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El Salvador is the extortion capital of the world. Two of the world's most violent gangs, MS-13 and 18th street, use murder, rape and fear to steal a chunk of the country's GDP.
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00:01International organized crime has no natural predator.
00:06Crime syndicates are expanding and forging alliances across the globe.
00:15As law enforcement struggle to stop them,
00:18up to 5% of the global economy is now in criminal hands.
00:23I'm Paul Radu, and for the past 20 years I have investigated
00:27international organized crime in the tune of 400 billion.
00:31And this is a very, very small slice of what's really going on.
00:36I think there are some people, let's go, let's go.
00:40In this series, I'm working with a team of reporters around the world
00:44Are you angry with yourself for being part of this?
00:48To discover how a generation of international gangs
00:51are redrawing the criminal map.
01:05El Salvador is the extortion capital of the world.
01:08Two gangs, MS-13 and 18th Street, hold the entire country in their grip.
01:16They make three quarters of a billion dollars a year, forcing everyone,
01:21from bus drivers to multinationals, to pay up or die.
01:26This terror tactic has given them power and control over whole communities.
01:31Anyone who disobeys is targeted by MS-13's growing army of assassins.
01:38We're going to meet two female MS-13 members.
01:42I have personally never met a woman gang member,
01:46much less a hired assassin.
01:53Hello.
01:54Hello.
01:54How are you?
01:56How are you?
01:57How are you?
01:58How are you?
01:59That's the name I called.
02:00I had to do a lot of things.
02:03I had to do a lot of things.
02:04But as I like to do something, I didn't feel so bad.
02:08What does it have to do with the extortion, with what you do?
02:11When we have someone who doesn't want to pay,
02:14we pay someone to talk to us, to talk to us,
02:17to talk to us, to talk to us in good mood,
02:18and to say what.
02:19If she didn't want to pay,
02:22the first thing we did was to give her husband.
02:25So, if she went back and didn't want,
02:27and she said no, and that no, and that no,
02:29then I'm going to go with my job.
02:31When I know that the work that I'm going to do is not going to be very dangerous,
02:34I use this.
02:36But when I know that there will be more problems,
02:39I use this.
02:42That with us, it doesn't work.
02:44The man is respect.
02:48Ghost's words are not hollow threats.
02:50In the last decade, El Salvador has had some of the highest murder rates in the world.
02:57A death rate driven by extortion.
03:03Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, is one of the most feared gangs in the world.
03:10You've got to show that you are able to kill with a machete,
03:13that you're able to severe limbs,
03:16that you're able, you know, to kill entire families,
03:19and that you have no remorse.
03:21They inflict terror in people in order to go about their business.
03:25Extortion is a main source of income for criminals in El Salvador.
03:30These gangs are controlling so much of the public life,
03:34so much of the citizens' livelihoods.
03:36a big slice of your life belongs to the criminals.
03:42Can I ask you something?
03:43Are you good to kill?
03:45The truth is, thank God, I've never failed.
03:48How many?
03:50I think I lost my money.
03:53How much do you pay?
03:54I don't do it for the money.
03:56One question.
03:57Personal, sorry.
04:00Are you married?
04:01Yes.
04:12Ghost is training a 17-year-old recruit, nicknamed Skinny,
04:17to carry on the killing while she has her baby.
04:30Skinny needs to prove herself as a lookout
04:32before climbing the ranks to become an assassin.
04:35No, I don't know.
04:35What's your impression?
04:37What's your impression?
04:37What's your impression?
04:38What's your impression?
04:39What's your impression?
04:40Oh, I don't know what's going on.
04:44What's going on here?
04:45I don't know what's going on.
04:49What's your impression?
04:51I want to see if I see a police officer
04:52or some of the contrary.
04:56So, I send her her and from the distance,
04:58I see her doing this job.
05:01How did she choose to do this job?
05:04Why did she choose?
05:04Because I saw her…
05:06She's the most sharp.
05:07How do you think she's ready to kill someone?
05:12How did she do this job?
05:13I think she's ready to kill someone,
05:31Back at her house, Ghost explains why she became a cold-blooded killer.
