone from the U.S. will protect me in some ways and make me more vulnerable in other ways.  Nevertheless, there is only so much I can do to protect myself.  There comes a point when I just need to put things in God's hands and trust.  Of course this is much easier said than done, but I anticipate that I will grow in my ability and need to put my full trust in God.