How El Salvador became the murder capital of the world

Abstract

The number of refugees in Central America has reached a scale not seen since armed conflicts tore the region apart in the 1980s, with more than 110,000 people fleeing their homes. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned that action is urgently needed to take care of those affected, including protecting them from violence. El Salvador stands at the centre of the current crisis. Violence by so-called maras - gangs that originated in the United States and spread to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - is thought to be the major push factor. Without doubt, El Salvador's gangs are brutal and violent - but they are neither the only ones using force, nor the root cause of violence. And responding to the refugee crisis by just fighting gangs ignores its underlying causes. This approach could even make things worse.