I can't tell who's killing whom
Following up on my post about Where to be young is a crime, David Gagne of Insight Crime responded with
I, of course, responded with
So, here's my response. The violence and the corruption in El Salvador is rather complicated. Since the 2009 election of Funes, there seems to have been a rather significant diversification of organized crime groups operating within the country - it's no longer just groups aligned with ARENA and the gangs. There are now more regional drug trafficking organizations operating in the country. Criminal groups are associated with each of the main political parties. They are embedded in the police and the military. While there is some gang on gang violence, there's also a great deal of gang on civilian and gang against police/military violence. However, it is questionable how responsible gangs have been for all the killings of police and military. For good reason, some people question how the gangs could assassinate two heavily armed police with one shot to the back of the head of one office and another to the chest of the other. For whom are these sicarios working.
We've heard about heavy-handed police operations for quite some time, especially during the early months of the truce when police were kicking in doors and harassing civilians. Now with the police and military on a war footing, supported in great measure by the people of El Salvador, young men are being tortured and killed by men in police uniforms patrolling the country.
I can't tell who's killing whom.
There are no winners? Well, I say there are. There appears to be a rather significant number of Salvadorans who profit handsomely from the violence that permeates the country. No, I don't think that there is a plan to destabilize the country in order to bring about a coup, as apparently does the FMLN, but various organized criminals groups do win with this instability. If they cannot control various state institutions, the second best thing would be to sow discord. Most Salvadorans will not benefit, of course, but, like Guatemala and Honduras, there are those the profit handsomely from the existing situation of insecurity. They stymied efforts to bring a CICIES here in 2010 or so.
Police are often scapegoats. I'm not entirely sure what is meant by this. Police are not responsible for all the crime in the country, obviously, but there has been no serious effort by the Funes or Sanchez Ceren administrations to clean up the police. While various community based policing models and broken windows might prove helpful at improving the security situation in El Salvador, they are likely to suffer because of poor training and high levels of corruption among the existing police force's members.
Finally, police are just as vulnerable. This is an empirical question. Just as vulnerable as whom seems to be the key part. I don't have the numbers but I was thinking compared to poor young men. It's the poor and poor young men in particular who are the victims of violence. The wealthy here are inconvenienced by the violence and while they feel it, they don't suffer its affects on a day to day basis. I'm not sure they will be motivated to act until they do.
Just my quick thoughts.
@CentAmPolMike Its a complicated war, that just like any other, has no winners. Police are often scapegoats, but they're just as vulnerable
— david gagne (@dlgagne21) July 23, 2015
I, of course, responded with
@CentAmPolMike could be. It appears police are getting killed at higher rate than 'students' tho. Who is winning in el sal?
— david gagne (@dlgagne21) July 23, 2015
So, here's my response. The violence and the corruption in El Salvador is rather complicated. Since the 2009 election of Funes, there seems to have been a rather significant diversification of organized crime groups operating within the country - it's no longer just groups aligned with ARENA and the gangs. There are now more regional drug trafficking organizations operating in the country. Criminal groups are associated with each of the main political parties. They are embedded in the police and the military. While there is some gang on gang violence, there's also a great deal of gang on civilian and gang against police/military violence. However, it is questionable how responsible gangs have been for all the killings of police and military. For good reason, some people question how the gangs could assassinate two heavily armed police with one shot to the back of the head of one office and another to the chest of the other. For whom are these sicarios working.
We've heard about heavy-handed police operations for quite some time, especially during the early months of the truce when police were kicking in doors and harassing civilians. Now with the police and military on a war footing, supported in great measure by the people of El Salvador, young men are being tortured and killed by men in police uniforms patrolling the country.
I can't tell who's killing whom.
There are no winners? Well, I say there are. There appears to be a rather significant number of Salvadorans who profit handsomely from the violence that permeates the country. No, I don't think that there is a plan to destabilize the country in order to bring about a coup, as apparently does the FMLN, but various organized criminals groups do win with this instability. If they cannot control various state institutions, the second best thing would be to sow discord. Most Salvadorans will not benefit, of course, but, like Guatemala and Honduras, there are those the profit handsomely from the existing situation of insecurity. They stymied efforts to bring a CICIES here in 2010 or so.
Police are often scapegoats. I'm not entirely sure what is meant by this. Police are not responsible for all the crime in the country, obviously, but there has been no serious effort by the Funes or Sanchez Ceren administrations to clean up the police. While various community based policing models and broken windows might prove helpful at improving the security situation in El Salvador, they are likely to suffer because of poor training and high levels of corruption among the existing police force's members.
Finally, police are just as vulnerable. This is an empirical question. Just as vulnerable as whom seems to be the key part. I don't have the numbers but I was thinking compared to poor young men. It's the poor and poor young men in particular who are the victims of violence. The wealthy here are inconvenienced by the violence and while they feel it, they don't suffer its affects on a day to day basis. I'm not sure they will be motivated to act until they do.
Just my quick thoughts.
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