[GPSCC-chat] Luis Rodriguez: "A Year of Gang Peace in El Salvador"

[Drew]

This was forwarded by Edy Alvarez.  Luis Rodriguez is running for Green Party of CA's nomination for Governor of California.  Previously in 2012 he was the Justice Party's VP nominee (Rocky Anderson being the Pres. nominee).  Laura Wells (previous GPCA nominee for Governor and currently running for our nomination as CA state Controller) has written favorably towards his candidacy:


A Year of Gang Peace in El Salvador," by Luis Rodriguez. 

 
"This
 past July, I took part in an 11-member delegation from the 
Transnational Advisory Group in Support of the Peace Process in El 
Salvador (TAGSPPES) to assess the situation on the ground, and advise 
and assist where possible. The delegation included human rights 
advocates, a psychologist, researchers, and leaders in U.S. gang 
prevention and intervention programs from New York City, Los Angeles, 
the San Francisco Bay Area, the Washington D.C. area, and 
London—Chicano, white, African American, Puerto Rican, and Salvadoran."
 
http://luisjrodriguez.com/blog/2013/03/truce-or-consequences-%E2%80%93-a-year-of-gang-peace-in-el-salvador.html
 




For two decades El Salvador has been one of the most violent countries in 
the world, due to intense warfare between its two biggest street 
gangs—Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) and 18thStreet (Barrio 18).
The leading cause was the mass deportation of gang youth beginning in 1992 
from the streets of Los Angeles, many of whom did not speak Spanish and 
had little or no families in the country. Since then the official 
response has been repression—more police and prisons. They’ve included 
anti-gang policies known as Mano Dura (Firm Hand) and Super Mano Dura. 
With billions of dollars invested into these policies, including from 
the United States, the gangs became larger, better organized, and more 
violent—recruiting from the thousands of homeless, abandoned and 
war-ravaged youth and children throughout the country.
 
However, something phenomenal emerged a year ago on March 9 when members from 
among MS-13 and Barrio 18 forged a peace in one of the country’s largest prisons, spreading to other prisons and the streets. Facilitated by 
Catholic Monsignor Fabio Colindres as well as former congressman and 
former guerilla Raul Mijango, gang leaders agreed to end recruitment 
near schools and to turn in rifles and other weapons to the Organization of American States (OAS) representatives. Most recently they’ve enacted “peace zones” where gangs would not commit crimes or violence.
 
In a year’s time the peace decreased violence in El Salvador from 40 to 60 percent; by December homicides went from 14 per day until five per day, according to the Center for Democracy in the Americas. The gang leaders did what no repressive plan could do—bring a badly needed respite to a 
country that has been in some kind of war, including a 12-year civil 
war, for more than thirty years.
 
Yet the U.S. government’s Treasury Department in the fall declared MS-13 to be an international criminal enterprise, subject to the seizure of 
property and assets. And on January 23, 2013, the State Department 
issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens that placed El Salvador on the 
same level of security concerns as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 
Honduras, and Mexico. These actions indicate a dangerous disconnect 
between what is possible for public safety and our government’s 
response.
 
This past July, I took part in an 11-member delegation from the 
Transnational Advisory Group in Support of the Peace Process in El 
Salvador (TAGSPPES) to assess the situation on the ground, and advise 
and assist where possible. The delegation included human rights 
advocates, a psychologist, researchers, and leaders in U.S. gang 
prevention and intervention programs from New York City, Los Angeles, 
the San Francisco Bay Area, the Washington D.C. area, and 
London—Chicano, white, African American, Puerto Rican, and Salvadoran.
 
We talked to government officials in the departments of health, education, and public safety including heads of the country’s prison system. We 
visited factories that hired gang members as well as schools, 
nongovernmental agencies, indigenous communities, and six prisons and a 
juvenile lockup.
Tattooed-faced 
men and women greeted us from behind razor wire as we were able to see 
firsthand the miserable conditions they lived under, including in 
facilities housing women and their children, also locked up in worn 
cellblocks, often without running water or electricity, in overcrowded 
cells and lacking decent food and medical attention. They told us that 
they were not “lost causes” or “without hope.” Many had children of 
their own—they didn’t want them enmeshed in the same level of violence 
they grew up with and in many cases participated in.
 
In September of 2012, TAGSPPES issued a report of our trip that concluded 
“all stakeholders must take part in a broader peace building process.” 
In other words, the gang peace must not just benefit gang members, but 
the whole of society, including establishing the necessary structural 
changes for real jobs, education, trauma treatment, housing, and humane 
prison conditions. 
 
Due to our efforts, clean potable water is being directed to many prisons. 
And books are being brought in to start libraries in these institutions 
with the support of people like musician and activist John Densmore, 
formerly of the Doors.
The peace building process will entail the backing of the international community as well as businesses, law enforcement, and the general population. 
Many in the present Salvadoran government agree, including Minister of 
Security David Munguia Payes and President Mauricio Funes, both of whom 
have challenged the official U.S. position.
 
For peace to last, it’s evident this will also require the backing of the U.S. government.
The United States does a major disservice by placing its resources and 
energies at odds with the immense possibilities brought to the table by 
gang leaders themselves, who are tired of the violence and now want to 
contribute positively to the development of their lives and their 
country.
 
It’s been proven that the single best path towards peace is when gang 
leaders turn their lives around, when they commit to raising families, 
when they dedicate themselves to working and educating themselves; and 
when they become the leading agents for making peace viable for all. 
Here’s an idea that now needs traction, something I have seen in my 
forty years of doing gang peace work in the United States and other 
countries: Sometimes from the most violent can come the most peaceful.
 
Give gang leaders a chance to make their own peace.
 
Green is GO!

Drew

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