El Salvador’s gangs are in disarray.
For decades, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and two factions of the 18th Street (Barrio 18) dominated the small Central American nation’s criminal landscape. The gangs embedded themselves in poor communities, terrorizing urban dwellers with extortion and murders. Successive governments tried and failed to dismantle the gangs with aggressive security policies, known as mano dura (iron fist).
In March 2022, the government of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele enacted a state of emergency (régimen de excepción) in response to a brutal gang massacre that left 87 dead. Buoyed by emergency powers, security forces tore through the gangs, arresting tens of thousands of suspected gang members and collaborators. Those who escaped arrest went underground or into exile. In a flash, the MS13 and Barrio 18 all but vanished from the streets of El Salvador.
But though battered and bruised, a surprising number of gang members remain at large. The country’s prisons, once incubators for the gangs, have never been so full.
This six-part investigation looks at how the Bukele government’s crackdown succeeded in overpowering the MS13 and Barrio 18. We assess what remains of the gangs in El Salvador, and contemplate whether these structures could one day return or mutate.
Investigation Chapters
How Bukele’s Government Overpowered Gangs: Summary & Major Findings
Over the last nine months, InSight Crime investigated the gangs’ response to the state of emergency and analyzed what may happen next. We conducted over…
The Road to El Salvador’s State of Emergency
The road to El Salvador’s state of emergency has been long and bloody. The small Central American nation spent decades engulfed in some of the…
‘Too Many Soldiers’: How Bukele’s Crackdown Succeeded Where Others Failed
In March 2022, the Bukele administration launched a historic crackdown, implementing a state of emergency that has, for the past 20 months, given his government…
Gangs on the Run: How Bukele’s Crackdown Drove Gangs Underground
Since the crackdown began, the gangs have shown minimal signs of armed retaliation. In a matter of months, Bukele’s crackdown had swept up tens of…
Keeping a Lid on Prisons
Bukele’s government had once made a pact with the gangs. Now he was making war. In the first two months of the state of emergency,…
The Future Looks Bleak for El Salvador’s Gangs
The gangs’ demise has radically altered the country’s criminal landscape, liberating swathes of territory and illegal markets from criminal control. The nation’s homicide rate, which…
