Gangs of El Salvador

Chelatenango, El Salvador. May 2007. MS13 gang member throws gang signs inside the Chelatenango prison.

“The Mara Salvatrucha gang, MS13, originated in the 1970’s within the Salvadorian immigrant community of Los Angeles. With a systematic policy of deportations engaged by the United States , the gang problem has been exported back to Central America causing an explosive rise in vicious gang-related crime. Today, cities like San Salvador experience some of the highest rates of murders in the world.

In El Salvador, the two most powerful gangs, MS13 and Calle 18, are kep in segregated prisons to prevent violence, virtually leaving the gangs to run their day-to-day internal affairs within the prisons. In a study released in February of 2007 by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard University, there were 7,500 people in Salvadoran prisons in 2001. By February 2006, this number had soared to 12,500 detainees, though the national system had an operating capacity for only 8,000 prisoners. “