Gangs in El Salvador Charge Small Businesses
“War Taxes”
By Maura Lester McSweeny
“Would you rather have your picture hanging on
the wall of your home or have it appear in the obituaries?” Many business owners in El Salvador have received this type of threat over a phone call with a gang
member. Gangs target small and medium-sized business owners, demanding the payment of so called “war
taxes,” allegedly in exchange for protection against
the rival gang. Threats against the business owner and
their family are made to ensure loyalty to that gang and
to deter them from filing a criminal complaint. In these
phone calls, the gang member will often describe the
business owner’s daily routine and that of their family,
making it clear that the gang knows where they are at
all times and how easy it could be for something to
happen to them. This is one of the primary way gangs
control the land they occupy and make a profit, in addition to drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Mara Salvatrucha, also referred to as MS13, and the gang Barrio 18, also known as M-18 or 18thStreet Gang, are two of the largest international gangs,
and have been controlling the sociopolitical and economic situation in El Salvador since the late 1990s.
Through the extortion of the commercial sector, these
gangs manage to make $53 million annually, according
to business unions (Gagne). There is, however, a significant difference between the Salvadoran police reports of extortion rates and the business sector’s reports. The police, according to Salvadoran business
owners, tend to vastly underestimate the amount of extortion occurring. According to the National Civil Police’s figures, only $7.9 million were paid to gangs as
war taxes over an eight month period, a far cry from
$53 million (Gagne).
strict regulations for telecommunications companies,
since cell phones play a key role in the racketeering
process. Phone companies are obligated to cut off any
line that is suspected of being used for extortion, or
will face hefty fines. In addition, these companies are
not allowed to provide cell phone signal in or near
prisons and other detainment facilities. According to In
Sight Crime, 45% of extortion calls come from within
prisons, usually from someone in a high position of
power within the gang’s hierarchy. According to telecommunications companies, this law will be difficult to
enforce because it is almost impossible to block cell
phone signals, and even if it were feasible, nothing can
be done about satellite phones, which are also heavily
used by gangs (Bargent).
It seems the new Anti-Extortion Law will have a
very limited impact on the current situation of violence
and economic stress that the Salvadoran people are
living with. The government and National Police’s responses have never been able to truly address gangrelated problems in a way that is beneficial to civil society. They will only be able to diminish the influence
of gangs when they respond to the needs of their now
impoverished majorities. Any crime-fighting approach
is only cosmetic, there are larger structural reasons
about how the economy functions – failing to give access for many to money and opportunity- that are the
breeding ground for the gang activity. The problem is,
this type of crime, and crime in general, is paid for by
the poor, as the wealthy have resources to protect them
from the consequences of their own policies.
In March of this year, El Salvador’s Congress
passed a new Anti-Extortion Law by a majority vote of
78 out of 84 representatives (Marroquin). The law dictates that the police do not need a criminal complaint in
order to investigate an extortion case, as they did in
the past. This will hopefully deal with some of the fearinduced silence around extortion. The new law also has
(Image: Tico News)
OCTOBER 2015
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