Space of detention : the making of a transnational gang crisis between Los Angeles and San Salvador

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NEOLIBERAL S E C U R I T Y S C A P E S

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It's the most violent gang in America . . . It has 10,000 foot soldiers in the U.S., spreading its brutal ways across 33 states . . . And now it's going international, fueled by mi­ gration across the Western hemisphere, leaving its bloody mark from Central [America] to the American heartland . . . Police in a half-dozen countries struggle to crack its code and decipher its methods. — World’s M ost Dangerous Gang (documentary)

On February 5, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales o f the United States and President Elias Antonio Saca o f El Salvador announced a new collabora­ tive effort to combat the gang La Mara Salvatrucha (m s ) and the 18th Street Gang. This effort, named the Transnational Anti-Gang Unit (t a g ), would be made up o f the Federal Bureau o f Investigation, the Department o f State, and El Salvador’s National Civil Police, along with an “embedded” prosecu­ tor from the Salvadoran attorney general’s office. It would also facilitate the efficient implementation o f c a f é (the Central American Fingerprinting Ex­ ploitation initiative). The day after t a g was announced, the chiefs o f police for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize met in Los Angeles to draft a proposal for the third annual International Gang Conference in San Salva­ dor. The same year, the federal Interagency Task Force on Gangs (comprised o f governmental officials from five agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, and Justice, together with the United

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States Agency for International Development) launched its program titled United States Strategy to Combat Criminal Gangs from Mexico and Cen­ tral America. These transnational security agreements derive their logic and form from the premise that these gangs operate as sophisticated transna­ tional criminal organizations with elaborate communication systems and networks that span Central America, Mexico, and the United States (if not beyond). In this book I examine the current obsession with the so-called transna­ tional youth gang crisis from the vantage point o f the political history that constitutes the very ground that obsession works to obscure: namely, the ongoing participation o f the United States in the production and reproduc­ tion o f violence in El Salvador. During the twelve-year Salvadoran civil war, intervention by the United States thoroughly penetrated and transformed Salvadoran society and was crucial to the Salvadoran government’s ability to stave o ff a triumph by the leftist revolutionary force the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (f m l n ). The strategy used by the United States o f low-intensity warfare, developed in the wake o f the defeats in Korea and Vietnam, involved a counterinsurgency war by Salvadoran proxy under the guidance o f the U.S. military rather than through the direct introduction of troops.1 In the postwar period, the United States exported and extended to El Salvador its War on Crime, first through the deportation o f immigrant youth associated with gangs based in Los Angeles, then through the exportation o f its zero-tolerance policing strategies, and now through the development of transnational security agreements.2 In this sense, I consider the contempo­ rary gang crisis to be a product o f a long-standing regional political struc­ ture and pattern between Latin America and the United States — or in the words o f Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodriquez, the “U.S.-Latin American interstate regime.” 3 The circulation o f Salvadoran (immigrant) youth gangs and o f U.S. zerotolerance policing models between the United States and El Salvador is em­ bedded within dense transnational networks o f communication and uneven flows o f labor, goods, money, information, and ideas between the United States and El Salvador. It is, therefore, part and parcel o f the underlying cir­ culatory patterns o f globalization in which the United States and El Salvador are enmeshed “from above” (the state, corporations, multilateral agencies and international nongovernmental organizations) and “from below” (im­ migrants and their families, small-time tradesmen and women, and grass­ roots organizations and activists). So while Salvadoran immigration and 2

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gangs are arguably at the heart o f this book, neither gangs nor immigrants are ultimately the objects o f this study. Rather, they are the lens through which I examine the production o f and contestation over the contemporary manifestation o f long-standing “securityscapes” through and in which both the United States and El Salvador are linked and complicit. The concept o f the securityscape was first introduced by Hugh Gusterson as a “polite corrective” to Arjun Appadurai’s “globalscapes.” The term has previously been deployed by anthropologists to argue that national security policy is also an important part o f transnational or local life, and to bring the profound influence o f militarism on our lives back into focus.4 I extend this concept beyond the overtly militaristic to include the patterns o f circulation that result from the effort o f states to police and control the mobility o f sub­ jects considered to be dangerous, in this case gang youth and immigrants. The securityscape here is the transnational space produced at the nexus o f youth, migration, and violence between the United States and El Salvador. This expanded concept offers a way o f understanding the spatial patterns of policing, immigration, deportation, and reentry into the United States that connect Los Angeles and its Salvadoran immigrant community to El Salva­ dor, and to see how gangs and immigrants have been woven into these on­ going entanglements.

A Dialectics of (Im)Mobility My focus on the policing, incarceration, and deportation o f Salvadoran (im­ migrant) youth is primarily concerned with the “friction” in these trans­ national flows .5 The figures o f transnational gangs and transnational police and the securityscapes in which they are embedded push us beyond that now much maligned metaphor o f mobility, “flows,” and its tendency to obscure, naturalize, harmonize, homogenize, and as such serve as the official legiti­ mizing language o f globalization.6 Clearly, the deportee reveals that these flows are not unimpeded, and that globalization is better characterized by a dialectic o f mobility and immobility. While my argument does draw from and elevate the phenomenon o f m o­ bility, it does not focus on the categories o f mobility routinely used to define a globalizing world— namely, the flows o f finance, technology, media, and goods. Instead, it traces the effects that ensue from judicial, immigration, urban development, and penal technologies; how discourses, institutional forms, and practices themselves migrate between countries; and how feaNEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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tures o f the security state are imbricated with political subjectivities and spatializing practices. But policing and deportation also work in the obverse direction, and this is one o f my key arguments. These securityscapes, thought to entrench the nation-state and to arrest flows, also enable the globalization o f violence, in this case through the formation o f transnational gangs and the glob­ alization o f U.S.-style zero-tolerance policing strategies. In other words, securityscapes not only constrain but also fuel m o b ility-lega l and illegal, licit and illicit.7 Deportation as a disciplinary practice can act very differ­ ently, therefore, from its overt logic. Deportation is configured as a preemi­ nent means o f defending, enacting, and thus verifying state sovereignty, by defining who is disposable and who is not and rendering them immobile.8 But my ethnographic rendering o f deportation through a study o f the experi­ ences o f a specific category o f criminal deportee suggests otherwise. When a deportee is forcibly repatriated after incarceration, or when Salvadoran youth are made refugees by the combined effects o f gang and state violence in El Salvador, these “flows” are induced by nationalism and the entrench­ ment or policing o f national boundaries. This study is, therefore, concerned with the mobilities induced by such friction and the ways in which security policies and neoliberal trade agreements both rest upon and provoke flows across borders. This view in turn asks us to examine the relationship between neoliberalism and security policies.

Neoliberalism While rooted in a longer history o f United States-Latin American security re­ lations, the transnational gang crisis and the securityscapes that produced it emerged during a period characterized by the consolidation o f “neoliberal” structural adjustment programs in both countries.9 Neoliberalism is a multi­ valent term used variously to describe an economic model, a political phi­ losophy, and a mode o f personal conduct.10As an economic model, neoliber­ alism promotes free trade, deregulation o f the market, and the privatization o f functions previously carried out by the state. As a political philosophy, it promotes the freedom o f the individual over the power o f the state, and pri­ vate goods over public goods.u As a discipline or mode o f personal conduct, it advocates personal responsibility over social welfare. While neoliberalism is not a totalizing system, it is widely understood that its governing logic 4

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o f market fundamentalism has had repercussions for forms o f citizenship, subjectivity, and sovereignty across the globe. Clearly, what has come to be termed “neoliberal” predates the period addressed in this book (1992-2007). The late 1970s marked the emergence o f a new global order, variously described as globalization, disorganized or late capitalism, and post-Fordist and flexible accumulation,12 and now more commonly termed neoliberalism or neoliberal globalization. Nonetheless, from an ethnographic point o f view the effects o f these neoliberal policies, the changing role o f the state, and the emergence o f a new regime o f the self all become highly visible in both Los Angeles and San Salvador during the period under examination here. In the United States, the neoconservative Reagan revolution o f the 1980s was extended through the embrace and consolidation o f a neoliberal agenda in the 1990s under the Clinton administration. The Clinton era represented a dramatic inversion o f the binary opposition between conservatives and liberals that had characterized official American politics on domestic issues since the Great Depression. Thus while the subsequent election o f Bill Clin­ ton may have marked, for the time being, an end to the “rightward drift in U.S. politics,” 13 Republicans had already successfully disorganized and in­ verted Democratic discourse precisely over the issue o f state intervention and deregulation. The passage o f the North American Free Trade Agreement

(n a f t a )

in

1994 accelerated the deindustrialization o f U.S. cities, the exportation o f U.S. jobs through off-shore production, the weakening o f the traditional labor movement, and the flow o f cheap, unprotected labor for the new ser­ vice eco n o m y-all characteristics o f the 1980s. During the same period, the institutional apparatus o f the capitalist welfare state was entering its last moments before the full onset o f neoliberalismi4 in 1996 with the passage o f welfare reform legislation.^ The state, which had produced a social ser­ vice industry upon which the underclass fed, was to be redesigned along entrepreneurial lines. The welfare-dependent culture o f poverty in the inner city was to be transformed into a culture o f enterprise, family, and self-help. Both the government and the individual were to be disciplined according to the logic o f the market, and state agencies began to address citizens as cus­ tomers. By the turn o f the century, conspicuous consumption and casino capitalism had become the pillars o f society in the United States^6 In El Salvador, well before the implementation o f the Dominican Re-

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public-Central America Free Trade Agreement

(d r - c a f t a )

in 2006, pri­

vatization had affected all aspects o f life, including health care, education, banking, and public utilities. William Robinson makes the somewhat ironic and tragic argument that the

f m l n

unwittingly provided the United States

its pretext for massive intervention— not only through military but, in fact, largely through economic aid and training. The latter involved cultivating a new elite, or what Robinson terms a “neoliberal polyarchy,” that would challenge the old agricultural oligarchy as well as the more progressive “im­ port substitution” economic model, and govern instead through a “market democracy.” 17 While the Peace Accords did contain a limited land reform agreement, by war’s end the Salvadoran government had removed all sub­ sidies on agricultural products, thereby leaving the beneficiaries o f land re­ form without technical and financial assistance. El Salvador shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer o f basic foodstuffs such as beans and rice. The cost o f the “basic [food] basket,” the term o f art in Salvadoran eco­ nomic analyses, continued to rise each year. By war’s end, labor was El Salvador’s primary export, and immigrant re­ mittances exceeded coffee as the number one source o f foreign revenue^8 Needless to say, international migration did not abate with the end o f the war but actually increased with rates o f poverty and crimed9 Informal and criminal economies actively exploited new zones o f ambiguity opened up by deregulation.20 In this new entrepreneurial and import-oriented society, these sectors o f the economy became the only available alternatives to inter­ national migration for an increasing number o f Salvadorans. Like immigrant remittances, extortion became a fundamental means o f survival within El Salvador’s neoliberal economy. In this sense, migrants, gangs, and crimi­ nals are mimetic o f the normative ideological figures o f the neoliberal era, the entrepreneur and the consumer. It is for these reasons that I choose to add the modifier “neoliberal” to “securityscapes.” I argue that a critique of neoliberalism must also account for the place o f security policies in that sys­ tem, and that focusing on security policy can further our understanding of processes associated with neoliberalism.

Zero Tolerance The growing severity and scope o f law enforcement accompanied by an in­ creasingly punitive criminal justice system would seem to contradict the neoliberal logic to minimize state intervention. Indeed, Michel Foucault’s6 6

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anticipation that American neoliberalism would be accompanied by a more tolerant penal justice system has not been borne out. Foucault argued that while eighteenth-century reformers sought to “eliminate all crime through the internalization o f the gaze,” neoliberals “only seek a degree o f compliance— that is an acceptable level o f return on society’s investment.” Zerotolerance gang-abatement strategies and the accompanying legislation, however, depend on the creation o f a limitless supply o f crime by subjecting more and more actions to penalties, and increasing the penalties o f actions already deemed criminal. As such, the neoliberal security under investiga­ tion in this book diverges from Foucault’s expectations that neoliberalism would entail “a balance between the curves o f the supply o f crime and nega­ tive demand,” where a certain degree o f crime is to be tolerated.21 Instead, zero-tolerance strategies appear to be central to the neoliberal logics o f deregulation and individual responsibility. For instance, take the case o f gang injunctions. Certainly they involve state intervention into and regulation o f the minute practices o f everyday life such as walking, whis­ tling, gesturing, and associating in public. Gang injunctions criminalize these everyday behaviors and automatically increase the prison sentences of the particular group o f people named in the injunction. At the same time, they are form o f fast-track justice. Like deregulation in the marketplace, zero-tolerance policing strategies are key components o f mechanisms that “cut the red tape” and “streamline bureaucracy” by removing all sorts o f state protections: standards for probable cause, access to legal representa­ tion and judicial review, and judicial discretion. They also severely weaken the guarantee o f habeas corpus. The result is to “fast track” (not surprisingly now used as a verb, much like “to grow ” the economy) youth and young adults into the criminal justice system, and as a result, immigrants into the deportation pipeline. Habeas corpus, on the other hand, belongs to an alternative moral or ethical framework that demands absolute certainty that the state is arresting, imprisoning, and executing the right person. It is a “Byzantine” and lengthy process precisely because it is a guarantee o f the most fundamental protection— legal redress against unconstitutional im­ prisonment and execution. Habeas corpus, in the words o f Ned Walpin, “is the most basic way that the judiciary can protect our life and liberty against government tyranny.” 22 This fast-track justice has done much to “grow the economy” through privatizing prison functions such as dining, janitorial, and maintenance services.23 But more significantly, the production o f new offenses and the NEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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felonization o f nonviolent offenses has required extensive new construction o f prisons, which involves large government contracts with private compa­ nies.24 So, for instance, the single largest allocation in the Crime Bill o f 1994 was for prison construction. The felonization o f illegal reentry has also led to a vast and lucrative growth industry o f detention centers all along the bor­ der between the United States and Mexico. The majority o f these contracts have been filled by the private Corrections Corporation o f America

( c c a ).

According to the Web site o f the CCA: As a full-service corrections management provider, c c a specializes in the design, construction, expansion and management o f prisons, jails and detention facilities, as well as inmate transportation services through its subsidiary company TransCor America. The company is the fourth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and two states.

c c a

houses approximately 80,000 offenders and detainees

in more than 60 facilities, 42 o f which are company-owned, with a total bed capacity o f more than 80,000. . . . Since its inception,

c c a

has main­

tained its market leadership position in private corrections, managing more than 50 percent o f all beds under contract with such providers in the United States. The company joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1994 and now trades under the ticker symbol The

c c a

c x w .25

is a perfect sign o f the encroachment o f the corporation into the

functions o f the state. It offers “full-service corrections management,” and it is a leader in the private corrections “market.” Moreover, prisons and pris­ oners have achieved commodity status and are traded on the stock exchange. Between 2004 and 2008, Congress doubled its spending on these privately constructed and managed detention centers.26 In 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a Jail Construction Funding bill, which authorized the single biggest prison construction project in California, the United States, and indeed, the world.27 It seems that prisoners are as essential to market fundamentalism as are consumers. There is clearly a market logic to this neoliberal justice. The neoliberal philosophies o f “just desserts” and “truth in sentencing,” and the discourses that feed the construction o f prisons and detentions cen­ ters, derive their moral framework from the liberal conception o f individual responsibility that was radically revived under neoliberalism. The Illegal Im­ migration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and the Personal Re-

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sponsibility and Work Opportunity Act, both o f 1996, are both deeply be­ holden to this notion o f the “responsibilization” o f the individual. Criminals refuse to “responsibilize” themselves.28 This is not to say that gang youth are not agents in their own demonization, criminalization, and elimination; indeed, they are. However, neoliberal security discourses and practices dis­ place all agency onto gang youths and their families, and do not account for the power o f the law and law enforcement in producing and reproducing crime. Salvadoran (immigrant) youth gangs are produced and embedded in a complex web o f forces. The people with whom I am in conversation in this book are neither demons nor heroes. Instead, they operate in complex and agentive ways within an overdetermined transnational terrain, while strug­ gling to distance themselves from the competing narratives o f gangs and law enforcement without being able to fully escape either one. Just as germane to this study is how neoliberalism has been accompanied by what Sasha Abramsky identifies as the “return o f vengeance culture.’^9 Over the last three decades, Americans have given up on rehabilitation for a soul-killing punitive mandate that seems to value little more than revenge, and where vengeance becomes a form o f public spectacle. Abramsky dubs this structure o f feeling and its affect “American furies.” The hard-line polic­ ing o f immigrant and minority youth and young adults, combined with the deportation o f legal permanent residents and the flourishing o f prisons set aside solely for the incarceration o f immigrants serving out sentences for “illegal reentry,” 30 are surely central to this dominant structure o f feeling. The prevailing structures o f feeling in postwar El Salvador-extrem e dis­ illusionment, suspicion, unbearable levels o f social uncertainty, and f e a r contradict the widely held belief in U.S. government and international re­ lations circles that El Salvador’s transition to democracy was a success.3 1 Nonetheless, the great majority o f Salvadorans no longer had expectations that the state could provide for either their economic or physical security. The Right quickly blamed the postwar penal code and human rights reforms for the uncontained violence, and it proffered zero-tolerance gang abatement strategies as developed by the United States as the necessary antidote to the “liberal excesses” o f postwar democratization .32 A great many championed the style o f what Daniel Goldstein in The Spec­

tacular City terms in the Bolivian case “flexible” or “self-help” justice, per­ formed through private security patrols and vigilante lynchings. A public opinion poll from 1998 indicated that 46 percent o f the Salvadoran popula-

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tion believed that people had the right to take justice into their own hands. While the new National Civil Police force ( p n

c

)

struggled to furnish its local

and regional offices, private security agencies flourished. Numbering fewer than 10 in 1992, these private companies increased to more than 80 in 1995 and 265 in 2001. The number o f private security agents more than tripled from 6,000 in 1996 to 18,943 in 2001, thereby far outnumbering officers in the National Civil Police.33 Private security companies and thus benefited di­ rectly from the failure o f the state to contain the violence. The globalization o f a certain kind o f market fundamentalism at the end o f the cold war also required, it seems, the spread o f tactics o f policing and discipline that sought to ensure the continuous production o f marginalized bodies in the form o f cheap labor and criminals. Labor migration served the interests o f the marketplace, and incarceration furnished the means with which the nation-state could secure the basis o f its sovereignty and legiti­ mate its monopoly over coercion. And yet, it appears that nationalism was not as successful as capitalism in this regard. Despite the seeming contra­ dictions between the political economy o f free trade and the postdiscipli­ nary regime o f zero-tolerance policing, both seem to produce the spaces o f circulation and interconnection associated with globalization, whether through sanctioned or transgressive mobility. The concept o f the neoliberal securityscape thus is a way o f mapping the simultaneous spread o f zero tol­ erance and neoliberal reforms across the United States and El Salvador, and the spatial outcome o f these discourses and practices.

The Social Production of Space While this book is embedded in the macrophysics o f neoliberalism it maps the microphysics o f everyday life, including the very particular ways in which immigrants, activists, gangs, and police produce, control, use, and compete over the space o f the barrio, be it in Los Angeles or San Salvador or both. In­ deed, the urban barrio is an important stage for the production o f and con­ testation over the neoliberal securityscape and its transnational geographies o f violence. As such, it is space— its production, representation, and use o f and arguments over; its affective and imagined dimensions— that serves as the primary interpretive thread throughout the book. The book builds upon the contention that history unfolds spatially, that space is central to the exer­ cise and analysis o f power and culture, and that every mode o f production se­ cretes its own space.34 Consequently, each chapter focuses on a technology 10

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o f spatial legislation (border patrols, curfews, gang injunctions, building design, etc.) or on the production o f a particular kind o f space. My notion o f the social production o f space is derived from Henri LeFebvre’s theorization in The Production o f Space o f the following spatial trialectic: representations o f space, spaces o f representation, and spatial practices. The first term “representations o f space” is understood as the conceptual, abstract formulations o f space as modeled by social engineers (urban plan­ ners, government technocrats, criminologists, etc.), and it constitutes the

savoir (knowledge) o f power. The second term, “spaces o f representation,” is taken as the space o f inhabitants, users, and activists. It is the dominated space that the imagination seeks to change and to appropriate— the connais-

sance (knowledge) o f the underground and clandestine side o f social life. These two spaces combine with the third term “spatial practice,” or move­ ments and operations in physical space, to produce the space o f a particular society and in this case, between particular societies, at a particular histori­ cal moment. While LeFebvre distinguishes between dominant and resistant spatialities, in my analysis these spaces or systems are not separate from each other but rather deeply imbricated. For example, the spatial practices o f law en­ forcement and what I term “gang peace activists” are strangely mimetic of one another .35 Their strategies— violence intervention and prevention versus gang abatement— while distinct, are both deeply beholden to mimicking the structure and practices o f the gang itself. The spatial practices and per­ formances o f the police and o f gang peace activists both involved mimetic improvisations o f their object o f transformation, the gang. Thus LeFebvre’s model, in which mimesis has its role and function in the domination o f space/6 is ultimately an unstable combustion o f the trinity o f these relatively

coherent spatial forces. These relations o f forces are always in the process of change, and are, in this case, made even more dynamic by their transna­ tional reach.3 7 In this regard Michel de Certeau’s elaboration o f “the prac­ tice o f everyday life” through his vocabulary o f practiced space and travel itineraries — spatial trajectories, vectors o f direction, geographies o f action, and velocity— also inform my elaboration o f the production o f transnational space.3 8 The concept o f the social production o f space is particularly germane to the nexus o f migration, youth, and violence, for territoriality is an issue central to immigrants, gangs, and police. On the one hand, “migration has always had the potential to challenge our established spatial images” of, for NEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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instance, the notion o f a bounded national territory.39 Gangs and police, on the other hand, are both engaged in enforcing their control over territory. Spatial control is fundamental to the police’s efforts to maintain social con­ trol.40 Similarly, gangs have been described as the “impoverished architects o f social space.” 4 ! Representing and protecting the territory o f the “neigh­ borhood” (or “hood”) is fundamental to g an gs42 Moreover, refugee flight and forced repatriation are accompanied by feelings o f geographical disori­ entation and spatial alienation .43 Given the centrality o f the physical space o f the barrio, the city, and the nation to all three actors, it is worth asking just how transnational are the spatial practices o f these so-called transnational gangs. Certainly there were cases where gang members deported to El Salvador formed their own cliques once in El Salvador— often at the urging o f those local youth. However, ac­ cording to the earliest studies, gangs were not new to Central America in the 1980s, and El Salvador had its own school-based or student gangs as early as the late i95os.44 Through increasing contact with Los Angeles as a result o f migration and deportation, existing Salvadoran gangs began to align them­ selves with either the m s or 18 th Street gangs and to adopt the cultural codes o f gangs based in Los Angeles. So what began as small, localized, and di­ verse bands became a broad-based confederation o f cliques associated with the two large gangs .45 Existing gangs began to imitate the style, cultural codes, and mores o f Los Angeles-based gangs, as noted by José Miguel Cruz, thereby “leading to a gradual assimilation o f identity.” Cruz argues that “the origin o f gangs as transnational networks is not only the product o f direct importation [via deportation] o f gang members: it is the product o f the con­ nection between two phenomena which emerged separately and in the early 1990s made contact as the result o f migration and deportation o f Central Am ericans.^6 But researchers in the region question the extent o f these transnational ties. Although by 1996, 85 percent o f active gang members surveyed in the San Salvador metropolitan area claimed membership in either 18th Street or m s

,

only 17 percent o f them had been to the United States, and only 11 per­

cent o f them had joined a gang in that country. Only 15.5 percent o f gang members who had been to the United States admitted to maintaining peri­ odic contact with gang members there.47 Research conducted in 2006 indi­ cated that only 8.5 percent o f the Salvadoran gang members sampled had traveled to the United States or Mexico. The study concedes that global com­ munication does enable the rapid and early exchange o f information and 12

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that contact between gangs in different countries is probable, or at least that some decisions are mutually accepted. However, the study also argues that these circumstances have not yielded any substantial evidence that all fac­ tions o f the same gang follow orders from any single country.48 Researchers conclude that the extent o f these transnational networks is highly question­ able and that in fact the transnational character o f the gangs in the region is limited primarily to the symbolic domain.4 9 Thus the research suggests that while these gangs may have taken on transnational names, their activities and identities are still predominantly locals0 My own research indicates that the members o f

m s

who are jumped

into the gang in El Salvador are not automatically accepted into the gang in Los Angeles but instead must be reinitiated. This suggests that

m s

in

Los Angeles does not recognize “transnational membership” status. This lack o f recognition has caused political rifts rather than consolidated rela­ tions between Los Angeles and San Salvador. Even Homies Unidos, initially envisioned as a transnational violence prevention and intervention project with offices in San Salvador and Los Angeles, was not able to realize that transnational vision. Despite the intimate knowledge that both the San Sal­ vador- and Los Angeles-based leadership had o f each other’s terrain, and their consciously articulated transnational connection, technical assistance, and funding (albeit limited), the Los Angeles office broke formal ties with the San Salvador office precisely over the inability to successfully coordinate their efforts. Again, this is not to suggest that there is no communication, contact, or even coordination between gang members across borders, but rather only to say that its scope is limited and by and large not well orchestrated. That said, my research also indicates that zero-tolerance strategies only enable greater— not less — coordination and communication precisely through their various forms o f spatial legislation. Limiting access to public space, mass incarceration, and increased deportation all induce closer ties by ac­

tively promoting association between gang members on local, regional, na­ tional, and transnational scales.

