Crime in El Salvador has been historically extremely high due to the presence of various gangs. As of 2011, there were an estimated 25,000 gang members at large in El Salvador; with another 43,500 in prison.[1] The best-known gangs, called maras in colloquial Salvadoran Spanish, are Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and their rivals 18th Street; maras are hunted by death squads, including Sombra Negra. Newer rivals include the rising mara, The Rebels 13.[2] El Salvador is one of the three countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, along with neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, which are all afflicted with high levels of violence.[3]
MS-13 gang member with tattoo of gang name on his back
The homicide rate in El Salvador has plummeted drastically since the 2022 Salvadoran gang crackdown which has led the country to have the highest incarceration rate in the world at 1,086 people per 100,000 with an estimated 1.6% of the country's total population said to be currently incarcerated.[4]
^Guillermoprieto, Alma. "In the New Gangland of El Salvador," The New York Review of Books, 10 November 2011.
^"Número de Víctimas y Tasas de Homicidios Dolosos en El Salvador (1999–2006)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Observatorio Centroamericano sobre Violencia. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
^Ribando, Clare (2005-05-10). "Gangs in Central America" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
^"El Salvador Is Imprisoning People at Triple the Rate of the US". Bloomberg.com. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
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