There are few places on earth as dangerous as El Salvador, a country with a population of just 6. Fri 22 Nov El Salvador is no stranger to violence.
It endured a brutal civil war in the s, which lasted for more than a decade. In many ways this history has underpinned the evolution of a terrifying gang culture where extortion and murder have become the norm.
In the aftermath of the civil war, US immigration policies hardened. The net result was Salvadorian migrants convicted of crimes were deported back to El Salvador, renewing the cycle of gang culture and undermining the foundations of a fragile and struggling state. The burial and wake right for Jose Luis, an 11 year-old boy who was murdered by members of the La 18 gang. He would play with friends in the park on the border of a demarcation line between La 18 and rival gang MS He was threatened by gang members but continued playing with friends who were later kidnapped by La His two friends escaped, but Jose Luis was beaten, tortured, stabbed and beheaded.
His body was left in a ditch and found a few days later. The murder rate spiked in at more than homicides per , residents, well above the second and third highest countries, Honduras and Venezuela, which both had 59 homicides per , residents InSightCrime. Above: The body of Eduardo Castillo Calles, a farmer and former soldier who formed a vigilante group to kill members of MS, lies in the autopsy room of the Institute of Legal Medicine. He was shot 13 times. The murder victim was handcuffed behind his back and shot seven times around The forces involved are at least 60, active gang members from the gangs Mara Salvatrucha 13 MS and Barrio 18 La 18 , and the outnumbered 52, Salvadoran state officers, consisting of the police, paramilitary and military forces.
MS13 gang members inside their cell at the Chalatenango penal centre. About this project, Zaidi writes, It took me two years to make this work. I worked with a fully staffed admin team on the ground in El Salvador. On my behalf, they would write to government authorities, police delegations and public institutions across the country to grant me access to show me what was actually going on at ground level, and more importantly, how they were trying to drive out gangs and financially diminish their control over the territories.
