The unresolved problem of the gangs

The political manipulation of a social problem

By the end of July, President Flores announced to the press a plan to fight the juvenile gangs –locally known as “maras”-, which operate in El Salvador. As it was expected, the announcement created a series of mixed reactions inside the national political circles. ARENA has not missed a chance to support Flores’ plan. In addition, its spokespeople are awakening their old crusade to establish the death penalty for those who are considered “the anti-social ones”.

The left-wing spoke about the need to adopt a populist initiative, but its purpose does not go beyond the need to gain more votes during the next elections. For the leaders of the FMLN, the “Iron Fist” plan proposed by Flores does not offer a definitive solution to the problem of the juvenile gangs. In addition, it intends to revive an authoritarian scheme that left bitter memories for the country. The worst aspect of all this, according to the left wing, is that this plan has nothing to do with the social integration of the youth.

Several actors of the civil society, instead, have presented a more analytical perspective of the situation. They are aware of the problem that the gangs represent for the poorest sector of the country’s population. However, they still have their doubts about the decision of the President that gives more importance to the perspective of the police when the problem basically has a social character. In addition, given the dimensions that the juvenile delinquency has, it will be impossible to resolve the situation with an adequate plan that involves more institutions. The idea of a special law of a temporary application for such a serious issue is another reason to suspect about the actual intentions of President Flores.

For many, this surprise plan shows the governmental flaws when it comes to face the problem of the juvenile delinquency, and, generally, the social violence problem. The numerous discourses of Flores about the need to resolve the problem of violence in the country have not brought specific results. His four years in the Presidential House have not been very effective. The “Security Alliance”, one of the main proposals made by Flores in his governmental plan generated a repressive intent. The primary objective was to create the sensation of efficiency before a frustrated population that was not only desperate by the phenomenon of delinquency, but also because of poverty, unemployment, the increasing prices, and the incompetent attitude of the authorities to respond to their demands.

On the other hand, the formulation terms of the law project proposed by the President leaves a lot to be desired about the so called democratic advances to respect the freedom of the people who support the political leaders of ARENA. In addition the “Iron Fist” plan against the gangs, in several terms, clearly supports a social apartheid project in El Salvador. It does not come as a surprise that the sectors that support the government show their need to end with those who are excluded by putting them in jail. However, it is absurd when they intend to consider that “a gang is an illicit association that intends to alter the public order, or attempt against the decorum and the good manners with the body marked with tattoos”.

Such an ambiguous law initiative seems to indicate that the government has decided to hunt the poor sectors of El Salvador, especially when they try to publicly protest for the inhuman conditions they live in. That is a curious way, without a doubt, to understand the mission of a party that calls itself the leader of the social freedoms. The proposal to fight delinquency in this manner stigmatizes a sector of the Salvadoran population, the marginal youth. In addition, with an attitude that goes against the constitutional legality, the plan intends to incarcerate the members of the gangs instead of facing the social challenge that this growing sector of the population really is. Flores intends to put the police as the main force of the state following the tradition of the military authoritarian governments, as a measure to face the social exclusion problems of the population.

The leaders of ARENA do not bother to consider the possible judicial errors of their plan. The idea of putting certain people behind bars based on their physical appearance or on their cultural options is against the most elemental laws of the human rights. Article number 12 of the Constitution includes this right, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN. “All people are granted with all of the rights and all of the freedoms proclaimed in this declaration, without any distinction of race, color, sex, language, political opinion or any other kind of opinion, national or social origins, economic position, birth, or any other condition”.

The judicial authorities seem to understand the importance of this matter. The President of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), Agustin Garcia Calderon, emphasizes the need to discuss that the society has in order to find a better way to face the problem of juvenile delinquency. Many judges of the country have explained the illegal character of the presidential initiative and the unjustified arrests of those people who become alleged criminals because of the way they dress, talk, or behave, when this is only –by the way- the choice of all citizens.

The political complications of this matter
The members of ARENA rejected the accusations made by the opposition about the purely electoral character of the presidential project. The person responsible for the National Security Council, Salvador Samayoa, also denied that such a purpose existed. Even if he accepted that the plan had several problems, he thought that it was absurd to say that this was a political maneuver to get more votes for the next elections. Samayoa invited the legislators of the opposition to discuss this subject in order to contribute with specific responses to the suffering of the population.

However, a document made public by the press in which the leaders of ARENA invited their public officials to get ready to gain more votes based on the sympathy that the fight against the gangs will generate, completely contradicts the aforementioned official. An internal document of the official party sees the Anti-gangs plan as a true political opportunity. The “Iron Fist initiative –the document describes- and the support of 95% of the voters means an immediate opportunity for the party to relate with a winning issue. The considerable support for this initiative will allow the party to reach a better condition”.

