Former soldiers fleeing Salvadoran gangs?
While I was in Nogales last week, I spoke with an older gentleman from El Salvador who had left the country due to threats from local gangs. He didn't go into too much detail and I didn't press him. However, here is a bit of his story.
The gentleman is from La Union. During the war, he fought as a soldier in the army. Since the end of the war, he has worked to support his family through farming the land. However, he and his family have been threatened by local gangs over the last year because of his participation as a soldier in the war.
As a thin man with wrinkled and dark skin, the man looks like a campesino in his mid-60s. According to him, ever since death squads began (re-) operating in El Salvador, gangs have threatened former soldiers who they believe comprise the death squads. He arrived on the US-Mexico border undecided as to whether to apply for asylum or try to cross illegally with a coyote. He hoped to win asylum and petition to bring his family to the US.
If he applied for asylum, he would probably spend at least the next six months in detention. After that, his petition would probably be denied. That's just the average expectation and nothing specific about his case.
The papers indicate that gangs have targeted police and security force personnel. However, this is the first time that I have heard gangs targeting retired military. That doesn't mean it's not true. I just hadn't heard that "social group" being targeted.
However, it does make sense. If former or retired soldiers comprised the death squads of the 1980s and 1990s, why wouldn't they comprise the death squads of the 2010s? The retired or former soldiers who populated the 1990s post-war death squads would be around 60 years old right now.
He wasn't sure whether his family would survive his six months or more in detention. I don't know what decision he made. He was still there was I left the comedor last Thursday.
The gentleman is from La Union. During the war, he fought as a soldier in the army. Since the end of the war, he has worked to support his family through farming the land. However, he and his family have been threatened by local gangs over the last year because of his participation as a soldier in the war.
As a thin man with wrinkled and dark skin, the man looks like a campesino in his mid-60s. According to him, ever since death squads began (re-) operating in El Salvador, gangs have threatened former soldiers who they believe comprise the death squads. He arrived on the US-Mexico border undecided as to whether to apply for asylum or try to cross illegally with a coyote. He hoped to win asylum and petition to bring his family to the US.
If he applied for asylum, he would probably spend at least the next six months in detention. After that, his petition would probably be denied. That's just the average expectation and nothing specific about his case.
The papers indicate that gangs have targeted police and security force personnel. However, this is the first time that I have heard gangs targeting retired military. That doesn't mean it's not true. I just hadn't heard that "social group" being targeted.
However, it does make sense. If former or retired soldiers comprised the death squads of the 1980s and 1990s, why wouldn't they comprise the death squads of the 2010s? The retired or former soldiers who populated the 1990s post-war death squads would be around 60 years old right now.
He wasn't sure whether his family would survive his six months or more in detention. I don't know what decision he made. He was still there was I left the comedor last Thursday.
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