05:47My tía came to live with a man, so this man began to get mad and all that.
05:56There was one day when it was not only to touch me, he already raped me.
06:04So, in that moment, in my heart, there was a rage against the men.
06:32Ghost is one of about 30,000 members who have sworn their allegiance to MS-13, the largest gang in
06:39El Salvador.
06:39Ghost is one of about 30,000 members who have sworn their allegiance to MS-13, the largest gang in
06:39El Salvador.
06:40But its roots actually stretch all the way to L.A.,
06:44where back in the 80s, thousands of refugees came after fleeing El Salvador's civil war.
06:51These gangs from El Salvador are now operating in every corner of America.
06:55Everybody is at risk here.
07:01Marginalized and deprived neighborhoods,
07:03MS-13 set themselves up as a vigilante group to protect their community,
07:07but soon grew into one of America's most dangerous organized crime gangs.
07:14Between 2001 and 2010, the U.S. deported over 40,000 Salvadoran convicts.
07:20In doing so, they exported gang violence and extortion to the streets of El Salvador.
07:31The U.S. law enforcement is interested in kicking these people out,
07:36but they don't care if those people are going to kill and rape and pillage in other parts of the
07:41world.
07:42They were just focused on something that was immediate,
07:45something that would get rid of the crime on the streets of L.A., which it didn't.
07:50But on top of that, they created more of a problem back in El Salvador.
07:57I'm about to meet the two female gang members again.
08:01And I think it's also like a good opportunity to talk a little bit more with the younger one.
08:06Hola, Seca. ¿Cómo vas? ¿Puedo pasar?
08:09Es importante, ¿sabes? Como estar arreglada, bonita para las misiones, ¿no?
08:13Sí, claro. No sospechan de vos.
08:17¿Tú entiendes que es un poco raro para una chica tan joven de 17
08:20como haber escogido matar como profesión, no?
08:24Sí, claro. Y el estudio, ¿qué te va a servir? Si eso no te sirve, si aquí ni te dan
08:31trabajo, aquí ganas una mierda.
08:35¿Y te entrenaron a usar armas y todo esto para poder ser sicaria?
08:40Sí, ahorita veo como limpiarlas y todo, porque veo que la duende lo hace y ella me explica, me dice,
08:47mirala, tú le quedas así.
08:49¿Y duende viene siendo como tu hermana, pues?
08:52Es como mi mamá viene siendo, me enseñó bastante.
08:58Skinny's whole life has been shaped by MS-13.
09:02Both her parents are senior members.
09:05Mi papá toda su vida he estado preso.
09:08Lo conocí en puras fotos.
09:11Mi mamá, cuatro años tiene que estar presa.
09:15Ella extorsionaba a un empresario de buses.
09:19La penaron para 11 años.
09:23Los MS-13 saben que su futuro es que su futuro es en recruta a jóvenes, en recruta a niños.
09:31Los niños son enlistados, especialmente los niños que no tienen acceso a la educación.
09:37Los niños que no vean otra manera de vivir.
09:40Y los niños son capaces de mucha crueldad cuando son entrenados por los adultos para hacerlo.
09:51Skinny me muestra cómo Ghost and her boss train young assassins to kill.
09:56Y ella va caminando.
09:58Sí, ella va por ahí.
10:00¿Vos? ¿Dónde?
10:02Ahí va la víctima caminando allá en la acera.
10:05Por donde va el bicho lanza llamas.
10:09¿Oíste?
10:11Sí, ella va caminando.
10:14¿Ves?
10:16No.
10:17Cambiaste el teléfono.
10:20Vaya, bajaste el teléfono.
10:22Alumbrero, ¿dónde estás fuiste?
10:23Bien, no, ahorita no de abajo.
10:26¿Escuchas ahí?
10:26Ok.
10:27Chivas, ahí.
10:28Ahí te esperamos.
10:30Pues, ¿qué onda, vas?
10:32Ya.
10:33Lo demás no te lo podemos enseñar porque...
10:35¿Qué pasa?
10:36Me siento bien trabajar.
10:37Solo para ver...
10:39¿Y tú cómo te sentiste?
