El Salvador's violence

Sarah Kinosian, Angelika Albaladejo, and Lisa Haugaard are publishing a series of posts on the security situation in El Salvador for the Latin America Working Group. They published the first entry last week on El Salvador’s Gang Violence: Turf Wars, Internal Battles and Life Defined by Invisible Borders.

As the war continues to rage, the fight against the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs has often taken center stage. However, the security landscape in El Salvador is more complex than a battle between gangs and security forces. There are struggles between the gangs, within the gangs, conflicts between all armed actors and citizens, and some violence due to transnational drug trafficking. In this complicated, very bloody fight, violence has become a daily occurrence, forcing entire neighborhoods to leave their homes and making it nearly impossible for many children to go to school or for adults to make a living.

Post 2 on El Salvador's Security Policy is Increasing Extrajudicial Killings and Abuse went up on Friday. You can follow the rest of the series here. They're not pretty, nor should they be.