San Salvador, El Salvador, Jan 27, 2013 / 13:06 pm
New, interpersonal approaches to preventing drug violence in Mexico and gang violence in Central America show promise where harsher measures have fallen short, a Catholic Relief Services expert in Latin America said.
In El Salvador, the overseas relief agency for the U.S. Catholic Church is working with the government to create a system to prevent violence and create opportunities for young men drawn to gangs, Rick Jones, deputy regional director for global solidarity and justice for CRS in Latin America, told Catholic San Francisco.
After years of ineffective punitive measures, the government of El Salvador negotiated a truce last year with the country's two major gangs, MS and 18th Street. The truce has held since March 2012 and the homicide rate has dropped to 40 per 100,000 people – still double what is considered epidemic by the World Health Organization but "a positive step forward" for the tiny Central American nation, Jones said.
Now, CRS is joining forces with the U.N. and the government to work with high-risk young Salvadorans and their families to address the roots of gang involvement. The approach is modeled on gang prevention and youth development work that has shown success in Los Angeles.