10:40Bien.
10:42Normal.
10:44Bien, normal para ella.
10:49MS-13 targets hundreds of thousands of people with their extortion racket,
10:54known locally as La Renta.
10:58Buenas.
10:59Buenas.
10:59¿Cómo les va?
11:00Doña María.
11:01Buenas.
11:03Typical victims are foodstall owners, like María.
11:07Hay que hacer por lo menos unos diarios, unos 30 dólares diarios.
11:12Para sobrevivir.
11:13Sí.
11:13Siempre cuesta.
11:15Se le tienen que pagar a las pandillas para poder tener un negocio estable.
11:19Ajá.
11:20Y que no te pase nada.
11:22Pero ya de la renta, sí, pues.
11:26La renta, como tú dices, que le llaman a...
11:28Sí.
11:28A la cuota.
11:30Sí.
11:30¿Cuánto tienes que pagar?
11:3230.
11:3330 a la semana.
11:34¿Dólares?
11:35Sí.
11:37Solo se dice, aquí vengo.
11:39Aquí vengo por el pago.
11:41Ajá.
11:41Así, pues, ya uno sabe que ya vienen por el dinero.
11:46Bien.
11:48María es forced to pay MS-13 30% of her income.
11:52The gang has eyes and ears on every street corner to check how much each business earns every day.
12:00O sea, ellos siempre tienen gente viendo, esperando cosas.
12:04Informante, pues.
12:05So.
12:06Por lo menos aquella persona que está allá hablando por teléfono.
12:09¿Dónde?
12:10Por la mototaxi.
12:12Ajá.
12:14¿Ya ve?
12:14Ah, sí.
12:15Así.
12:17Yeah, I see her.
12:18And she says it's like the most random people that you can think.
12:23It's not like your average lookout, like a gang member.
12:26It's older ladies sometimes.
12:29They've got a cell phone, and they're calling to inform the gang about what's going on and what people are
12:33doing.
12:44To protect María, we step away from her shop.
12:47¿Tú crees que acá estamos más seguros para hablar?
12:50Sí.
12:50Sí.
12:51Si a nadie está bien.
12:54¿Y qué te ha tocado, digamos, algunas personas cercanas a ti o algo le ha pasado algo?
12:58¿Ya has tenido alguien que lo hayan matado?
13:00Sí.
13:01A mucha.
13:02Eso me da mucho miedo.
13:04Que algún día le pase algo a mí.
13:07Ya saben dónde pasa o adónde lo dejo cuidando o cosas así.
13:13Mmm.
13:14O sea, atemorizado siempre, todos los días.
13:17Te puede decir que te dan como donde más te duele, pues.
13:20Sí.
13:21Eso sí.
13:26María is such a brave woman.
13:28It's really devastating to think how much a life costs in this country.
13:34$30.
13:36If María doesn't pay $30 each week to a gang, that's the life of her husband or her child, potentially.
13:43The gangs control over 90% of El Salvador's neighborhoods and act with impunity.
13:50The police are under-equipped and overwhelmed.
13:53The criminal conviction rate in El Salvador is less than 5%.
14:00People like María are easy victims, easy prey.
14:04The criminal conviction rate in circumstances where the state fails, where the state cannot protect its citizens, where the state
14:11cannot protect its citizens, where the state cannot provide security and safety.
14:13What María is living there is a nightmare, because this is an integrated system, where criminals use extortion as a
14:22way to control people.
14:24If they take $30 a month from someone like María, the more Marias you have, it adds up to actually
14:31a percentage of the country's GDP.
14:33It's the business of fear.
14:35You generate fear in order to make money.
14:38And the more fear you generate, the more money you make.
14:48The cycle of extreme violence MS-13 deploys means they even maintain a stranglehold over big corporations that run the
14:57country's infrastructure.
14:59They target public transport companies that turn over $250 million a year.
15:06A cash-in-hand business, the buses pass through gang territory every day.
15:11Passengers and staff are totally exposed.
15:15Passengers and staff are 돋ing on the average.
15:161,300 transport workers have been murdered in less than a decade.
