From July 23 to August 1, 2001, we held a workshop on the Participatory Research Action activity with Mark Chupp (a specialist in conflict management and mediation). Five members of the Culture of Peace Committee participated in the workshops: Eusebio Ortiz, Yanira Leiva, Estela Hernández, Salvador Rodríguez, and José Alas.

The research included the following steps: three days of study and reflection on the content and methodology in relationship to "participation" and "action" in order to have the necessary knowledge for this type of research; three days of field research including a focus group in Tierra Blanca and a meeting to present the results of our research to the population we studied. We carried out the field research with 73 families, service institutions, and representatives of the Catholic and Baptist churches. The results demonstrated that the most severe violence-generating problems in Tierra Blanca are the gangs, theft, rape, delinquency, and drunkards.

To carry out the research, we asked the directorates of El Calvario and La Papalota communities to participate as co-researchers. Among them was Antonio Ramírez, who has friends in the two gangs active in the communities. He provided help in organizing meetings with members of both gangs.

MEETINGS WITH GANG MEMBERS

Under the shade of some trees, we met first with the gang MS13. After introducing ourselves, we told them about the objective our the interviews and we asked them about the origin of the gangs.

The number 13 in their name refers to 13th street in Los Angeles, California. It seems that this group of youths had problems with Gang 18; a deportee from the United States found out about this and helped them to organize. According to the members, the biggest problems that they face are the lack of work, discrimination, the lack of medical attention, and above all police brutality. When we asked them who their leader was, they told us that the "vato" was named Zambo. They would not give us his real name. It seems that he does not spend all of his time within the community.

Later, we had the opportunity to speak with members of Gang 18, which controls the southeast part of the community. We met on the patio of one of the member's homes. The majority of this group's members, despite living with an urban area, earns only about 25 colones per day (less than $3). They work from 6am to 11am. Then they return home, bathe, eat, and then go to the bar or the soccer field. They were influenced by a member of Gang 18 who was deported from the United States.

Their problems include the lack of stable work. They recognize that they need to work all day in order to earn more money. The members we met with said they would like to learn a trade and, in order to avoid discrimination, they requested help in removing their tattoos.

In the second meeting that we had with them, we discussed solutions to their problems and they presented the need for training in various trades. In the order of priorities, they mentioned carpentry, masonry, and mechanics. I spoke with them about the need to cultivate values and personal standards. They spoke about how they were raised: most without their parents or with single mothers. I offered to give them a workshop on the Culture of Peace, adapting it to the circumstances of their lives; they seemed very interested in this possibility. Furthermore, I spoke with them of the need to include their families in this process of change.

THE TIERRA BLANCA PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE

On July 29, we had our first meeting with the provisional committee, made up of people recognized for their spirit of service in Tierra Blanca. It will be necessary to have another meeting with them in order to organize the committee better and define actions.

We began the session with a brain storm on how to confront community violence. The following suggestions were generated:

• Bringing former gang members to give talks to MS13 and Gang 18 members.
• Closing the bar.
• That we meet with the gangs in San Marcos Lempa (as solicited by inhabitants of that community).
• Closing the one of local stores (which sells alcohol).
• Giving counseling.
• Including families in counseling.
• Organizing get-togethers.
• Nighttime security by community members.
• Founding an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter.
• Creating a climate of respect and trust among inhabitants in relationship to gang members.
• Applying penalties to lawbreakers according to community norms.
• Creating work opportunities.
• Organizing apprenticeship workshops.
• Creating recreational activities.

Priority was given to closing the bar, including families in therapy, and brining former gang members to give talks. In order to close the bar, it is necessary to be familiar with municipal law. Estelita, who is about to graduate as an attorney, was given that responsibility. We achieved the collaboration of the National Institute, a secondary school. Its students will carry out a survey in the community in order to determine how the community would react to the closing of the bar. We prepared a questionnaire which each student will present to the families that they visit. The Provisional Committee elected Ana Julia Velásquez, councilwoman of Jiquilisco Municipality, as the coordinator of the Provisional Committee.

Then we informed the gang members about the session with the provisional committee. They agreed with the ideas which were presented, with the exception of closing the bar. For them, this causes a problem because most of them have problems with alcoholism. Therefore, it is urgent to found an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter.

THE MEETING BETWEEN GANG 18 AND MS 13

In one of our visits to Tierra Blanca, el Zorrillo of MS13 told me that his chief was in town. I asked el Zorrillo to organize a meeting with him, which took place just a few hours later. The leader is known as Zambo. Almost all of the gang members prefer that we call them by their nicknames because they want to hide their real identity from the police and other community members. We addressed the problem of violence and the accusations which almost everyone makes against the gangs. Zambo told me that we could work this out, and that we should have a meeting with Dulce de Leche, the head of Gang 18, to stop the violence between the two gangs. He suggested that we hold the meeting in the Catholic Church. This seemed good to me. (Furthermore, it would give us the opportunity to include Father Pedro Leclerc, with whom I have had various difficulties because of differences in ministerial style.) The same day, I went to see Dulce de Leche, who reluctantly accepted to have the meeting. Dulce de Leche demanded, however, that the police from Jiquilisco be there to provide protection (the two gangs do not trust the police in Tierra Blanca because of the brutality with which they operate, especially one of their officers named "Carago").

