18 With A Bullet

On Tuesday, July 11, public broadcasting stations in the US will air "18 With A Bullet," a documentary about the 18th Street Gang, one of the two rival gangs which plagues El Salvador. From the website for the program:
In San Salvador, El Salvador, two thousand miles from Los Angeles's 18th Street, a gang known as "18" governs its territory like an armed militia. In the mid 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their homeland. Some brought L.A. gang culture back with them to a country beset by poverty and awash in arms. Organizing support for gang members in need, meting out justice to those who would defy the gang's code and waging an endless vendetta against its enemies, 18 is helping to make El Salvador one of the most violent and crime-ridden countries in the world. "18 with a Bullet" presents a chilling portrait of six months in the life of this notorious Central American gang.

There is a New York Times review of the documentary here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
"18 With A Bullet" is incredibly eye-opening to the reality of a sector of the youth in El Salvador and of the politics of helplessness that is becoming (since the 1992 Peace Accords) characteristic of the Government of EL Salvador (GOS) in regards to its position and inability to quell the problem of maras (gangs) haunting this tiny nation's population. It also goes beyond government's incapacity to deal with a most fundamental domestic problem; it deals with alienated youth in the search of meaning and acceptance when society turns a blind eye to more fundamental factors: a history of poverty, political apathy to societal problems, and foreign deportation among others. Indeed a wake-up call to all that the unacceptable cultural trend of gang life will contribute to the creation of a dysfunctional society upon which all will fall pray to, not only in El Salvador but everywhere this phenomena appears and initially ignored as was the case in Los Angeles (currently, perhaps the gang capital of the world) and El Salvador as “18” has finely demonstrated.
Anonymous said…
hello,
Have you elements about the hstory of ARENA's flag ? I've been told it comes from d'Aubuisson's french's origins.
thank you in advance
Anonymous said…
ARENA's flag comes froms D'aubuisson's German ideology....

OH, oh, blind can't you see?

he's a NAZI assassin!

with the ARENA party...

killing people was good for him...
Anonymous said…
Anonymous, have u ever seen a german flag. Thank yo for a PRECISE answer.
Anonymous said…
When I mentioned "German", I was talking about the Nazi symbol.

ARENA'S flag is a Nazi symbol in disguise; in fact, I saw the same symbol in a picture of a Nazi airplane - it seems to be an old version.
Hodad said…
such eloquence in Mr. Pineda's words, and truth.
it will only get worse, as I have seen in the past 13 years living here.
there is a look and feeling of hopelessness i feel as I am out in public and even in the buses, which i use quite frequently.
too many people, too little resources
Inferno said…
ROFL

"super Mano dura" have done nothing. In fact, the law have increased the ammount of violence in our country.

The same policemen tells to the captured gang membrs who is the whitness and these gang members are free the next day to kill them and their families too.
Anonymous said…
What I would like to see is a "cleaning squad" to take out all these gang members. I know it's more deaths but I seriously despise so much this societal virus.
Anonymous said…
Gangs are just a pointless hate i agree with the cleaning squad i go to to school with tons of gang members i wouldnt give a shit if one of them died ...
Anonymous said…
I am from New Zealand and i am going to disagree with some of the comments that have been left.
They are not a disease nor a virus! they are humans. humans who have fallen into the gang life. they are or were once good citizens of their country. But when they fell & needed their loved ones n familys the most they weren't there to help pick them up. so who do they turn to?? their friends. And it is their friends that show them support & love a family as they see it. a family whos got their back when they need it. which sadly enough ends up being a gang. But El Salvador is stricken by poverty so i think young boys turn to gangs also for survival.The gang brings in money, money for food, shelter, clothes and yes guns n drugs for them. So then they dont have to get an education or look for a job because its easy to be in a gang & be looked after as long as u do wat they want u to do i suppose so it can be luring for some. Im not agreeing with the gang and what they do. i dislike most things that they do. but when i saw travesio pleading with his mother to send for him, i couldnt help but feel sad for some of these young men including him. They need there family, they long for them. They need to be arround them.If the young men had a good upbringing and a stable family life with good values and good influencial friends you could probly bet they wouldnt be involved in gangs. they would probly be in america making a new life. a happier life then what they would in El Salvador. They know what they do is bad & wrong. But wat else is their for them in El Salvador?? may god be with these boys and help them see the light! Untill you walk in their shoes you will never know why?so dont criticize them.Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes will u be that person?
Anonymous said…
Esta persona de Nueva Zelanda se ve que no conoce lo violentos que son estos ... animales... con el perdon de los animales, no sabe que estas cosas son capaces de matar a toda una familia, descuartizarla y tirar por toda la cd sus pedazos. yo vivi en Guatemala 5 años, y quede horrorizado hasta donde llegan... no hay mejor caminoque matar a estos engendros, ya que por no darles el "impuesto de guerra", matan a toda una familia incluyendo niños y bebes... Soy mexicano, y no me acostumbre a esta violencia desatada que tienen en CA, la verdad que deberian agarrarlos a todos y fusilarlos, aunque sera algo muy humano si lo hacen de esa manera, deberian hacerles lo mismo que le hacen a la gente a la que asesinan sin misericordio,por cierto, mencione que antes de matarlos, violan a las mujeres una y otra vez todos estos malditos ??......