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[1] (April 20, 2016)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabfsf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS INSIGHT Escalating Violence in El Salvador April 20, 2016 (IN10382) Related Author -Clare Ribando SeelkeQ Clare Ribando Seelke, Specialist in Latin American Affairs (c, 7-5229) During 2015, El Salvador posted the world's highest homicide rate, 10.mici pr 1000 p l Homicides, many gang-related, have trended further upward in 2016, with more than 2 0.00 killings recorded through March, including massacres killings and their familie, and extrauicial killings Of susected gang mmbrs. El Salvador has the highest concentration of gang members in Cenral Amric. Many analysts assert that the government's tough anti-gang policies are worsening the violence; others maintain that the government has few policy options available. Escalating violence and political polarization in the country have inhibited U.S. and Salvadoran efforts to improve security and bolster growth. Gangs in El Salvador The largest ganga in El Salvador have origins in and ties to the United States. The 18 St re et an was formed in Los Angeles in the 1950s as a Mexican gang; it later embraced other Latinos. The IS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha-13) was created during the 1980s by Salvadorans in Los Angeles who had fled the country's civil conflict. Both gangs expanded their operations to Central America after many of their leaders were deported in the 1990s. Some gang cliques (clicas) in El Salvador have maintained ts ith El Salvador has struggled with gang-related violence for years, but homicides have escalated since the demise of a 2012-2013 truce between the country's largest gangs. Post-truce, the gangs are more fragmented and volent and the state appears inapable of restoring order. Gangs have become involved in extortion; kidnapping; and drug, auto, and weapons smuggling. They have extorted millions of dollars from residents, bus drivers, and businesses. Failure to pay often results in violence. In July 2015, gang threats prompted a three-day shutdown of San Salvador's bus system. Gang-related crimes continue to drive internal displacement and illegal emigration. Government Efforts: A Return to Mano Dura (Firm Hand) Policies? From 2003 to 2009, El Salvador pursued aggressive anti-gang policies referred to as mano dura. Those policies involved incarcerating large numbers of youth for illicit association and increasing sentences for gang membership. Delays in the judicial process and massive arrests led to severe prison overcrowding, and the government's lack of internal control allowed prisons to become like finishing schools for gangs. Most youth arrested under mano dura provisions were released for lack of evidence. At the same time, gangs and gang tactics became more sophisticated to

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