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Salvadoran authorities have issued an arrest warrant for 300 gang members accused of terrorism as part of a new effort to crackdown on organized crime in the violence-ridden Central American country, the attorney general announced Wednesday.
“This is a new strategy designed by the attorney general's office to impose order and bring social peace,” said Attorney General Luis Martinez in a press conference. “We are coordinating with the police and we have a group of prosecutors who have not rested in this effort.”
The renewed campaign against gang activity comes after gangs forced a transportation boycott two weeks ago that brought the capital San Salvador to a halt for four days. Gang members used violence to threaten drivers who did not follow the gang-mandated work-stoppage. At least nine drivers were killed.
The government deployed military vehicles and other state resources to transport commuters during the forced shutdown of public transit. I Photo: AFP
Authorities attributed the transport shutdown and spike in violence to El Salvador's most powerful rival gangs, Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, pegging most of the blame on Barrio 18.
Now, the arrest warrants issued include more than 130 members of Barrio 18 for charges of conspiring “to develop terrorist acts,” according to Martinez.
The capture orders don't only target gang members involved in forcing the transport boycott, but also gang members charged with killing police officers and soldiers.
RELATED: Government of El Salvador Warns Against 'Movement for a Coup'
So far this year, 41 police officers, 15 soldiers, and a prosecutor have been killed, according to authorities.
Violence, already up more than 50 percent since last year, has spiked this month, with an average of 24 murders per day. A total of 3,291 murders have been recorded by police this year alone, with the majority of killings attributed to gang violence.
Martinez said gangs have “surpassed the limits,” accusing gang members of acting as terrorists and working to destabilize the government.
On Sunday, the national police force detained over 100 members of the Barrio 18 gang involved in the transport shutdown, charged with terrorism and disruption of public order.
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#ElSalvador | La PNC capturó en la madrugada de este domingo a unos 100 miembros de la pandilla 18, pic.twitter.com/8dT8KqcW6Y
— Radio Umasferrer (@UmasferrerRadio)
August 10, 2015
“The National Police captured some 100 members of the gang 18 in the early hours of Sunday morning.”
Since the boycott ended, speculations have circulated on social media that gangs might force another transportation shutdown on Monday. President Salvador Sanchez dismissed the suggestion as “only rumors,” adding that the government was “prepared to deploy all necessary force” should gangs force a second round of transport boycotts.
El Salvador: Tranquilidad. Amenaza de paro de transporte por padillas fue rumor. Custodian unidades preventivamente pic.twitter.com/kBSGHsP39k
— Adriana Sivori (@SivoriteleSUR)
August 10, 2015
Meanwhile, Salvadoran government authorities have said that gangs are working to restructure in a way that could impact the entire Central American region, El Universal reported Wednesday.
Government spokesperson Eugenio Chicas said that “there is a strong suspicion” that key negotiators linked to a previous truce between gangs “are seeking unity of the gangs,” El Universal reported. The government suspects that rival gangs Barrio 18 and MS-13 are looking to unite into a single gang, referred to as Mara 503.
As the main hub of gang activity in Central America, gang unity in El Salvador could spark simliiar actions in neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, also hit by the gang violence.
#Destacamos Eugenio Chicas: “Mijango y Lüers podrían estar buscando que las pandillas se unan” http://t.co/IdbpoLBbz9 pic.twitter.com/xaYvCDXvIz
— Diario1.com (@diario1_sv)
August 11, 2015
“Eugenio Chicas: Mijango and Luers (both linked to 2012 truce) could be seeking for gangs to unite.”
El Salvador's reputation as one the murder capitals of Latin America and the world is largely the result of killings in turf wars between rival gangs, which have transnational roots in the street gangs of Los Angeles.
A 2012 truce between warring gangs temporarily reduced violence, cutting the murder rate in half. But the truce, in which the government played an unknown role, failed to tackle the root causes of widespread gang membership and organized crime. Violence again spiked when the truce began to unravel, rising to new heights and exceeding pre-truce levels.
For more than a decade, the Salvadoran government has tried to crack down on gang violence with iron-fist policies without sucess. President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who entered office in 2014, raised fears over more tough-on-crime policies and rejected the idea of negotiating with gang members.
El pueblo salvadoreño no se doblega ante el miedo y el temor, no vamos a dialogar con aquellos que viven del crimen.
— Salvador Sánchez C. (@sanchezceren)
August 10, 2015
“The Salvadoran people will not bow to fear, we will not dialogue with those who live off crime.”
Now, rather than going to the negotiating table, the government is sending gang members to prisons by the hundreds.
While the forced transit shutdown attempted to pressure the government into negotiating reduced punishments for gang members, government officials have repeatedly stated that they will not enter into dialogue with gangs.
