Two years later, however, all this changed – the same radical anti-mara laws aimed at ensuring security are now being held responsible for doing just the opposite. According to the San Salvador Institute of Legal Medicine (Instituto de Medicina Legal de San Salvador), murders between January and May 2006
increased seven and half percent compared to the same timeframe in 2005.112 This data seems to echo a CID-Gallup opinion poll also conducted in El Salvador this past June: 65 percent of participants felt crime rose in the past two years; 61 percent believed El Salvador’s current anti-mara legislation has not been effective.113
111 Teresa Borden, "El Salvador Racked by Gangs," Cox News Service, January 19, 2005, http://www.knowgangs.com/gangs_news/extra/news_articles_038.htm; and Ribando, Gangs in Central America, 3; and Kraul, El Salvador Comes to Grips with Gangs; Deportees from U.S. Feed the Violence of Groups Targeted in Disputed Crackdown, 1
112 Intelligence Research Ltd, "EL SALVADOR: Third Time Lucky for Saca?" Caribbean & Central America Report, August 15, 2006, 2006, http://web.lexis-
nexis.com.libproxy.nps.navy.mil/universe/document?_m=12394f23aa4ce3e946e735ac192235e7 &_docnum=9&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkVA&_md5=8dede864cd610c4504e2c01394b0ee66 (accessed September 15, 2006).
113 According to Cid-Gallup Marketing, a typical survey consists of approximately 1,200 face- to-face interviews. Cid Gallup Marketing, "Cid Gallup Public Opinion: Methodology," Cid Gallup Market Research, Latinoamerica, http://www.cidgallup.com/opinion.cfm (accessed March 4, 2007); and Intelligence Research Ltd, "EL SALVADOR: Saca Launches New Anti-Mara Initiative," Caribbean & Central America Report, June 20, 2006, 2006, http://web.lexis-
nexis.com.libproxy.nps.navy.mil/universe/document?_m=29960be662a780cdade2ec8ecc8d1bc4 &_docnum=10&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkVA&_md5=84fdf6380e567377ae1cec90f654eda5 (accessed September 15, 2006)
These latest results have only served to support local human rights groups and international organizations, such as the U.N., in their call for the overhaul of current anti-gang legislation. In a letter to President Saca, Amnesty International pressed Saca’s administration to abolish Super Mano Dura, highlighting the unconstitutionality of the legislation.114 Furthermore, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of a Child also condemned the legislation arguing Super Mano Dura violates the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.115
Honduras has experienced similar public backlash to its Ley Anti-mara. A combined U.N. and National Autonomous University of Honduras violence and crime-tracking project indicated, “…710 murders were reported in the first quarter [of 2006], 100 more than in the same period in 2005.”116 Human rights advocates have also lobbied against hard-line anti-gang legislation in Honduras. Maria Luisa Borjas, a former Honduran police commissioner, criticized the countries’ tactics saying police target, “…the poorest barrios without arrest warrants… grab the first three young people they find and present them as suspects.”117 Reina Rivera, President of the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights, a Honduran non-profit organization also supports this argument, “The government's political stance is based on a strictly short- term, repressive law-enforcement approach. Here in Honduras, it is a crime to wear a
114 Libertad Con Dignidad, "El Salvador Background Information: Plan "Mano Dura"
libertadcondignidad.org, http://www.libertadcondignidad.org/getinformed/antigang.htm (accessed May 16, 2006).
115 In 1989, UNICEF spearheaded a convention to establish an internationally recognized agreement identifying the basic rights for individuals under the age of 18. The convention that names 54 articles and two Optional Protocols based on four principles: non-discrimination; protecting a child’s best interest; the right to life; and regard for child opinion. United Nations Children's Fund, "Convention on the Rights of the Child," United Nations Children’s Fund, http://www.unicef.org/crc/ (accessed March 3, 2007).
116 Thelma Mejia, "Central America: Soaring Violent Crime Threatens Democracy," Inter Press Service/Global Information Network, http://web.lexis-
nexis.com.libproxy.nps.navy.mil/universe/document?_m=1510bd11830acaaaec16390faa078efe& _docnum=1&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkVb&_md5=08fde649e46d9ffab8ea9c1d2537fdf9 (accessed September 15, 2006).
