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Páginas: 42 (10451 palabras)
Publicado: 29 de noviembre de 2012
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Living and Dying for the Crazy Life: Exploring Documentary Representations of the Central American “Maras” Sonja Wolf1
C
Introduction entral America’s acknowledged history of street gangs dates back to the 1950s. For decades neighbourhood-based crews offered marginalised youth the means to hang out and take drugs, fight their rivals, and engage in illicit pursuits (Argueta etal. 1991; Levenson 1989). The phenomenon began to experience important changes when in the early 1990s the United States intensified the deportation of law-breaking non-citizens, including members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS or MS-13) and Calle Dieciocho (or Dieciocho). Both gangs had formed in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union barrio, an area that had long been home to immigrant Mexicans and from the early1980s witnessed a massive influx of Central American war refugees, especially from El Salvador. Most Salvadorans travelled north as undocumented migrants and had to live clandestine lives. Trapped in a neighbourhood devoid of recreational facilities but rife with crime and gang activity, these
1 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(UNAM).
23
ENCUENTROS
R evista CentRoameRiCana De CienCias sociales • vol. viii, nº 2, DiCiembRe 2011
families not only struggled to overcome the trauma of the war, but also faced culture shock, language barriers, discrimination, crowded living conditions, and underpaid jobs. Combined with the spectre of deportation, these strains often led to conflict, child neglect, and domesticabuse (Vigil 2002: 135-136). In response to difficult personal circumstances and gang harassment, some Salvadoran youth joined existing street gangs, notably the Dieciocho, or created their own gang, Mara Salvatrucha. Over time the two groups not only became mortal enemies, but they also expanded their membership and today constitute the dominant gangs in the United States’ Central Americanimmigrant community (WOLA 2006: 3). Deported gang youth often felt alienated in countries they had few memories of, and faced with pervasive exclusion continued with what they knew best (Zilberg 2004). Their comparatively nice dress, money, and romanticised versions of gang life held a fascination that local adolescents found hard to resist. Locally known as “maras,” MS-13 and the Dieciocho soon absorbednearly all existing gangs and found in the impoverished nations of the isthmus fertile ground for growth. Gradually the two groups became embroiled in greater levels of violence and drug involvement and fuelled insecurity in marginal communities throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (Cruz 2005; Cruz and Portillo 1998; Santacruz and Concha-Eastman 2001; ERIC, IDESO, IDIES, IUDOP 2001;Smutt and Miranda 1998). Despite the growing gravity of the gang problem Central American governments failed to articulate the necessary policies. Between 2002 and 2003 the Northern Triangle states launched repressive gang strategies –widely known as Zero Tolerance or Mano Dura plans– with the stated aim of containing the gangs and reducing elevated homicide rates. In Honduras and El Salvador theseinitiatives also entailed anti-gang legislation that authorised the police to detain suspected gang members based merely on physical identifiers. Focused on joint police-military patrols, area sweeps, and mass detentions, the measures neglected prevention/rehabilitation and only after much criticism made some –largely rhetorical– concessions towards alternative programmes. Both the timing and thecontent of the plans suggested that they had been introduced for electoral reasons rather than effective gang control
24
LIVING AND DyING FOR THE CRAZy LIFE: EXPLORING DOCUMENTARy REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN “MARAS”
(Wolf 2008). Given their drastic nature they enjoyed widespread support among populations that had tired of chronic insecurity. Arrest figures skyrocketed, but...
Living and Dying for the Crazy Life: Exploring Documentary Representations of the Central American “Maras” Sonja Wolf1
C
Introduction entral America’s acknowledged history of street gangs dates back to the 1950s. For decades neighbourhood-based crews offered marginalised youth the means to hang out and take drugs, fight their rivals, and engage in illicit pursuits (Argueta etal. 1991; Levenson 1989). The phenomenon began to experience important changes when in the early 1990s the United States intensified the deportation of law-breaking non-citizens, including members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS or MS-13) and Calle Dieciocho (or Dieciocho). Both gangs had formed in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union barrio, an area that had long been home to immigrant Mexicans and from the early1980s witnessed a massive influx of Central American war refugees, especially from El Salvador. Most Salvadorans travelled north as undocumented migrants and had to live clandestine lives. Trapped in a neighbourhood devoid of recreational facilities but rife with crime and gang activity, these
1 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(UNAM).
23
ENCUENTROS
R evista CentRoameRiCana De CienCias sociales • vol. viii, nº 2, DiCiembRe 2011
families not only struggled to overcome the trauma of the war, but also faced culture shock, language barriers, discrimination, crowded living conditions, and underpaid jobs. Combined with the spectre of deportation, these strains often led to conflict, child neglect, and domesticabuse (Vigil 2002: 135-136). In response to difficult personal circumstances and gang harassment, some Salvadoran youth joined existing street gangs, notably the Dieciocho, or created their own gang, Mara Salvatrucha. Over time the two groups not only became mortal enemies, but they also expanded their membership and today constitute the dominant gangs in the United States’ Central Americanimmigrant community (WOLA 2006: 3). Deported gang youth often felt alienated in countries they had few memories of, and faced with pervasive exclusion continued with what they knew best (Zilberg 2004). Their comparatively nice dress, money, and romanticised versions of gang life held a fascination that local adolescents found hard to resist. Locally known as “maras,” MS-13 and the Dieciocho soon absorbednearly all existing gangs and found in the impoverished nations of the isthmus fertile ground for growth. Gradually the two groups became embroiled in greater levels of violence and drug involvement and fuelled insecurity in marginal communities throughout El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (Cruz 2005; Cruz and Portillo 1998; Santacruz and Concha-Eastman 2001; ERIC, IDESO, IDIES, IUDOP 2001;Smutt and Miranda 1998). Despite the growing gravity of the gang problem Central American governments failed to articulate the necessary policies. Between 2002 and 2003 the Northern Triangle states launched repressive gang strategies –widely known as Zero Tolerance or Mano Dura plans– with the stated aim of containing the gangs and reducing elevated homicide rates. In Honduras and El Salvador theseinitiatives also entailed anti-gang legislation that authorised the police to detain suspected gang members based merely on physical identifiers. Focused on joint police-military patrols, area sweeps, and mass detentions, the measures neglected prevention/rehabilitation and only after much criticism made some –largely rhetorical– concessions towards alternative programmes. Both the timing and thecontent of the plans suggested that they had been introduced for electoral reasons rather than effective gang control
24
LIVING AND DyING FOR THE CRAZy LIFE: EXPLORING DOCUMENTARy REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN “MARAS”
(Wolf 2008). Given their drastic nature they enjoyed widespread support among populations that had tired of chronic insecurity. Arrest figures skyrocketed, but...
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