Violent Gangs Saturate El Salvador From Top to Bottom

[TomSea]

Violent Gangs Saturate El Salvador From Top to Bottom
August 12, 2019

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (CN) — Violent gangs have infiltrated virtually every corner of life in El Salvador, from businesses to police to housing — even to whether one can leave one’s home to go to the outhouse.

The gangs own bus routes, hotels, bars, restaurants, body shops. There are lawyers and doctors and teachers in gangs. There are mayors in gangs. President Nayib Bukele has announced a huge effort — much applauded — to improve security. Thousands of troops and police are trying to pacify the gang insurgency that has terrorized the country for twenty years. Here are some stories told by average Salvadorans this month.

Fernando has a barbershop in Soyapango, a sprawling city that borders San Salvador, the capital. He once had a business selling mobile phone time, where people put a dollar or two worth of minutes on their phones. His wife ran a small restaurant. Gang members, young ruffians in the neighborhood, would demand free lunches or free phone minutes, so those activities proved unprofitable. Fernando still cuts hair and barely squeaks by.

He says he told the gang to just kill him, as he refused to pay extortion money to them. They stopped bothering him. A day in the life in one part of Soyapango. A happy ending, perhaps.

Read more at: https://www.courthousenews.com/violent-gangs-saturate-el-salvador-from-top-to-bottom/