15:24Catalino Miranda, the owner of El Salvador's largest bus company, has experienced the human costs first hand.
15:34I was in a small meeting, they told me immediately and I came to see what was happening at that
15:43time.
15:44They found the opportunity within the unit.
15:55So a passenger died.
15:58You see, basically, a passenger sitting there and someone comes and kills you?
16:02Yes.
16:03The dogs are like the Doberman who doesn't know when will attack.
16:11The issue of security in this country is quite complicated.
16:16And in these times, the money can be a victim of any attack.
16:24I have 17 years of dealing with this problem.
16:31And the extorsion has always remained like the value bank that goes up, goes down and goes back to attack.
16:38You, who is an employee, and what percentage of your savings were they taking away?
16:43There were moments that were around $1.5 million monthly, equivalent to almost $50,000 monthly monthly.
16:51On a daily basis, $518 million, $18 million a year.
16:55Finally, we had to put them into accountability.
17:00There's a part where it says, there's another one.
17:05The extorsion fees nearly crippled his company.
17:09Catalino refused to pay after 25 of his drivers were killed in just one year.
17:15He now spends $30,000 a month on private security, CCTV, and GPS tracking
17:22to monitor his 300 buses in real time.
17:26Standing up to the gangs has left him with a prize on his head.
17:31Outside of the guards, do you also have to be armed?
17:33Yes, I always have to be armed.
17:35Always?
17:36I have to be armed.
17:37Why do you have so much need to contract private security?
17:40I think that security is competing for the central government.
17:46But when I see that in my country, the same police have been victim of assaults by criminal bands.
17:58So, to a common citizen, there is no alternative to protect the work and the life.
18:07If you start to get out, the amount of private security in the country is more than civil civil police.
18:15So, it's a cost.
18:20Businesses here now spend an estimated $2 billion a year on private security,
18:25trying to fill the void left by years of government failures.
18:30In 2003, to tackle the gangs growing power, the government launched a strategy known as Manodura, the Iron Fist, which
18:39led to mass incarceration.
18:43Imprisoned without trial, many were locked up based on their physical appearance and being inked with gang tattoos.
18:52Manodura backfired.
18:5595% of the prisoners were released in the first year.
19:04MS-13 simply became more aware of police tactics, more organized, and more violent.
19:12I'm going to meet one of the founding members of MS-13, known as Bad Boy, who spent years in
19:18prison.
19:18He is actually in charge of collecting the extortion money in his area, and he is old school.
19:24He has tattoos in his face, so he is what they call a person who's inked, and he's permanently in
19:30hiding.
19:30He can't show his face out in the public.
19:37So we are at the unidentified location where he has agreed to meet us.
20:02The only time I'm going to leave, I have to make my face out of my face.
20:07And I can't go out like that, because I have not been walking in a corner when they have been
20:12calculated.
20:13When you collect the extortion of people, how does it work?
20:18If I extortion you, you only will give me one time.
20:22Suppose I have a phone call, and I am asking you $10,000.
20:26But I know that I will give you one time.
20:28I will give you one time.
20:29I will give you one time.
20:33I will give you one time.
20:34I will give you one time.
20:37I will give you one time.
20:40To avoid police detection, MS-13 now use women and teenagers without tattoos or criminal records
20:47to do their dirty work.
20:48When I send women, I send them to 12, 13 years old.
20:56They send them to each other.
21:00Each person knows what they have to pay.
21:03Do you have any advantage of sending women or children?
21:06Yes, by the color of the jury.
21:09If they look at the men, they can't stop them on the road.
21:14If they have that money, they will take them to the trial.
21:17Every time they take them, they change the person who takes the money.
21:21And what are you using that money?
21:24This, weapons, grenades.
21:27They buy them on wills.
21:28That's right, they swear to them, they pay them.
21:34Many police officers here only earn $300 a month and live in gang territory.
21:42Fearing retribution, they often turn a blind eye to the gang's extortion business or take bribes.
21:48The failings of law enforcement has empowered MS-13 to scale up its extortion business
21:54and target not just Salvadoran businesses, but even some of the world's leading multinationals.
