The Maras of El Salvador were generated by social inattention

PRIEST ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ

The priest, of 37 age, He is originally from the town of Coldstream manchego (Ciudad Real), but after nearly 15 years of residing in El Salvador he already considers himself a Salvadoran and has adopted its ways of speaking, although still with the intonation of his mother tongue: “The situation is yuca, man", says to express that the moment is difficult when it comes to violence. Father Toño arrived in El Salvador on 15 of August 2000. “It was the birth anniversary of Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Three years later I graduated in Liberation Theology, at the Central American University, with teachers like Jon Sobrino and José María Castillo. I came here because I wanted to follow the path of Romero and the Jesuit fathers murdered by soldiers in 1989. I always wanted to develop my work in Latin America. I put a lot of pressure on my congregation to send me here and they did.. Had 23 years when I arrived”, remembers Rodríguez.

The priest settled in Mejicanos, a municipality of San Salvador, the capital. “I came from Europe to one of the poorest areas of America, and the violence of poverty shocked me. I began to see children and young people murdering children and young people…”. He states that since he arrived some have been murdered. 300 young people in this area. Otros 170, says, they are imprisoned. And ones 1.000 have taken part in various reintegration programs. Through direct contact with the problem, Father Toño has become an authority on the gangs (The gang) and its evolution in El Salvador.

about the recent arrest in Spain of Salvadoran gang members,The priest considers that it is an indication of collusion between criminals and sectors of the institutions. “We cannot speak of a phenomenon of internationalization of the gangs without the penetration of the State into them or of them into the State”.

In the operation of the Spanish Civil Guard they fell 35 members of the Mara Salvatrucha, which the security body described as a mafia structure that had opened a Spanish branch to launder money from El Salvador and other Central American countries through the establishment of bars.

In El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala gangs are especially dedicated to extortion against small and medium-sized businesses, as well as against public transport. Father Toño emphasizesthe power achieved by these illicit gangs through their penetration into the State, for his links with the police and the army, that have given them more strength. “That is why they have come to Spain”, point.

“We have already had findings in the last two years of police commissioners linked to gangs and people who work for state intelligence agencies.. Even from a member of the army linked to the Texis drug cartel”, the priest asserts, after pointing out that "what the gangs have not calculated is that in Spain they cannot develop due to the social reality different from that which exists in El Salvador and the investigative effectiveness of the Spanish police". "In El Salvador", assures, “What is done is to chase the boys through raids; "In Spain, the issue is investigated comprehensively and then they are beaten to dismantle them.".

The priest is parish priest of the church of San Francisco de Asís, in Mexicans, that it is in the heart of a territory of maras and gangs, where he runs a violence prevention center. Two police officers guard him because Rodríguez has been threatened with death on several occasions and some of his collaborators have been murdered.. The last of them, Geovani Morales, a former gang member who was riddled with bullets outside Father Toño's office, in broad daylight, 5 March 2013.

The Passionist priest assures that in El Salvador there has been an increase in homicides related to gangs. “It means that we have not yet been able to execute an effective peace sustainability policy.”. All projects implemented so far, including the truce, “They have failed because they have not broken with the root and structural causes of violence.”.

The truce was a pact between the main leadership of the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18, agreed in March 2012, through which it was possible to reduce the daily average of homicides of 15 a 5. However, In the last two months the average has risen to between 8 and 10 daily homicides, and its tendency is to increase.

“We have made a solemn mistake in the anti-gang plans”, admits the religious, to ensure that the new Government, which will be headed by former leftist guerrilla Salvador Sánchez Cerén starting next June 1st, must “develop the territories at the national level, dedicating an annual budget of between 100 and 150 “millions of dollars for programs aimed at youth and children”. “This is where we have a tremendous delay, in social care for excluded people”, assures.

In second place, says, the police must be “purged and humanized”, forget about the heavy hand and respect human rights; at the same time withdrawing the military from public security”. Finally, says, the special retirement law must be made effective, reintegration and rehabilitation of young gang members, namely, “carry out this public rehabilitation policy”.

http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2014/04/09/actualidad/1397053207_075454.html