El Salvador: a country ruled by gangs.

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There are few places on earth as dangerous as El Salvador, a country with a population of just 6.5 million people – yet 10% are involved with gangs.

Main image: Members of the La 18 gang share a cell in the penal centre of Quezaltepeque.
▼ El Salvadoris no stranger to violence. It endured a brutal civil war in the 1980s, 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-13. He was threatened by gang members but continued playing with friends who were later kidnapped by La 18. 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 2015-2016 at more than 100 homicides per 100,000 residents, well above the second and third highest countries, Honduras and Venezuela, which both had 59 homicides per 100,000 residents (InSightCrime).

Above: The body of Eduardo Castillo Calles, a farmer and former soldier who formed a vigilante group to kill members of MS-13, lies in the autopsy room of the Institute of Legal Medicine. He was shot 13 times. Right: A forensic policewoman stands over a body in San Salvador’s Central Market, one of the busiest locations in the capital. The murder victim was handcuffed behind his back and shot seven times around 10.30 one morning.
The forces involved are at least 60,000 active gang members from the gangs Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) and Barrio 18 (La 18), and the outnumbered 52,000 Salvadoran state officers, consisting of the police, paramilitary and military forces.

MS13 gang members inside their cell at the Chalatenango penal centre. Right: Inmates provide haircuts at the Penal San Francisco Gótera. Far right: MS-13 gang members play a board game in their cell in the Bartolinas Policiales de Lourdes, Colon. Below: An inmate in solitary confinement looks out of his cell at the Penal San Francisco Gótera (▪ ▪ ▪)

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