22:00Here in El Salvador, everyone pays rent.
22:04They pay rent.
22:04They pay rent a Coca-Cola.
22:06They can enter a colony of us without paying.
22:09How do you know how much you pay each company?
22:11It depends on what company it is.
22:14Like the alcaldía, when they pay people from the market,
22:18if it's Coca-Cola, they have to pay $1,500.
22:21Because it's a big company.
22:22What happens if the people don't pay?
22:25They die.
22:27They have to pay $1,500.
22:29And $1,500 for them is not that they are killing workers.
22:35They are making wood for the business.
22:38They don't like them.
22:39So they prefer to pay.
22:47None of the multinationals who operate in El Salvador
22:50have ever admitted to paying extortion fees.
22:53It breaks international money laundering laws.
22:56And if they acknowledged it, they could be seen as a soft touch,
23:00untargeted by other criminal organizations across the globe.
23:04It's been really hard for us to get a response from multinationals about extortion.
23:08So we are literally in one of the towns
23:12and we're going to doorstep the delivery guy
23:14to see if we can get some answers about how the system works.
23:21One of El Salvador's biggest beverage companies
23:24distribute Coca-Cola and other global drinks brands here.
23:29A senior staff member agreed to talk to us anonymously.
23:34We work for the constancy.
23:36We provide drinks and beer.
23:41We have given cases because we have lived this situation
23:43in which, if we don't pay,
23:47we are able to threaten us even with weapons.
23:51There are cases that have killed colleagues,
23:54killed colleagues.
23:56There are cases where they cancela $500 to $1,000 to $1,000 to $1,000 to $1,000 to
24:04$1,000 to $1,000 to $1,000 to $1,000.
24:25They say that you're going to pay this part.
24:27If you don't pay this money,
24:29we're going to kill you.
24:31And the company Coca-Cola knows that this is going to happen?
24:34Yes.
24:34Yes.
24:35Sure.
24:36Yes.
24:36Yes, yes.
24:36Yes.
24:37Yes, yes, yes.
24:39Yes, yes.
24:40Yes.
24:40to that, that all at the national level is the same.
24:45Do you think that if I ask the people,
24:48like the chefs of these companies,
24:49that if they admit that they're paying this,
24:51would they accept it in person or in camera?
24:54No.
24:56They would say no, no, no.
24:59Although they know that it's not correct
25:02what they're doing, but they want to work.
25:05So they wouldn't accept it.
25:08We contacted Coca-Cola,
25:10who said they'd take the allegations very seriously.
25:14They condemn all illegal activity, including extortion,
25:18and are working with their authorized butler in El Salvador
25:21to understand the full extent of the claims.
25:31For the very first time, the president of an organization
25:35that represents 14,000 companies, Javier Simán,
25:39has agreed to speak about the scale of the threat.
25:42El reto para nosotros más grande es la extorsión.
25:45Eso se vuelve parte del costo de hacer negocio en El Salvador.
25:49Muchas veces el motorista de su bolsillo
25:51tiene que pagarle la extorsión.
25:55Y otras veces la empresa tiene que proveerle al motorista
26:00para que pueda pagar o entrar.
26:02Depende de las empresas.
26:04Pero las empresas se ponen en una situación muy difícil
26:07porque las maras no le van a dar recibo,
26:10no le van a dar un invoice por haber pagado la extorsión.
26:14Entonces, expone a las empresas a la ley de lavado de dinero
26:20o a la ley contra el terrorismo,
26:22que pueda ser interpretado como que el empresario está financiando
26:26actividades terroristas de las maras
26:28o que el empresario está lavando dinero.
26:31El empresario es víctima de la extorsión
26:34que los gobiernos ni la policía tienen capacidad de resolverle.
26:39Y no hemos visto voluntad política de resolverlo.
26:43A las empresas extranjeras,
26:45pero también a las empresas nacionales,
26:47les da mucho miedo opinar por miedo a represalias.
26:57M.S. 13 no es la única ganga que extorsiona la nación.
27:02Durante décadas,
27:03han peleado una guerra blanca con sus enemigos,
27:0618th Street.
