Extortion in the Northern Triangle impacts politics
Gangs that profit from extorting markets find themselves in a strong position to negotiate for political influence.
A series of new reports from InSight Crime map out the criminal control of the downtown market area in San Salvador. I encourage you to go read the whole thing, but here is a brief summary of the key points I took away.
There are three main ways that criminal groups make money from their control of these neighborhoods:
Extortion of vendors in the market area. InSight Crime reports that gangs request everything from 25 cents per day from the smallest informal vendors to $1.25 per square meter per day from the most established shops. Many of these shops and stalls run on such tight margins that they can fall behind on payments, putting them at risk of threats, beatings and death.
Acting as private security and displacing private security. Many of the gangs frame their extortion racket as providing security for the area. This makes other private security firms that operate in the neighborhood competitors and places those guards at risk. Unfortunately, this sort of activity creates feedback loops that often lead private security vendors to moonlight as their own extortion and protection rackets in areas where gangs operate.
Operating as wholesale sellers of contraband and counterfeit merchandise. We often associate these gangs with drugs and guns, but they’re just as happy to make money on clothes, cheese, toys, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and DVDs.
Outside of the extortion question, the key implication of the investigation is that the criminal control of these markets and neighborhoods leads to political influence. The extortion rackets and associated violence give gangs leverage as they negotiate with community, municipal and even national leaders. The gangs would much rather operate their businesses profitably and with minimal violence, which gives them incentives to negotiate deals with political leaders and community organizers. While corruption and bribery of those leaders does occur, gangs can also offer political organization and votes, something that increases their influence.
There are national level implications. In early September I wrote about Bukele’s negotiations with MS-13, one of the key organizers of extortion in San Salvador. The InSight Crime investigation reveals how the extortions involved communications with MS-13 leaders in prison. Steven Dudley writes about how Bukele’s recent negotiations overlap with their investigation on San Salvador’s markets.
Extortion trends occurring beyond El Salvador
What InSight Crime describes in the historic market in San Salvador is an extreme and better organized version of similar territorial disputes and criminal control of markets elsewhere in Mexico and Central America including the market in Neza on the outskirts of Mexico City, Central de Abastos in San Pedro Sula, and Mercado Oriental in Managua. The levels of extortion and violence vary based on local conditions, but criminal groups operate and profit in similar ways and overlap with political interests in the process.
While coronavirus restrictions slowed down some of these operations during 2020, as countries reopen and more people return to the markets, criminal groups are increasing extortions to make up for lost time.
The headline in Prensa Libre this weekend focused on increasing extortion attempts in Guatemala. The data on reported extortion attempts capture only a fraction of the number of extortion payments that are likely made. As I wrote in August, the drop in extortion attempts this year still leaves the reported numbers near record highs.
Above: Graphic from Prensa Libre using police statistics
In recent weeks, Honduran police have been rounding up dozens of gang members accused of extortion across the country, particularly in the northern cities around San Pedro Sula. In some instances, gangs have charged local businesses for access to water and electricity as well as the typical “providing security” scams.
The Honduran police have definitely improved their efforts against extortion in recent years. However, Honduras remains the most violent country in Central America. Some activists believe that the positive trends regarding arrests and prosecutions of extortion in Honduras cover up a darker trend of the police and private security engaging in their own protection rackets.
Other security related articles
A map created by Mexico Evalua shows five hotspots comprising 93 municipalities. The National Guard is only deployed to about a quarter of those municipalities.
There have been 37 massacres so far this year in Honduras killing a total of 139 people. 72% of those victims occurred in four provinces of the country.
In Paraguay, the EPP kidnapped former Vice President Oscar Denis in early September. You can read coverage in English from The New York Times, Vice, and World Politics Review.
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