Link to article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54507940
Six men were killed in an El Salvador bar on Sunday. Three men were involved in the shooting, but only one had been arrested. Despite El Salvador having one of the highest murder rates in the world, the number of homicides actually decreased by 62.8% in the past year.
President Nayib Bukele was elected in 2019 on a promise to diminish El Salvador’s gang-related crime activities, which he was certainly successful with. However, the six men killed in the bar shooting were out of 13 total deaths across the country on Sunday. Officials are unsure what caused this sudden spike in homicides after months of less crime.
There have been rumors that Bukele had secretly been granting ‘favors’ to imprisoned gang leaders in exchange for a decrease in violence on the streets and votes for him at the next election. However, El Salvador’s Director of Prisons Osiris Luna Meza has denied such allegations.
This bar attack has contributed to recent suspicion of El Salvador’s government involvement with the country’s gangs. Apparently, a number of leaked government documents revealed that leaders of the gang MS-13 were receiving special privileges while imprisoned, such as fast food and gentler treatment than the other prisoners. This is how many suspect Bukele was able to claim much of the credit for the reduction of homicide in his country; less crime in the streets equaled better treatment in prison.
The alleged suspicious activity between the government and gangs that terrorize the streets of El Salvador is bound to cause even more tension and eventually violence throughout the whole country. If Bukele and gang leaders have been working together to reduce crime, then why has there been a sudden spike of homicides recently?
In the past years, the government of El Salvador has attempted to tackle the deep-rooted social issues behind gang behavior, but have not reached the success that they desire. Previously, the lack of political commitment to this issue had hindered the results, but has since changed with President Bukele in office, ultimately leading to the current situation.
The appearance of gang violence in El Salvador actually stemmed from U.S. deportation policies in the late 90’s. In the present day, the U.S.’s approach to migration actually has the potential to worsen the security situation against gang-related criminal activity in El Salvador; the gang MS-13 personifies U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings of the dangers of undocumented immigration.
Gangs in El Salvador don’t just cause murders of innocent people, fear and uncertainty in everyday lives, and the desire for El Salvadorians to be protected by their government, but also involvement from other global actors, like the U.S, in the country’s government policies.
On a final note, it’s reported that President Bukele is a frequent user of social media in terms of communication, specifically Twitter. He’s made statements denying any favors made to imprisoned gang leaders on his personal Twitter account. An excessive amount of posting on social media to declare such important political information is a recipe for disaster in the near future.