27:10Una de sus facciones ha refocado
27:12sus actividades de extorsión
27:13para ir solo para el dinero grande.
27:18Aquí todos somos familia.
27:20Somos iguales.
27:20Somos iguales.
27:21Somos las 18.
27:23¿Cómo se mantiene la pandilla en términos de dinero?
27:27¿Cobran renta?
27:28No, aquí no vivimos de eso.
27:31Esta es nuestra comunidad.
27:33¿Cómo le voy a ir a quitar el dinero
27:35a la pobre señora y los tomates?
27:36No le puedes ir a poner renta a la señora que te vende
27:40porque la ganancia es mínima.
27:42Entonces, no.
27:43Nosotros, lo que somos parte de nosotros,
27:46no permitimos eso.
27:47Entiendo, pero sí hay una empresa extranjera.
27:51¿A eso sí les cobrarían o no?
27:53Sí, eso sí.
27:54Porque ellos sí tienen dinero para podernos pagar.
27:58El empleado no les importa,
27:59no les importa su aguinaldo,
28:02no les importa subirte el sueldo.
28:03No, ellos quieren explotar.
28:04Los empresarios,
28:05ustedes les están cobrando gente multinacionales
28:08y no les pagan.
28:09¿Qué les pasa?
28:09Los matamos, los desaparecemos
28:11porque ellos tienen la cuota
28:14que nosotros les hemos pedido.
28:16El empresario es el peor extorsionador
28:19porque le dan trabajar un sueldo miserable.
28:22Pues somos los Robin Hood para los pobres.
28:25El gobierno te niega la oportunidad de salir adelante.
28:29Vienen todos los presidentes y el actual te dicen,
28:32oh, aquí yo quiero cambiar el país,
28:34pero no cierran las oportunidades de empleo.
28:37Aquí nosotros corremos miles de riesgos.
28:40Aquí no pueden matar en la calle,
28:42puede venir la policía y vienen.
28:45Para mí hoy es el último,
28:47porque yo mañana no sé.
28:52¿Qué pasó?
28:54We just got word that someone was arrested
28:56up in the bridge,
28:58so we need to stop and leave right now.
29:00We need to stop and leave.
29:03We need to stop and leave.
29:1018th Street are on edge
29:12because a few days ago
29:13the national police,
29:15backed by American law enforcement,
29:17arrested 572 gang members
29:20on charges of extortion,
29:22terrorism, murder and money laundering.
29:25To try to regain public confidence
29:27and retain international investment,
29:30the police are now mounting weekly operations
29:32against the gangs.
29:36So it's 1.30 in the morning
29:38and we just got a call from our local producer
29:40saying there's a massive operation.
29:43The police are going to arrest about 30 extortionists
29:46and we were given the green light to go with them.
29:55The government spent $31 billion
29:58and deployed 3,000 extra troops in 2020
30:02to bolster their crackdown.
30:06There's about 20 vehicles here,
30:07so it's going to be a pretty large convoy.
30:11You can tell that these guys
30:12are pretty scared of the gangs
30:13because for the police to go out and get some,
30:16they need to call in the army
30:18to actually secure the perimeter.
30:2430 search warrants have been issued
30:26for members of 18th Street.
31:01Somewhere In expire
31:04Abre la puerta.
31:06The door.
31:11The door quickly.
31:12It's the door quickly.
31:20For the back,
31:22back and forth.
31:22The other side.
31:22Over the side.
31:30The police have locked up over 5,000 gang members in the last 18 months alone.
31:56The members of 18th Street, arrested tonight, are part of a supposed zero-tolerance campaign led by El Salvador's new
32:04president.
32:05Con la operatividad de la Policía Nacional Civil se ha logrado encautar más de 3,500 armas de diferentes calibres
32:12desde el inicio de la gestión del presidente Bukele.
32:21Presidente Nayib Bukele was sworn in in June 2019 on a promise to eradicate gangs.
32:29Five years ago, El Salvador's murder rate was the highest in the world, outside war zones.
32:36Our country is like a sick child. We all have to take our responsibility to take forward to that child
32:43in our country. It's El Salvador.
