Are the children and adolescents imprisoned in El Salvador all gang members?

More than 1,190 children and adolescents in El Salvador are in prison accused of belonging to gangs. Of these, 90% have already been convicted.

The arrests have occurred during the emergency regime in which the Central American country has been in place since March 2022, and whose policy promotes zero tolerance against any manifestation of membership or sympathy for gangs or organized crime groups.

One of the last cases of minor arrests occurred on April 11, in the department of Usulután, in eastern El Salvador, where they were 16 minors arrested accused of trying to reactivate the “Vatos Locos Salvatruchos” clique of the Mara Salvatrucha.

A clique is a gang cell that seeks control at the local level, it has its own name and its leaders or palabreros. Also a variable number of members.

Salvadoran police announced how the teenagers allegedly stained the walls of a school, the area's health unit and a small market, with messages such as “MS13” or “We don't want soldiers.” At the time of the captures, spray paint was found on them.

“Know that now a minor between 12 and 18 years old will respond with prison sentences of up to 20 years, which is the minimum sentence for crimes involving illicit groups and what these young people are doing in schools is activity related to terrorist groups”, said the Minister of SecurityGustavo Villatoro, to local media.

Before Nayib Bukele became president of El Salvador, the Juvenile Penal Law established a maximum of seven years in prison for minor offenders. Today, those between 12 and 15 years old could spend up to 10 years in prison, and those between 15 and 17 years old up to 20 years in prison.

But imprisoning children and adolescents is not the solution, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which took a position on the reforms.

“In accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, detention should only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time. (…) imprisonment increases the chances of children dropping out of school and committing a crime later in their life. life, thus perpetuating the cycles of violence, exclusion and poverty,” he stated in a release the agency of the United Nations (UN).

UNICEF suggests that minors identified as belonging to gangs could have been forcibly recruited by these criminal organizations: “children and adolescents can be victims of violence,” they explain. “They can be recruited and they can be used.”

But the Salvadoran government does not see it that way: using the “digital patrol” strategy, it claims to have identified several minors whose activity on social networks is to promote gang culture with videos making signs alluding to gangs.

“We are observing those who are making signs or insinuations to continue promoting different criminal structures. (…) We have all the legal tools to be able to identify and argue with technical criteria who is a gang member,” said the director of the National Civil Police recently. , Mauricio Chicas, at a press conference.

In mid-February, a group of children uploaded a video where two of them can be seen dancing to a popular song among members of the Mara Salvatrucha, while making signs alluding to the gang inside a school. They were later captured and prosecuted under the new reforms.

Then, the Security Cabinet called on parents of children and adolescents to review the content that their children consume on social networks.. In addition to the messaging they share with their friends because “It is the type of publications that we warn ourselves about and get to work,” Villatoro added.

Childhood and the gangs

The main gangs that operated in El Salvador: Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 began to expand territorially in the early 2000s, feeding largely on children and adolescents, according to studies.

For example, the research “Adolescents in Salvadoran gangs: from unprotected children to violent criminals” published by the University of Salamanca in 2019 indicates that the factors that generated the vulnerability of children and adolescents in El Salvador are related to violence at home. and in the communities; the few educational opportunities; extreme poverty and inequality; the lack of vision of the future; and the few recreational spaces.

Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Division for the organization Human Rights Watch, highlights that the gangs preferred to recruit thousands of minors between the ages of 12 and 15.

“The lack of educational and economic opportunities facilitated gang recruitment, even in exchange for sneakers and cigarettes,” exposed.

According to the organization, the number of captured minors It is double what was reported by the government, and amounts to 2,800. In these cases, minors can be victims and perpetrators.

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