Daily Life, 3rd prize
El Salvador Gangs
Tomás Munita
for The New York Times
for The New York Times
15 August, 2012
Large-scale gang warfare has made El Salvador one of the most violent countries in the Americas. But on 9 March, leaders of the country’s two most powerful gangs agreed a truce, saying that the situation was getting out of hand, especially when it came to youth in their own communities.
Tomás Munita
He has won several awards, including 4 World Press Photo awards, Leica’s Oskar Barnack, Visa D’or Daily News, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, All Rodas, Henri Nannen, 2nd Photographer of...
San Salvador, El Salvador
Wendy Maritza Rodríguez (left) cries after viewing the body of her nephew at a San Salvador morgue, on 15 August. Despite a gangland truce, some violence continued in the Salvadoran capital. Rodríguez believed her nephew was killed for trying to leave the Mara Salvatrucha-13 gang.
Large-scale gang warfare has made El Salvador one of the most violent countries in the Americas. But on 9 March, leaders of the country’s two most powerful gangs agreed a truce, saying that the situation was getting out of hand, especially when it came to youth in their own communities.
The leaders of Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha-13 pledged to put a brake on violence and to stop recruiting adolescent members. The government agreed to transfer 30 prisoners held in maximum-security jails to less restrictive institutions.
The truce appeared to have some success. Homicides in the first part of the year were down 32 percent, and kidnappings dropped by half. On 14 April, El Salvador recorded its first day in three years without a murder.
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