
Adam Blackwell, Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS (right) speaks with the leader of the mara Salvatrucha, Carlos Alberto Valladares. San Salvador, January 19, 2013. Photo: AFP.
The second stage of the truce that has succeeded in diminishing homicides in El Salvador begins
THE SECOND STAGE of the truce, which has succeeded in diminishing by 60% the homicide rate in El Salvador, will begin in March. This was informed by the Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS, Adam Blackwell, on January 18 in San Salvador. Ambassador Blackwell made this public in a press conference offered by the Technical Committee responsible for coordinating violence prevention activities, improvements in living conditions of penitentiaries and the reinsertion of Salvadorian gang members into society. This second phase aspires to achieve local agreements on life and peace in 18 municipalities, where 1/4 of the countries population resides. The General Secretariat of the OAS, through its Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, presides the Technical Committee, created on September 1, 2012 and comprised also by the Humanitarian Foundation, the vicario castrense Fabio Colindres, the ex guerrilla commander Raúl Mijango and the Minister of Justice and Security, General David Munguía.
>> Read more (spanish only)... |
A gang truce in Guatemala and Honduras is difficult
TO EMULATE THE TRUCE between gangs in El Salvador, in Guatemala and Honduras would be difficult because of the particular relationship these groups have with organized crime and drug trafficking. Nevertheless, with ¨will and leadership¨ a conversation can start to bring the gangs together towards a truce, while also reuniting “in one room” the actors involved said the Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS, Adam Blackwell.
>> Read more (spanish only) ... |
OAS is a guarantor of the truce but does not legitimize gangs
ACCORDING TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, the OAS acts as Observer and guarantor of the truce between the most violent gangs in El Salvador, but this does not imply “a legitimation of these criminal groups”. The OAS functions as guarantor of the process of pacification in El Salvador and heads the Coordination Technical Committee for the process of Crime and Violence Reduction in this country.
>> Read more ... |