The emergence of social cleansing in El Salvador

[Judi Lynn]

The emergence of social cleansing in El Salvador
Carlos A. Rosales and Ana Leonor Morales 20 January 2016

Twenty year-old Dennis Martínez never knew what hit him, or why. He died instantly after being shot execution style inside the little shack where he lived in the San Blas coffee plantation, in a semi-rural area a short drive away, south of El Salvador´s capital city. Dennis was not a gang member. Instead, he worked in the farm as a book keeper and served devoutly in a nearby evangelical church. He was, in his mother own words, “every mom’s dream son.”

According to what investigative journalists have been able to piece together from crime scene photos, forensic reports and witness accounts—including Dennis’ own mother—, the young man was shot in the back of the head after a heavily armed police commando stormed the farm one late night back in March. The cops had being tipped off that a small group of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang members had sought refuge in the farm in recent days fleeing police raids in their own barrios.

That night, the Salvadoran police killed 8 young men and women, including Dennis and 16 year-old Sonia Guerrero, who, according to the reporters covering the story, was not a gang member either. Sonia was there because she was romantically involved with one of the six alleged gang members the police massacred that night. The forensic report established that the single shot wound in her mouth shattered her spine as she knelt.

The account of the carnage—which appeared in the digital newspaper El Faro—underscores what some observers are alleging is now a common occurrence in El Salvador. Press reports and human rights activists contend that police are taking the law into their own hands and conducting raids with a take-no-prisoners mentality targeting the youth gangs whose violent ways and criminal acts have brought the entire country to its knees.

More:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/carlos-rosales-ana-leonor-morales/emergence-of-social-cleansing-in-el-salvador

[Jake Stern]

1. Feel for the young book keeper and

his family.

I do NOT feel even the slightest tinge of pity for the gang members or the moll that was with them.

That pity is reserved for the victims of these thugs.