Everything You need to Know About One of The World’s Most Violent Gangs… MS-13
MS-13. One of the world’s largest and most notorious violent gangs. And yet, many people are unaware of the gangs’ presence in and around the western hemisphere. The El Salvadoran gang follows a visceral motto of “rape, kill, control”. They strike fear in their communities and so far, they have not been stopped. Due to their omnipresence, its increasingly critical that the public is aware of this violent gang and to have an understanding of their history and who they are.
How it All Started
Almost 40 years ago, between the years of 1980 to 1992, El Salvador faced a brutal and aggressive civil war. The conflict between the military-led country and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) caused an disruption for the citizens of El Salvador. As refugees many were forced to flee their country and found there way to cities such as Los Angeles for the safety of their lives. Between the years 1980 and 1990, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), the Salvadoran immigrant population in the United States increased rapidly from 94,000 to 465,000.
These thousands of victims, forced from their home country by brutal war, were soon creating new communities of their own in a foreign land. Many El Salvadorans found each other and created new alliances and tightly-knit groups. It was at this time during the ’80s the group now known as MS-13 was created.
In the beginning they had a different name and went by ‘MSS’ standing for Mara Salvatrucha Stoners. Mara was a Central American term for “gang”. Salva was a shortened term to represent their roots in El Salvador, while -trucha translates to “clever” or “sharp”. Eventually, over time, as the gang grew, their name transitioned to MS-13. Dropping the stoner and adding the 13 to represent the M’s 13th placement in the alphabet.
The MS-13 was a group of young, mainly boys, who enjoyed listening to heavy metal rock and punk music and smoking marijuana. The young boys, coming from a violent history in El Salvador, were now thrown into a new community notorious for its Latino and black gangs. To survive in the new territory, MS-13 had to prove themselves on the streets. This simultaneously created a comradery and cohesion for the gang through violence.
Rivals and Territory
Traced back to the ’50s there had been another gang, near 18th Street and Union Avenue in the Rampart District of Los Angeles. This was Barrio 18, MS-13’s top enemy. The two gangs were rivals from the start. Fighting for territory, money, and reputation. Eventually, the violent rivalries gained the attention of officials which landed many gang members behind bars.
While in these prisons, interestingly enough, MS-13 gained an alliance with the infamous leaders of the Mexican Mafia, who are a predominant prison gang. Along with the “Sureños” who have gang members spreading all the way from South West America to Mexico. Eventually, MS-13 gained even more power through affiliation, on and off the streets.
By the 1990’s unfortunately for the MS-13 gang, Bill Clinton came into presidency. Who in 1995 passed a bill calling for the “deportation of a foreign-born resident who has been convicted of a crime”. And so many members of MS-13 were forced back into El Salvador. At the time the country’s government was weak and unprepared for the overflow of criminals infiltrating back onto their streets. Clinton’s immigration laws advocating for an anti-gang policy, in the end, lent a hand in helping spread MS-13 and other gangs throughout Central America.
As MS-13 began to leach themselves onto the Salvadoran communities, the government became weaker and the gang began to grow. El Salvador holds the most members of MS-13 in relation to the other countries where the gang is located. In Central America, it is estimated that there are between 50,000–70,000 members of MS-13.
What Does MS-13 Do?
MS-13 is most commonly known for their violent actions, and are also known to exploit small business in the area. Their tactics include instilling fear to force cooperation, and murder when they refuse to cooperate. The gang has been known to force individuals and small companies to pay taxes (“rentas”) or give percentages of their profits to the gang. Most Salvadorans can not work without the permission of the gang. Another common stradegy used by the gang is the exploitation of bus companies.
In El Salvador being a bus driver is one of the most dangerous jobs. So much so that in 2015 San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, had their public transportation system shut down due to the death of nine bus drivers. People were unable to carry-on such mundane routines, such as going to work, in fear of their lives. Many citizens no longer resist the gangs’ exploitation. Knowing that if they did, their lives and the lives of their family would be a risk.
The gang also participates in racketeering with politicians, such as the FMLN, and playing a role in the support of human and drug trafficking internationally. But any drug trafficking conducted by the gang is very small in comparison to other international gangs.
Many of the people being murdered by MS-13 are younger people, usually under the age of 19. In 2016 alone, 540 deaths were Salvadoran minors. That is an average of 1.5 deaths every day. El Salvador also has the third highest femicide rate in the world. The gang often targets younger girls for sexual abuse and violence. Most times when these young girls refuse the demands of gang members they are murdered. According to Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California–Hastings Law School, the murders are usually brutal and visceral leaving the young girls bodies to be found later on with burnings, hands and legs tied, and sometimes beheaded.
What is Being Done?