Crim inal Type It is not the work o f social science to uncritically reproduce state discourse or the prevailing common sensed1 This point is particularly salient for the time period addressed in this ethnography given the number o f new categories NEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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o f crime and o f felonies that have been added to the rolls o f criminal and immigration law, not to mention the mandatory sentence enhancements that bump up misdemeanors to felonies. We know from Foucault that cate­ gorizing and labeling practices are exceedingly effective in producing and reproducing “crime,” and from Caldeira we have seen how “crime talk” also helps violence circulate and proliferated In this light, standard criminology and traditional gang studies are complicit in the reproduction o f crime and criminality. I have already stressed that this book is not about gangs or a particular gang. Neither is it a study o f why young people join gangs or o f how to get them out o f gangs. Nonetheless, this book is inevitably engaged in a conver­ sation with a number o f studies that part from a traditional criminological perspective on gangs and the pathologies attributed to them. The authors of these works have contributed to what might be called critical gang studies or critical criminology studies that do not start from the perspective o f law en­ forcement or view gangs as first and foremost criminal enterprises.53 More­ over, rather than highlighting gang crime while ignoring other forms o f criminal activity, a critical criminology perspective places gangland rivalry, policing, and war making on a continuum.5 4 Similarly, it explores how the “everyday” violence o f gangs is coproduced by “structural” violence, or po­ litical and economic disenfranchisement, and by “symbolic” violence, or the internalized humiliations and legitimations o f existing social inequalities.55 This is not to rationalize gang violence but rather to identify the relationship between political and economic disenfranchisement and violence^6 Not unlike researchers who reject stereotypes o f violent gangs and advo­ cate for critical criminology studies, many migration scholars also reject the term “illegal immigrant” by opting instead for the less value-laden ad­ jective “undocumented immigrant.” The illegal immigrant or “illegal alien” are, they argue, state-centric terms that naturalize the legal categories o f the state. As De Genova writes, in using the term to “constitute] undocu­ mented migrants (the people) as an epistemological and ethnographic ‘ob­ ject’ o f study, social scientists unwittingly become agents in an aspect o f the everyday production o j those migrants’ ‘ illegality’ ” (my emphasis)^7 I share in this suspicion o f the terms “illegal immigrant,” “illegal alien,” and “crimi­ nal alien,” and I seek to redirect the unquestioning reproduction o f state dis­ course by researchers in both the domains o f criminal and immigration law as well as in mass media. In my effort to meet these aims, in this book I interrogate the emergence 14

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o f the view o f members o f La Mara Salvatrucha and o f the 18th Street Gang as a “new criminal type” in both the United States and El Salvador.5 8 But this trope or stereotype itself has a career or a prehistory in the figures of the looter, the street hoodlum, and the criminal deportee, as well as a future trajectory in the figure o f the terro rists All o f these criminal types strike different registers o f the master trope o f the illegal alien. Together they sig­ nal a mounting anxiety over the transgression o f what Michel de Certeau has termed “the law o f place.” 60 All four tropes o f Latino territorial transgres­ sion are linked to the unsettling o f identities in an era o f global restructur­ ing, and to the illicit flows that suggest the seeming irrelevance or im po­ tence o f national boundaries.'61 According to this mode o f analysis, these criminal types— the looter, the hoodlum, and the like— are culturally constructed political categories under which multiply determined debates about migration, race, the economy, and so forth have been subsumed. So for instance, while the trope o f the “Latino looter” surfaced in the media coverage o f the Los Angeles riots in 1992, it, like the other terms, is linked to a larger system o f representation o f boundary transgression and transgressive mobility.62 In the case o f the riots, the looting o f private property by those o f Latino and Latin American back­ ground came to stand in for the wanton and opportunistic pilfering o f state coffers and the transgression o f national sovereignty by Latino immigrants. Whereas the live national news coverage o f the event framed the riot within a “Watts II” paradigm as a black event, in contrast, the local news coverage followed by the national news after the riot quickly reframed the story as an immigration story about an unguarded southern border.'3 By saying that the term the Latino looter is constructed, I do not mean that Latinos did not loot. Neither am I suggesting that the debates around the Latino looter did not have historical foundations: namely, the eviscera­ tion o f a unionized service sector dominated by African Americans during the 1980s that was made possible in part with imported cheap Latin Ameri­ can labor, and the inability or the ambivalence o f the U.S. state in main­ taining the borders between North and South. Myth is not a lie but rather a distortion and inflexion.'4 In both cases, the interlacing motifs o f racism, inner-city violence, and poverty, as well as the economic decline attached to the end o f the cold war, the downsizing o f California’s defense industry, and the growth o f offshore production are all reorganized around the figure o f the “illegal immigrant.”

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Dialectical Image In this book I juxtapose political categories such as the “illegal immigrant” with a number o f puzzling and unstable images that recast gang members as peace activists, cops as criminals, homeboys from Los Angeles walking the streets o f San Salvador, civil police merging with soldiers from the Salva­ doran military, tattooed gangsters wearing the insignia o f the leftist guerilla turned political party, the

f m l n

,

and purported meetings between La Mara

Salvatrucha and Al Qaeda. Some o f these two-faced images emerge from in­ side the field itself, and some are deployed by “moral entrepreneurs” push­ ing a particular political agenda.^ My own analysis o f these criminal types extends to Walter Benjamin’s aesthetic o f engaging and working through the figures circulating in the public imaginary and its discourses to arrive at allegorical readings o f those forms as “an act o f political poesis.” 66 As a result, this book is not so much a critique o f representation as it is a study o f disturbances in representation or the eruption o f what is repressed in representation^7 Benjamin’s notion o f the dialectical image proves central to the methodology I employ to look for these disturbances. The dialectical image, a construction o f seemingly opposite or contradictory elements, interrupts the context into which it is inserted, thereby leaving the im age’s ideational elements in productive sus­ pension and setting its semiotic content into question. Benjamin used this “image material” to blast the object out o f the continuum o f history’s course in order to make visible a picture that the fictions o f conventional historical writing cover over.68 Within the relations between the United States and El Salvador, however, the destabilizing potential o f these dialectical images was reabsorbed into familiar plots o f terrorism and counterterrorism. Just as cold war technolo­ gies o f war and policing were animated by a substrate o f fantasies about communists, more-contemporary shared fantasies were triggered by the menace o f criminals and then, or yet again, terrorists. In this light, the War on Terror appeared as a disturbing continuation o f the past in the present that was made visible in hauntingly familiar forms. Poised between the dan­ ger o f gangs to the North and anti-neoliberal and socialist victories to the South in Venezuela and Bolivia, El Salvador once again became strategically placed within the interests o f the United States, albeit with recourse to the dominant paradigm o f the War on Terror. As with the cold war, the Salva­ doran right wing succeeded in leveraging U.S. monsters to fight its own. 16

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The George W. Bush era’s geopolitics o f disaster provided new oppor­ tunities for the ruling right-wing party, Allianza Republicana Nationalista (a r e n a ,

or the National Republican Alliance), to resume its cozy cold war

relations with the United States, and for the U.S. Southern Command to rationalize its renewed military presence in Central America. In this sense, the “newness” o f the War on Terror was largely an invention.69 Tellingly, that war drew directly upon the Latin American policy o f the United States up through the cold war. El Salvador, which provided a school for the United States to execute imperial violence through proxies, is an iconic case o f how Latin America has long served as a “workshop o f empire.” 70 It was no co­ incidence then that the “Salvador Option” — the use o f local paramilitary forces, otherwise know as death squads— was proposed by Cheney as a suc­ cessful model on which to base counterinsurgency operations in Iraq after direct intervention by United States troops had failed/1 El Salvador was and then became once again an integral part o f these geopolitics o f disaster. The a r e n a

political party, which was founded by the known intellectual author

o f the 1980’s death squads Roberto D’Aubuisson, was eager to throw its lot in with the Bush administration and its “coalition o f the willing.” Prior to 9/11, the U.S. Southern Command had already begun to shift its focus to the “securitization” o f “nontraditional” security threats that had previously been understood to fall under the domains o f social policy or policing. These disparate threats— immigration and gangs alongside such criminal activities as human trafficking, document forging, money launder­ ing, and drug production— lacked a unifying logic. The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington by Al Qaeda and the ensuing War on Terror provided not only that logic but also the rationale that the U.S. military establishment needed to justify increased military aid to the region/2 These implied interconnections between gangs, immigrants, and terror­ ists were further bolstered by military strategists who argued that the divi­ sion between gangs as a law enforcement concern and terrorists as a mili­ tary concern could no longer be maintained where, in the words o f Max Manwaring, “distinctions between war and crime are becoming increasingly blurred.” 73 This “gang crime-terrorism continuum’^4 was popularized by the pundit Newt Gingrich in his documentary American Gangs: Ties to Terror? In 2006, the Salvadoran government passed its anti-terrorist law, which was directed not only against gangs but also against leftists protesting the privatization o f water and street vendors contesting restrictions to their ac­ cess to public space. The a r e n a administration deployed the gang crimeNEOLi BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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terrorism continuum to repackage their internal enemies in terms o f the governing security paradigm o f the United States. As I demonstrate in the conclusion, El Salvador successfully leveraged the security paradigm o f the War on Terror to reenter the “global military-gift economy” and become once again part o f the U.S. “protection racket .” 75 What we saw then was a rejuvenation o f the collaboration o f the cold war and civil war by the United States and El Salvador through the threat o f the “gang crime-terrorism con­ tinuum,” be it an effect or actual strategy. In other words, collective representations o f crime and terrorism reveal complicated intimacies and ongoing cultural contaminations that have long animated relations between the United States and El Salvador. The reigning common sense and bureaucratic discourses about transnational gangs are not opposed to social reality; rather they create a forceful intervention into this transnational political field and contribute to that reality. This is my argument to those who would read this book as an apology for youth vio­ lence and for the romanticization o f gangs. I hold neither position, nor do I hold that gangs are fictions without material basis. If anything, I am con­ cerned with the productivity o f repression, which is to say the productivity o f zero-tolerance gang abatement strategies in reproducing that which they purportedly set out to repress: gang violence.

Politics of Sim ultaneity The inter-American obsessions with transnational gang youth, enlisted into the War on Terror, reveal more than just the ongoing duplicity between the United States and El Salvador in the reproduction o f violence. The prolifera­ tion o f interlocking images o f terrorists and criminals guide the reproduc­ tion o f relations between the two countries. Those resonances— mimetic correspondences, not equivalences— read like rearranged particles o f social and political narratives o f the United States and El Salvador. Through this deep structure o f repetition, the United States and El Salvador emerge as a dense hall o f mirrors, an endlessly refracted and warped time and space o f connection and contact. The contemporary history o f relations between the countries surfaces as endless repetition o f this “mirroring paranoid dy­ namic’^6 and as a continual return o f the repressed. My own project is an attempt to perform and produce something o f the effect o f the politics o f simultaneity at play in this particular inter-American securityscape. My fieldwork between Los Angeles and El Salvador was deeply 18

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influenced by the call for multilocale projects designed to produce the effect o f simultaneity between places through their juxtaposition, and by m ap­ ping the complex connections and paths o f circulation that bring together locations o f cultural production previously blind to each other.77 My plans to travel between El Salvador and Los Angeles proved difficult to conceptu­ alize. I had initially envisioned several trips, each with a distinct category o f intercontinental traveler. But the view from Los Angeles was a dizzying maze o f people coming and going all at once, and I found myself exasperated with trying to track multiple travelers in one journey. While in Los Angeles my gaze was continually deflected south, and in El Salvador it was deflected north. It was as if I were struggling to be in two places at one time, and the effect was disconcerting. Still, as it turned out, I didn’t need to orchestrate these connections and intersections myself. Instead, they happened quite serendipitously because they had become so commonplace in the experi­ ences if not the everyday lives o f Salvadoran immigrants, in spite and because of the enormous constraints placed on their mobility by U.S. immigration policy. From this ethnographer’s vantage, time and space became increas­ ingly compressed between El Salvador and the United States. Certainly I set out to track this movement by developing a research methodology based on following the multiple paths o f circulation as out­ lined by George Marcus, who urges the researcher to “follow the people, the things, the narratives, and the conflicts,” or what de Certeau might term the ways or paths o f operation/8 But it was the uncanny coincidences, the un­ expected (re)encounters and resonances across this expansive terrain that allowed the phenomenon to emerge from inside the story itself. El Salvador and Los Angeles became a dense intertextual field and a minefield o f con­ nection and contact. The stories o f dispersion and imprisonment in this book, and the ter­ rain that they cover, do not fit neatly into the disciplinary domains o f ethnic or area studies in general, or into American, Latino, and Latin American studies in particular. Instead, they challenge those boundaries/9 The need to cross geopolitical lines between the Americas to grasp the blurred cul­ tural zones that people inhabit has been a defining tenet and contribution o f those working in border regions. While the primary geographic reference o f this field is the border between the United States and Mexico, Salvadoran transnational migration and community formation allows us to see just how much further south that contact zone between the United States and Latin America extends/0 Moreover, the immigration consequences o f policing NEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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strategies and criminal law also point to how the borders o f the nation-state are being policed on the streets o f immigrant barrios or barrios marginales (low-income, marginalized neighborhoods) in cities like Los Angeles and San Salvador. My choice to divide the first two parts o f the book according to national boundaries might seem to belie my argument that Los Angeles and San Sal­ vador exist in a relationship o f simultaneity, or that one can’t engage the spatial politics o f one side o f this social field without simultaneously ac­ counting for those at play on the other side.81 There is, o f course, the physi­ cal reality that one cannot literally be in two places at once. But there is more than physical limitation at issue here. Despite the transnational spatial poli­ tics in which both Los Angeles and San Salvador are embedded, the “local” and the “national” contexts do matter. A transnational expression o f place does not belie but rather creates an essential place for ethnographic knowl­ edge^2 and globalization does not contradict the continuing salience o f the nation-state. In my case, I came to know San Salvador and other towns in El Salvador through Los Angeles. I also came to understand more about Los Angeles and the United States through my encounters in El Salvador and with Salvadorans. That said, the seeming linearity o f moving from Los Angeles to San Sal­ vador and the chronological development from the wane o f the cold war to the rise o f the War on Terror is constantly interrupted precisely because both place and time are unstable and often look strangely familiar to one another, or appear as an effect o f mutual contamination. Moreover, while the chap­ ters o f the book are organized more or less along these geographic and his­ torical distinctions, in the third part o f the book these spatial and temporal divisions dissolve into one another. Chronology gives way to simultaneity, the present to the past, and progress to the continual return o f the repressed and endless recurrence. Because this book is situated in a complex time and space, the chronology that follows the introduction is therefore intended as a guide or map with which to read the rest o f the book. Beginning in 1992 and ending in 2006, the chronology situates “the Central American transnational gang crisis” in its larger historical and political context. As such it is a montage o f geo­ graphic space, historical events, contemporary ethnography, world leaders, the central characters in the story and their ghosts, and my own political and research trajectory. With the exception o f a long flashback to the 1980s, the chronology is linear. It foreshadows many o f the events that occur later 20

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in the chapters. Thus while the book begins in Los Angeles, the reader will already have a sense o f how many o f these processes occur in San Salvador simultaneously, or will subsequently take place there too, and vice versa.

Ethnography and Advocacy This book begins in the Pico Union district in Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s not because there isn’t another place or a prior moment from which to begin but because that is when my relationship to both places and these politics began. The fact that this study is partial— in both senses o f the term (incomplete and written from a particular perspective)— is both undeniable and inevitable. The recognition o f knowledge as situated, and o f the inescapable relationship between power and knowledge, are not only relatively recent feminist or poststructuralist claims.83As Charles Hale notes in his defense o f activist scholarship, even Max Weber, the venerable found­ ing father o f the social scientific method and a fierce proponent o f scientific objectivity, acknowledged that “any given notion o f objective social science [is] culturally and historically particular, and shaped by provisional societal consensus rather than by universal standards o f validity.’^ 4 This book con­ sciously rubs against the grain o f dominant “societal consensus” regarding the origins, threats of, and solutions to transnational youth gang violence. Yet all knowledge about this topic is produced in political contexts and is ac­ tively aligned, even if not openly or knowingly so .85 The key here is to name and to confront the partial (again in both senses) nature o f the knowledge produced, and to critically reflect on one’s own positionality as a researcher and on the intersubjective character o f the research process. The most one can achieve, however, is a positioned objectivity.86 I have tried to be transparent about how my knowledge is situated, pro­ duced, and contaminated by particular complicities.87 Yet I prefer to think o f this as a recursive rather than a reflexive text. I draw here from Kim Fortun’s discussion o f the ethnographer as advocate: “Reflexivity calls for the ethnographer to position herself. Recursivity positions her within processes she affects without controlling, within competing calls for response. Reflex­ ivity asks what constitutes the ethnographer as speaking subject. Recursivity asks what interrupts her and demands a reply.” 88 Fortun sees recursivity as a way to hold ethnography responsible for advocacy. As she states further: “At­ tention to recursivity foregrounds how every articulation— whether ethno­ graphic or in direct advocacy— operates on previous articulations, nesting NEOLI BERAL S E C U R i T Y S C A P E S

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every move and every work within multiple discourses and worlds. . . . What is said in direct advocacy [or for that matter the law or in the media] impli­ cates what it is possible and necessary to say in ethnography.” 89To this end, the chronology that follows calls attention to me and to my small but agen­ tive role in this history as collaborator, advocate, consultant, scholar, and friend, and to my willful, unwitting, and ambivalent participation in these overlapping and sometimes incommensurate and conflicting projects. In the chapters that follow, I struggle to balance on the one hand the methodologi­ cal and analytical requirements o f academic research, and on the other the political engagements and accountability o f advocacy. I do not attempt to hide the tension. At times this “strategic duality” limits what can be said; at other times it demands that certain things be said; and still other times it enables what could not be said without the interplay between scholarship and advocacy.9 0

A Final Note on Names I have used pseudonyms for my contacts in all cases except with those who are elected or appointed public figures, those speaking as representatives o f organizations (unless they have asked me to take their comments o ff the record), and those whose stories have already been the subject o f articles, television coverage, documentaries, or books. In the case where I include previously unpublished information in the latter category, to fullest extent possible those individuals have read what I have written about them, and I have either modified or excluded any information with which they were not comfortable. In the great majority o f cases, these individuals requested only modest revisions if any at all. In addition, because I write as both scholar and advocate, the material in this book along with previously published material has been shown to the successive directors o f the Central American youth violence prevention and intervention organization Homies Unidos in Los Angeles and in El Salvador. Many Spanish speakers will flinch at the spelling o f particular names, and English speakers will flinch at others. For instance, “La Huera,” which is usually spelled “Güera,” is spelled with the English transliteration o f the soft or silent “g ” in Spanish. The same is true for “Pansa,” which is spelled “Panza” in Spanish where the letter “s” mimics the actual pronunciation of “z ” in Spanish. It is not unusual for Spanish names to be spelled differently by immigrant youth and youth in El Salvador. This is both due to a rela22

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tive lack o f formal education in Spanish as well as the influence o f English on Spanish. The same principle works in the opposite direction. The name “Lonely,” which in English is spelled with an “e,” is printed in Salvadoran newspapers as “Lonly.” The Spanish name “Camaron” (shrimp) appears as “Cameron” in

fbi

documents. While this is not a linguistic study, I have

kept these spellings in the text to mark how these names migrate across lin­ guistic, geographic, and political boundaries. Finally, I make a distinction in writing the name Homies with a capital “H” when referring to members o f and participants in the organization Homies Unidos as opposed to “homies” for gang members.