32:49Bukele's impact appears impressive. He claims to have cut the murder rate by 60%.
32:58But in September 2020, El Salvador's investigative news platform, El Faro, broke a story that shocked the world.
33:06El Faro claimed President Bukele made a secret deal with MS-13.
33:11If they voted for him and cut the killings, he'd give them a seat at the political table.
33:18We've come to see Carlos Martinez. He's an investigative journalist here.
33:22And he's broken many stories about organized crime in the government,
33:26and has been threatened for uncovering these, so he doesn't want to be seen outside for his safety.
33:34Muchas gracias, caballero.
33:36Con la llegada del presidente Bukele, hubo una reducción de homicidios,
33:40como no la habíamos visto desde que se miden los homicidios en este país.
33:47Finalmente, conseguimos una extensa serie de documentos oficiales
33:51que documentan la negociación entre el gobierno del presidente Bukele
33:57y la mala salvatrucha ocurriendo en los penales de máxima seguridad de este país.
34:04Para conseguir una reducción súbita de homicidios,
34:08con una serie de promesas del gobierno a la mafia,
34:12mejorar sus condiciones en las cárceles,
34:15pero sobre todo convertir a esta organización criminal en un actor político.
34:21Son pandillas que se están sentando a negociar con un presidente.
34:24¿Qué quiere decir eso del poder que tienen aquí en este país?
34:28En las comunidades, las pandillas norman, es decir, son un poder de facto.
34:36Hoy por hoy, en El Salvador, las pandillas obtienen casi la totalidad de sus recursos de la extorsión.
34:43En este país paga la Coca-Cola, paga Submiller, paga el McDonald's, paga la Pizza Hut.
34:50Toda esa gente paga la pandemia.
34:53No lo creo. Lo sé.
34:56Y el Estado no tiene la capacidad de intervenir en ello.
35:02Y una de las cosas interesantes es que mientras la criminalidad en términos de homicidios ha disminuido,
35:08la extorsión aumenta.
35:16Los criminales son más poderosos que el gobierno en El Salvador.
35:23Y esto es porque controlan los ciudadanos.
35:26Los ciudadanos están detenidos de Supervisión.
35:30Los ciudadanos están detenidos.
35:34Los ciudadanos están detenidos para senter las vidas.
35:35Los ciudadanos están detenidos para decirle a las personas lo que hacer.
35:38Así que cuando se añadir a este elemento político,
35:41cuando se añadir un pacto adecuado entre MS-13,
35:47el gobierno y el presidente,
35:49se aumenta el poder del grupo organizado.
35:53crime group.
35:58President Bukele has categorically denied allegations of agreeing a secret deal with
36:04El Salvador's gangs.
36:07We have managed to contact one of MS-13's national leaders.
36:37He doesn't acknowledge any secret political deal, but is proud to boast about the power
36:43MS-13 wields over El Salvador through extortion.
36:49And if they don't pay?
36:54And if they don't pay?
36:57So, how does it work?
37:01Okay.
37:01So, everything is perfectly like a hierarchy, like a pyramid, coordinated.
37:09I come from the United States.
37:11There are companies like gringas.
37:13It's a color.
37:14It's yellow, but if you have money, you're in the zone.
37:18It's not extortion, it's a collaboration.
37:21Collaboration forzada?
37:22Yes.
37:23Okay.
37:24I want to explain to you what is a serious thing, like a company where suddenly this money
37:28invests here?
37:29No, no, no.
37:30You are like empresarios?
37:31No, no, no.
37:31You have to do the money with computers.
37:34Everything.
37:35Armas, food, food, internet, intelligence, cars.
37:50Okay.
37:51Yeah.
37:53The gang's control over El Salvador has long been an open secret, but it was only in 2018
37:59that the real scale of their money laundering was revealed after an unprecedented police investigation.
38:06$1,075,191 is the exact value that we have been extinguished by the derivative of the
38:13Operation Hacker.
38:14It's affecting directly the finances of Mara Salvatrucha.
38:23Douglas Farah, a national security consultant to the U.S. government, has seen how MS-13
38:29have used their dirty extortion money to buy influence and power.
