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How MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs are becoming key players against the coronavirus epidemic in El Salvador

Published:Apr 11, 2020 4:22 PM GMT

RT spoke exclusively with the spokespersons of two of the hegemonic gangs in El Salvador, who are promoting the confinement of families in houses - violently, in the case of the Mara Salvatrucha - to contain the spread of the virus.

During a police operation, a police officer monitors access to the Colfer community in San Salvador, where the Barrio 18-Revolucionario gang operates. Roberto Valencia / RT

"Good morning, Salvadoran people," says a man's voice, youthful, "we are in the work that the Barrio 18-Sureños has set out to do this day, is it ?, helping the most needy, affected? for the covid 2019 ". A lady comes out of her shack, rural, and gratefully picks up a large package: beans, oil, cornmeal, toilet paper, sugar, rice ... "Happy day, little mother!" Says, by way of farewell, the same youthful voice that records the delivery.

The scene is pure surrealism, ducks shooting shotguns, though not so easy to spot in the layman's eyes.

In El Salvador, the maras or gangs are playing a leading role in the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. RT spoke with the spokesmen for Barrio 18-Sureños (18-S) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) - two of the three hegemonic gangs -, who confirmed the participation of these criminal structures in promoting the confinement of houses , social distancing and, in the case of the 18-S, even in distributing food among low-income families.

Barrio 18-Sureños distributes food

"We humbly ask you to abide by the Government's regulations for the emergency that the country is going through," reads a statement signed by the 18-S gang: "Do not leave if it is not necessary, please ask our neighborhoods and neighborhoods, where you control the Barrio 18-Sureños ".

Context. The gang phenomenon is imported. Both MS-13 and Barrio 18 were born in Los Angeles (United States), and it was in the early nineties when they began to settle in Central America, via the policy of mass deportations unleashed by Washington; first they gained presence in urban-marginal areas, and later, in rural areas.

After three decades, gangs are today a parallel power in countless communities, colonies and Salvadoran cantons in which the presence of the State is stunted

Gang members determine who enters the neighborhood or who studies at the institute, a control that has generated that, in practice, the country is divided by 'invisible borders' delimited by the areas of influence of the gangs.

The largest and best organized is MS-13. The Barrio 18 was divided into two factions more than a decade ago: the referred 18-Sureños and the 18-Revolutionaries. All in all, it is estimated at around 60,000 active gang members, and more than 300,000 people who make up their social mattress (girlfriends, wives, family members, collaborators) in a country of just 6.8 million inhabitants.

Barrio 18-Sureños distributes food

Maras and epidemic

On the afternoon of Monday, March 30, the MS-13 broadcast audio and text messages on its fields (the neighborhoods or neighborhoods in which it has a presence, in gang slang) via WhatsApp announcing a 'curfew'. Except for going to work or shopping, they did not want anyone outside their homes, under threat of being "severely corrected by us."

The following day, they reinforced the statement with a series of videos that went viral on social networks, recorded in different parts of the country, and in which Emeese gang members beat men who had left their homes with bats on the legs.

"People ignore it. People, when they see that the (police) patrols enter our courts , they get into their house, but, once the patrol turns around, they return to the street to play cards on the sidewalks and things like that, "the MS-13 spokesperson told RT.

The spokesperson certified that the videos of the beatings were recorded and distributed by Mara Salvatrucha: "Those videos were made so that people would see that it was not a false statement."

The digital newspaper El Faro, one of the Latin American benchmarks in investigative journalism, published on March 31 the report ' Gangs threaten anyone who breaches quarantine .' The note endorsed the idea of ​​the "curfew", but presented it as a decision agreed by the three gangs, and of forced implementation in "the communities that live under their control."

Graffiti of Danger Criminales Locos (DCLS), a 'clique' of the Mara Salvatrucha that operates in the Brisas del Norte neighborhood, in Apopa. Roberto Valencia / RT

However, RT verified, with more than a dozen testimonies from people living in colonies under the control of the three gangs, that neither on the fields of the Barrio 18-Sureños nor in the most significant of the 18-Revolución (such as the community Las Palmas, in San Salvador) there is a 'curfew' that prevents neighbors from leaving the houses.

"Those audios (those of the MS-13) have cost us to deny them on our courts , right? And we want to clear up that misunderstanding," the 18-S spokesperson told RT.

Both the 18-Sureños and the Mara Salvatrucha seek the same thing, that the people who live in the colonies under their control abide by the Government's provisions regarding confinement and distancing, but differ in how to achieve that purpose.

What is life like in a containment center? El Salvador, one of the first countries in the world to enact drastic measures against the coronavirus

The delivery of food to low-income families in different departments of the country, sponsored by the 18-S, would become a way of marking distance with the methods used by the MS-13.

The Government is silent

RT consulted two senior government officials about the leading role of the gangs, but they said they were not authorized to speak on the record about the issue. Although newspapers like the US Los Angeles Times or the Argentine Clarín have echoed the violence exerted by the MS-13, President Nayib Bukele has not even written a tweet.

Tiziano Breda, analyst for Central America at the International Crisis Group (ICG), did speak. The ICG estimates that gangs have a presence in 90% of the 262 Salvadoran municipalities, and explained that such a massive presence of these criminal groups is due to the fact that, "by their very nature, gangs live in symbiosis with communities that, de facto, they control. "

To try to explain what is happening these days in El Salvador, Breda said that in the gangs "the same logic lies behind reaffirming their own authority and strengthening their own legitimacy vis-à-vis the communities they claim to protect."

Gangs order quarantine in Latin America in the absence of state

He also endorsed the uneven behavior of the three gangs: "The evidence seems to suggest that it is mainly the MS-13 that is implementing the 'curfew' with more vigor."

Under threat or with incentives, the truth is that gangs are contributing to what for the Government of the Republic is a priority today: that people lock themselves in their homes. With just over 100 confirmed infections, El Salvador remains one of the Latin American countries least hit by covid-19.

"That the interests of the government and the gangs coincide does not necessarily imply that there is a negotiation, of which there is also no evidence," values ​​the ICG expert, and is encouraged by an interpretation: "The actions of the gangs could have as The objective is not only to protect their communities and to reiterate their territorial power, but also to improve relations with the Government and place themselves in a more favorable position in a possible informal interaction, current or future. "

RT conveyed the concern to the MS-13 spokesperson. He was asked that someone might believe that there is some sort of alliance between that gang and the government. He answered this: "There are no alliances here, starting with the fact that the police seized some of those who were hitting the fools. No, there are no alliances here."

The maras or gangs are playing an unusual role in how El Salvador is facing the pandemic. There's no doubt. But there are still many unanswered questions on this topic. One: who provided the Barrio 18-Sureños with the food they have distributed on their fields ?

Roberto Valencia from San Salvador (El Salvador)