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THE DI VIDED ENDS OF PEACE

CHRONOLOGY

1992 In the plaza o f San Salvador’s main cathedral, a red banner soars in the fore­ ground o f a bright blue sky. White doves o f peace open their wings to take flight. It is February 1. The United Nations-brokered Salvadoran Peace A c­ cords were signed two weeks earlier at the Chapultepec Palace in Mexico City. Twelve years o f civil war between the leftist guerrilla forces o f the Sal­ vadoran National Liberation Front (f m l n ) and the right-wing Salvadoran government are now officially over. Inside the cathedral, Archbishop Mon­ señor Oscar Romero’s body lies entombed in a crypt beneath the sanctuary. On March 24, 1980, shortly after sending a letter to U.S. President Jimmy Carter begging him to cease military aid to El Salvador, Romero was assas­ sinated. He was shot after giving a sermon imploring Salvadoran soldiers not to kill their fellow countrymen. Carter, however, did not heed Romero’s call. During the funeral Mass in front o f the cathedral, tens o f thousands of mourners who had gathered in front o f the cathedral in San Salvador to pay

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homage to Romero fled in terror as government security forces on the roof­ tops around the square opened fire. The

fm ln

launched its first major

offensive the following year on January 10, 1981. Over the course o f the war, between 75,000 and 100,000 Salvadorans died, and approximately one mil­ lion (a sixth o f the country’s population) fled the country. The United States funded the Salvadoran government with $6 billion to defeat the f m l n mili­ tary and to lay the ground for neoliberal structural adjustments to the Salva­ doran political economy.1 The cold war had been symbolically drawn to a close with the fall o f the Berlin Wall in 1989. That same year the While the

fm ln

fm ln

launched its final offensive.

did not succeed in taking over the state, the offensive did

make clear that the ruling right wing would not be able to defeat the

fm ln

militarily. The electoral defeat o f the leftist Sandinista government in Nica­ ragua the following year, however, also signaled the success o f the U.S. strategy that included the overt, then covert, funding o f the Contras, the right-wing counterrevolutionary forces. Nonetheless, the

fm ln

offensive

o f 1989 marked a turning point, and soon thereafter the U.S. government gave up on its policy o f pursuing the military defeat o f the

fm ln

and began

to support a negotiated solution to the civil war. The assassination o f six Jesuit priests along with their housekeeper and her daughter by the Salva­ doran military during the offensive was finally a human rights violation to which the U.S. government could not turn a blind eye as it had done with one brutal murder and massacre after another. But on this day in 1992, peace is finally at hand, and it is a heady and hopeful moment in El Salvador. The Peace Accords instigate the construc­ tion o f an entirely new police force, the National Civil Police ( p n c ), which is to be grounded in a culture o f human rights. This will involve dismantling the previous security apparatus o f the state by delinking the police from military and intelligence functions and promoting its “modernization” and “professionalization” as a civilian police force. The sense o f siege is over. The opposition has been legalized and civil society is flourishing— a character­ istic o f post-cold war social movements across the globe. Peace brings with it a proliferation o f nongovernmental organizations.2 The (re)construction o f Salvadoran civil society coincides with the globalization o f discourses on human rights in general, and the rights o f children and youth, women, and indigenous peoples in particular. Ironically, during the war most Salvadorans fled to the belly o f the beast. As a result, Los Angeles, California, is now home to the second-largest Sal26

CHRONOLOGY

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vadoran population outside San Salvador. On the day the Salvadoran Peace Accords are signed, ten thousand Salvadorans now living in exile gather at MacArthur Park in the Pico Union District to celebrate. Home to nearly every Salvadoran community and political organization, Pico Union has become the symbolic center o f the Central American disapora in Los Angeles. It is also home to several immigrant-dominated labor unions and their local af­ filiates, and to many Central Americans working in Los Angeles’s service and informal sectors: janitors, hotel and restaurant workers, day laborers, street vendors, and domestic workers. MacArthur Park, located as it is in the heart o f Pico Union and opposite the Salvadoran consulate, has served as the proscenium stage and privileged site o f political protests over U.S. aid to El Salvador, the assassination o f Sal­ vadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, the struggle to win refugee status and legal permanent residence, and the fight by street vendors and day laborers for the right to the streets. During the 1980s, MacArthur Park was a place where Salvadorans would reencounter friends and enemies who, like them, had fled across three international borders to seek refuge from the war. When the park was built in the 1880s it was called the “Champs-Élysées o f Los Angeles,” and its lake and fountain, both fed by springs, were sur­ rounded by luxury hotels. Yet little more than a hundred years later it is in sad disrepair. Now it is associated with violence, drug dealing, and false docu­ mentation; and the lake is the site o f drownings and the dumping o f corpses and weapons. Each o f the four corners o f the park is territory to a different gang, which include the archrivals the Colombia Lil Cycos clique o f the 18th Street Gang and the gang La Mara Salvatrucha

( m s ).

In the imaginary o f

most Angelinos, the park functions effectively as a sign for the “inner-city jungle” with all its attendant pathologies. The 18th Street Gang has been around since 1959 in the Pico Union area. La Mara Salvatrucha has existed since the early 1980s. At first 18th Street was part o f the Clanton 14 gang, but those living on or around 18th Street de­ cided to form their own clique and become an independent and rival gang. The 18th Street Gang was a Mexican immigrant rather than a Chicano gang, and it opened its ranks to newly arrived Salvadoran and other Central Ameri­ can refugees. La Mara Salvatrucha started out as a loose-knit social group for young Salvadoran immigrants who had settled in the neighborhoods sur­ rounding the park.3Many were homeless, alone, and without a means o f sur­ vival. At first they were into marijuana, heavy metal, and long hair, identified by making the sign o f the devil with index and pinky fingers up. But after THE D i V i D E D E N DS OF PE AC E

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members started to experience incarceration, they began to assimilate into the contemporary gang style with shaved heads and goatees slicked back with Tres Flores hair grease and a palm comb. Calling each other “homies,” they sported the brand-name clothing o f Dickies and Dockers as their new uniform. The real fighting didn’t start until 1985, when a homeboy was shot and killed by a rival gang. After that incident,

ms

went to war with Crazy

Riders, another gang in the MacArthur Park area. At first 18th Street and m s were not rivals, but their loose alliance unraveled in 1992. Then it was all-out war, a war within a war.4 Many Salvadoran youth had lost family members to the Salvadoran civil war, or were left by parents on the run from political persecution or for reasons o f mere economic survival. They had seen tortured corpses and sev­ ered body parts on their way to school. While in school or out on the streets, boys no more than twelve years old were forcefully conscripted into the army. Children joined the guerrillas— in the early years, sometimes by force .5 Some learned to make Molotov cocktails, to kill and to torture. This was the history that followed them to the Los Angeles, a history funded by the United States. Today, MacArthur Park is a place o f hope and celebration. But will the end o f the war and the signing o f the Peace Accords mark the end o f Salvadorans’ sojourn in the United States? Will they go home to rebuild their war-torn country to fill the political spaces that the Peace Accords have opened up, or will they stay in the United States? These questions were already at the forefront o f the strategic planning sessions o f El Rescate, the Central American refugee advocacy and service agency where I had worked since 1989. My engagement with the agency was nothing compared to those who had worked alongside Salvadorans all through the war, but it was intense work nevertheless and I had been funda­ mentally changed by my association with Salvadoran activists and their allies and by the immigrant rights movement in the United States.6 Salvadoran political activists, who had come to United States specifically to organize an opposition movement to military aid to El Salvador and to support a socialist revolution in El Salvador are— in the aftermath o f Berlin and Managua— left without a governing paradigm.7 Many hope to return to El Salvador to careers and educations long put on hold for the struggle. In­ deed, after years o f military occupation and closure due to earthquake dam­ age, the Salvadoran National University is open again. Temporary Protected Status (t p s ), granted to Salvadorans through the 1990 Immigration Act, was later extended as Deferred Enforced Departure 28

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( d e d ).

Under t p s , Salvadorans entering the United States before Septem­

ber 19, 1990, were finally recognized as refugees and provided with legal work permits. Ironically,

tps

was only granted after the political context

that had spawned the Salvadoran refugee crisis in the United States — the civil and cold wars— was beginning to fall apart. During the 1980s and the Salvadoran civil war, there was an intense fight over the representation o f Salvadoran migration at national and interna­ tional levels. Were these Salvadorans political or war refugees or were they economic immigrants? The Salvadoran and U.S. Left, together with a host of international organizations (such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees), world church bodies (Church World Service, World Council o f Churches, etc.), and nongovernmental organizations, rallied behind the representation o f the Salvadoran expatriate as the “essential refugee.” The governments o f both the United States and El Salvador, on the other hand, stood behind a quite different representation: namely that o f the “economic immigrant” at best, and the “communist” or “terrorist” at worst. The U.S. State Department did not recognize the “refugeeness” o f these Salvadorans. Given the U.N. definition o f the term refugee, to do so would be tacit admission that Salvadorans were being persecuted by their own gov­ ernment. To grant the “refugeeness” o f Salvadorans would, therefore, also concede that the U.S. government was supporting a repressive regime and violator o f human rights. Indeed, during this period, only 2 to 3 percent of Salvadoran political asylum claims were granted, a figure notably lower than for those fleeing communist regimes. Salvadorans were thus left out o f the refugee policy o f United States and its system— a kindness calculated firmly within cold war interests.8 Controversial or not, for the Salvadoran solidarity movement based in the United States, the term “refugee” provided a useful conceit and code for dis­ cussing political injustice and instability, particularly in the absence o f the political space to counter U.S. policy more directly.9 Indeed, for Salvadoran activists and those in solidarity with them, the trope o f the refugee— as vic­ tim o f a misguided U.S. foreign policy and an unjust Salvadoran regime de­ serving o f sanctuary and charity— had served as a powerful political text for their work. As one Central American leader put it to me in our conversations about the post-riot political climate, “We had learned how to play that violin string o f the refugee real well.” I knew only too well to what he was referring, given my own participa­ tion in representing and reproducing that narrative as a fund-raising tool for THE D i V i D E D E N DS OF PE AC E

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29

El Rescate in the 1980s. Indeed, the solidarity movement had leveraged the representation o f the Salvadoran refugee crisis in Los Angeles very skillfully and powerfully in its work with the Hollywood liberal Left. El Rescate, for instance, had successfully partnered with Reebok’s Human Rights Project to produce video segments about the refugee crisis for the organization’s annual benefit— an Academy Awards after party. In addition to working with the event committee and its Hollywood-oriented members, my job was to brief celebrities. For those long committed to the cause and deeply knowl­ edgeable about the genesis o f the crisis, I would address the current condi­ tions impacting Salvadorans at home and in Los Angeles.10 For those who were new to the scene or who were there primarily for publicity, I would provide them with a sound bite to ensure that when they were tackled by the paparazzi with questions about their evening attire and latest love interest they would be able to throw in something about the “Salvadoran refugee crisis in Los Angeles.” The trope was also essential to the Sanctuary Movement and its daring refugee rescue projects as well as to the refugee asylum projects o f the ecu­ menical communities in general.u In the early to mid-1980s, Central Ameri­ can activist organizations invariably centered their fund-raising trips around the “God Box” — a building on Riverside Drive in New York that housed most o f the denominational grant-giving projects— and it was an important stop in our fund-raising trips to the East Coast. During this same period, at the end o f the 1980s and the beginning o f the 1990s, it became increasingly clear that the majority o f Salvadorans living in the United States, no matter what the conditions behind their flight— political or economic— were in the United States to stay. There was an at­ tendant shift in community agencies and media representations o f the Sal­ vadoran from “refugee” to “immigrant.” !2 Even the liberal Left no longer depicted Salvadorans as temporary sojourners in the United States living in a painful limbo but rather as a permanent population and a new “minority” within U.S. racial and ethnic politics, and among the newest and fastestgrowing constituency o f the Latino population in the country. Thus while these organizations were now devoting their resources and energies to the available legal remedies— TPS and the American Baptist Church settlement also required representing Salvadorans as war and political refugees respectively— they did so with their eyes firmly on the ultimate prize o f citizenship via legal permanent residency. 13 Today it is apparent that most Salvadorans must remain in the United 30

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States in order to continue to support family in El Salvador with the hardearned cash they manage to save from their meager jobs in the service indus­ try and the informal economy. Indeed, by the war’s end remittances from Sal­ vadorans in the diaspora had overtaken coffee exports as the single-largest source o f foreign income in El Salvador.14 Not surprisingly, the streets o f Pico Union are now lined with businesses offering transnational services (money wiring, courier, cargo, and travel) specializing in handling the flow o f money, goods, information, and communication between Los Angeles and El Salvador. Pico Union, like most neighborhoods in Central Los Angeles, is one more casualty o f the neoliberal reforms o f the 1970s and 1980s. At the state level, Proposition 13, the tax revolt o f California homeowners in 1978, has taken a particularly hard toll. White residents have long since fled the inner-city neighborhoods for the security and racial homogeneity o f the suburbs and the separately incorporated cities that did not have to share their tax base with the populace at large. But with the end o f the cold war, the downsiz­ ing o f the defense industry, and the outsourcing o f formerly unionized jobs, members o f all hues o f the American middle class are on insecure ground. By 1992, however, George H. W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher are promoting the New World Order’s “peace dividend.” The massive cuts in defense spend­ ing, they argue, will work to build the economy, create jobs, and fund social programs. It is a time o f hope. Two wars have ended and two battlefronts are closed. Globalization is in the air. Three and a half months after the signing o f the Salvadoran Peace Ac­ cords, a riot breaks out in Los Angeles. Sparked by the Rodney King verdicts, at first it looks like a reenactment o f the earlier Watts riots o f 1965.15 But it quickly bursts beyond the black and white frame o f the Watts riots to include the Mexican, Central American, and Korean diasporas. The face o f the urban core o f Los Angeles has changed radically.!6 Salvadoran refugees living in Pico Union and the surrounding neighborhoods o f Central and South Cen­ tral Los Angeles now find themselves caught in the midst o f the riots as innocent victims and peace brokers, looters and thugs. But it is the figure of the Latino as looter that dominates local media coverage. During the riots, or quemazones (fires) and disturbios (disturbances) as Latino immigrants call them, seventeen thousand Latinos are arrested, most purportedly for loot­ ing, and at least one thousand are subsequently deported before the a c l u or immigrant rights groups can intervened7 THE D i V i D E D E N DS OF PE AC E

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During the riots and in the aftermath, Central American advocates are hard at work trying to counter the image o f the Latino looter that is quickly coming to stand for not only trespassing on private property and stealing goods but also for the larger trespass o f entering the United States without documents and o f taking American jobs (the figure o f the Latino looter will quickly be successfully deployed as a political text by the anti-immigrant movement). I spend the months following the riots working with Salvadoran activists organizing press conferences and putting together a public forum for the Central American residents o f the affected areas. As the “world community” makes commitments to partner with Salvado­ rans to reconstruct their war-torn country and to lift it out o f its “third world condition,” a delegation o f the Geneva-based World Council o f Churches visits post-riot Los Angeles and calls for “nothing less than a Marshall Plan” to rebuild the underdeveloped inner city. Even some o f the areas o f South Central Los Angeles, burned in 1965, have still not been rebuilt. As the U.N. Truth Commission investigates human rights violations in El Salvador, and as the country’s new National Civil Police is being constructed independently o f the armed forces, Amnesty International sends a delega­ tion to Los Angeles to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department ( l a p d ) on charges o f “disturbing patterns o f abuse and impunity.” The report issued that same year, “Torture, Ill-Treatment and Excessive Force by Police in Los Angeles,” finds that in Los Angeles human rights violations o f low-income minority populations, including immigrants, are a systematic feature o f the “war against crime.” The American Civil Liberties Union also finds that it is ethnicity and not the commission o f a crime that is the basis for arrest.18

1993 On March 15, 1993, the U.N. Truth Commission for El Salvador issues its re­ port “From Madness to Hope: The 12-Year War in El Salvador.” In its general overview o f cases and the patterns o f violence, the report registers more than twenty-two thousand complaints o f serious acts o f violence. Over 60 per­ cent o f these complaints concern extrajudicial executions, over 25 percent disappearances, and over 20 percent complaints o f torture. Armed forces personnel are accused in almost 60 percent o f complaints, members o f the security forces in approximately 25 percent, members o f military escorts and civil defense units in approximately 20 percent, and members o f the death squads in more than 10 percent. The complaints registered accused 32

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the

f m l n

in approximately 5 percent o f cases.19 The report also includes

specific findings on thirty-two notorious or representative cases, and it im­ plicates virtually the entire High Command o f the Salvadoran Armed Forces in the murder o f six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in November 1989.20 Less than a week after this report appears, the Alianza Republicana Na­ cionalista (Nationalist Republican Alliance, or a r e n

a

)

government issues

a declaration o f a general amnesty for all through the National Reconcilia­ tion Law. President Alfredo Cristiani urges Salvadorans to “forgive and for­ get” and to turn the page to “continue forward .” 21 When the a r e n a

f m l n

and

had agreed to the proposal by the United Nations to form an Ad Hoc

[Truth] Commission, both political parties had also agreed that a broad am­ nesty would follow.22 Perhaps it was the concession that the

needed

f m l n

to make in order to be legalized as a legitimate political party after being labeled as a terrorist organization by both Salvadoran and U.S. governments. Certainly, its leadership also did not want to face prosecution. Human rights groups immediately call for a reversal o f the amnesty law, but to no avail. In the United States, the election o f the Democratic candidate Bill Clinton in late 1993 seems to signal an end to the rightward drift in U.S. politics, but the result remains to be seen.23 On December 8, 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement (n a f t a )

is signed by a trilateral trade bloc composed o f the United States,

Mexico, and Canada. It represents Mexico’s intention to shift from a pro­ tectionist policy and import substitution model and with the country’s final concession to the neoliberal globalization model required for funding from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In the United States it signals more outsourcing o f jobs, and the labor and environmental pro­ tections called for are not included in the signed document. In El Salvador, the a r e n a government is already eagerly complying with the

n a f t a

model even though a similar free-trade agreement between the

United States and El Salvador is still years away. Moreover, although the Peace Accords has succeeded in opening up new political spaces for the op­ position, the

f m l n

has all but conceded to the ruling party’s neoliberal

pact with the United States. In many ways the Salvadoran civil war has pro­ vided the destabilizing conditions for transforming El Salvador’s elite from a landed oligarchy into a new transnational elite or “polyarchy,” and the gov­ erning economic system from Import Substitution Industrialization

(i s i )

to

a free-trade model.24In the aftermath o f the cold war, the collapse o f Cuba as THE D i V i D E D E N D S OF PE AC E

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33

a regional power and the Sandinista defeat, the alternatives— be they Marx­ ist Leninist, socialist, or even a pact between capitalism and labor— are no longer on the negotiating table. The shocks administered to the Salvadoran economy over the next fifteen years will be cushioned by the massive influx o f remittances from Salvado­ rans working abroad. This flow o f capital from immigrants will prove to be an important safety net for Salvadorans affected by the postwar neoliberal structural adjustments initiated by the

im f

and the World Bank and put

into effect under the a r e n a govern m ents The much valorized figure o f el

hermano lejano (the far-away brother), a hardworking responsible individual who migrates abroad to secure the maintenance o f his or her family in El Salvador, becomes a perfect sign for the neoliberal subject— at least in El Salvador. In the meantime, Central Los Angeles is the site o f intensive intervention by redevelopment projects. In the wake o f the riots, one report after another appears with recommendations for how to rebuild the city. The Labor Com­ munity Strategies Center releases its report demanding that Los Angeles be rebuilt “from the ground” up by grassroots organizations and substantial reinvestment by government. The African American gangs the Bloods and the Crips sign a truce after the riots.26 They issue a call for the city to give them the “hammer and nails” and they will rebuild Los Angeles. The pro­ posal also calls for them to shadow the

la pd

and to work in collaboration

with the police to make their neighborhoods safe, and it promises to match the city dollar for dollar in a public-private partnership. However, Mayor Tom Bradley appoints Peter Ueberroth (former head o f the committee con­ stituted to prepare Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics) to head up a new organization, Rebuild Los Angeles

( r l a ).

In Washington, Democratic proposals converge in unexpected ways with Republican discourse: the logic o f the market, deregulation, enterprise zones (a domestic counterpart to the free-trade zone south o f the border), welfare reform that encourages privatization, and a new culture o f enter­ prise and self-help rather than dependency on government intervention. Ueberroth’s

rla

does much the same, but it also elevates the needs o f con­

sumers in the central city population.

34

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1994

Between 1994 and 1996 the wars against crime and immigrants both in California and in the United States not only gain considerable momentum but also combine in ways that have enormous consequences for immigrant settlement, most notably for youth. The Violent Crime Control and Law En­ forcement Act o f 1994,27 otherwise known as the Crime Bill or “The Beast,” makes sixty new offenses punishable by death. The bill allows the use o f evi­ dence acquired through illegal search and seizure to be included in crimi­ nal proceedings. These warrantless searches are sanctioned under the “good faith” rule in cases where the police think they could have obtained a warrant.28 The bill’s largest single allocation is for Grants for Prison Construc­ tion Based on Truth in Sentencing (Title V). Moreover, the riots are followed by two initiatives on the California ballot o f 1994: Proposition 187, also known as the “Save Our State” anti-immigrant initiative, and Proposition 184, the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” anti­ crime initiative. While Latinos organize against Proposition 187, they are strangely silent about the draconian anti-crime measure o f Proposition 184, which is generally understood to be an African American issue. The terrible irony is that the politics fueling the three strikes initiative is a Latino issue too. After all, as the anti-immigration backlash deepens and public attitudes toward juvenile offenders become more punitive, the Im­ migration and Naturalization Service

(i n s )

launches its Violent Gang Task

Force targeting immigrants with criminal records for deportation to their countries o f origin. Latino immigrant youth, alongside African Americans, become fodder for the flourishing prison industrial complex, fed as it is by the everyday microphysics o f the drug war and the aspects o f that war as it plays out on the streets o f inner-city neighborhoods. While laying bare the cultural politics o f the Latinization o f Los Angeles, the riots also mark the growing Americanization o f Salvadoran Los Angeles. Central American community leaders are publicly reformulating the refugee status o f Central Americans within the discourse o f rights to permanent and full inclusion in U.S. society— as American citizens. This language o f settlement and permanency finds its way into proposals to turn the refugee center into the community center: indeed,

c a r e c e n

,

formerly the Central

American Refugee Center, changes its name to the Central American Resource Center. The “language o f settlement” in the United States becomes all the

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35

more important in Los Angeles’s post-riot politics.29 At the end o f the day, it seems clear that Central Americans are here to stay. The language o f settlement regarding the natural and inevitable course o f the full legal integration o f Salvadorans into the U.S. nation-state proves misleading, particularly with respect to the deportation o f immigrant gang affiliated and alleged youth. Many o f these youth are already legal permanent residents and have grown up culturally Americanized, albeit as Latino, yet they become the most vulnerable sector o f the immigrant population to de­ portation.

