With a murder every one and a half hours El Salvador is counted among the world s most dangerous nations. Awash with weapons and torn apart by the internecine struggles of rival criminal gangs the country is experiencing violence at levels unseen since the aftermath of its long and brutal civil war. While the state struggles to find an effective law enforcement and judicial solution to the problem - the Salvadoran authorities have tried the iron fist of military force prosecuting gangs into oblivion and even briefly and unsuccessfully negotiation - things have become so bad that others have started taking matters into their own hands by forming vigilante groups and tracking down and murdering gang members who are threatening their community In this first episode of Latin America Investigates an uncompromising and compelling new series in which we team up with some of the continent s best investigative journalists reporter Bryan Avelar and filmmaker Lali Houghton travel to the western province of San Miguel to find out more. There the notorious MS-13 gang rules the roost through fear and terror. With an estimated 60 000 soldiers nationwide - many of them bearing distinctive tattoos to mark their allegiance - and more than half a million affiliates from lookouts to family members MS-13 claims to both protect its own and look after the interests of the economically marginalised. However the reality for the public is a seemingly never-ending cycle of violence intimidation extortion kidnap and murder. Most people are too terrified to stand against them or even speak out let alone help the police. But now a vigilante death squad called Los Exterminio is fighting back. Accredited with at least 40 murders of gang members it first came to prominence last summer when seven bodies were found on a country road. The dead men had all been executed with a bullet to the head and all were thought to have belonged to MS-13. So what s driven the shadowy figures who operate under Los Exterminio s banner to take such drastic action? And what truth is there to rumours that they are funded by local businessmen and benefit from a collaborative - if secret - relationship with the police? Although it claims to protect its own and look after the interests of the economically marginalised El Salvador s notorious MS-13 gang rules through fear and terror Al Jazeera FILMMAKER S VIEW by Lali Houghton I had never been to El Salvador before and the thought of venturing into unknown waters both fascinated me and drew shivers. When I first spoke to local journalist Bryan Avelar it immediately became clear that the story was not going to be easy. We were setting out to investigate death squads killing off local gang members specifically the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 in the western province of San Miguel. We had all heard of how dangerous El Salvador was - the highest homicide rates outside of war; a mafia born out of poverty; a country crippled by murder and fear. I had also heard of the French filmmaker Christian Poveda who got too close to MS-13 and paid the ultimate price. Life in El Salvador is cheap and murder is sewn into the fabric of society. There was almost one every hour in the first three months of 2016 according to the official Instituto de Medicina Legal. At my side was my guide and go-between Bryan Avelar aged only 23. I wondered what all these dark murder stories must be doing to his psyche. He was just as fascinated as I was but with a level of wisdom far beyond his years; he was able to see beyond the sensationalist rhetoric of the media and banal statistics fed by the government. A relentless investigator he was risking his life to try to shine a light on the complex mess his country finds itself in. According to online digital newspaper El Faro 70 percent of businesses in El Salvador have to pay extortion money to MS-13 or the Barrio 18 Gang. Their tentacles stretch across all aspects of society. And yet
http://www.filmtv.it/nick/87985/livelinuxcrtrs/# with access to the gangs so difficult to achieve few are able to articulate quite how they have expanded and taken control of the country. The closest I ve seen was a book written by anthropologist Jose Martinez D Aubusson who spent a year living in a shanty town controlled by MS-13. Ultimately it is social and historical factors that trap large swaths of the population in poverty creating a breeding ground of new recruits for the gangs. And then appear Los Exterminators. A legion of town vigilantes killing off gang members in order to stem the violence that is affecting the local economy. Allegedly assisted by police and financed by local businessmen they want respite from life under the shadow of MS-13. Desperate and defiant people who have lost all faith in the authorities they are filling the lawless vacuum created by a lack of police response. They have taken matters into their own hands and fight fire with fire ultimately causing yet more death. The closer we got to them the more perilous the situation felt. Bryan was told in a veiled threat not to pursue the story further. We managed to get the interview with the Los Exterminio group from a separate source. My own role was fleeting a tourist s eye fascinated and trying to make sense of the mayhem. It is Bryan in the end who has to live with the ghosts and the constant fear that tomorrow may be his last story. Life in El Salvador is cheap and murder is sewn into the fabric of society. There was almost one every hour in the first three months of 2016 the filmmaker writes Al Jazeera Source: Al Jazeera News
A strong earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Central America shook the region on Thursday just as a hurricane barrelled into the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Costa Rica but there were no immediate reports of any quake damage. Emergency services in El Salvador said on Twitter it had received no reports of damage at a national level but urged those living along the country s Pacific coast to withdraw up to 1km (0.62 mile) away from the shore. Hurricane Otto: Costa Rica and Nicaragua evacuate as storm grows Read more The 7.0 magnitude quake initially reported as a magnitude 7.2 was very shallow at 10.3 km (6.4 miles) below the seabed which would have amplified its effect. Its epicentre was located some 149 km (93 miles) south-southwest of Puerto Triunfo in El Salvador according to the US Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that tsunami waves of up to 1 meter (3 feet) could hit the Pacific coasts of Nicaragua and El Salvador after the quake but later said that available data showed the threat had passed. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared a state of emergency due to the quake and Hurricane Otto which landed on the country s southeastern coast earlier on Thursday his spokeswoman said. We were serving lunch to the lawmakers and the earthquake started and we felt that it was very strong said Jacqueline Najarro a 38-year-old food seller at the Congress in San Salvador. We were scared. Earlier on Thursday the Category 2 Hurricane Otto hit land near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua where thousands had already been evacuated away from vulnerable coastal areas and into shelters.