To make this opportunity effective, the document of the COENA asks them to get involved in all of the actions of the party. A set of specific goals are imposed: “the recollection of the signatures of the people who live in the places where the ‘Iron Fist’ plan has taken effect in order to: thank the President for the plan and request the presence of the Armed Forces and the police in those communities, and ask the Legislative Assembly to approve the legal reforms presented by the President”. All of these actions, according to the leaders of ARENA, are aimed to reach a better position in the next elections. These actions give us an idea about the electoral intentions of the repression project against the juvenile gangs.

It would be convenient to reflect about the political intentions of the plan against the gangs encouraged by Flores and his party. In the first place, it does not seem strange that the official party suggests a plan to get the attention of the population in a pre-electoral context. Ever since the results of the municipal elections were revealed, President Flores has been moving towards this direction. The announcement of the measures to improve the family economy, such as the reduction on the cost of the electric energy, the alleged increase of the minimum wage, among other measures, followed the same line. In addition, before the issue of delinquency was another reason to attack ARENA, it was evident that the governmental authorities would try to neutralize the situation.

However, it is also necessary to comment how the leaders of ARENA have used the police and the army in order to gain more votes. Ever since the intentions of the President were made public, the police and the military authorities have appeared in the news media to defend the governmental position. The Director of the National Civilian Police and his commissioners became the additional Ministers of the Flores administration. They keep defending what they consider that is necessary to respond to the problem of the gangs. The governmental spokespeople said that that would be irresponsible to oppose to the President’s plan.

All of the accessories that have accompanied the “Iron Fist” plan go against the laws of the country. The Legislative Assembly has been vilified by all the Ministers who have referred to this issue. The delegates of the President forgot about all of the constitutional precepts that value the independence of the state’s powers. The congressmen of the opposition were left as irresponsible ones, the defenders of the delinquents against the honorable citizens. This should make us focus the attention on the consolidation of the national democracy. One of the principles of the institutional design that has been adopted –its origins bring us back to the principle of the separation of the state’s powers of Montesquieu- acknowledges the faculty that the Legislative Organ has to control the Executive power. In addition, this topic is in perfect harmony with the spirit of the Salvadoran Constitution, which consecrates the independence and the preponderant role of the parliament. This is something that the Flores’ ministers have refused to acknowledge, under the unsustainable argument of the presidential character of the Salvadoran governmental system.

The last confrontation between the Executive and the Legislative power about the problem of the gangs suggests the idea that it is necessary to keep consolidating the Salvadoran democracy. To strengthen the independence of the institutions, it is necessary to reflect about a constitutional reform that considers the possibility of an effective destitution of the ministers. For instance, as in the case of the public security or intelligence chiefs of the state, when they reveal themselves against the authority of the legislators.

The national budget and the gangs

During the last days, the Executive power has presented a project of law to the Legislative Assembly aimed to eliminate the presence of the gangs in the country. Despite the fact that such law has not been approved yet, the public security system is organizing a series of operations, which involve the coordinated actions of the National Civilian Police (PNC, in Spanish) and the Armed Forces, with the objective to arrest the highest number of gang members that might be found on the streets.

The reactions of the judicial experts about the project of law presented by the Executive power express that such law contains a number of defects that turn it unconstitutional. Among the considerations about the subject, no one has mentioned the possible economic expenses that the state would make in order to develop the judicial activities, the actions of the police, and the apprehension of the gang members. In other words, in addition to the many juridical digressions about this whole subject, it is important to make the necessary economic considerations, since the resources of the state are the ones that will activate such policy.

The expenses to develop and make the “Iron Fist” plan effective will obviously increase the governmental expenses destined to three fundamental areas: the police force, the judicial area, and the penitentiary facilities. To examine these aspects, it is necessary to consider that the ideal of the law is to dismantle the gangs of both the rural and the urban areas, and put all of its members behind bars. To accomplish such task, the judicial system must be used in order to judge, with the new law, the members of the gangs.

According to the official information, the number of gang members is approximately of 20,000 people. This means that if the government wishes to implement an effective measure, a considerable amount of resources will have to be destined in order to arrest, judge, and incarcerate these young people. In this sense, the question is how much money will the state have to spend to carry on with such action? In order to get closer to an answer, it is necessary to notice that the implementation of the “Iron Fist” plan will be successful in general terms if they manage to arrest, judge, and incarcerate all of the gang members of the country in a year. This will be hardly so, but a calculation of the cost can reveal the approximate expenses that the government will have to make in order to implement that public policy.