1996 Although Proposition 187 passes in the ballot race, most o f its provisions are declared unconstitutional. However, key aspects o f the measure’s national­ ist politics subsequently find legal teeth in the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act o f 1996

( i i r a i r a ).

Meanwhile,

Proposition 184, which was approved and enacted, feeds into the federal Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act o f 1996

( a e d p a ).

These acts

combine to make it considerably more difficult for immigrants to acquire legal permanent residency and citizenship. Under

iir a ir a

,

offenses that are neither “aggravated” nor “felonies”

under criminal law now constitute “aggravated felonies” within immigra­ tion law. These include nonviolent “crimes o f moral turpitude” such as driv­ ing while under the influence o f alcohol, simple battery, shoplifting, and selling small amounts o f drugs.30 This expanded definition o f aggravated felonies is applied retroactively and sets into motion “expedited removal” proceedings, through which immigration officials may remove unautho­ rized entrants without a court hearing as long as these individuals do not express a credible fear o f persecution^1 At the same time,

a e d pa

exacerbates the effects o f

iir a ir a

because it

allows the government to activate “alien terrorist removal procedures” with­ out having to give even a nod to due process. Under this act, noncitizens can be accused, tried, and deported without ever appearing in court. It also relaxes electronic surveillance laws and grants the president sweeping new powers to selectively target unpopular domestic groups as well as to arbi­ trarily criminalize activities determined by the president to be a threat to national security.32 The two interrelated acts o f 36

iir a ir a

and

a e d pa

represent the formal-

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ization and expansion at the federal level o f what is already taking place in Los Angeles in the aftermath o f the riots. In 1997 alone, according to the

in s

,

nearly fifteen hundred Salvadorans with criminal records will be

deported from streets and prisons in the United States. And these figures do not reflect the many more expulsions that occur as so-called voluntary departures rather than formal deportations.33 Many Salvadoran gang youth opt for this alternative form o f removal under the misguided understanding that in so doing they will be allowed to return to the United States after a set period o f years and that their passports won’t be marked “deported.” Many also choose “voluntary departure” to speed up the deportation process. Most have been released from long prison sentences only to be re-incarcerated in facilities designed as temporary holding tanks. This anti-crime agenda, which severely curtails rather than increases the protection o f those accused o f crimes (including trying minors as adults), combines with anti-immigrant policies to create the conditions for gang vio­ lence in El Salvador. In the Salvadoran case, the refugee “forced out” o f one country is then forced back, this time as “criminal deportee.” 3 4 Whereas the former refugee fled the Salvadoran civil war, the latter is pushed out o f the United States by the wars on crime and against immigrants. In San Salvador during November 1996, in collaboration with Magdaleno Rose-Avila— a long-time Chicano and human rights activist now living in El Salvador— a group o f twenty-two gang members join together in an effort to a construct a peace accord o f their own between the members o f the arch­ rival gangs 18th Street and

m s

.

The group is to be called Homies Unidos.

Most o f its members have grown up in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas and have been deported to El Salvador after serving sentences for criminal offenses. The new law applies not only to undocumented immigrants but also to immigrants with permanent legal residence. Some have been “de­ ported” by their parents who thought that they were sending their children away from gangs, and others have returned o f their own accord, in some cases to flee a vendetta from a rival gang or to evade the police. For many of these youth and young adults El Salvador is a strange new country, and a dan­ gerous one too. After all, they are now a U.S. export and without local street smarts. This same year, I have my first face-to-face encounter with deported gang youth .35 I am in the state o f Usulután working as a field researcher for the Salvadoran think tank the National Foundation for Development in a study on the impact o f remittances on youth. Until recently,

(f u n d e )

f u n d e

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has 37

traditionally focused on agrarian reform, but in 1996 it has added a migra­ tion component to its work on development. In towns where agriculture has come to a virtual standstill, construction and consumption are, nonetheless, on the rise. Remittances rather than agricultural production are fueling the economy. I take o ff for Santa Elena, a town and a municipality in eastern El Salva­ dor with heavy out-migration to the United States. Santa Elena had been a conflict zone during the war as well as the site o f a student massacre by the military, which had a base nearby. With a considerable portion o f it residents now living in the United States, Santa Elena has active immigrant hometown associations

(h t a s )

in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Washington,

D.C. area. There is a local committee in Santa Elena that receives money from the h t a s and oversees construction projects such as a children’s playground and a sports facility. The committee also provides medical assistance and receives the bodies o f Salvadorans who have died abroad for burial in their hometowns. This committee, my sponsor, has expressed the need for a study o f the effects o f remittances on youth and their attitudes toward education and work. There is a discourse circulating in El Salvador that remittances have made Salvadorans lazy, and its youth vulnerable to all sorts o f vices and the loss o f traditional mores. In my work at this time I do not intend to study deportees or gangs. Yet, each time I explain to people in Santa Elena the purpose o f my study, they interpret it as such. That is, they point me in the direction o f the same three young men, all gang members, who have been deported from the United States.36 As an immigrant rights advocate in the United States, this is a sub­ ject that I have intentionally avoided for its sensational qualities and out o f respect for the Salvadoran immigrant community in Los Angeles. Like immigrant advocates, I am concerned about the association between the illegality o f the undocumented immigrant and the illegality o f the criminal­ ized inner-city gang youth turned criminal deportee. Many in the immigrant rights movement considered it a “boutique” issue. Further, I did not think I was the person to conduct such a study, and I certainly had no particular research interest in gangs. In fact, I am suspicious o f the term “gang.” Yet I find myself drawn to these young Salvadorans, and they in turn are drawn to me because I “come from Los” (Los Angeles) and I know the cherished terri­ tory o f their barrios. For other youth in the town— because I do not have the expected and requisite blonde hair and blue eyes, and because I am also an immigrant to the United States— I am called a gringa chaveliada (fake gringa) 38

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behind my back. While they no doubt intend this as an insult I am pleased that they can discern the difference-problem atic as their criteria may be. I decide to extend my own dissertation fieldwork to include criminal de­ portees as yet another set o f actors, alongside small-time couriers, entre­ preneurs, and political activists, forging transnational connections between Los Angeles and places in El Salvador.

1997 On November 19, 1997, President Clinton signs into law the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act American Baptist Church

(a b c )

( n a c a r a ),

which grants the

class o f Salvadorans exemptions from cer­

tain provisions within the immigration act

iir ir a

o f 1996. However, Sal­

vadorans and Guatemalans face the same discrimination they experienced in the 1980s. Nicaraguans, who fled from a “communist” country, are auto­ matically eligible for relief, but Salvadorans and Guatemalans must prove that they and their families will face “extreme hardship” if they are deported back to El Salvador. The burden o f proof rests with each individual appli­ cation for “withholding from removal” or “suspension from deportation” under

n a c a r a

.

19 9 8 A year and a half later I return to El Salvador, this time to the nation’s capital o f San Salvador. I am in El Salvador as part o f a delegation sponsored by the Salvadoran Association o f Los Angeles

( a s o s a l ).

We have come to docu­

ment conditions o f “extreme hardship” faced by deportees in order to sup­ port individual Salvadoran claims for permanent residency under n

a c a r a

.

Homies Unidos is on our meeting schedule. Two o f the delegation partici­ pants are the California state senator Tom Hayden and his legislative assis­ tant Silvia Beltrán. Hayden is currently heading up the Gang Violence Pre­ vention Task Force o f the California State Assembly, and he is a supporter of the African American gang truce in Los Angeles. Several o f his aides are for­ merly active gang members, now working as what he terms “inner-city peace makers” in Los Angeles. Silvia Beltrán is herself a Salvadoran refugee who moved to the Pico Union area as an adolescent. Though she never joined a gang, she lived in 18 th Street Gang territory and had a boyfriend in the gang. After the delegation leaves I stay on with the express intention o f explorTHE D i V i D E D E N D S OF PE AC E

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39

ing the stereotype fueling an imaginary about youth and migration: namely, the contamination and Americanization o f the Salvadoran cultural land­ scape through inner-city immigrant Latino gang culture, infused as that culture is with Chicano and African American cultural codes. This is when my connection to Homies Unidos in San Salvador begins. In 1998, the United States deports 5,348 Salvadorans— a significant in­ crease from the figure o f 2,493 in 1996. Only about a third o f those deportees were “criminal” as opposed to “administrative” deportees, and only a small percentage o f criminal deportees were gang members. Nonetheless, in stark contrast to the heroic figure o f el hermano lejano, the appearance o f the de­ ported gang member as a “new criminal type” in postwar El Salvador serves effectively as a packed sign for the failed promise o f peace. In pointing to an annual homicide rate o f 136.5 per 100,000 individuals, the

pn c

claims that post-civil war El Salvador is purportedly experiencing

higher levels o f violence than it did during its bloody twelve-year civil war. El Salvador is said to be the most violent country in the hemisphere (includ­ ing Colombia), and the most violent in the world at large after South Africa. The country is in a “state o f hysteria.” Many Salvadorans now perceive the post-civil war period as worse than the war. Crime, which did not even ap­ pear as an official category during the war years, is now considered the most important issue facing the new democracy for 46 percent o f the population. Moreover, a national study reveals that 45 percent o f the country supports “social cleansing” o f those elements deemed responsible for the violence— even if that means the recurrence o f the paramilitary death squad activity of the 1980s and vigilante-style justice.37 The paramilitary group La Sombra Negra (the Black Shadow) has been oper­ ating in the state o f San Miguel since December 1994, carrying out social cleansing operations against gangs, criminals, and homosexuals. By April 1995 La Sombra Negra had claimed responsibility for killing seventeen people. Amnesty International, among others, suspects that these groups include former soldiers with “some tacit support from the

p n c

.”

The group

argues that their actions are justified given that the “laws o f the country were not working” and that the

p n c

“did not have sufficient resources to com­

bat crime.” In addition, there are reports o f five additional death squads in operation.3 8 The study also reveals that 80 percent o f the population wants to see the military step in to suppress delinquency. In a country that has only recently demilitarized its police forces— a hard won post-civil war reform — these4 0 40

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sentiments are disturbing. Salvadorans may have achieved peace, but it is a violent peace without security. Needless to say, they feel deeply disillusioned and cruelly duped.39 Ironically, the reappearance o f the death squads and the anti-crime agenda coincides with the rewriting o f the Salvadoran penal code in accordance with the postwar judicial and human rights reforms. These changes, which have just come into effect, include new protections for juvenile offenders, assur­ ance o f due process for those accused o f crimes, and the elimination o f the use o f forced confessions as evidence in trials, among other things. The new Penal Code Reform o f 1998 includes drafting modern criminal procedure with sentencing codes, as well as shifting from an inquisitorial procedure where the judge has complete authority to an adversarial process that gives greater power to the prosecuting and defense attorneys. It also disallows forced confessions or those given without counsel present.40 As early as one year later,

a r e n a

will introduce the reform o f these reforms.4 1

The Los Angeles branch o f Homies Unidos is founded in November 1998. Magdaleno Rose-Ávila, now the transnational director o f the organization, flies back and forth between the two countries. He has a vision o f building a transnational equivalent to Barrios Unidos, a grassroots Chicano gang inter­ vention and prevention program in Northern California. The person working on the ground in Los Angeles is Alex Sanchez. Alex is a veteran leader o f the Normandie Street clique o f La Mara Salvatrucha. After serving a sentence in prison, he had been deported to El Salvador in 1994, but returned in 1996 without authorization after more than one encounter with death squads. I first meet Alex in 1998 shortly after my trip to El Salvador, when Magdaleno invites me to join them for dinner. Under the guidance o f Magdaleno, Alex is beginning to develop a counter­ part program in Los Angeles. This is no small act for someone who is likely to be deported if he gains a public profile. The location and the timing o f the founding o f the two branches are considerably different. Whereas Homies Unidos in San Salvador emerged in the context o f the conflicting projects o f postwar reforms and death squads, the Los Angeles branch faces zerotolerance policing strategies and the increasing severity and intersection of criminal and immigration law. Moreover, the Los Angeles riots in 1992 had overshadowed the police reforms called for by the Christopher Commission as a result o f the Rodney King beating42 Sparked by a case o f police bru­ tality and immunity, the riots actually added fuel to the harsh policing that characterized the war against crime and drugs. More pointedly, Pico Union THE D i V i D E D E N D S OF PE AC E

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41

and parts o f Koreatown are under the thumb o f the Rampart Division o f the

l a p d ’s

( c r a s h ),

anti-gang unit Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums

and thus subject to its “paramilitary culture . . . o f total suppres­

sion . . . by any means necessary.” 43

1999 Rampart’s

cr a sh

unit becomes the subject o f an investigation for police

corruption. While officers in the unit have been under investigation since 1997, the investigation becomes a public scandal in late summer 1999. Seventy officers are charged for unprovoked shootings and beatings, plant­ ing evidence, framing suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank rob­ bery, perjury, and covering up evidence o f these activities.44 Their primary targets had been gangs in general, yet they were particularly interested in Latino immigrant youth and young adults affiliated with gangs. At the same time, however, some o f the officers were also purportedly working as secu­ rity guards for businesses associated with the African American gang the Bloods .45 Over the course o f the scandal, 106 prior criminal convictions are over­ turned and investigators travel to Central America to look for immigrants who might have been deported as a result o f Rampart’s corruption. The settlements eventually involve more than 140 civil suits and settlement costs o f approximately $125 million.

2000 During the ongoing Rampart scandal, Alex Sanchez testifies before a hearing on police abuse convened by the Gang Violence Prevention Task Force o f the California State Senate. In January 2000, Sanchez is picked up by Rampart officers and handed over to the reentry. While in an

in s

in s

for an immigration warrant for illegal

detention center, Sanchez files for political asylum

on the grounds that he has a reasonable fear o f persecution and bodily harm if he is returned to El Salvador. Meanwhile, a coalition o f Homies Unidos supporters form the Free Alex Sanchez campaign, arguing that the harass­ ment against Alex and other Homies Unidos members is a continuation of the same misconduct under formal investigation, and proof that the police corruption was ongoing during the scandal itself. After Alex is detained, Silvia Beltrán, former aide to Senator Hayden,4 2 42

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takes on the directorship o f Homies Unidos in both San Salvador and Los Angeles and begins to fly back and forth between the two projects. I return to Los Angeles that summer to work on Alex’s trial with his attorney Alan Diamante and a team o f people pulling Alex’s case together. Alan wants me to build an argument for conceptualizing gangs as a social group. I am not a gang scholar, so I call Susan Phillips, an anthropologist who has worked closely with gangs and knows the literature on gangs. She in turn brings in Rosemary Ashamala, an anthropologist who runs a tattoo-removal program. I serve as a backup witness on the experiences o f deported gang members and on conditions in El Salvador based on my encounters in 1998 and 1999 with Homies Unidos in San Salvador.

2001 On January 1, 2001, the U.S. dollar replaces the colon as the currency o f El Salvador. Many resent the loss o f the colon as a national symbol. The official dollarization o f the Salvadoran economy in 2001 is the formalization and co-optation o f what even Salvadoran children have long known about the value o f the dollar. In 1990, a Salvadoran woman wrote from San Salvador to her husband in Los Angeles to thank him for the dollars he had sent the family. When she gave the five-dollar bills to her children, they exclaimed: “Bravo, Papi is making a pile!” As she wrote, “I don’t know how they ascer­ tained the value o f the dollar but they said to me: ‘Mama you can sell the five dollars, but only at eight colones a dollar. If not, we won’t sell it.’ ” 46 Given the centrality o f remittances to many Salvadoran’s household economies, Salvadorans were not only acutely aware o f the exchange rate, but also had long paid attention to trends and shifts in Californian and U.S. politics and economics. In Los Angeles, the Rampart scandal is beginning to wind down;

cr ash

has been officially dismantled and the l a p d is put on notice that its conduct from here on will be under close scrutiny. The City o f Los Angeles agrees to a Consent Decree with the federal Department o f Justice that subjects the la pd

to federal oversight by the U.S. attorney general, the Department of

Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. District Court o f Jurisdiction, and an independent monitor. The decree is formerly entered into law on June 15, 2001. Things are shifting on the immigration front too. The “Fix ’96” campaign succeeds in restoring social security insurance and health benefits to docuTHE D i V i D E D E N D S OF PE AC E

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43

mented immigrants with permanent residency, who had lost them as a result o f the immigration legislation o f 1996. In June 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court revisits and ameliorates some o f the worst deportation abuses.47 George Bush is negotiating a new immigration program with Mexican President Vicente Fox, who is greeted in Washington with a festive firework display. Less than a week later, Al Qaeda attacks the Pentagon and the World Trade Center; the political landscape changes overnight. As was the case with 1989, the year 2001 marks another major paradigm shift: in 1989 it is the end o f the cold war, and in 2001 it is the rise (although by no means the beginning) o f the War on Terror. On October 26, 2001, President Bush signs into law the

u sa

pa t r io t

Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Re­ quired to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism). Among many other things, the act enhances the discretion o f law enforcement and immigration authori­ ties in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected o f terrorism-related activity. The act also expands the definition o f terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number o f activities to which the expanded law enforcement powers can be applied. In November 2001, I submit a proposal for postdoctoral research to the Global Security and Cooperation Program o f the Social Science Research Council. I want to know what impact 9/11 will have on Salvadoran youth in Los Angeles and in San Salvador as well as on Homies Unidos’s transnational vision. While many o f the changes in the laws on immigration, crime, and anti-terrorism have been in effect since 1996 and in some cases since 1994, there is no doubt that they will gain considerable force after 9/11. What will the reforms to fix

iir a ir a

mean in the aftermath o f the attack? Will im­

migrants be subject to renewed harassment? What kind o f impact will a national security agenda make on human rights and civil rights? How will it affect police and penal reforms in El Salvador? What will it signal for rela­ tions between the United States and El Salvador, particularly in the realm of regional security? How might it shape the application o f the consent decree and law enforcement in Los Angeles? Until now I have studiously avoided focusing solely on the question o f “transnational gangs.” I have been a most reluctant ethnographer o f this subject, loath to participate in the production o f this “crisis.” But I can no longer ignore where my research has been lead­ ing me.4

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2002

Two and a half years after Alex Sanchez’s arrest by Rampart officers, he wins his political asylum case and is free to stay in the United States with his family and to continue his work with Homies Unidos. But by now Homies Los Angeles is worried about the implications o f the growing conflation of immigrants, gangs, and terrorists for their work in Los Angeles and in San Salvador. I secure funding for my postdoctoral research proposal, and I go back to El Salvador in August 2002. On November 25, 2002, President Bush forms the U.S. Department o f Homeland Security to protect the territory o f the United States from terror­ ist attacks and natural disasters. Homeland Security absorbs the functions o f twenty-two federal agencies, including the i n s and its immigration func­ tions. Also in 2002, William Bratton is appointed chief o f the l a p d . Bratton was chief o f the New York Police Department from 1994 to 1996, where together with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani he implemented the Broken Windows or ZeroTolerance strategy to “clean up” New York.48 Subsequently, both Bratton and Giuliani market their respective interpretations o f zero-tolerance policing globally through private consultancy firms. Bratton has also just finished serving as a consultant for Kroll Associates, the independent monitors o f the

la pd

charged with ensuring the implementation o f the federal Consent

Decree. He begins his first term as

la pd

chief by conflating gang activity and

terrorism under the term “homeland terrorism.” Not only does this reinforce the aforementioned connection between gangs and national security but it also feeds into an emerging discourse that theorizes links between gangs and terrorists.

2003 The following year, on March 1, 2003, the

in s

is dismantled and its func­

tions are divided between two new agencies within Homeland Security: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(i c e )

migration Services.49 Like

also focuses on the intersection of

iir a ir a

, ic e

and U.S. Citizenship and Im­

immigration and crime. Building on the Immigration and Nationality Act o f 1996 (a result o f i i r a i r a ), Homeland Security and

ic e

are authorized to

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45

enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies that permit designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement func­ tions under a Memorandum o f Agreement

( m o a ).

This development unleashes a debate in Los Angeles over the validity o f the city’s Special Order 40, which prohibits the

la pd

from performing im­

migration functions. After considerable contentious debate, Bratton stands by the order. The Los Angeles County Sheriff, however, is quite happy to enter into an

m o a

with

ic e

The same month that

.

ic e

is formed, the United States invades Iraq. Sal­

vadoran President Francisco Flores joins Bush’s “Coalition o f the Willing.” El Salvador is one o f only three Latin American countries to join the thirtymember coalition. El Salvador once again tops the list o f recipients in Latin America o f U.S. military largesse, with almost $23 million received since 2002. It is also the second-largest recipient o f military training, and it is eleventh on the list of arms sales recipients, having purchased a total o f $46.8 million in weaponry between 2000 and 2003.5° In July 2003, a month after my return to the United States from El Salva­ dor, my intuitions and suspicions materialize in dreadful ways. Out-going President Flores declares a state o f emergency in El Salvador and unleashes a police campaign named El Plan Mano Dura (the Firm Hand or Iron Fist Plan) and proposes new anti-gang legislation. Not only does El Plan Mano Dura represent a major blow to the postwar human rights agenda in El Salvador, it also signals the successful transnationalization o f the zero-tolerance gangabatement strategies o f the United States. Moreover, it brings the Salvadoran military back into policing functions by establishing joint police and army patrols. Soldiers are thus back on the streets o f San Salvador for the first time since the end o f the civil war.