In Central America, someone is murdered every half hour. At some point you have to ask yourself, how does this continue? Why is no one trying to stop the deaths and violence? The answer is they’ve tried. In the past decade the government and President of El Salvador have attempted to devise plans to conquer the street crime, but with no accomplishment. Back in March 2016 the President of El Salvador, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, gave an announcement to put in place a set of “extraordinary measures” that were to tackle the violent gangs rampant in the country’s streets. But soon after the president’s statement, a video revealed itself with a gang member giving their own announcement. The member had stated “We want to make the government aware that it cannot put an end to the gangs,” and that “We are a part of our country’s community.” It’s interesting to note, MS-13 has no single leader. It has no head man giving rule and control. Each clique carries its own set of regulations. But they do have a system of branched control. There is a higher up clique called the “Primera Palabra” and then another, the “Secunda Palabra”. The reason behind this particular set up is so that if the Primera Palabra is taken down the Secunda Palabra will take over. The gang’s organization makes it that much harder to be fully taken down when the control of power is continuously being moved.
In 2012 there was an average of 14 deaths per day and so even the gangs themselves, MS-13 and Barrio 18, created a truce with the help of the Catholic Church and government. Unfortunately two years after the truce began, it broke and the gangs began their rivalries again.
As it happens, even when police are successful in capturing gang members, prisons do nothing to change the situation. Within the prisons of El Salvador, the inmates hold the power. Officers are too fearful to even be inside. Prisons have been divided to forcefully hold gangs separately due to the high conflict and violence occurring when placed together. At the end of the day, subsequently, the police are left defeated.
The Sombra Negro
With this being said, a new group eventually took matters into their own hands. They called themselves Sombra Negro, a vigilante type group of politically powered officials. They dress in all black and cover their faces with black bandannas while driving around in unlicensed vehicles with tinted windows. In 2014 they were reported to have killed 10 MS-13 members. This specific group and their tactics are unnerving when reviewing how they “stop the gangs”. It’s noted that these masked figures capture the gang members and sexually abuse them along with the dismemberment of arms, legs, genitalia, and more. It leaves the question of, “how is this any better than what the gang members do to young girls and boys?” The group called their actions a “social cleansing” and don’t find their actions to be illegal considering their government hasn’t been able to find solutions. The situation continues to be a catch-22.
Trump and MS-13
The violence has no clear ending in sight. Violence continues, and the gangs continue to grow. Officials are eager to bring a stop to it all, but the problem with the approach of too many is the lack of understanding and attention to why it’s all happening. When reviewing American reactions to MS-13, if following Trump, an interesting perspective is introduced. On February 23, 2018, Trump tweeted a statement saying “El Salvador just takes our money”.
He often uses MS-13 as an example to America’s poor immigration policies, explaining if America were to deport these violent gang figures then the epidemic would be resolved. But according to David Pyrooz, a sociologist at the University of Colorado who specializes in gangs and criminal networks, reveals in an obvious manner, it really doesn’t work like that.
It’s interesting to note, in America, gangs contribute to 13% of American homicides. This clearly isn’t being conducted by just MS-13. So why are Trump and other political figures so focused on just this one gang when others exist such as the Blood and Crips, Latin Kings, and the 33,000 other gangs the FBI has identified? Pyrooz called MS-13 the “perfect boogeyman”. They encompass all that America morally fights against; violence, gangs, and Latino immigration. Unfortunately, Trump too often uses the gang for political purpose, to move his agenda forward in regards to immigration policies.
Pyrooz states deportation is the last and worst solution to the problem of MS-13. Currently, the approach taken by politicians is incohesive. It is systematically weakening the actions the US may try to make. By deporting more and more immigrants that are apart of MS-13 just gives them more power and attention. Sending these people back just leads to a larger spread of their gang which is exactly how MS-13 became so rampant in Central America in the first place.
Is there a way out?
Humans across the board all need and want the same things. They want a job to provide for their family and to feel safe. In MS-13’s case, most citizens of El Salvador don’t have these freedoms. In their eyes, it becomes the idea of kill or get killed. According to Pyrooz, 95% of people who join gangs end up leaving them. This can be difficult for some. Especially when many MS-13 members have the gang branded into their skin, marked for life by a violent past.
The gang is also going into their third generation soon, and many descendants of these gang members are bound into the gang life, with little to no choice. It can often be historically rooted in Latino generations, making it hard to remove oneself from gangs that have surrounded one their entire life.
New opportunities for gang members and the community need to be facilitated, to give them the choice and availabilities of a new future. El Salvador is in need of allies to resolve the MS-13 violent epidemic. But due to their poor economy and lack thereof, many countries are unwilling. When reviewing the problem, it boils down to a few things. American politicians need to stop stirring the turmoil and using the gang as a political actor to help their agenda. Creating such a bolstered image for the gang gives them ammunition to use. In regards to El Salvador itself, there is a dire need for organizations such as churches and volunteer services to take a stand and create fresh identities for future generations. Children in such impoverished and divided societies need to see there are other opportunities that are not limited to a violent life of crime.