The meeting between the two gang leaders to place August 5 at 4pm. Everyone in the community knew about it. The soccer field next to the church was full of onlookers; people had climbed trees and to see what would happen inside the church. Dulce de Leche, Zambo, Ana Julia, two police officers, and I were there. In the beginning, there were some strong exchanges because Dulce de Leche arrived drunk. Although he had bathed as we asked him two hours before, and drunk a coke with two beaten eggs, we could tell that he still was not well. Little by little, however, he pulled himself together. Zambo and Dulce de Leche spoke about the origin of their gangs, the assistance which they had received from San Salvador and gangs in the United States, the discrimination against both of their groups, and the need to end the violence. We analyzed the problem of the division of territory, how the local communities were tired of it all, and the importance of this meeting.

By the end of the meeting, I had made them see the necessity of making a commitment that would symbolize their willingness to enter into a healing process. They agreed not to attack one another and to inform their gang members about what had happened in the meeting. To end the meeting, I stressed to them that we were entering into a process that could take months or perhaps years.

THE SECOND MEETING BETWEEN THE GANGS

Dick Salem, President of Conflict Management Initiatives, has held a high level of interest in our work. During this stay in El Salvador he called me several times to find out about the process of the Conflict Management Program. After meeting with Dulce de Leche and Zambo, I told him about the steps that we had taken. Dick told me that it was not a good idea to have meetings between gangs at which only the two leaders attended. Instead, it is preferable to involve more people because, in most cases, there are rivalries among members of the same gang. Furthermore, he showed me that it would be useful to have other members of the Coordinadora present.

With this in mind, I returned to Tierra Blanca. I asked both gang leaders to attend a second meeting, this time with the participation of six additional members of each gang. They accepted, although Zambo tried to excuse himself by saying that he would be absent. I believe that he already suspected that a judge in Jiquilisco had issued a warrant for his arrest. To pressure him to participate, I told him that I had already bought the soccer ball and the uniforms that he had requested for his fellow gang members, which was true. But, I could not give them to him if he did not show interest in moving forward with the healing process.

On Saturday, August 19, we met in the same church but at 1pm, so that no one would arrive drunk. I had previously requested a police presence, as Dulce de Leche had requested. Four mediators from the Culture of Peace Committee (Eusebio Ortiz, Yanira Leiva, Estela Hernández, and Salvador Rodríguez) had arrived an hour before. Also in attendance were six members of MS 13, Ana Julia Velásquez, Antonio Ramírez, and, as a welcome surprise, Father Pedro who had told me that he wanted to participate in the session. I went to pick up Dulce de Leche, having previously asked him to be ready at his home a few minutes before the meeting with his fellow gang members in order to transport them to the meeting. Then I went to the police station, and an agent told me that all of them had gone to Jiquilisco to provide security to a festival that they were celebrating there. I immediately called the Jiquilisco police station, which promised to send officers by 2pm. This delay was very risky, as some of the gang members could start drinking; this is what effectively happened to three members of Gang 18.

Once again, the session began violently, as Zambo asked Dulce de Leche to explain why only three members of his gang had arrived instead of the six they had agreed upon. It was not easy to quiet them. Finally, Dulce de Leche explained that, as the police had not arrived for security, three of his gang members no longer expected that the meeting would take place.

I presented the agenda which we had prepared: first we would talk about the problems that both gangs had, then about solutions, and finally, commitments. The two gangs indicated the following problem areas: work, discrimination, health, and sports. Both gangs repeatedly pointed out the lack of work as their worst problem, along with the discrimination they suffer because of their lifestyle. With respect to solutions, they indicated the need to generate work, for which they should prepare themselves through workshops. This request came from members of Gang 18 above all. The members of MS 13 were not as interested in receiving training, with the exception of El Zorrillo, who also wants to remove his tattoos. Furthermore, the gang members proposed recreational activities, above all sports, in order to pass their time more constructively. In the area of commitments, based on one of Zambo's comments on the lack of leadership in Gang 18, I asked that each gang organize itself better. They needed to improve their existing structure, know themselves better, have clear objectives, and impose discipline. They agreed to do this.

To end the meeting, which I considered very positive, I asked the most important people to make a few closing comments: Sergeant Carvajal, chief of the Tierra Blanca police station, Father Pedro, Ana Julia, Estelita, and most importantly, Dulce de Leche and Zambo. The two gang leaders spoke positively. They saw the need to stop the violence, they mentioned the community's fatigue, how gang members are ostracized because of their behavior, and the need to find work to occupy themselves and take care of their needs.

