El Salvador's unending war on gangs

Christine Wade has a new post at World Politics Review with El Salvador’s ‘Iron Fist’: Inside Its Unending War on Gangs.

For now, El Salvador is caught in a cycle of unending violence. The current administration, hell-bent on appearing tough on crime and eschewing any consideration of dialogue with gangs, continues to pursue policies that have yielded poor results in the past and are by all accounts contributing to more human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings today. It’s a disappointing but important reminder of the problem of path dependence in public policy, especially for measures as popular as militarized policing. But as long as El Salvador clings to its iron-fisted approach to gangs, the violence is likely to continue.

Flores, Saca, Funes, and Sanchez Ceren each implemented programs and policies designed to tackle the root causes of violence, including those specifically aimed at encouraging young men to somehow avoid gang life.

While Funes might be remembered for both the truce and the increased militarization of public security, the other three will simply be remembered for giving the people what they want - more mano dura.

Meanwhile, Adrian Bergmann tells President Sanchez Ceren that mano dura is not the only option in El Faro. He still has a chance to change how people remember him.