The origin and development of gangs in El Salvador

Abstract

For more than four decades, violence has characterized the political and social dynamics in El Salvador, beginning with the armed conflict of 1980 and the formation of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). This conflict, part of the Cold War, lasted almost twelve years and left deep social scars, especially in areas of overcrowding, poverty and unemployment. Subsequently, the deportation of gang members from the United States transformed the local gangs, giving them a more complex structure and organization. Since the 1990s, street gangs, known as "maras", became a significant cultural-generational phenomenon. Despite the Peace Accords, violence became socially sedimented. Gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Barrio 18 consolidated in El Salvador, exacerbated by the deportation of experienced gang members from the United States. These deportees, upon their return, found themselves in marginalized conditions that favored the expansion of the gang phenomenon. The paper explores how gangs developed in a context of accelerated urbanization, economic crisis and a culture of post-conflict violence. It also examines the influence of government policies such as the emergency regime implemented by Nayib Bukele in 2022, which has reduced the gangs' capacity for territorial control and recruitment, albeit with criticism for human rights violations. The evolution of gangs in El Salvador is the result of multiple historical, social and economic factors, reflecting a complex interaction between internal and external influences that have perpetuated violence and social exclusion.