El Salvador The Culture of gangs By:Ingrid Cantu

1
El Salvador The Culture of gangsByIngrid
Cantu
2
El Salvador
3
A little bit of history

• To give an idea of the reasons of the gang
  crisis, we can link the poor socio economic
  status of its people in El Salvador.
  
• El Salvador is the smallest country in Central
  America. Surround by Honduras to the northeast
  and Nicaragua to the southeast.
  
• Population is 6.2 million
• The religion that prospers is Christianity. Its
  type of government is republic
  
• Its people are 90 mixed Amerindian and white,
  1 indigenous Amerindian, and 9 are White.

4
The economy and the effects on its people!

• Due to the earthquakes,the most recent February
  2001, most of the infrastructure and services
  were destroyed. Unemployment rose, and people
  found it difficult to find jobs.
• Everything is quite expensive, and to make
  matters worse they had changed the currency to US
  dollars. This is a huge deal, for everything is
  sold by dollars, while the people are still
  earning colons.
• The cost of living is very high, and there cannot
  establish a minimum wage.
  

5
Education affects gang culture

• The public education system is very poor, the
  lack of money for school resources is minimal.
  
• Children cannot learn without proper resources,
  such as text books and a comfortable class
  setting.
  
• The best University in El Salvador is UCA (
  Universidad CentroAmericana), and only those who
  have parents wealthy enough to pay such a
  education are likely to attend.

6
How did this epidemic of gangs begin?

• It actually started in Los Angeles in the 1980s,
  when hundreds of thousands of Salvadorians left
  frantically to America due to the brutal civil
  war they so wished to escape.
• Young children banded together and started a gang
  of defense-MS (Mara Salvatrucha)
  
• Around 1992, there was the signing of a peace
  accord and the US deported most of the
  immigrants.
  
• Those youth returned to El Salvador, along with
  their new found gang.
  
• There had been an estimated 25,000 members of MS
  across Central America.

7
Increasing girls in gangsand their parents
absence

• Abandoned children find refuge within gangs, and
  find their comfort and support.
  
• Parents leave illegally to the US to find work
  and leave their children to a relative.
  
• The Barriors in El Salvador can be a war zone for
  its residents. The youth of such barrios in
  rival gangs kill each other and innocent
  residents get caught in the violence.
• Most of the barrios have no running water due to
  the earthquakes destructions of the waterways,
  and children must fend for themselves and work
  around the house.

8
Girl Gangs forming their own families

• La Campanera, is a overcrowded suburb in El
  Salvador were many young abandoned girls live.
  
• These girls shared a small home with other girls
  (13-17 years old) who do not go to school or
  work.
  
• Their parents either are dead or abandoned them
  due to the war. The economy had also forced 1.5
  million Salvadorians to emigrate, usually without
  their children. Their children are forced to form
  their own families.

9
Forming alliancesand gaining enemies!

• Tattooing is a sign of being in a gang in el
  Salvador, and also anyone with a tattoo is
  considered to be unemployed.
  
• The gang 18th street and Ms are rival gangs.
  There is a feud between the two, and that will
  un- fortunately end with the killing of one
  another. They kill each other for honor,
  territory, and crack.
• The gang a youth belongs to depends on the barrio
  they live in. rival gang graffiti all over each
  others territory.
  
• The youngest of the young gang members are the
  most notorious and dangerous, because they feel
  like they have something to prove.

10
Too young and joining

• Children have dreams of their economic status
  leads them to think they cannot ever reach them.
  
• Children as young as seven join gang in El
  Salvador.
  
• Children are being born into the culture, with
  young mother being gang members themselves.
  
• There are 25,000 gang and maybe twice. With its
  six million people, there are half a million of
  guns and no jobs.
  

11
The victims and lack of
opportunity!

• In El Salvador, One in three people are a victim
  of violent crime.
  
• About 35,000 people since 1992 have been deported
  form the US, those 40 committing crimes.
  
• The deportees were those who brought the LA gang
  culture to el Salvador.
  
• The lack of opportunity for children, and their
  educations leads to more youth violence. They
  find identity that they dont find in their
  country.
• No government support and International funding
  will help dwindle the future of El Salvadors
  youth.