2004 A year later, the newly elected president Antonio Saca follows Flores’s plan with El Plan Súper Mano Dura, which includes even stiffer penalties for gang membership and leadership. Saca’s plan further undermines post-civil war reforms to the penal code and makes minors under twelve years old subject to the same tough provisions established for adults. Between July 2003 and July 2005, thirty thousand youth accused o f being gang members are ar­ rested. 46

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Both plans have a boomerang effect. Homicides and extortions increase considerably and more Salvadorans, youth in particular, flee for the United States. Many Salvadorans on the run from violence in El Salvador apply for political asylum in the United States. The civil war refugee thus returns to U.S. immigration courts as the gang war refugee. In September 2004, newspapers erroneously report that a top Al Qaeda lieutenant, Adanan G. El Shukrijumah, was spotted in a July meeting with leaders o f La Mara Salvatrucha in Honduras in an effort by the terrorist net­ work to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border^1 The U.S. federal offi­ cials subsequently report that they have not found any evidence to support these claims made by Honduran security officials and Salvadoran President Saca.5 2 Nonetheless, these purported “ ties” continue to pepper the political imaginary in the conservative news media and on Internet blogs. At the end o f 2003, Weasel, a former director o f Homies Unidos in San Salvador, attempts to return to the United States. After living in Los Angeles for twenty years, Weasel had been deported back to El Salvador in 1998— a country he had not seen or thought much about since he was seven years old. I first met Weasel shortly after his return when I was in El Salvador partici­ pating in a delegation charged with investigating conditions in the country in support o f Salvadoran

n a c a r a

applications. Weasel’s first two attempts

to return to the United States fail. First he is turned back in Guatemala and then in Mexico. On his third try he makes it across the U.S.-Mexico border, only to be apprehended by the Border Patrol.

2005 In February 2005,

ic e

launches its Operation Community Shield. At its in­

ception, the operation brings together federal, state, and local law enforce­ ment agencies in the United States and abroad to apprehend and deport members o f of

m s

m s

.

In its first operation,

ic e

arrests 103 purported members

in seven cities in the United States. By July, it extends its operation

to include 18th Street and other Latino gangs. Gangs from different ethnic groups, be they Asian, Caribbean, Armenian, or Jamaican, are all targets as the operation continues. By September 24, 2007,

ic e

claims to have arrested

7,655 gang members and associates, representing over seven hundred differ­ ent gangs, but

m s

remains the poster child o f the operation.53 As part o f its

strategy i c e works in collaboration with its attache offices in Latin America and with foreign law enforcement counterparts in the region. The globalTHE D i V i D E D E N D S OF PE AC E

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47

ization o f the U.S.-style zero-tolerance policing strategies is morphing into transnational policing. In San Salvador, the United States opens up a Latin American office of the International Law Enforcement Academy

(i l e a )

in San Salvador. Most

Salvadoran human rights organizations oppose the agreement, saying that ile a

is the new School o f the Americas

( s o a ) — a U.S.

military academy that

was the training ground for many o f the Salvadoran military officers accused o f gross human rights violations during the civil war.5 4 Others, however, ar­ gue that i l e a is the last hope to realize the Peace Accord’s goal to construct a civilian police force truly independent o f the military in order to counteract state tyranny. After all, they argue, it was the ineffectiveness o f the

pn c

that

had been leveraged to justify the need for joint army and police patrols. On December 18, 2005, Evo Morales is elected as Bolivia’s new president. Morales ran on an anti-neoliberal platform and promises to enact an ambi­ tious and radical agenda remaking the state into the prime actor in a national developmental project. This includes nationalizing gas resources, the tele­ phone company, mining corporations, and so forth, thereby reversing the trend o f the neoliberal years.55

2006 In 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is reelected for a third term. Chavez has consistently acted against the Washington Consensus and in support o f alternative models o f economic development to neoliberalism. Chavez is, according Bush, a threat to democracy in Latin America. Chavez in turn denounces Bush as “the devil” at the U.N. Assembly General. Weasel, former director o f Homies Unidos El Salvador, is deported back to that country after spending fourteen months locked up in the California City Corrections Center for illegal reentry. El Salvador signs the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade agreement

( d r - c a f t a ).

It thus reaffirms its commitment to the next phase

o f the U.S. neoliberal economic agenda in El Salvador, in stark contrast to the so-called Pink Tide (the renewal o f the Latin American Left in countries like Bolivia and Venezuela). The U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation

(m c c )

awards $461 million to El Salvador.

In August 2006, the Salvadoran legislative assembly passes an anti­ terrorist law, which labels both gang members and activists against neo-

48

CHRONOLOGY

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liberal policies as terrorists. A year later on July 3, 2007, sixty protestors rallying against the privatization o f water are arrested. They are charged as “terrorists.” By the end o f 2006,

ic e

has deported 10,588 Salvadorans. A year later, the

figure will climb to 20,045.

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49

PART i

LOS ANGELES

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LATINO LOOTER

ONE

LAW OF PLACE

Where do we put the Chicano fathers who forced their mischievous children to return stolen articles to a Sears store in East Los Angeles? The article in US News and World Report on the riots skipped that piece of drama, opting instead for a picture of a desperate Salvadoran, loaded with food and detergent, standing in a grocery store. The caption tries to say enough: Latino looter. — Ruben Navarrette Jr. “Should Latinos Support Curbs on Immigrants?”

I n t h e f i l m Fallin g Dow n ( 1 9 9 3 ) t h e m a i n c h a r a c t e r , W i l l i a m “ D - F e n s ” F o s t e r , a n u n e m p l o y e d A n g l o A m e r i c a n w h o is a n g r y a n d a b o u t to g e t eve n , is d e ­ p ic te d sittin g w it h h is b rie fc a se o n g ra ffiti-c o v e re d c e m e n t stairs th a t o n c e s e r v e d a s a n e n t r y w a y to a s tr u c tu r e t h a t is n o l o n g e r th ere. F r o m th e v a n t a g e o f th is ru in , h e su rveys th e sk y lin e o f d o w n t o w n L o s A n g e le s t h r o u g h a h o le in th e s o le o f o n e o f h is s h o e s , th e n tu r n s to l o o k t h r o u g h th e w a n t a d s in t h e n e w s p a p e r h e is c a r r y in g . A s h e tea rs o f f s o m e o f th e p a p e r to c o v e r th e h o le in h is sh oe, a s h a d o w e m e rg e s o n the g r o u n d in fr o n t o f h im . T w o C h ic a n o g a n g m e m b e r s a p p ro a c h h im a n d b e g in to circle th e c e m e n t s tru ctu re.

LATINO GANG

m em ber

1 [ l g m i ]: W h a t y o u d o i n g m i s t e r ?

D -F e n s [ d f ] : N o t h i n g . L G M 1: Y e s y o u a r e . Y o u ’r e t r e s p a s s i n g o n p r i v a t e p r o p e r t y . Y o u ’r e l o i t e r ­ in g too, m an .

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L G M 2 : That’s DF: I

right. You’re loitering too.

didn’t see any signs.

L G M 2 : What you

call that? [He points to the gang taggings on the cement

structure.] D F : Graffiti? L G M 1 : No,

man, that’s not fucking graffiti. That’s a sign.

L G M 2 : He

can’t read it, man.

LGM 1:

I’ll read it for you. It says, “This is fucking private property. No

fucking trespassing.” This means fucking you. D F : It

says all that?

L G M 2 : Yeah. D F : Well,

maybe if you wrote it in fucking English, I could fucking under­

stand it. L G M 2 : Thinks

he’s being funny.

L G M 1 : I’m

not laughing.

L G M 2 : I’m

not either.

D F : Wait

a minute. Wait a minute. Hold it. Hold it, fellas. We’re getting

o ff on the wrong foot here.

o k

.

Um. This is a gangland thing, isn’t it?

We’re having a, a territorial dispute, hmm? I mean, I’ve wandered into your pissing ground, or whatever the damn this is, and you’ve taken offense at my presence. I can understand that. I wouldn’t want you people in my backyard either. Why begin the history o f the production o f the “transnational gang crisis” with media coverage o f and reflection upon the 1992 Los Angeles riots and Hollywood’s mediation o f the racial, social, and economic tensions brought to the fore by those riots? To be sure, both examples bring into view images o f mischievous youth and violent gang members. But it is to the other two figures, the Latino looter and the unemployed Anglo American, that I wish to draw attention. The juxtaposition o f these two seemingly disparate figures involves more than the same contemporary moment or the empirical fact of the riots. It also invokes a prior historical connection. Together, they bring into view Los Angeles at the end o f the twentieth century and its reconfigu­ ration in the aftermath o f the cold war and the Salvadoran civil war as funded by the United States. Let’s accept, for the moment, the more sympathetic depictions o f the Latino looter as a Salvadoran refugee desperate for basic necessities, and the angry American as a middle-class white guy who has recently lost his

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C H A P T E R ONE

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job to the downsizing o f the defense industry and who has become an exile in his own country. Building on the notions o f contrapuntal histories and complex patterns o f cultural interagency, both the Salvadoran refugee and the unemployed Anglo American defense worker live within, albeit at differ­ ent ends of, the same global and local processes.1 Although they occupy d if­ ferent levels o f displacement at the wane o f the cold war, both are migrants whose everyday movements— life paths through time and space— have been disrupted, the Salvadoran’s by militarization and the Anglo American’s by demilitarization. Both journeys are produced and undone by the instrumen­ tal spatiality o f the cold war and the defense industry. The journeys also mark a particular historical juncture when the primary threat to national security is no longer encoded in communism but rather in the intersection o f criminality and immigration. This moment marks a new stage in the production o f the securityscapes in and between the United States and El Salvador. The project o f law enforcement (by police and immi­ gration officers) now has primacy over global defense (by the military and weapon manufacturers). The triumphant project “to make the world safe for democracy” gives way to the more timely project “to protect and to serve.” This shift signals the subsequent convergence o f immigration and criminal law that will prove so central to the production o f the “transnational gang crisis.”

The Latino Looter When the movie cameras on the set o f Falling Down shut down during the riots, those o f the nightly local news were working overtime to capture and give name to what was unfolding in the streets o f central Los Angeles (in­ cluding downtown, South Central Los Angeles, Pico Union, Koreatown, and Hollywood) that were, for the moment, o ff limits to the movie’s cast and crew. The sections following offer a composite o f that coverage as drawn from fourteen hours o f home-taped video footage o f the local news cover­ age o f the riots. The local viewer who taped the footage during the riots em­ ployed the typical contemporary viewing practice o f surfing between chan­ nels.2 The resulting video footage o f the riots, which is broken up absurdly and jarringly by commercial advertising and sitcoms, actually comes close to the viewing experience o f many who frantically shifted from channel to channel to try to make sense o f the events unfolding around them. Tele­ vision viewers, who were taken out into the streets and up into the air with L A T iN O LO OTE R

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55

the media, were encouraged to see from the point o f view o f the media, re­ porters, and news anchors. Not only was this coverage framed in a law-andorder narrative but also as a direct appeal and demand for the deployment o f law enforcement. What follows is my composite o f excerpts from that coverage, compiled after the event and with a narrative frame not available to the viewer at the time o f watching.

W HERE ARE THE P O L i C E ?

The not-guilty verdict in the Rodney King beating case was pronounced less than two hours ago. The television set is tuned to local live coverage o f the Los Angeles riots. The screen switches from one image to another and from one channel to another. The action unfolds through this series o f images: First, on the ground in front o f Los Angeles Police Department’s headquar­ ters

( l a p d ),

a peaceful political demonstration turns into a violent flame-

and rock-throwing protest. Next, the camera soars high above this scene, travels several miles south to the intersection o f Florence and Normandie, the famous flash point o f the riots. This is the corner where Reginald Denny is soon to be pulled from his truck and severely beaten by an angry mob in an eerie replay o f the brutal beating o f Rodney King by

la pd

officers.3

National networks already have crews covering the unfolding events out o f the First American Methodist Church in South Central Los Angeles, and from the intersection o f Florence and Normandie. A panoramic view o f the geographic path o f the riots is being fed unedited by Skycam 5 Live, Telecopter 4, and Newscopter 7, among others. These newscopters fly over one burning shopping center after another, while their mobile newscasters shout out a running commentary over the whir o f the propellers: “I can see one, two, three . . . eleven, twelve . . . I can see about fifteen fires from this location.” The camera pans across the monotonous grid o f the asphalt parking lots bordering commercial establishments yet to be torched. The viewer’s atten­ tion is drawn to small groups o f people “just walking into the Payless [the Thrifty, TJ Maxx, the Korean liquor store, the Boys Market, the Pep Boys, the Circuit City] . . . and taking whatever they want.” Some o f them are even stopping to try things on for size . . . and others actually leave to fill their cars and then come back in for more merchandise. “There’re no police down there . . . There is no police presence at all.” The media has deployed its forces where the police have not, and between the newscopters in the sky and the cameras on the ground, the viewer has a near panopticon view o f these ac56

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tivities— rioting and looting. Inside the newsroom, far away from the scene, the anchormen and women comment upon the “this” (hand gesture) — the events that have not yet been named. They are unaware perhaps o f the power that they will have, not only in representing but also in producing the “this” as riots and as media spectacle. Newscasters, groping for words, struggle to frame and to contain the raw footage within the law-and-order narrative generally employed for nightly crime news. This is all the more ironic, and indeed necessary, given the noticeable and curious absence o f police on the streets for the first sev­ eral hours o f the riots. Early on, the fire captains deploy the newscopters to scan the horizon for new fires. Fighting alongside firefighters in this way, the newscasters begin to speak for them and, indeed, for everyone. The “fire officials are just looking so disgusted and so angry— something that every­ one is feeling right now.” Without recourse to the routine techniques o f edit­ ing, the language seeping in from the streets through the television is rough, heated, and filled with expletives. The news anchors are clearly uncomfort­ able with the emotional and political tone o f their footage and with their relatively unmediated engagement with the streets. Disconcerted, they clear their throats to apologize to the viewing public for the “foul language” over which they “have no control.” The audience is told that the “this” is “senseless violence.” To the images o f everyday folks darting in and out o f the stores, the newscasters explain: “These people are gangbangers, thugs, and hooligans” who “have nothing to do with what took place in the Simi Valley courtroom.” An African Ameri­ can man shouts at the camera, with his arms full o f stolen goods, “We’re doing this for Rodney.” The news anchors respond, “These people are abso­ lute criminals, lawless people who have chosen to take advantage o f a ter­ rible situation.” A young black woman shouts with tears o f anger, “The sys­ tem doesn’t care about us black people . . . Black people have no rights in this country . . . This is about the extinction o f the black male.” The news anchor turns away from the footage, toward his coanchor, and states: “We have, after all, a system o f justice in this country, and it’s called being judged by your peers. That means that the four officers were judged by what were said to be twelve o f their peers, and the decision was rendered, and that’s the way it works.” The cameras turn back to the crowd scenes, “These people have absolutely no fear o f us or the authorities. There’s a traffic jam o f looters here.” In comes more aerial feed from the newscopters, “There’s no border to it anymore. . . .” L A T iN O LO O TE R

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“Where are the police? There are no police down there.” Reports come in that chief o f police, Daryl Gates, is at a fund-raiser in the exclusive Westside neighborhood o f Bel Air. “You’ve got to wonder,” responds the newscaster, not wanting to judge the authorities or police too quickly. Still the insinua­ tions grow. “Why the police have not been deployed. . . . Why it’s taking so long. . . .” It is not until the next day that the business o f newsmaking shifts to normal. Television cameras take their positions at a press conference in front o f the talking heads o f Los Angeles leadership, Daryl Gates included. Questions fly about the delayed police response and whether the National Guard will be brought in. The media begins to frame the action in more in­ sidious ways. Reporters begin to infer culpability and cause and effect with seemingly innocent speculations such as, “I don’t want to make any com­ ments about the group we see here in front o f us, but, um, coincidentally, that’s when it [the damage to Parker Center] started.” Once the police are deployed, on this second day o f the riots, the cameras on the ground relinquish the frontline to the police and retake their posi­ tions behind that police line. At the same time, however, the cameras in the sky continue to film what is not visible to the police in front: looters coming into the buildings from the back. The news coverage is increasingly punc­ tuated with remarks such as: “One o f our helicopters just spotted someone coming out o f a flaming mini-mall, and they followed him to his residence, and the police are now headed in that direction” or “He was in full view [of us] . . . I think that video is going to surface somewhere— in court and with the police no doubt.” As the riots progress, the newscast audio begins to mix intermittently with the interference o f the police audio. Finally, the police, along with the assistance o f the National Guard and its armored tanks, start taking back control o f the streets. While in the earlier footage, people came in and out o f the stores with seeming impunity, now the streets were beginning to fill with other images: lines o f black and brown bodies lying face down (or in a “prone-out” position) with their hands cuffed behind their backs. By this time, the television crews have resumed their roles as observers, crouching behind the black-and-white squad cars o f the Los Angeles Police Department. But something new has entered this frame. Just beyond the police cars is a sport utility vehicle belonging to the U.S. Border Patrol. Not far up the street, at Vermont and Third, the parking lot o f a Vons supermarket is now filled with an entourage o f Immigration and Naturalization Services buses— “waiting to give these folks a free ride back to [their] country.” 4 58

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HOW THE R iO T S T O R Y B E C A M E AN iM M i G R A T i O N S T O R Y

With the riots unfolding onscreen, the

k a b c

reporter Linda Mour is back in

the television studio discussing with her anchor whether or not the looters are “illegal aliens.” In

k a b c ’s

rendition o f the riots, Latinos quickly become

interchangeable with illegal aliens. As the Los Angeles Times television critic Howard Rosenberg later mused: “Perhaps Mour was able to identify them as illegal because some o f the looters had that stamped on their foreheads. O r— a much better bet— perhaps both she and [news anchor] Greene were predisposed to believe that illegal immigrants automatically commit crimes. If so, their predisposition was transmitted across the airwave as fact .” 5 It is precisely at this point that the association between the terms looter, Latino, and illegal is sealed in the viewer’s imaginary as the Latino looter. The Latino looter becomes a packed sign through which immigration from the south­ ern border becomes an increasingly dominant narrative frame for explaining the riots in much o f the subsequent local media coverage and some o f the national coverage. While local news channels babble on in the moralizing law-and-order narrative o f nightly crime news, the more liberal, analytical national news coverage frames the event within a “Watts II” paradigm and thus racializes the event as black.6 For instance, Ted Koppel o f the ABC news show

Nightline locates his television coverage out o f the First American Method­ ist Church in South Central Los Angeles, and at the intersection o f Florence and Normandie. Ted Koppel’s forays into South Central Los Angeles and his town meeting inside that venerable African American institution from the civil rights era casts African Americans as “event insiders.” 7 Koppel frames the events as a consequence o f the Rodney King verdict only, thereby ignor­ ing other causes for the rioting: namely, the impact o f post-Fordist struc­ tural adjustment programs and the globalization o f inner-city communities, along with the unacknowledged fact that Latinos were covictims o f racist policing.8It is certainly true that the media, particularly at the national level, took the 1992 riots as time to reflect on what had indeed been and not been achieved with race relations since 1965. But the riot coverage rendered Lati­ nos “voiceless, but not invisible,” and it could not blot out the obvious dif­ ference between Watts and i992 — “the appearance o f Latinos on t v screens as looters.” 9 Neither could it suppress scenes like the one that was featured in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times about a week after the riots died down. Writing from the same church from which Ted Koppel conducted his riot coverage, Niels Frenzen, a local immigration attorney and law pro­ L A T iN O LO OTE R

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fessor, and Frank Acosta, then director o f the Coalition for Humane Immi­ grant Rights o f Los Angeles

( c h i r l a ),

offered a very different perspective:

“The sight o f one our city’s leading African-American churches converting its basement meeting room into a temporary shelter for displaced people who were majority Latino and mono-lingual Spanish speaking was on the one hand, striking evidence that the face o f our city has been changed ir­ revocably, and on the other hand, a powerful symbol o f the common issues and problems which tie together the Latino, African and Asian-American communities.” 10That is, the riot revealed that the historically African Ameri­ can area o f South Central Los Angeles — the epicenter o f the Watts riots in 1965— was majority Latino by 1992. More than that, the rioting very quickly spread beyond even those geographic borders to neighborhoods like Pico Union, Koreatown, and East Hollywood. These neighborhoods were also now heavily populated by Mexican and Central American immigrants. The riot coverage thus may have “rendered Latinos voiceless,” but not invisible. It could not blot out, as pointedly stated above, “the obvious difference be­ tween Watts and 1992 — the appearance o f Latinos on t v screens as looters.” Héctor Tobar, a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times at the time o f the riots, recalled the unfolding o f events in an interview with me several years after the event. We talked over lunch in a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard— which had, seven years earlier, been the northern front, if you will, o f the riots. I had asked to meet with Tobar after reading his novel The Tattooed Sol­ dier, which was set in the same transnational urban geography o f my ethno­ graphic research. Tobar responded to my question about the Latinization o f the riots, as follows: “It was in fact the African American riot that started first. And I lived this personally because . . . I remember that night I was as­ signed to do a rewrite on a story about the police reactions to the Rodney King verdict, and we started to see it unfold on

t v

.

Florence, Normandie,

etc., etc., the protest downtown— that was the first part. Then later the next morning, I was sent out to go to the area where things had burned down and talk to people. So I started o ff in South Central Los Angeles.” But as Tobar explains, the geographical progression from south to north marked the pro­ gression o f an African American event to a Latino one: They [the Los Angeles Times] thought the riot was over. As we all know, the riots started up again and really got going the second day. I ended up fol­ lowing the progression along with the photographer I was with, the pro­ gression o f it northwards.

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I think we started out by Washington, south o f Washington, like Ver­ non, and I ended up following it up north, and at the end o f the day I ended up in Echo Park. Yes, I ended up on Sunset Boulevard. Yes, because it spread from East Hollywood, all the way up to Santa Monica Boulevard, the real Central America in East Hollywood, where

k c e t

is . . .