117 Libertad Con Dignidad, El Salvador Background Information: Plan "Mano Dura;” and Del Barco, International Reach of the Mara Salvatrucha
tattoo or to dress in a certain manner.”118 Crime throughout northern Central America has been endemic for so long as a result of transnational gangs, civil rights organizations fear the unjust arrests of innocent citizens are taking place.
a. Central American Prison Systems
The current state of regional penal systems emerges as another point of contention for civil liberties organizations. Regionally speaking, prison overpopulation presents the most serious threat to prisoner welfare. According to a 2006 U.S. Department of State Country report, in 2005 El Salvador, “…there were 12,176 prisoners held in 21 correctional facilities and two secure hospital wards with a combined designed capacity for 7,372 persons.”119 Consequently, the sheer number of prisoners in these facilities has made rehabilitation programs near impossible.
This overpopulation allows for the open use of drugs, alcohol, and weapons – all of which corrupt prison guards often facilitated.120 The low availability of proper medical care is another by-product of the high prisoner population. In facilities throughout the region, prisoners infected with tuberculosis and other highly infectious diseases mix with the general population; in others, psychiatric care is not readily available.
Ultimately, the combination of all these conditions provides a festering ground for violence that leads to the segregation of rival gangs housed within the same facility in order to reduce the incidences of violence and murders behind bars. "The violence of the gangs never ends, not even when you lock them up," claims Maria Ophelia Ortiz Quinteros, whose nephew died during a
118 Jos Eduardo Mora, "Honduras: Rights Groups Protest New Anti-Gang Police Measures," Global Information Network December 31, 2004,
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=772701691&Fmt=7&clientId=65345&RQT=309&VName=P QD (accessed July 10, 2006).
119 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2005: El Salvador (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of State,[2006]),
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61727.htm (accessed January 15, 2007).
120 Rich Lopez and Richard Connell, "Activists Seek Aid for Inmates in El Salvador; they Say Many of the Prisoners, Who have Staged Hunger Strikes Over Alleged Mistreatment, are Southland Deportees." Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2005,
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=907187151&Fmt=7&clientId=65345&RQT=309&VName=P QD (accessed March 4, 2007).
2004 inter-gang riot at a Honduran prison. Quinteros’ account emphasizes the fact that incarceration does not prevent transnational gangs from continuing to operate their criminal network. In fact, gang leaders find it safer to conduct business from behind prison bars than out on the street. Assistant Director of Investigations in El Salvador, Douglas Omar Garcia Fumes, agrees, "They continue to operate even after they're arrested. Orders to kill are coming out of our prisons.”121 In an effort to curb gang activity by jailing criminals, these hard- line gang laws have inadvertently converted the prison system into a criminal graduate school.
b. Vigilante Organizations
Of equal concern to international civil rights organizations is the alleged emergence of vigilante groups throughout the region. One of the better- known death squads presumed to be in existence is the El Salvador-based “Sombra Negra.”122 This group supposedly enlists the participation of rogue cops and military members to target gang members via extrajudicial justice. Members of these vigilante groups comb neighborhood streets after hours in search of potential targets. In a report issued by the human rights organization Casa Alianza states vigilante groups were allegedly responsible for, “…2,879 children and young adults under the age of 23…” killed between 1998 and October 2005 in Honduras.123
Central American countries have vehemently rejected the existence of such vigilante groups, officially rejecting their operations. In 2003, for example, Honduras’ then-Security Minister Oscar Alvarez denied government approval of vigilante groups, "…first of all, it is a not a policy of the state and, secondly, we have made it very clear to the police that if they do it, they will be
121 Terry Frieden, "Massive International Sting Nets 660," Cable News Network, http://web.lexis-
nexis.com.libproxy.nps.navy.mil/universe/document?_m=ded1b67bebacb23b1729cdcaf91afcee& _docnum=1&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkVb&_md5=e04ef911f21d008aaebac2194c026c62 (accessed May 16, 2006).
122 Valdez, A South American Import
123 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2005: Honduras
prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”124 Consequently, the countries have expended resources in order to disavow these organizations. Further quelling allegations of secret state-sponsored death squads purposely created to target gang members, the Honduran government launched an investigation that same year. After two years of investigating, however, efforts only yielded arrests of eight former Honduran National Police officers.125