According to the Inter-American Bank of Development (BID, in Spanish), the use of the financial resources to sponsor the actions of the police, and both the judicial and the penitentiary system constitute the highest expenses of the Salvadoran state in order to pay attention to the violence problem in general. In 1995, around $280 million were destined for these activities, which represented a 5.0% of the GNP for that year. To treat the problem of the gangs, it is possible that the government will make an effort in two directions: use the already existing economic resources in order to “resolve” the problem, and use a larger number of resources to keep the plan alive. This has a particular importance, since we are not only talking about a rearrangement of the financial resources focused on the problem of the social violence, but about the fact that these expenses will increase in order to resolve the problem of the gangs. In this sense, if the plan intends to be effective it is necessary to employ new police officers, new lawyers, and make more expenses to improve the penitentiary system. And all this is without considering the expenses of the armed forces. It is necessary to remember that this institution is also part of the governmental strategy, and that it has an individual budget.

As far as the public security is concerned, we can see that during the last couple of years, between 2000 and 2001, the government has spent, according to the nation’s budget, approximately $146.5 million only to provide security services to the citizenry. For the same period, the PNC manage to make 35,801 arrests on a national level. This means that each one of these arrests costs approximately $4,000 for the state. This seems to be a considerably high amount of money. However, a look at the state’s budget tells us that the expenses of the government on the public security are the highest. Obviously, it is necessary to consider that all of the expenses on the different operations involve transportation, the salaries of the police officers, their clothes, shoes and weapons, and obviously the meals that they take during their working hours, among other expenses.

As for the judicial aspect, and for the case of the gangs, it is important to consider the participation of three institutions of the state during the process of identification, arrest, judgement, and incarceration, if it proceeds. The Judicial Organ is the one that judges the individuals during the process. The Attorney General’s Office will participate as the defender of the interests of the society. Considering that the young members of the gangs are people who do not count with many resources, the General Procurator’s Office will have to provide these individuals with legal assistance. An estimate reveals that the whole judicial process of a person in the country can be of approximately $2,888. In this case, it is necessary to consider the expenses on material resources and the fees of those who are part of the penal process.

Finally, if the accused one is considered guilty, this person will be going to jail. In the case of the gang members, that is the main purpose of the anti-gang law. In order to make an estimate of the expenses that the state makes to support the interns of the penal centers it is necessary to consider the amount destined to the account of the Ministry of Governance. This is connected with the confinement and the readjustment periods, and the total amount of people that live inside the penal centers. Between 2001 and 2002, a total of $16.4 million was destined to that account, and the population inside the penal centers increased to 10,476 interns. The expenses made to support an intern are approximately $1,565 per year. This amount might make a strong contrast with the formerly described ones, especially if we consider how much the government spends in a person during a year. However, the budget assigned to the penitentiary system is not high if compared with the resources assigned to the public security area and the judicial system. It is also necessary to consider that the conditions in which the interns live are inadequate: they count with a deteriorated infrastructure, and they have a deficient alimentary diet.

Considering all the expenses in public security, the judicial system, and the penitentiary system as a whole, we have approximately $8,500 per capita. In other words, this is what the state spends during one year to arrest, judge, and incarcerate one person. To understand what this amount means it is necessary to consider all of the efforts and the expenses made by the government in order to accomplish this objective.

This means that to arrest, judge, and incarcerate 20,000 gang members for one year will cost approximately $170 million. In macroeconomic terms, if the law against the gangs would have been approved by the end of 2001, and become effective in 2002, it would have represented 6.79% of the state’s budget for 2002. In terms of the GNP, it would have represented 1.19% in that same year. This flow of resources, if the government gets away with his plan, will affect the budget of the nation during the following year. As the war against the gangs goes on, the cost of that measure will increase, and the citizenry will pay again for the mistakes of the government.

The society of fear
If this is all about wining the next presidential elections –and following the line of a communiqué that was recently sent to the mayors that represent ARENA- both of the main political parties have presented their respective “winning issues”. In his battle to keep the presidency and with the fear of losing power, President Flores and ARENA have found their own theme: the combat against the gangs.

With that purpose, during the last weeks and before the end of his administration, Flores has implemented the “Iron Fist” plan, through which the authorities have already arrested hundreds of gang members in the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, with the approval of a considerable part of the population. The plan proposed by President Flores, similar to the one employed in Honduras, is based on a law against the gangs. The initial project was presented a few weeks ago to the Legislative Assembly. It has been complemented with a series of penal reforms that, among other things, will allow the system to judge minors as if they were adults.