That progression o f the riot northwards was parallel to the progres­ sion o f the riots from an anti-police, African American echo o f Watts in 1965 to sort o f the modern-day poverty riot in a city that had become a Latin American city, and that was having this Latin American vent take place . . . [with] masses o f people storming the markets.11 There is no question that Latinos, immigrants in particular, were victims, by­ standers, and participants in the events unfolding in front o f them. The point here is how this Latinization o f the riots was interpreted through the trope o f the Latino looter. That trope was eventually absorbed into national post­ riot coverage in quotes such as “Over 61% o f arrested looters were Latino” and “Nearly one-third o f riot suspects were illegal aliens.” 12 It was as if in these two statistics lay the real explanation for the riots: an unguarded southern border.13 In the full-length articles on the riots that emerged in national magazines in the following months, the riot story quickly became an immigration story, with titles such as “Blacks vs. Brown: Immigration and the New American Dilemma” by Jack Miles, a liberal Los Angeles Times editor. Peter Brimelow, a right-wing journalist and English immigrant to the United States, referred to these riot statistics in his essay “Time to Rethink Immigration,” in which he urges the reestablishment o f Anglo American cultural hegemony. While M iles’s story about the riot quickly becomes a story about immigration, Brimelow’s story about immigration ends with the riot story. In either di­ rection each writer constructs a powerful frame, which successfully natural­ izes the association between the two stories. Thus both liberal and conserva­ tive depict Latino immigrants as a threat to American national sovereignty. Miles argues that “because the world has shrunk, [these] emigrants . . . don’t have to cut all ties to home and cast their cultural and economic lot with us as they once did.” Indeed, he sees within the reluctance o f Mexican immi­ grants to choose American citizenship the potential for foreign interference in domestic political affairs. With so many Mexican citizens living within U.S. borders, “some future Carlos Salinas de Gortari could become a factor in U.S. domestic affairs as the powerful extraterrestrial leader o f millions of

LA TiN O LO OTE R

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non-citizen residents in the U.S.” 14 Similarly, Brimelow argues that “the idea o f the American nation-state as a sovereign structure” that is the “political expression o f a specific ethno-cultural group” is in eclipse. The “American Nation” is being threatened by the “Anti-Nation” within the United States: namely by “so-called Hispanics,” who are being “encouraged (by the likes of the Ford Foundation) to assimilate into and build a Latino Nation across na­ tional boundaries, beyond the United States’ sovereign borders.” ^ The later injunction contains an explicit fear o f the Latinization o f the United States as colonization. The transnational nature o f Latino migration, settlement, and cultural patterns threatens the established boundaries o f the nation-state and, with it, hegemonic conceptions o f American national identity. The American “inner-city crisis,” laid bare by the Los Angeles riots, fed into a vicious anti-immigrant politic and was taken as an urgent call for “new enclosures.” !6 Indeed, the fixation on and mounting paranoia over constraining the mobility o f the Latino immigrant took on the dimension o f a “national moral panic.” 17 This fixation culminated in the Californian initiative Proposition 187 “Save Our State” and in the federal Illegal Immi­ gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

(i i r a i r a )

o f 1996.18 The

“visible, if silenced” participation o f Latinos in the riots, therefore, fed into the reassertion o f a particular moral geography designed to curb and crimi­ nalize Latino mobility through arrest, incarceration, detention, and deportation.19 No matter how pejorative the coverage o f African Americans rioting and looting, even the local news anchors had to acknowledge, if only to negate, the narrative frames o f police abuse, the Watts riots, and the long, hard struggle for civil rights. Latinos, however, emerged from the same cover­ age as thoroughly dehistoricized and unsympathetic subjects and were de­ nied any moral or political ground for their actions. They were judged as purely criminal opportunists taking advantage o f black rage to rob American businesses. The only available narrative frame with which to explain Latino participation was the “prominent theme o f borderlands media coverage— Latinos as law-breaking foreigners.” 20 The Latino looter thus became a folk devil judged guilty o f transgressing “the law o f place” on two counts: private property and national sovereignty.21 This representation o f the twofold transgressive mobility o f the Latino during the riots, ironically enough, brings to mind the video o f the Rodney King beating. Thomas Dumm in his treatment o f the video re-presentation

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o f the Rodney King beating in the Simi Valley courtroom argues that the de­ fense positioned Rodney King’s m obility-drivin g at an excessive speed on the freeway (that sign o f free circulation) and his refusal to be still while being b eaten -w ith in a larger system o f representation, which character­ izes the dangerous person as hyperactive and subversively mobile. Similarly, the transgressive mobility o f the looter was linked to a preexisting and larger system o f representation o f boundary transgression. The brazen lo o t e r under the eye o f the camera, in the full light o f the helicopter’s nightscope, and even in view o f the p o lic e -to o k the time to try on his or her loot for size, or to make several runs to the store until his or her car in the parking lot or on the street was full to capacity. This brazen looter comes to stand as a sign from the “brazen border crosser,” who dares to sneak across the bor­ der without papers, sin permiso (without permission).22 Indeed, on my first trip to the California-Mexico border in 1989 I accom­ panied a border patrol officer down into a gully called the “soccer fields.” It was dusk. From the vantage o f the van, we could see the Mexican side where people were gathering to cross. The fires o f the taco and corn stands were burning. It was a lively social scene. Suddenly, there was a cheer from the crowd. The border patrol officer explained the uproar to me this way: “They’re cheering the group that just made it across. It’s like scoring a goal. That’s why we call it the soccer fields.” Whether this depiction o f what was really behind that cheer was accurate or not, I don’t know. But the image of that “brazen border crosser” was clearly fixed in the imaginary o f this offi­ cer, or in the imaginary he wished to impart to me.

C H A i N S OF BLA ME

What does the Latino looter as brazen border crosser have to do with Salva­ doran migration per se? After all, the Latino immigrant population in Los Angeles is still largely Mexican. At the time o f the riots, all Latinos, immi­ grants or not, were presumed by the general population to be o f Mexican origin. While the term Latino may not capture the specificity o f Salvadoran or even Central American migration, the trope o f the Latino looter came to do just that, at least within the context o f local Latino politics. Through a perverse chain o f blame, whites pointed at blacks, who pointed at Latinos, who in turn pointed at Central American immigrants. Much of the looting took place in neighborhoods heavily populated by recently arrived Latinos, a growing number o f whom were Central American and, primarily,

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Salvadoran. To quote from the Economist: “Tellingly, when the riots swept through the city, Latino East Los Angeles remained relatively untouched. . . . The worst-hit Latino areas were those such as Hollywood, where most o f the immigrants were new arrivals from Central America. They appeared to make up a high proportion o f looters, but a much lower one o f burners and killers.”23 As illustrated at the opening o f this chapter, journalist Rubén Navarrette Jr. argued that when Mexican Americans saw photo captions such as the Latino looter in media coverage o f the riots, they began to question their political strategy o f aligning Latinos o f various countries under a single ethnic label.24 The Latino looter caption, he suggested, led to a frantic effort by Mexican Americans to distance themselves from the “desperately poor Central American and Mexican immigrants depicted in the photograph .” 25 Thus the Latino looter was, at the local level, further inflected as a Central American immigrant. In the same article, “Should Latinos Supports Curbs on Immigration?” Navarrette writes: “A week after the riots, Jesse Jackson addressed a Senate subcommittee considering an urban-aid package. Overnight polls showed that the object o f America’s moral outrage had, in 48 hours o f mayhem, shifted from the verdict in the Rodney G. King beating trial in Simi Valley to arsonists and looters in South Los Angeles. Jackson strained to absolve African-Americans o f total responsibility for the lawlessness. He pointed fingers at another ethnic group: ‘Fifty-one percent o f arrested looters were Latino.’ ” 26 Once again, the point here is not that Latinos or Central Ameri­ cans did not loot but rather that these facts were emphasized with a particu­ lar political agenda in mind. Navarrette goes on to make a similar move to Jackson’s attempt to deflect criticism away from African Americans: “Yes, Central-American immigrants and Chicanos might both be termed ‘Latino.’ But the ethnic link between the two groups is thin— no more pronounced than the one joining dark-skinned African Americans with dark-skinned Haitian.’^ 7 His effort to unpack the term Latino as a homogeneous entity, while certainly justified, is also an at­ tempt to redirect the public gaze away from the sympathetic Other (Mexi­ can American) toward the offending Other (Central American immigrant). Finally, given the degree o f racial profiling conducted by police, it is highly unusual for African American and Latino public spokespersons to assume that arrest is proof o f actual culpability.

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The Angry Anglo American The production o f the film Falling Down resumed after the rioting stopped, and the film was released the following year. There is ample evidence that its reception was colored by the post-riot climate, particularly given that the riots brought to the fore the issues o f racial, social, and economic tensions portrayed in the film and vice versa. In a post-riot interview with the film’s director, Joel Shumacher, a journalist wanted to know if Shumacher didn’t consider the riots to have been a lucky break for the promotion o f his film.

Falling Down is a sophisticated allegory about an angry Anglo American, D-Fens, who is mad as hell with the state o f things, in Los Angeles in par­ ticular and with the United States o f America in general, and is about to get even. The Latinization o f Los Angeles is subsumed with discourses on the “ third worlding” and “browning” o f the face o f the city and the nation. D-Fens has had all he can take o f the city’s democratic promiscuity and its clash o f formerly distinct cultures. While Latino immigrants feature in the film’s backdrop, as with the live coverage o f the riots, their mute but visible presence nonetheless does the ideological work o f pointing to the Latinization o f Los Angeles as a particularly marked aspect o f discourses on urban blight, moral decay, and national decline. The film is a dramatic reenactment o f the vigorous attempts then under­ way in Californian cultural politics to reterritorialize this disorderly and dis­ ruptive cultural flow by remapping the boundaries o f what constitutes the official and legitimate public sphere. This entails reasserting the cultural and racial hegemony o f the Anglo American male over a disconcerting prolifera­ tion o f multiple counterpublics. This filmic manipulation o f the face o f the nation mimes an important aspect o f the national project: to topographi­ cally reform the civic body. The following composite is drawn from the open­ ing scene o f the film.28 Begin with a sharp intake o f breath, the sound o f life hooked up to a ven­ tilator. Fill the screen with a man’s parted lips, beaded with sweat. Move like a fly along the bridge o f his nose. Stare into the eye, which stares out through a foggy lens at steam rising from car’s engine. The outside world comes first as noise filtered, its base tones heightened, through water. The objects in the landscape come into view, one by one: a Latina child clutching blonde bombshell doll, her empty stare fixed on the viewer; a woman painting her protruding exaggerated lips scarlet red; a school bus o f screaming children— multiculturalism wrapped L A T iN O LO OTE R

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in American flag; Hollywood hustlers, smacking chewing gum, clinching a deal loudly by cellular phone. You are imprisoned amidst all o f these fragmented worlds o f the m e­ tropolis in this impossible space— the hardened arteries o f the Los Ange­ les freeway. The air conditioning fails. A fly buzzes, invisibly but insis­ tently, around your head. Repeat, close-up and frame by frame, at greater and greater speed— Garfield’s barred teeth; “Jesus Died for Our Sins” ; the American flag;

“d e l a y

. ..

d e lay

. ..

d e l a y

”;

“H ow’s My Driving? call

1-800 Eat Shit” — to this music, a Cagian urban cacophony, an unbearable, shrill crescendo. The car door flies open. The protagonist, D-Fens, abandons his car to the highway. “Hey, where do you think you’re going? Hey! Hey!” an angered man parked behind D-Fens’s car shouts, fist in air, horn honking. Running for the embankment, D-Fens returns the volley, “I’m going home.” Disengaging from the high ground o f the highway, his normal life path through space, D-Fens enters the low ground o f the inner city on foot to begin his epic jour­ ney across the postindustrial wasteland o f Los Angeles.

Falling Down begins thus, with an assault on the nervous system and with a powerful evocation o f the sensory and emotional tone o f Los Angeles at a particular historical juncture. In so doing, the film draws us in with an exploration o f the psychic disturbances associated with the contemporary recomposition o f space-time-being in post-cold war and fin de siecle Los Angeles.29 Signifying chains have snapped, and D-Fens is left without a frame o f reference with which to make sense o f this changed grammar of urban life. He temporarily loses his capacity to organize his immediate sur­ roundings perceptually and to map his position in relation to the external world.30 The earlier modernist frame, which gave meaning to action in this Los Angeles context— the freeway commute between the bourgeois private sphere (the nuclear family) and the capitalist public sphere (the Fordistera workplace)— has been disrupted. As the film unfolds, we discover that D-Fens’s odyssey is set between two receding horizons. He navigates be­ tween a job lost to the downsizing o f the defense industry and a home bro­ ken by domestic violence and divorce. D-Fens, in truth, has nowhere to go: he is a migrant in postmodernity. The film offers a potentially insightful ex­ ploration o f a specific phenomenology o f late capitalism, its changed struc­ tures o f feeling, and one level at which the economic and social transfor­ mations o f regional integration are being felt by the downsized worker.3 1 66

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D - F e n s c o u ld w e ll s e rv e (a n d d o e s to s o m e e x te n t) a s a n in t r ig u in g f o il fo r th e e x a m in a tio n o f a d is tr e s s a n d u n e a s e th a t s o m e w o u ld a r g u e a s b e in g p a r t i c u l a r t o t h e la t e t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y : n a m e ly , p l a c e - p a n i c o r a n i n s e c u ­ r i t y o f t e r r it o r y .32 I n t h e o p e n i n g s c e n e , D - F e n s , “ a w h i t e g u y in a w h i t e s h i r t a n d t i e ” ( s o d e s c r i b e d in t h e f i l m ) , is c a u g h t in a t r a f f i c j a m o n t h e L o s A n g e l e s f r e e w a y . T h e s t a n d s t i l l t r a f f i c a n d t h e s h o c k i n g d iv e r s it y o f b a r b a r o u s c o m m u t e r s a r e a l l s y m p t o m a t i c o f d e c li n e a n d f r a g m e n t a t i o n . T h is g r o t e s q u e s o c i a l b o d y c l o g s t h e a r t e r i e s o f p r o g r e s s a n d in d i v i d u a l i s m t h a t t h e f r e e w a y s o n c e r e p r e s e n t e d — a t l e a s t , t o o u r p r o t a g o n i s t .33 T h a t A m e r i c a n d r e a m — s o t h o r ­ o u g h l y p r o p a g a t e d b y t h e H o l l y w o o d d r e a m m a c h i n e — is n o w r e - p r e s e n t e d a s h a v in g c o m e to a c a r e e n in g a n d in e le g a n t h a lt. L o s A n g e le s is f a llin g d o w n a n d a p a r t. D - F e n s ’s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n f r o m c o m m u t e r t o p e d e s t r i a n , h i s d i s e n g a g e ­ m e n t w it h th e h ig h w a y a n d e n g a g e m e n t w it h th e u r b a n la n d s c a p e o f L o s A n g e l e s , m a r k a p o t e n t i a l l y p o w e r f u l e n c o u n t e r w i t h t h e c h a n g e d c u lt u r a l c a r to g r a p h y o f L o s A n g e le s . B y m o u n t in g th e c o n c r e te b a r r ie r th a t s e p a r a te s t h e h i g h w a y f r o m t h e liv e d s p a c e s h i d d e n o n t h e o t h e r s id e , D - F e n s b r i n g s i n t o o u r f i e l d o f v i s i o n t h e s p a t i a l a p a r t h e i d o f L o s A n g e l e s . 34 T h e u n f a m i l i a r c u l t u r a l l a n d s c a p e t h a t D - F e n s e n t e r s is li t t e r e d w i t h t h e s i g n i f y i n g s c a r s o f t h e in n e r c it y : g a n g g r a f f i t i , “ H o m e l e s s , w i l l w o r k f o r f o o d , ” “ W e a r e d y i n g o f a id s ,” L a tin o s tr e e t v e n d o r s s e llin g o r a n g e s a n d p e a n u ts , “ e c o n o m ic a lly u n v i a b l e ” A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s , a n d t h e li k e . D - F e n s ’s j o u r n e y m a p s L o s A n g e ­ le s a n d i t s “ e c o l o g y o f f e a r ” a s d e c o n s t r u c t e d b y M i k e D a v i s : a d o w n t o w n f i n a n c i a l c o r e s u r r o u n d e d b y a r i n g o f b a r r io s a n d g h e t t o e s t h a t g i v e w a y t o w e a l t h y g a t e d c o m m u n i t i e s “ o n t h e d i s t a n t m e t r o p o l i t a n f r o n t i e r .” 35 I n t h is r e g a r d t h e f i l m is w h a t i t c la i m s t o b e , “ a t a l e a b o u t u r b a n r e a lit y .” 3 6 B y t u r n i n g h i s w o r l d u p s i d e d o w n a n d e n t e r i n g i t s r e v e r s e s id e D - F e n s h a s th e o p p o r tu n ity to c o m e in to fr e e a n d fa m ilia r c o n t a c t w ith p e o p le w h o i n l i f e a r e s e p a r a t e d b y i m p e n e t r a b l e b a r r ie r s , a n d t o e x p lo r e a n e w m o d e o f i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n i n d i v i d u a l s 37 B u t t h e d i s r u p t i v e p o t e n t i a l o f t h e f o r e g o i n g d e s t a b i l i z a t i o n s is l o s t o n t h e s e f r o n t s : t h e r e a s s e r t i o n o f w h i t e m a le p o w e r a n d a u th o r ity ; th e fa ilu r e to a c c o u n t fo r th e r o le o f th e d e fe n s e i n d u s t r y ; U .S . f o r e i g n p o l i c y ; e c o n o m i c r e s t r u c t u r i n g in t r a n s f o r m i n g t h e f a c e o f L o s A n g e l e s ; a n d t h e f i l m ’s r e d e m p t i v e la w - a n d - o r d e r n a r r a t iv e . A s a n u r b a n f o l k t a l e o f s o r t s , Falling Dow n s e r v e s a s a n i d e o l o g i c a l l y o r i ­ e n t in g fr a m e w o r k fo r th e p r o d u c t io n , r e c e p t io n , a n d in t e r p r e t a tio n

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O r t o d r a w u p o n C l i f f o r d G e e r t z , i t is a t a l e t h a t m i d d l e - c l a s s f o l k t e l l t h e m ­ s e lv e s , n o t s i m p l y a b o u t o t h e r s b u t a b o u t t h e m s e lv e s a n d t h e i r f e a r o f f a l l i n g fr o m th e ir p r iv ile g e d r a c e - c la s s p o s itio n , a m e ta p h o r ic a l fa ll in t o th is b la c k h o l e , t h e a b y s s t h a t t h e i n n e r - c i t y j u n g l e is t a k e n t o r e p r e s e n t . A s a r e s u lt , t h e i m p o r t a n t c l a s s s u b j e c t o f t h e d o w n s i z e d w o r k e r is r e c a s t a s t h e a n g r y A n g l o A m e r i c a n m a le . D - F e n s ’s t r a g i c j o u r n e y f r o m a j o b t o a h o m e t h a t n o l o n g e r e x i s t s e m ­ p l o y s t h e i n n e r c i t y o f L o s A n g e l e s a s a c o n t e m p o r a r y H a d e s . O u r h e r o , li k e c o u n t le s s W e s te r n h e r o e s b e g in n in g w it h O d y s s e u s , m u s t tra v e rs e a d a n ­ g e r o u s t e r r i t o r y f i l l e d w i t h l o s t a n d d e s p e r a t e s o u l s in o r d e r t o p r o v e h is s tr e n g th a n d c u n n in g . In m a k in g h is w a y t h r o u g h th e im m ig r a n t n e ig h ­ b o r h o o d s t h a t c o m p r i s e t h e i n n e r c it y , D - F e n s r e a s s e r t s h i s h i e r a r c h i c a l r a c e - c la s s p o s itio n a n d h is a u th o r ity o v e r g r e e d y K o r e a n g r o c e r s , ir r a tio n a l a n d v i o l e n t C h i c a n o y o u t h , a n d u n d e s e r v i n g h o m e l e s s p o o r . H e r e , t h e in n e r c i t y is l i t t l e m o r e t h a n a m a c a b r e h y p e r v i o l e n t w o r l d t h r o u g h w h i c h D - F e n s r o a m s f r e e ly , s h o o t i n g a t t h e o b s t a c l e s in h i s w a y . T h e i n n e r c i t y is t h u s a s y m b o l i c f r o n t i e r f o r t h e r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e w h ite m a s c u lin e n o r m

t h r e a t e n e d w i t h e x t i n c t i o n . A s s u c h , Falling Dow n

m e r e l y s h i f t s t h e e t h n i c m a r k i n g o f H o l l y w o o d ’s c o n v e n t i o n o f t h e u r b a n ju n g le fr o m C h in a to w n a n d S o u th C e n tr a l L o s A n g e le s to K o r e a to w n a n d L i t t le C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . T h e s e “ i n n e r - c i t y f o l k , ” t h e r e f o r e , s e r v e a s l i t t l e m o r e t h a n a t e x t u r e d b a c k d r o p t o t h e A n g l o A m e r i c a n p r o t a g o n i s t ’s j o u r ­ n e y . T h e ir f a l l e n s t a t e is a n u n d e r p r i v i l e g e d b u t n e c e s s a r y b a c k d r o p t o t h e c e n tr a l t r a g e d y o f th e p r iv ile g e d fa ll o f th e m id d le - c la s s A n g lo A m e r ic a n .

NA T i O N A L DE F E NS E A f t e r D - F e n s le a v e s t h e f r e e w a y , h i s f i r s t s t o p is a c o n v e n i e n c e s t o r e r u n b y a K o r e a n i m m i g r a n t . 39 H e n e e d s c h a n g e t o m a k e a p h o n e c a l l t o h is e x - w i f e t o i n f o r m h e r t h a t h e i n t e n d s t o c o m e h o m e f o r h i s d a u g h t e r ’s b ir t h d a y . T h e s t o r e o w n e r i n s i s t s t h a t D - F e n s b u y s o m e t h i n g i f h e w a n t s c h a n g e f o r h is d o l ­ la r . D - F e n s c h o o s e s a c a n o f C o k e . W h e n h e d i s c o v e r s t h a t i t w i l l c o s t h im e i g h t y - f i v e c e n t s , l e a v i n g h i m w i t h o u t s u f f i c i e n t c h a n g e t o m a k e h is p h o n e c a ll, h e g o e s b a l l i s t i c . angry

A NGL O A M E R i C A N ( a a a ) : Y o u d o n ’ t g o t n o “ V s ” in C h in a ?

KORE AN i M M i G R A N T ( k í ) : I ’m n o t C h i n e s e , I ’ m K o r e a n . AAA: Y o u c o m e to m y co u n try . Y o u ta k e m y m o n e y . Y o u d o n ’t e v e n h a v e th e g r a c e to s p e a k m y la n g u a g e . Y o u ’re K o r e a n ?

