Joshua Partlow
Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - 07:01
So the announcement last week by the director of the National Civil Police, Howard Cotto, that police have done this 459 times so far this year points to the severity of the conflict between the gangs and the state. This means El Salvador's authorities are clashing with criminal groups more often than in Mexico, which is still engulfed in a drug war, and Colombia, whose half-century-long civil war is ending.
Monday, October 31, 2016 - 07:30
El Salvador’s hostilities appear to be taking on a dangerous new dimension. Once predominantly a street fight between rival gangs, the conflict has shifted to a war between the gangs and the state. Soldiers and police are being linked to human rights abuses and assassinations, an echo of the civil war between leftist guerrillas and the U.S.-backed government fought a quarter-century ago.
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
Guzmán has been held in solitary confinement since early May, when he was transferred from a prison outside Mexico City to the federal lockup in Ciudad Juárez along the border with Texas. He lives in an air-conditioned, 80-square-foot cell that has a bed and a toilet and which is inside a new high-security wing that contains about 30 cells.
Monday, May 9, 2016 - 07:31
Salvadoran authorities announced on Tuesday that they had arrested 18 people who helped broker the peace deal -- and were investigating several more. The surprise development has moved the government's conflict with the gangs to a new, more aggressive phase.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016 - 06:21
On March 25, Mara Salvatrucha and two factions of the 18th Street gang announced a cease-fire, a respite from the fighting that has made El Salvador one of the world’s deadliest countries.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - 07:54
With more than 6,600 homicides last year in a population of 6 million, El Salvador has surpassed its violent neighbors and seized the unfortunate title of the hemisphere’s murder capital.
Monday, November 23, 2015 - 06:33
Mauricio Macri, the wealthy Buenos Aires mayor who catapulted to prominence on a wave of discontent over government scandals, a feeble economy and combative nationalism, was elected president of Argentina on Sunday, according to preliminary results.
Monday, October 19, 2015 - 05:52
In a setback for its multibillion-dollar effort to help Mexico fight its drug war, the U.S. State Department has decided that Mexico failed to reach some human rights goals, triggering a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 06:19
Deadly attacks by both sides and escalating rhetoric threw the process into doubt earlier this year, but experts say recent moves signal that a settlement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, could be within reach.
Monday, July 13, 2015 - 06:29
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the world’s most famous drug lord, escaped from a maximum-security prison in Mexico for the second time in his drug-running career, a spectacular breach of security that set off a wide-ranging manhunt early Sunday.