ARENA has used its anti-gangs discourse against the attempt of the political opposition (and several organizations of the civil society) to provide the municipalities with higher financial and administrative capacities. The opposition, especially the FMLN, has organized, even before the presidential plan was presented, a dauntless juridical fight to increase the budget of the 262 City Halls nationwide. This is how the official party, as one of its last attempts to keep the office at the Presidential House, has created in the public opinion a confrontation between the combat against the gangs –their “winning issue”- and the increase on the budget of the City Halls.

Following this logic –a perverse logic under any perspective-, whoever favors the fair increase to the budget of the country’s City Halls would not only be tolerating the criminal operations of the gangs, but would also be considered an accomplice of the crimes committed by the members of the gangs. That is the intention of the dirty and the biased campaign of President Flores and those who, behind him, hold on to their power.

Now it seems that the money requested by the municipalities will not allow the government to declare the war against the gangs. Flores, therefore, ends his administration playing a dirty game. On the one hand, his administration has set a trap to the FMLN: this party will appear before the eyes of the public opinion as the institution that puts the obstacles to eliminate one of the most feared social “tumors”.

On the other hand, it uses the fear of the society to increase the number of voters. To defend the allocation of 8% of the nation’s budget to the City Halls could become a serious political risk for the opposition if the governmental campaign turns out as effective as its creators intend it to be.

What is then the winning issue of the campaign? It is necessary to say that both parties have reduced their strategies to “campaign issues”, just like the slogan that ARENA uses. More than a governmental offer, they are using slogans as if they were managing an advertising campaign: “The combat against gangs”, “The combat against corruption”. The priority in these slogans is not rationality, but force.

The crusade of ARENA against the gangs seems to find a fertile ground: the authoritarian longing. This feeling has always flourished during the transcendental moments of the national life. Ever since the late 19th Century, when coffee was brought to El Salvador, until the days when the Peace Accords were signed, the political, the racial, and the ideological persecution has flourished. It hides itself behind an apparent social control. There is also the repression caused by the armed forces and the police; and, more recently, the persecution that rests behind the reinforcement of the law and the insistence to establish of the death penalty.

There is a similar style behind the anti-gang law proposed by Flores, a follower of the authoritarian tradition. The repression of the state against the tattooed members of the gangs, those who are not properly dressed, or any suspect according to the criteria of the authorities is evident ever since the presidential plan was announced, despite that it has not been approved yet. The plan also nourishes itself with the fear of the Salvadorans. The combat of the government against the gangs –a desperate and an opportunistic measure- threatens to win the game before the eyes of the opposition.

It is not necessary to use the fear that the juvenile gangs have spread, when their crimes have taken away the lives of hundreds of innocent people and even their own members. Without a doubt, the right-wing press has contributed to create a phenomenon of enormous dimensions that it is nothing but a piece of a complex problem connected with delinquency and violence. To reduce the complexity of the problem says plenty about the governmental myopia and about its political opportunism. The existence of the “winning issues” instead of integral programs impoverishes the weak democratic culture of the country. ARENA shows its legitimacy crisis by offering more of the same. Its creativity is stagnated. It seems as if the actual leaders of the party flew away a long time ago, and that a brute force now leads the party to strengthen its authoritarian and its excluding vocation. The self-analysis that followed the elections has not been enough to throw away the old schemes.

The left wing has not been at the height of the circumstances either. The opposition has not revealed its discourse, and its promises are ambiguous. The FMLN should overcome the “winning issues” of the schemes used by ARENA, and present a clear, a serious, and a responsible governmental plan. Otherwise, the opposition might fall into the trap that has been settled for them.

Several questions remain unanswered: Is it possible to find an integral solution for a complex problem such as the juvenile marginality and the gangs? Does it make sense at this point to talk about structural problems and sustainable solutions in the long term?

The governmental discourse and the perspectives of the most conservative sectors reject any integral solutions. That is why they have chosen to chase the gang members for 180 days, and make arrests based on what the authorities consider the potential look of a criminal. In the end, this is the same authoritarian scheme that claims what the dominant circles have held for years, especially when their privileges are about to collapse before the possibility of a political change. Those who end up losing with the “Iron Fist” plan are the poorest sectors of the country, and several middle-class young people.

The fear that the dominant circles have of losing their privileges and the fear that the poorest sectors of the Salvadoran population have, increase the longing for an authoritarian scheme. For the decent people who have “good manners”, the law is an opportunity to get rid of those “annoying” elements. The gang members do not paint graffiti in the houses that are behind the high murals; they do not assault the children who live in these houses because they do not usually go to the populous neighborhoods where the gangs operate. The poorest families, who many times coexist with the gang members, fear leads them to sacrifice their own children, the children of fear.