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Ki : Y e s . A A A : D o y o u h a v e a n y id e a h o w m u c h m o n e y m y c o u n t r y h a s g i v e n y o u r co u n try ? D - F e n s is , o f c o u r s e , r e f e r r i n g t o t h e K o r e a n W a r a n d c e n t r a l r o l e p la y e d b y t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s in w a r d i n g o f f c o m m u n i s t s in N o r t h K o r e a f r o m t a k i n g o v e r S o u th K o r e a . D -F e n s g r a b s th e b a s e b a ll b a t th a t th e s to r e o w n e r h a s p i c k e d u p t o p r o t e c t h i m s e l f f r o m D - F e n s ’s ir e a n d b e g i n s t o d e s t r o y e n t ir e s h e lv e s o f m e r c h a n d i s e , w h i l e t a u n t i n g t h e m a n t o t u r n h is p r i c e s b a c k t o t h e 1 9 5 0 s (ir o n ic a lly e n o u g h , th e e ra o f th e K o r e a n W ar, w h e n K o r e a n s b e g a n to c o m e t o L o s A n g e l e s in l a r g e n u m b e r s ) . A f t e r g e t t i n g w h a t h e w a n t s , a C o k e f o r f i f t y c e n t s a n d f i f t y c e n t s i n c h a n g e , D - F e n s le a v e s t h e n o w - d e s t r o y e d c o n v e n i e n c e s t o r e . W i t h b a s e b a l l b a t in h a n d , h e b e g i n s t o r o a m t h r o u g h a w o r l d h e d o e s n ’ t r e c o g n i z e a s A m e r i c a . H o w is it , h e w o n d e r s , t h a t t h is c o u n t r y h a s c o m e t o l o o k l i k e t h e t h i r d w o r ld ?

Fallin g Dow n is a c o m p l e x e x a m p l e o f a m i d d l e - c l a s s d e f e n s i v e r e a c t i o n to th e c h a n g in g c u ltu r a l c a r to g r a p h ie s o f c o n t in e n t a l A m e r ic a n la n d s c a p e s a n d it s c o n c o m i t a n t p h o b i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f t h e m a s s m i g r a t i o n s t r e a m f r o m S o u t h t o N o r t h . I t is a p i e c e o f p o p u l a r c u l t u r e t h a t s p r i n g s f r o m a n d f e e d s i n t o t h e c u l t u r a l m o v e m e n t a f o o t t o r e t e r r i t o r i a l i z e it s p l a c e i n t h e n e w g lo b a l w o r ld o rd e r. B u t it fa ils to in te r r o g a t e th e r o le o f th e p r o je c t to d e ­ f e n d A m e r i c a n “ n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y ” in t h e “ t h i r d w o r l d i n g ” o f t h e A m e r i c a n c ity . A s a r e s u l t , t h e f i l m m i s s e s t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o f u e l w h a t E d w a r d S o ja a r g u e s is u r g e n t l y n e e d e d i n m a p p i n g ( p o s t m o d e r n ) g e o g r a p h i e s — n a m e ly , th e “ a w a r e n e s s o f o u r p e r s o n a l p o lit ic a l r e s p o n s ib ility fo r th e s o c ia l p r o d u c ­ t i o n o f s p a c e a s s o m e t h i n g w e h a v e c o l l e c t i v e l y c r e a t e d .” 40 W h a t m i g h t U .S . f o r e i g n p o l i c y in t h e c o l d w a r h a v e t o d o w i t h t h is c h a n g e d la n d s c a p e ? A n d w h a t d o e s th e K o r e a n W a r h a v e to d o w it h S a lv a d o r a n r e fu ­ g e e s ? I n d e e d , t h e d e f e n s e i n d u s t r y is a s u b t e x t t h a t n e v e r c o m e s f u l l y i n t o v i e w a n d is n e v e r l o c a t e d in t h e u r b a n e c o l o g y t h r o u g h w h i c h D - F e n s t r a v e ls t o h i s f a t e f u l e n d . T h is is a g l a r i n g o m i s s i o n in t h e l a n d s c a p e o f a c i t y li k e L o s A n g e le s — a c ity b u ilt o n t w o in d u s tr ie s , th e m ilita r y - in d u s tr ia l c o m p le x a n d H o l l y w o o d , a n d o n e in d e e p e c o n o m i c c r i s i s o v e r t h e a p p a r e n t d i s m a n ­ t l i n g o f t h e f o r m e r in t h e p o s t - c o l d w a r e r a . 4 1 P e r h a p s t h e m o s t u n d e r - r e a d s i g n s in t h e m o v i e , a n d y e t s u r e l y a m o s t c o m p e l l i n g e m p i r i c a l r e s id u e , is “ D - F e n s ,” t h e l i c e n s e p l a t e a n d m y p s e u d o n y m f o r t h e p r o t a g o n i s t a s w e l l a s t h e n o t e c p a r k i n g p e r m i t o n h i s w i n d s h i e l d . T h e l a t t e r is a n o b v i o u s a b ­ b r e v ia tio n o f N o r te c h , a L o s A n g e le s - b a s e d e n g in e e r in g c o m p a n y th a t h a s,

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t o q u o t e f r o m it s c u r r e n t W e b s it e , p r o v i d e d f o r t y y e a r s o f s e r v ic e t o t h e d e ­ fe n s e a n d a e r o s p a c e in d u s tr ie s . F o r e ig n in t e r v e n t io n b y th e U n ite d S ta te s h a s p la y e d a l a r g e r o l e i n p r o d u c i n g r e f u g e e a n d i m m i g r a n t f l o w s t o c i t i e s s u c h a s L o s A n g e le s . T h e r o l e o f t h e d e f e n s e i n d u s t r y in t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n r e f u ­ g e e c o u l d n o t b e m o r e p r o n o u n c e d . A s I o u t l i n e d in t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h is b o o k , d u r i n g t h e t w e l v e - y e a r S a l v a d o r a n c iv il w a r , t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s f u n d e d t h e S a l v a d o r a n g o v e r n m e n t w i t h $6 b i l l i o n in e c o n o m i c , m ilit a r y , a n d c o v e r t a id . T h a t w a r r e s u l t e d in o v e r s e v e n t y - f iv e t h o u s a n d d e a t h s a n d t h e f l i g h t o f o n e - s i x t h o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n p o p u l a t i o n . Y e t D - F e n s is u n a b l e t o r e c o n c i l e h is w o r k to d e fe n d A m e r ic a n n a tio n a l s e c u r ity w it h th e a lie n e n v ir o n m e n t in f r o n t o f h i m . H e f a i l s t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e r o l e h i s w o r k in t h a t i n d u s t r y h a s p l a y e d in r e s h a p i n g t h e s p a t i a l , e c o n o m i c , p o l i t i c a l , a n d p e r s o n a l g e o g r a ­ p h i e s o f t h e c i t y in w h i c h h e is n o w a n e x i le . I n f a c t , i f a n y t h i n g D - F e n s m i s r e c o g n i z e s h i s r o l e w h e n h e t h r e a t e n s t h e K o r e a n i m m i g r a n t g r o c e r w i t h h is b a s e b a ll b a t w h ile s a y in g , “ D o y o u k n o w h o w m u c h m o n e y th is c o u n tr y g a v e y o u r g o v e rn m e n t? ” T h u s , w h i l e Falling Dow n d o e s e n g a g e t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y r e c o m p o s i t i o n o f s p a c e - t i m e - b e i n g t h r o u g h D - F e n s ’s d i s l o c a t i o n f r o m t h e e c o n o m y a n d h is d i s o r i e n t a t i o n in t h e c u l t u r a l a n d p h y s i c a l l a n d s c a p e , t h i s “ t a l e a b o u t u r b a n r e a l i t y ” u l t i m a t e l y v e il s t h e r e a l i t y o f ( d e ) m i l i t a r i z a t i o n . D - F e n s d o e s n o t r e c o g n i z e t h e s y n c h r o n i s m o f t h e u r b a n c r i s i s in t h e w o r l d t h a t s u r r o u n d s h i m w i t h t h e g l o b a l c r i s i s in t h e w o r l d o u t t h e r e , a n d t h u s t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n h i s e x i le i n h i s h o m e l a n d a n d t h e e x o d u s o f C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n s f r o m th e ir h o m e la n d . D -F e n s a n d th e S a lv a d o r a n r e fu g e e a re e x p e n d a b le s u r p lu s l a b o r in t h e w a s t e l a n d o f i n d u s t r i a l c a p i t a l i s m a n d t h e p o s t - c o l d w a r e r a . T h e f i l m ’s r e f u s a l t o b r i d g e t h e g a p b e t w e e n t h e u r b a n g e o g r a p h y a n d t h e c u ltu r a l la n d s c a p e w it h th e p o lit ic a l e c o n o m y o f th e m ilit a r y in d u s tr ia l c o m ­ p le x m a s k s th e “ c h a n g e d lo o k o f t h in g s ” a s a n e ffe c t o f im m ig r a t io n a n d c r im e r a th e r th a n th e e ffe c t o f m ilit a r iz a t io n a n d d e m ilit a r iz a t io n . I n d e e d , th e b io g r a p h ie s a n d s p a tia l jo u r n e y s o f b o th th e d o w n s iz e d d e fe n s e w o r k e r a n d th e S a lv a d o r a n r e fu g e e a re lin k e d p r e c is e ly a r o u n d th e c o ld w a r a n d th e r o l e o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s in t h e S a l v a d o r a n c iv il w a r . B u t Falling Dow n f a i l s t o b r in g th e s e s u b je c t p o s itio n s in t o a n e m p a t h e tic r e la tio n s h ip to o n e a n o th e r b e c a u s e o f t h e d e f e n s i v e c o g n i t i v e m a p t h a t u n d e r g i r d s i t s n a r r a t iv e .

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TO P R O T E C T A N D TO S E RV E W h i l e Fallin g Dow n d e p i c t s a w o r l d f a l l i n g a p a r t , t h e p r o b l e m is h o w i t a t ­ te m p t s to p u t th a t w o r ld b a c k to g e th e r . T h e film r e fr a m e s a p o ly p h o n y o f c o n t e m p o r a r y d is c o u r s e s o n im m ig r a t io n , e c o n o m ic d e c lin e , in n e r - c ity v io le n c e , r a c is m , c a p it a lis t g r e e d , a n d g o v e r n m e n t w a s te in t o a n o r d e r e d l a w - a n d - o r d e r n a r r a t iv e . T h e f i l m ’s n e g l e c t o f g l o b a l m i l i t a r i z a t i o n is c a r r i e d t h r o u g h t o it s c o n c o m i t a n t n o t i o n , t h e m i l i t a r i z a t i o n o f t h e l o c a l la n d s c a p e . T h e lo w - in t e n s it y w a r fa r e t a c t ic s o f th e c o ld w a r h a v e fo u n d th e ir w a y to th e c r i m i n a l i z e d i n n e r c ity . W h i l e Falling Dow n is o n e m o r e i n s t a l l m e n t i n a l o n g t r a d i t i o n o f t h e w h i t e m a le jo u r n e y in g a c r o s s a te r r ify in g la n d s c a p e to g e t h o m e , D -F e n s is n ’ t th e h e r o u p o n a r r iv a l. Falling Dow n is b i l l e d a s a s t o r y a b o u t a “ m a n a t w a r w i t h e v e r y d a y l i f e [ w h o ] is a b o u t t o g e t e v e n .” B u t i t i s a s m u c h a s t o r y a b o u t a c o p , D e te c tiv e P r e n d e r g a s t, w h o r e g a in s h is a g e n c y a n d th e c o u r a g e to r e ­ s t o r e l a w a n d o r d e r . H e d o e s s o in a s h o o t o u t w i t h D - F e n s , in w h i c h D - F e n s is e r a d i c a t e d a n d f a l l s i n t o t h e a b y s s o f t h e s e a . I t is , in f a c t , t h e c o p w h o is u l t i m a t e l y r e c o n s t r u c t e d a s t h e w h i t e m a s c u l i n e n o r m . 42 A t t h e s a m e t im e , p o l y g l o t L o s A n g e l e s a n d t h e d iv e r s it y o f t h e i n n e r c it y a r e m i r r o r e d in t h e c o m p o s i t i o n o f t h e s t a f f a t t h e l o c a l p o l i c e h e a d q u a r t e r s . It is o n ly th e r e , w it h in th e b o u n d a r ie s o f la w e n fo r c e m e n t, th a t th e p o s s i­ b ility o f a n e w m o d e o f in t e r r e la t in g b e tw e e n g r o u p s fo r m e r ly s e p a r a te d b y r a c i a l a n d n a t i o n a l h i e r a r c h i e s is r e a l i z e d . T h e o p e r a t i v e m o d e is p o l i c i n g . D - F e n s ’s t r i u m p h a n t b u t n o w d e f u n c t p r o j e c t “ t o m a k e t h e w o r l d s a f e f o r d e m o c r a c y ” is c o n c e d e d t o t h e c o p ’s m o r e t i m e l y p r o j e c t “ t o p r o t e c t a n d t o s e r v e .” D i s c o u r s e s a b o u t i m m i g r a t i o n , r a c i s m , a n d i n n e r - c i t y v i o l e n c e a r e a l l s u b s u m e d w i t h i n t h i s i d e o l o g i c a l f r a m e o f c r im in a li t y . T h e p r o j e c t o f lo c a l la w e n fo r c e m e n t (P re n d e r g a s t) n o w h a s p r im a c y o v e r g lo b a l d e fe n s e ( D - F e n s ) . N a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y i s e n c o d e d in a n e w d o m i n a n t m y t h o l o g y t h a t is n o l o n g e r c o m m u n i s m b u t c r im in a li t y . T h e n o s t a lg ic p o r tr a y a l o f lo c a l la w e n fo r c e m e n t a s th e k in d ly a n d g e n tle g r a n d f a t h e r f i g u r e o f P r e n d e r g a s t is a r e m a r k a b l e o n e f o r a c i t y t h a t is h o m e to th e lik e s o f f o r m e r p o lic e c h i e f D a r y l G a te s a n d c o n v ic te d p o lic e o ffic e r s S t a c e y K o o n a n d M a r k F u h r m a n , a n d a c i t y t h a t h a d o n ly r e c e n t l y c o m e u n d e r t h e c r i t i c a l g a z e o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l h u m a n r i g h t s a n d l o c a l c iv il r i g h t s m o n i ­ t o r s a l i k e . T h e f i l m r e a d s r a t h e r l i k e a r e d e m p t i v e n a r r a t iv e f o r t h e b r u i s i n g t h a t t h e p o l i c e f o r c e t o o k in t h e w a k e o f t h e b e a t i n g o f R o d n e y K i n g , a n d a s s u c h i t is a n e r a s u r e o f K i n g ’s b a t o n - b r u i s e d b o d y . H o w e v e r , g i v e n t h e p e r i o d o f it s p r o d u c t i o n ( p o s t - R o d n e y K i n g b e a t i n g ) a n d t h e t i m i n g o f it s

L ATi NO LOOTER

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r e le a s e ( p o s t - 1 9 9 2 r i o t s ) , t h e c h o i c e t o f r a m e Falling Dow n w i t h i n a c o p s - a n d r o b b e r s g e n r e , a n d L o s A n g e l e s w i t h i n a l a w - a n d - o r d e r d i s c o u r s e , in v o k e s t h o s e e v e n t s . R o d n e y K i n g is a n a b s e n t p r e s e n c e . L e t ’s r e t u r n t o t h o s e e v e n t s a n d t o t h e f i g u r e o f t h e L a t i n o l o o t e r , w h o s e a r r e s t w a s ta k e n e v e n b y A fr ic a n A m e r ic a n a n d C h ic a n o s p o k e s p e r s o n s as p r o o f o f a c t u a l c u lp a b ilit y . I n f a c t , t h e L o s A n g e l e s r i o t s in 1 9 9 2 h a d p r o v id e d a p a r tic u la r ly in s tr u c tiv e m o m e n t to o b s e r v e th e d e p lo y m e n t o f la w e n fo r c e ­ m e n t a g a i n s t L a t i n o s . B o t h t h e A m e r i c a n C i v il L i b e r t i e s U n i o n ( a c l u ) a n d t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n R e f u g e e C e n t e r ( c a r e c e n ) r e le a s e d r e p o r t s d e n o u n c ­ i n g t h e w i d e s p r e a d c iv il a n d h u m a n r i g h t s a b u s e s a g a i n s t L a t i n o s d u r i n g t h e r io ts . T h e r e p o r ts c h a r g e th a t la w e n fo r c e m e n t fa ile d to p r o te c t c ity r e s id e n ts w it h o u t r e g a r d to e t h n ic o r n a tio n a l o r ig in a n d v io la te d c o n s t it u t io n a l p r o ­ te c tio n s th a t m a n d a te th a t in t e r r o g a t io n s a n d a r r e s ts b e m a d e o n p r o b a b le c a u s e a n d n o t o n e t h n i c a p p e a r a n c e . T h is s i t u a t i o n w a s f u r t h e r i n f l a m e d b y t h e c h i e f o f p o l i c e a n d t h e U .S . a t t o r n e y g e n e r a l , w h o s i n g l e d o u t L a t i n o a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n i m m i g r a n t s a s a m a j o r c a u s e o f t h e u p r i s i n g . 43 M o r e o v e r , t h e s a m e y e a r a r e p o r t b y A m n e s t y I n t e r n a t i o n a l , “ T o r t u r e , I llT r e a t m e n t a n d E x c e s s iv e F o r c e b y P o l i c e in L o s A n g e l e s , ” f o u n d t h a t in L o s A n g e le s h u m a n r ig h t s v io la t io n s o f lo w - in c o m e m in o r it y p o p u la t io n s , in ­ c l u d i n g i m m i g r a n t s , w e r e a s y s t e m a t i c f e a t u r e o f t h e “ w a r a g a i n s t c r i m e .” T h e fu ll d e p lo y m e n t o f th e s e m u ltip le a g e n c ie s o f la w e n fo r c e m e n t ( l a p d , l a sd

, i n s , B o r d e r P a t r o l, N a t i o n a l G u a r d ) d u r i n g t h e r i o t s w a s t h u s o n ly

a h y p e r - i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n o f a c t i v i t i e s t h a t o c c u r u n d e r n o r m a l c o n d i t i o n s .44 D - F e n s t h i n k s A m e r i c a h a s c o m e t o r e s e m b l e t h e “ t h i r d w o r l d ” b y v ir t u e o f its “ c h a n g in g d e m o g r a p h ic s ,” c o d e fo r “ im m ig r a t io n c r is is ” a n d “ b r o w n in g o f A m e r i c a . ” T h e L o s A n g e l e s p o l i c e d e p a r t m e n t ’s “ d i s t u r b i n g p a t t e r n s o f im p u n ity ” w it h r e g a r d to fr e q u e n t p o lic e a b u s e o f b la c k a n d L a tin o re s id e n ts s u g g e s t s r e s e m b l a n c e s w i t h t h e “ t h i r d w o r l d ” a t a n o t h e r le v e l , a p o l i c e f o r c e i t s e l f e x e m p t e d f r o m l a w a n d o r d e r . T h e i n n e r c i t y in Fallin g Dow n s t a n d s a s t h e “ f r e e f ir e z o n e ” t h a t i t i s ,45 b u t a b s e n t f r o m t h i s p o r t r a y a l is a n i n t e r r o ­ g a t io n o f h o w th e v io le n t s o c ia l b o d y is v io le n tly p r o d u c e d a s a c r im in a liz e d t h ir d w o r l d b y a l o c a l l o w - i n t e n s i t y w a r f a r e — t h e w a r o n t h e r a c i a l i z e d p o o r a n d im m ig r a n ts . W h e r e a s D -F e n s e n te r s th e in n e r c ity fr o m th e h ig h g r o u n d o f th e h ig h ­ w a y , th e b u ffe r z o n e o f th e a p a r th e id u r b a n o rd e r, th e S a lv a d o r a n r e fu g e e e n te r s S o u th e r n C a lifo r n ia fr o m th e lo w g r o u n d o f p la c e s , s u c h a s th e s u b ­ t e r r a n e a n a n d r a t - i n f e s t e d s e w e r b e t w e e n T i j u a n a a n d S a n Y s id r o , a n d m o r e

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recently the killing fields o f the desert.46 These disparate vantages persist in the inner city where their journeys collide. There, where race or ethnicity and not the commission o f a crime is the basis for arrest^7 D-Fens’s mobility, across the inner city at least, is unfettered by the constant and visible police presence on the ground and overhead. At the border and in the city, however, Salvadoran refugees must dodge a veritable “armed response” to their ille­ gal presence: a full constellation o f law enforcement agencies mobilized to arrest, detain, charge, and deport them. Images o f benign police officers and depictions o f harmonious multicultural police forces belie the lived reality o f Salvadoran refugees before, during, and after the riots. As with the media coverage o f the riots, the “visible, if silenced” presence o f Latino immigrants, the film Falling Down fed into the reassertion o f a par­ ticular moral geography and to a program o f topographic reform. Both the film and the live coverage offered particular representations o f the space of the inner-city immigrant barrio as a lawless place in need o f a greater pres­ ence o f law enforcement, be it the police or the police in concert with immi­ gration.

WE c a n ’ t HELP O T H E R S u p , iF WE ARE FALLi NG DOWN

As a filmic representation o f a particular historical juncture in the develop­ ment o f the American city, Los Angeles in particular, Falling Down hit a raw nerve and entered a zone o f heated cultural debate about crime, urban decay, and immigration. The conservative populist radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a fierce proponent o f the anti-immigrant and anti-crime legislation proposed in the aftermath o f the riots, was repeatedly likened to D-Fens. Limbaugh felt compelled to defend his “good name,” which had been “be­ smirched countless times in discussions and reviews o f the movie Falling Down.” 4 8 Electronic mailing list discussions on Proposition 187 picked up on the question haunting the film, “Are we falling apart?” with retorts like, “We can’t help others up, if we are falling down.” In the aftermath o f the riots, the image o f D-Fens looking through the want ads as he sits on a ruin o f an old cement structure against the backdrop o f downtown Los Angeles, only to discover that he is trespassing on gang territory, captured a feeling o f radical instability. In this post-cold war and post-Fordist landscape, both D-Fens and the Chicano gang members who confront him, demanding a toll in the form o f his empty briefcase, are scav­ engers o f a “future already looted,’M9 by the immanent forces o f an emerg-

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i n g n e o l i b e r a l r e g i m e a n d i t s a t t e n d a n t s e c u r i t y s c a p e s . I f in t h i s c h a p t e r I h a v e tr ie d to e v o k e s o m e th in g o f th e a ffe c tiv e d im e n s io n s o f th is h is t o r ic a l j u n c t u r e a n d it s p o l i t i c s o f f e a r a n d e n c l o s u r e , in t h e n e x t c h a p t e r I c o n s i d e r h o w t h i s n e w m o d e o f p r o d u c t i o n s e c r e t e s a n e w k i n d o f s p a c e in t h e r u i n e d l a n d s c a p e o f t h e i n n e r c i t y o f L o s A n g e l e s a n d it s i m m i g r a n t b a r r io s .