38:34They have become much more sophisticated.
38:37They've also made the decisions to send some of their best, smartest people to law school,
38:43to accounting school.
38:44So you now have MS-13 that have been in the police for five or six years and are now
38:48rising to the ranks.
38:49You have smart accountants.
38:51You have really good lawyers now that are integrated into the MS-13.
38:55So they've become, over time, much more embedded in the society.
38:59I never imagined watching them sort of develop into what they have become today.
39:09Out of El Salvador's 262 districts, the gangs control a shocking 247.
39:17So how do you take the country back?
39:20San Jose Guayaval is a unique town where a local mayor has managed to regain control.
39:36The key to this extraordinary achievement was rooting out police corruption.
39:42When Mayor Mauricio Villanova discovered the town's police chief was unreliable, he took action.
39:48So I came to change the police chief in charge.
39:52So I came to ask the model of patrolman on how to submit the Police Department.
39:57I came to be a force of a gaming officer, calling police officer,
40:00I came to leave a system with a local officer,
40:00and then I was working on the issue of safety and prevention.
40:05So, I came to leave the prison clerics to the territory.
40:09And the success was, it had been more than 200 of 10 years.
40:13After that, I've gone away from two decades,
40:14and a 60 years ago,
40:14a gangren from anсп fixture from in the United States.
40:24The mayor's hands-on approach includes working closely with former gang members to stop violence erupting.
41:14Thanks to the mayor rolling up his lead,
41:16there have only been four murders in the town in the last year, none of them gang-related.
41:22But only a few minutes away, 18th Street still maintains total control of the surrounding areas.
41:42This neighborhood is actually a sanctuary, apparently, for the 18th Street gang.
41:48They kill people here, they bury them, they are totally operating freely here.
41:54So that's why the mayor cannot come here by himself.
41:56He needs to be escorted by the police and the army.
42:03The mayor's strategy is to make sure his security team has more firepower than the gangs.
42:10Good morning, gentlemen.
42:11Good morning, gentlemen.
42:12Good morning.
42:12Would you be so nice to put your hands on your feet, please?
42:13Yes.
42:15Would you leave your backpack?
42:18Would you have been detained once?
42:20No, no, no.
42:21Do you wear a bag?
42:23No, no, no.
42:24No, no, no.
42:27Do you wear a bag?
42:27Good morning.
42:32Good morning.
42:33Good morning.
42:34Good morning.
42:35Good morning.
42:37Good morning.
42:38We are walking.
42:38And it's a place dominated by the 18th Street.
42:43They know that we are right here.
42:46Where in the day we can enter.
42:49But in the night, the one who enters, who is not from the place, no leaves.
43:15The mayor's ambition to expand his strategy across the region may be too little too late.
43:21Hundreds of people from the town have been forced to flee their homes after suffering years of extortion.
43:36He's saying this is almost like a ghost town because a lot of families have fled to the U.S.
43:44mostly after being extorted or threatened by the gangs.
43:48What happens here is fueling a crisis outside of El Salvador's borders.
43:54In 2019 alone, nearly half a million Salvadorans fled their homes.
43:59Many joining the migrant caravans, hoping to reach America.
44:04We've been talking to everybody, gangs, local authorities, businessmen, ordinary citizens.
44:10And one thing has become clear. Extortion here is endemic and it's happening at all levels.
44:16Extortion is a multi-million dollar industry and it's not going to stop anytime soon.
44:23Among the failed states of the world, El Salvador is a front runner.
44:28You can't really do efficient investment in a country where there's an active extortion racket.
44:34So this definitely stops El Salvador from developing.
44:39If MS-13 manage to completely take over the government in El Salvador, they will become a big power in
44:49Central America.
44:50It's going to help them expand business, help them connect to other crime groups and infiltrate even more, not just
44:59local politics, but global politics.
45:02This is not just about fighting gang violence.
45:05This is not just being tough on groups like MS-13.
45:10This is really about changing the way politicians work and actually have the politicians work in the public interest and
45:18with long term plans and in coordination across borders.
45:54So, thanks a lot.
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