AFTER THE 2ND MEETING WITH THE GANGS

After the meeting ended, I asked the MS 13 members to leave the church and that the Gang 18 members wait; then I would take them to their homes in my vehicle. As I left, I noticed that there were many police in the street, more than one would have expected. But I thought nothing of this, and left to take the members of Gang 18 home. When I returned, I was surprised by fifty people who immediately surrounded me and denounced the brutal arrest of Zambo within the church by the police. The police had taken advantage of this occasion to carry out an arrest order which, I learned later, they had received June 29. I furthermore discovered that some of the people who had surrounded my vehicle had decided to not let me leave the community, and would have stoned my car if I had tried.

I asked Estelita, Eusebio, and Ana Julia to accompany me and we went immediately to the police station, just two blocks away. When we arrived, they were throwing Zambo into the bed of the pickup. He seemed shocked. This was no great surprise, when they had captured him one of the police had hit him in the mouth. Zambo later told me that the police had beaten him in the chest with the butt of an M16 and in the back with something else. According to him, one of the police, who belonged to the Baptist Church, had asked the others to stop beating him as they had already captured him and handcuffed him.

Just as we arrived, the driver of the police pickup was starting the engine to transport Zambo to prison, I suppose to either Jiquilisco or Usulután. The only thing I could do was yell at them and threaten that, if they took him away, that I would go immediately to San Salvador where I had sufficient power to make many problems for them. After they stopped the engine, I went inside to talk to Sergeant Carvajal. I asked him why they had captured Zambo in that moment; that, if they had a warrant for his arrest, why had they not served it before or later. In reply, he simply showed me the warrant. I asked him to free Zambo, as they had captured him on church grounds without a court order to enter. He told me that the laws guided his actions and suggested that I speak with his boss in Usulután. Meanwhile, we managed to get Zambo by our side; he was beaten, depressed, and handcuffed. I told Carvajal that Zambo would stay right there, and asked Ana Julia to stay with him and care for him so they would not beat him any more, which she did.

In Usulután we met with a Lieutenant Gil, who was in charge of the police station on that day. He explained the same rules that Carvajal did, among which was one that they could not free Zambo because it could be considered as contributing to his escape, for which his liberator could go to prison. I proposed, next, that we see the District Attorney (Fiscal) who, perhaps, could free Zambo.

Salvador and Estelita accompanied me to the District Attorney's office. Lt. Gil and other police also came. We found the District Attorney, Elsa Suyapa Castillo, seated on her desk watching television. The atmosphere was not one of a respectable public office. After greeting her, I asked her to listen, as we needed to talk about a very important matter. She did not appear to be listening and continued watching TV. I asked her to turn off the TV, but she did not pay attention. Annoyed, I ordered her to turn it off. She got off her desk and simply lowered the volume. We presented the case to her. She asked the police if they had a warrant, which they showed her. She immediately noticed several anomalies, such as the lack of the police's receipt seal on the warrant. The police did not know how to respond; twelve of them were in the room. She called the chief to get advice on how to proceed with this case, and if she could free Zambo. After her call, she repeated to us the same thing that the two police had already told us, that it could be considered aiding the escape of the prisoner.

So, I demanded that she immediately take the prisoner's statement and that they provide medical attention to him. She was reluctant and wanted to wait until Monday. I again demanded that she do it immediately and meet the requirements of the law. She finally ordered Lt. Gil to bring the prisoner to her.

The reader should know that it will be necessary to make the police and the District Attorney appreciate the importance of the process that we have begun with the gangs in Tierra Blanca. I believe their behavior in this case was irresponsible. They should know how their actions are risking the loss of everything we had gained; that it is very difficult for civil society to agree to cooperate with the police when it behaves that way. Our nation, disgracefully, occupies the second place in the world for violence, according to U.N. statistics in 1998. We must pull our nation out of this violence.

Next, we went back to Tierra Blanca to take Zambo to Usulután. We found him accompanied by Father Pedro, who promised to bring a case for trespassing against the police, Ana Julia, and Zambo's brother who we brought up to date. Once in Usulután, the District Attorney heard Zambo's statement and then sent him for medical treatment.

The next day, I spoke to a knowledgable community leader who expressed the view that the police are sabotaging the negotiation process. This could be because there are police who use the gangs for extortion, kidnapping, or theft. Or perhaps they are opposed to the Coordinadora's work. We need to remember that the MS 13 group in Tierra Blanca has relations with other groups in the region in Gotera and Sonsonate, according to what Zambo told me. Certainly, the police's unfortunate actions will make it more difficult for us to continue to carry out our work. It is possible that some of the conflict mediation team will be in danger as well now.

I conclude by affirming we cannot abandon the mediation begun in Tierra Blanca. We must continue it so as to support the peace process, the two gangs we are working with, and the Coordinadora's credibility. The Culture of Peace Committee is very conscious of this.

--Jose "Chencho" Alas

August 31, 2000

Translation by Sean Hale.

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