Get daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing!Could not subscribe try again laterInvalid EmailA tsunami warning has been issued after a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Central American nation of El Salvador. The tremor hit around 150km south west of Puerto El Triunfo at a depth of 33km the USGS reported. A tsunami alert had been issued for areas within 300km along the coasts of Nicuragua El Salvador and Honduras. The quake struck at a depth of 33 kilometers. The Pacific tsunami warning center said hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 kilometers (186 miles) of the earthquake epicenter. There are fears the earthquake will cause a tsunami (Photo: USGS) The quake comes after Hurricane Otto touched down in Central America (Photo: USGS) The Central American nation has been struck by a tremor (Photo: Google) An official from the Salvadorian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources said in a video statement: There was an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale which was ten miles deep at its epicentre. Please stay calm and if you don t need to ring anyone then please leave the lines free for people who need to use them. We re not expecting any aftershocks. But we re monitoring the situation. Earlier on Thursday category 2 Hurricane Otto hit land near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua where thousands had already been evacuated away from vulnerable coastal areas and into shelters. Otto is the southernmost landfalling hurricane in Central America on record. It comes after a devastating tsunami hit New Zealand s east coast after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck earlier this month. Waves swamped coastal areas with tsunami warning sirens wailing and people being told to move to higher ground by civil defence officials. The 7.8
https://www.kiva.org/lender/virtual6787 quake is considerably higher than the 6.3 magnitude recorded when Christchurch was reduced to rubble in 2011. We ll be bringing you the very latest updates pictures and video on this breaking news story. For the latest news and breaking news visit Mirror.co.uk/news . Get all the big headlines pictures analysis opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. Follow us on Twitter @DailyMirror - the official Daily Mirror & Mirror Online Twitter account - real news in real time. We re also on Facebook/dailymirror - your must-see news features videos and pictures throughout the day from the Daily Mirror Sunday Mirror and Mirror Online.
An earthquake hit El Salvador and Nicaragua just an hour after hurricane Otto made landfall along Nicaragua s eastern coast. The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the earthquake which measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale was at a depth of 20 miles beneath the Pacific Ocean. There were no reports of casualty according to AFP.Tremors were felt in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega declared a state of emergency after the earthquake reported Reuters. Both Nicaragua and Costa Rica were already on high alert for hurricane Otto.Authorities had issued a tsunami alert but it was lifted within hours. However Assistant Director of Sinapred National Disaster Prevention Agency Guillermo Gonzalez said officials will monitor the threat from hurricane Otto. Officials have asked people living along the Pacific coast of El Salvador to move at least 1 km away from the shore.Hurricane Otto with winds of 110 miles/hour made landfall on Nicaragua s Caribbean coast and brought heavy rain. The US National Hurricane Center issued flood alerts and said isolated areas across northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua may witness very heavy downpour. Schools have been asked to remain closed while emergency teams have been kept on stand by reported Independent.Thousands of people were evacuated off the Caribbean coast earlier on Wednesday as President of Costa Rica Luis Guillermo Solis declared a state of emergency and urged citizens to keep vehicles off the roads. Solis also announced holidays for public officials for the next two days and requested families to remain indoors to protect themselves from the impact
http://www.filmtv.it/nick/87977/framarootsdl/# of Hurricane Otto. The storm is the seventh Atlantic hurricane of the season. It has already claimed three lives in Panama.
SAN SALVADOR On a sultry evening in late July the Salvadoran authorities executed their very first assault on what they called the financial cupola of Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 the largest of the ruthless gangs that have made El Salvador the murder capital of the world.Until that point the National Civil Police had followed an almost choreographed routine again and again as they sought to cripple the gangs economically. In the dead of night often accompanied by television cameras officers would batter down the doors of ramshackle houses in marginalized communities and then arrest and put on display a cluster of tattooed and half-naked men.Between 2012 and 2015 the total amount confiscated in these showy anti-extortion raids was 34 664.75 an absurdly tiny sum considering that the United States has designated MS-13 as a global criminal organization on a par with the Zetas of Mexico or the Yakuza of Japan.On July 27 however in a mission baptized Operation Check the authorities shifted gears. They deployed 1 127 police officers to raid scores of supposed gang fronts including car dealerships and bars motels and brothels.With great fanfare they presented to the news media rows and rows of impounded buses and cars along with 77 suspects identified as the financial operatives of MS-13 and their collaborators. Among them were the supposed C.E.O. of the street gang Marvin Ramos Quintanilla and two other leaders portrayed as controlling millions and possessing luxuries unimaginable to the destitute
http://afda.com/u/turnoff-antivirus gang members beneath them.But the presentation was something of an exaggeration as are many official characterizations of the gangs whose criminal sophistication and global reach tend to be overstated by authorities frustrated that they cannot vanquish them. For instance that supposed chief executive officer hardly lived like a kingpin; he leased a squat concrete house with a corrugated roof in a neighborhood where rents rarely reach 400. He owned an old Honda Civic and a Nissan van. Continue reading the main story
No comments:
Post a Comment