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S T R E E T HOODLUM

TWO

T O P O G R A P H i C REFORM

I n A u g u s t 1 9 9 2 , t h r e e m o n t h s a f t e r t h e L o s A n g e l e s r i o t s , t h e c i t y ’s C e n ­ tra l A m e r ic a n im m ig r a n t le a d e r s h ip , w h ic h h a d e m e r g e d fr o m th e s o lid a r ity m o v e m e n t o f t h e 1 9 8 0 s , h e l d a p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e in f r o n t o f t h e r u i n e d m i n i ­ m a l l a t t h e c o r n e r o f P i c o a n d A l v a r a d o s t r e e t s . A s d i s c u s s e d in t h e p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r , in t h e a f t e r m a t h o f t h e r i o t s , t h e m e d i a a n d t h e a n t i - i m m i g r a n t m o v e m e n t h a d b e e n m i n i n g r u i n s s u c h a s t h e s e f o r n a t i o n a l i s t n a r r a t iv e s , fo r w h ic h th e b o d y o f th e L a tin o lo o t e r w a s fa s t b e c o m in g a p o w e r fu l p o lit i­ c a l te x t. T h e C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n le a d e r s a t th e p r e s s c o n fe r e n c e h o p e d to c o n ­ s t r u c t s o m e t h i n g e ls e o u t o f t h e l o o s e n e d b u i l d i n g b l o c k s o f t h e r u in , a n d to v e r y d iffe r e n t e n d s. S t a n d i n g b e t w e e n t h e r u in a n d t h e c a m e r a s , t h e s e a c t i v i s t s o f f e r e d t h e f o l ­ l o w i n g r e r e a d i n g o f t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f t h e r u in . A g a i n s t t h e m e d i a - g e n e r a t e d i m a g e o f t h e L a t i n o l o o t e r t h a t w a s b u r n e d i n t o p o p u l a r ( t e l e v is u a l) c o n ­ s c io u s n e s s a s ille g a l C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n im m ig r a n t s , th e s e s p o k e s p e r s o n s p r o ­

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d u c e d a ffid a v its t e s t ify in g th a t la w e n fo r c e m e n t a n d im m ig r a t io n o ffic e r s h a d ta k e n a d v a n ta g e o f th e c o n fu s io n a n d th e g e n e r a liz e d s u s p ic io n o f lo o t ­ i n g t o c o l l a b o r a t e in r o u n d i n g u p a n d r a i d i n g t h e a p a r t m e n t s o f L a t i n o s , a ll u n d e r th e g u is e o f lo o k in g f o r s t o le n g o o d s . O n th e s tr e e ts a n d in s id e th e s e d e n s e ly p o p u la te d a p a r tm e n ts , w h e n n o lo o t w a s to b e fo u n d , im m ig r a tio n p a p e r s w e r e s o u g h t i n s t e a d . T h e s e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n le a d e r s a r g u e d t h a t t h e v a s t m a jo r ity o f L a tin o s tu r n e d o v e r to th e I m m ig r a t io n a n d N a tu r a liz a tio n S e r v ic e s ( i n s ) w e r e e i t h e r n e v e r e v e n c r i m i n a l l y c h a r g e d o r w e r e , in f a c t , a r ­ r e s te d f o r v io la t in g a v a g u e a n d c o n fu s e d c u r fe w p o lic y u p h e ld u n e v e n ly a n d d is p r o p o r tio n a te ly in im m ig r a n t n e ig h b o r h o o d s — a n d n o t, a s im a g in e d , fo r l o o t i n g . T h e s e le a d e r s a n d a d v o c a t e s g a v e v e r y d i f f e r e n t t e s t i m o n y b e f o r e t h e c a m e r a s , i n s i s t i n g t h a t t h e r e s i d e n t s o f P i c o U n i o n w e r e h a r d w o r k i n g , la w a b i d i n g c i t i z e n s w h o o n l y w a n t e d t h e r i g h t t o m a k e b e t t e r liv e s f o r t h e m ­ s e lv e s a n d t h e i r c h i l d r e n . T h e y w e r e n o t l o o t e r s o r r i o t e r s , a n d t h e y w e r e n o t i l l e g a l s in t h e c o u n t r y t o t a k e a d v a n t a g e o f t h e w e l f a r e s t a t e . T h e a c tu a l p r e te x t a n d n e w s a n g le fo r th e p r e s s c o n fe r e n c e th a t d a y w a s a c o m p la in t : T h e c it y h a d d o n e n o t h i n g to c le a r th e r u b b le a n d to b e g in r e b u i l d i n g . P i c o U n i o n a n d it s C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n p o p u l a t i o n w e r e , t h e y l a ­ m e n t e d , t h e l a s t t o r e c e iv e t h e a t t e n t i o n a n d r e s o u r c e s g a l v a n i z e d b y t h e r i o t s . T h e s u d d e n a r r iv a l o f t h e b u l l d o z e r o n t h e v e r y m o r n i n g o f t h e p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e t h r e a t e n e d t o u p s e t t h e p h o t o o p p o r t u n i t y t h a t t h e g r o u p ’s p r e s s c o m m u n ic a t io n s s t a f f h a d c h o r e o g r a p h e d . T h e y d e s p e r a te ly a tt e m p t e d to k e e p t h e g a z e o f t h e f e w r e p o r t e r s i n a t t e n d a n c e a w a y f r o m t h e b u lld o z e r , j u s t l o n g e n o u g h t o i m p r i n t t h e i m a g e o f t h e r u in o n f i l m b e f o r e i t w a s le v e l e d . T h e c a m e r a o p e r a t o r s w e r e u s h e r e d i n t o p o s i t i o n w i t h t h e i r b a c k s t o t h e m a c h i n e , b u t t h e d r o n e in t h e b a c k g r o u n d w a s u n m i s t a k a b l e . S t a n d i n g b e t w e e n t h e r u in a n d t h e c a m e r a s , t h e s p e a k e r s i s s u e d a n i m ­ p a s s io n e d c a ll to r e b u ild th e n e ig h b o r h o o d . T h e y c lo s e d th e p r e s s c o n fe r ­ e n c e w it h a n a n n o u n c e m e n t o f a n u p c o m in g c o m m u n ity fo r u m o r g a n iz e d to in s e r t th e n e e d s o f th e a r e a a n d o f th e C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n c o m m u n ity in to t h e a g e n d a o f M a y o r T o m B r a d l e y ’s a n d P e t e r U e b e r r o t h ’s p o s t - r i o t r e d e v e l ­ o p m e n t in itia tiv e , R e b u ild L o s A n g e le s (r l a ). O n ly th e S p a n is h - la n g u a g e m e d ia r e s p o n d e d to th e p r e s s r e le a s e s a n d c a m e o u t to r e c o r d th is d e c o n ­ s t r u c t io n o f th e L a tin o lo o t e r a n d c a ll f o r th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f th e P ic o U n io n a rea. F a s t fo r w a r d to 19 9 9 a n d to th e r e b u ilt e n v ir o n m e n t o f P ic o U n io n . T h e r u i n o f t h e m i n i - m a l l is n o w g o n e , a n d s o t o o is t h e t a l l w i r e f e n c e w i t h a “ f o r s a l e ” s i g n t h a t h a d s u r r o u n d e d t h e e m p t y d ir t l o t — o n e o f t h e 2 5 0

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p r o p e r tie s r e g is te r e d u n d e r th e V a c a n t L o t R e v ita liz a tio n P r o je c t s p o n s o r e d b y R e b u i ld L o s A n g e l e s . F o r y e a r s t h e o n ly t r a c e o f t h e m i n i - m a l l ’s d e m i s e w a s th e b la c k e n e d w a ll o f th e lo n e r e m a in in g b r ic k b u ild in g , w h ic h se rv e d a s it s b a c k d r o p . T h e n in 1 9 9 9 t h e c o r n e r o f P i c o a n d H o o v e r b e c a m e t h e s it e o f a b r a n d - n e w J a c k in t h e B o x . T h e c o r n e r a l s o f e l l u n d e r t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g i n j u n c t i o n e n f o r c e d b y t h e R a m p a r t D i v i s i o n o f l a p d ’s e l i t e a n t i - g a n g u n it C o m m u n it y R e s o u r c e s A g a in s t S tr e e t H o o d lu m s . T h e ru in e d m in i- m a ll, w h ic h h a d s e r v e d a s th e c e n tr a l p r o p to a s e e m in g ly fa ile d m e d ia e v e n t, c a m e t o b e a t a r g e t a r e a — i n d e e d , t h e e p i c e n t e r — f o r b o t h r l a ’s r e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o g r a m a n d l a p d ’s c r i m e p r e v e n t i o n s t r a t e g i e s . W h a t k i n d o f s o c i a l s p a ­ t ia l h a r m o n y w e r e t h e s e d i s t i n c t t e c h n i q u e s o f m a n a g i n g t h e i n n e r c i t y a n d it s i m m i g r a n t p o p u l a t i o n a t t e m p t i n g t o r e s t o r e o r t o b u i l d a n e w ? B o th p r o je c ts s o u g h t to r e s tr u c tu r e th e t o p o g r a p h y o f th e in n e r - c ity im ­ m i g r a n t b a r r i o a t t h e l e v e l o f i t s b u i l t e n v i r o n m e n t ( it s b u i l d i n g s a n d s t r e e t s ) in o r d e r t o r e d i r e c t o r c o n s t r a i n t h e t r a n s g r e s s i v e m o b i l i t y o f t h e L a t i n o i m ­ m i g r a n t . W h e r e a s r l a e n v i s i o n e d , in t h e f r e n e t i c a n d d i s o r d e r ly c r o w d o f l o o t e r s , a n e w m a r k e t r i p e f o r c o n s u m e r c a p i t a l i s m , l a p d ’s a n t i - g a n g a b a t e ­ m e n t u n i t s a w in t h a t s a m e c r o w d t h e f i g u r e o f t h e “ s t r e e t h o o d l u m ” ( a k a g a n g m e m b e r ) r u lin g a n d a d m in is t e r in g o v e r a c o u n t e r v a ilin g a n d ille g a l e c o n o m y th a t s t r a n g le d le g it im a t e lo c a l b u s in e s s . In th e p o s t- r io t e ra th e s p a c e o f th e s e im m ig r a n t b a r r io s w e r e r e s h a p e d b y th e s e m u ltip le a n d c o n tr a d ic to r y p r e s s u r e s : th e r e p r e s e n ta tio n s o f sp a c e e m a n a tin g fr o m

r e d e v e lo p m e n t a n d la w e n fo r c e m e n t a g e n c ie s ; a n d th e

s p a c e s o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n e m a n a t i n g f r o m la b o r , i m m i g r a n t e n t r e p r e n e u r s , i m m i g r a n t r i g h t s a d v o c a t e s , y o u t h g a n g s , a n d t h e i m m i g r a n t s t h e m s e lv e s ; a n d th e “ s p a tia l p r a c t ic e s ” o f b o th . T h e in n e r - c ity im m ig r a n t b a r r io th u s se rv e s a s a k e y e t h n o g r a p h ic s ite th r o u g h w h ic h to v ie w th e n a tu r e o f c o n ­ t e m p o r a r y u r b a n r e s t r u c t u r i n g , t h e a u t h o r i t a r i a n l i m i t s o f d e m o c r a c y a s it c o m b in e s w it h n e o lib e r a l p o lic ie s , a n d h o w b o th c o m b in e to m a n a g e th e p r e s s u r e s o f g lo b a liz a tio n .

Rebuild Los A n g tlts L e t ’s r e t u r n t o t h e r e b u i l t J a c k in t h e B o x o n t h e c o r n e r o f P i c o a n d H o o v e r a n d t o r l a ’ s V a c a n t L o t R e v i t a l i z a t i o n P r o j e c t .1 P i c o U n i o n a n d t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n c o m m u n i t y d id , in f a c t , e n t e r r l a ’ s a g e n d a . O n e o f t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n le a d e r s p r e s e n t a t t h e p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e in 1 9 9 2 , C a r l o s V a q u e r a n o , w a s i n v i t e d o n t o r l a ’ s c o m m u n i t y b o a r d o f d ir e c t o r s . M o r e o v e r , P i c o U n i o n

S TRE ET HOODLUM

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b e c a m e “ C l u s t e r A r e a n o . 1 ” in t h e V a c a n t L o t p r o j e c t , a n d t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n o f P i c o a n d A l v a r a d o w a s t e r m e d “ S it e 1 ” in t h e p r o j e c t ’s i n v e s t m e n t p a c k a g e p o r tfo lio . T h e co rn e r, th e n e ig h b o r h o o d , a n d th e c o m m u n ity th u s b e c a m e th e s ite o f in te n s iv e in te r v e n tio n fo r r e d e v e lo p m e n t.2 T h e s p a tia l d is c o u r s e o f R l a c o n s t r u c t e d P ic o U n io n a s a p a r tic u la r k in d o f o b j e c t o f k n o w l e d g e : n o t a b ly , a “ n e g l e c t e d a r e a ,” a “ z o n e o f n e e d ,” a n d t h e “ i g n o r e d p o o r , i s o l a t e d i n n e r c it y .” 3 T h is d i s c o u r s e a b o u t t h e u n d e v e l ­ o p e d i n n e r c i t y w a s n o t n e w , o f c o u r s e , b u t r a t h e r d e r iv e d f r o m t h e J o h n s o n a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’s W a r o n P o v e r t y i n t h e 1 9 6 0 s .4 W h a t w a s n e w , h o w e v e r , w a s th e p r iv a t iz a t io n o f th e d e v e lo p m e n t fu n c t io n , n o t to m e n tio n th e fo c u s o n r e ta il a n d c o m m e r c ia l e n te r p r is e s a n d o n c o n s u m p t io n r a th e r th a n p r o d u c ­ t i o n . T h e p r o b l e m s o f t h e i n n e r c ity , w h i c h o n c e r e q u i r e d s t a t e a c t i o n , w e r e n o w s e e n a s t h e r e s u l t s o f s t a t e a c t i v it y . A c t i v i s t s o c i a l p o l i c i e s s u c h a s w e l ­ fa re , p u b lic h o u s in g , a n d c o m m u n ity b lo c k g r a n ts o n c e p o s e d a s th e s o lu ­ tio n h a d n o w b e c o m e th e p r o b le m . T h e s ta te w a s n o w d e p ic te d a s a n u n ­ p r o d u c t i v e a g e n t in d e v e l o p m e n t , a f u n c t i o n t h a t w a s t o b e r e t u r n e d t o t h e m a r k e t p l a c e a n d t o t h e p r iv a t e e c o n o m i c a r e n a .5 T h e d is c o u r s e o f r l a w a s , o f c o u rs e , a lo c a lly a n d h is to r ic a lly c o n tin g e n t m a n ife s t a tio n o f s h ift s in fe d e r a l p o lic y . T w o p o s t - r io t r e p o r ts w e r e in d ic a ­ t iv e o f t h i s t u r n t o t h e n e o l i b e r a l . T h e f i r s t e m a n a t e d f r o m G e o r g e B u s h S r .’s p r e s id e n tia l ta s k fo r c e o n th e L o s A n g e le s r io ts a n d th e s e c o n d fr o m th e D e m o c r a t i c P a r t y ’s t h i n k t a n k , t h e P r o g r e s s i v e P o l i c y I n s t i t u t e . T h e d i s ­ c o u r s e o f b o th th e R e p u b lic a n s a n d D e m o c r a ts , p a r ty a ffilia tio n s n o t w it h ­ s t a n d i n g , r e v e a l e d a r e m a r k a b l e a n d u n p r e c e d e n t e d c o n v e r g e n c e in t h e i r p r o p o s a ls fo r th e r e d e v e lo p m e n t o f in n e r - c ity L o s A n g e le s . In e a c h c a s e , th e r o le o f th e c a p it a lis t w e lfa r e s ta te h a d b e c o m e th e c r u c ia l fo c u s . W h ile D e m o c r a t s b l a m e d t h e p l i g h t o f t h e i n n e r c i t y o n “ t w e lv e y e a r s o f R e p u b l i c a n n e g le c t ,” R e p u b lic a n s a ttr ib u te d th e c o n d it io n o f th e in n e r c ity to th e “ fa ile d p r o g r a m s o f t h e G r e a t S o c i e t y .” O n th e s u r fa c e , th e p o s itio n s o f th e p a r tie s r e g a r d in g th e in te r v e n tio n s a n d th e r o le o f th e s ta te a p p e a r to b e c o n s id e r a b ly d iffe r e n t, w it h o n e c a ll­ in g f o r m o r e s ta te in te r v e n tio n a n d th e o t h e r fo r le s s . T h e p r o p o s a l b y th e p r e s id e n t ia l t a s k fo r c e m e r e ly r e e m p h a s iz e d R e p u b lic a n s t r a t e g ie s o f th e 1 9 8 0 s t o “ c u t t h e r e d t a p e ” a n d p r o v id e “ r e g u l a t o r y r e l i e f ” in o r d e r t o p r o ­ m o t e c o r p o r a t e i n v e s t m e n t a n d “ i n d i g e n o u s e n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p .” R e p u b li c a n d i s c o u r s e r e m a i n e d g r o u n d e d in a n i d e o l o g y o f d e r e g u l a t i o n t h a t a r g u e d f o r t h e f u r t h e r d i s m a n t l i n g o f e n t i t l e m e n t p r o g r a m s a n d g o v e r n m e n t in t e r v e n -

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t i o n in p r iv a t e a f f a i r s a n d m a r k e t f o r c e s . T h e r i o t s d id n o t r u p t u r e R e p u b l i ­ can co m m o n sen se. T h e D e m o c r a tic p o s itio n w a s m o r e c o m p le x b u t, in th e e n d , n o t m a r k e d ly d i f f e r e n t . T h e p r o p o s a l b y t h e P r o g r e s s i v e P o l i c y I n s t i t u t e b e g a n it s r e p o r t w i t h a c a l l f o r a n a lt e r n a t i v e t o t h e “ t r a d i t i o n a l L e f t - R i g h t s c h i s m ” a n d t h e n p r o c e e d e d to “ d e m y t h o lo g iz e ” b o th L e ft a n d R ig h t in te r p r e ta tio n s o f th e r i o t s . H o w e v e r , t h e a lt e r n a t i v e i t p o s i t e d a c t u a l l y m o v e d t h e d e b a t e c l o s e r to th e d is c u r s iv e b o u n d a r ie s o f th e o p p o s it io n a n d to th e g o v e r n in g lo g i c o f th e m a r k e t. A t th e o u ts e t, th e d o c u m e n t r e p o s itio n e d th e D e m o c r a tic P a rty in t h e c e n t e r o f t h e L e f t - R i g h t s c h i s m . T h is in v o lv e d b r i n g i n g i t s p o l i c y r e c ­ o m m e n d a tio n s c lo s e r to th e R ig h t. W h a t w a s n e e d e d to re p la c e th e “ s o c ia l s e r v ic e in d u s t r y ” u p o n w h ic h th e u n d e r c la s s fe d w a s a “ n e w k in d o f g o v ­ e r n m e n ta l a c tio n ” a n d a “ r e d e s ig n in g o f g o v e r n m e n t a lo n g e n tr e p r e n e u r ia l lin e s .” T h e s ta te w a s in v o k e d a s a n “ e n tr e p r e n e u r ia l g o v e r n m e n t ” a s w e ll a s a “ p u b l i c e n t e r p r i s e .” T h e s e r h e t o r i c a l p la y s m i g h t b e r e a d a s a s u c c e s s ­ fu l a b s o r p t io n o f th e o p p o s it io n a l R e p u b lic a n d is c o u r s e to se rv e a D e m o ­ c r a t i c a g e n d a a n d B ill C l i n t o n ’s b id f o r p r e s i d e n c y in t h e u p c o m i n g n a t i o n a l e le c tio n s . H o w e v e r, m u c h a s S tu a rt H a ll h a s a r g u e d a b o u t th e e ffe c ts o f T h a t c h e r i s m in B r it a in , o n e c o u l d c l a i m t h a t t h e c o l l a p s i n g o f s t a t e a n d p r i ­ v a te s e c to r s in t o o n e a n o t h e r tu r n e d o u t to r e p r e s e n t th e fin a l v ic to r y o f th e R e a g a n / B u sh a g e n d a , w h e r e th e lo g ic o f th e m a rk e t n o w g o v e rn e d th e s t a t e a n d s o c i e t y . 6 T h e s u b s e q u e n t e l e c t i o n o f B ill C l i n t o n d id n o t r e p r e s e n t a b r e a k fr o m b u t r a th e r a fir m e m b r a c e o f “ R e a g a n o m ic s ” fo r m a liz e d a s th e “ W a s h i n g t o n C o n s e n s u s ” d u r i n g t h e B u s h S r. a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . 7 T h e p r o o f o f t h i s i n v e r s i o n a n d c o n v e r g e n c e i s in t h e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s o f b o t h p a r t i e s . W i t h t h e e x c e p t i o n o f C l i n t o n ’s j o b s in c e n t i v e p r o g r a m , 8 t h e p r o g r a m m a t ic a g e n d a s o f b o th th e D e m o c r a ts a n d th e R e p u b lic a n s w e r e b e t t e r c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y a s e r i e s o f d e r e g u l a t i o n s in t h e f o r m o f w e l f a r e r e ­ fo r m a n d r e g u la t o r y r e lie f (fr o m ta x e s , p la n n in g c o d e s , e n v ir o n m e n ta l e m is ­ s io n s ta n d a r d s , a n d th e m in im u m w a g e ) in o rd e r to e n c o u r a g e b u s in e s s e s to in v e s t in t h e i n n e r - c i t y “ e n t e r p r i s e z o n e s . ” W h i l e D e m o c r a t s w e r e l e s s w i l l ­ i n g t o s p e a k o f e n t e r p r i s e z o n e s a s “ p a n a c e a s ,” t h e s e z o n e s t o g e t h e r w i t h r e g u l a t o r y in c e n t i v e s a l s o o c c u p i e d a c e n t r a l p l a c e in t h e i r a g e n d a . W e lf a r e r e fo r m e m p h a s iz e d th e tr a n s fo r m a t io n o f b u r e a u c r a tic s ta te a g e n c ie s in to m i n i - m a l l s o f “ o n e - s t o p s h o p p i n g c e n t e r s ,” w h i c h p r o m o t e d “ c o m p e t i t i o n in s o c i a l s e r v i c e s .” T h u s w h i l e D e m o c r a t s w e r e n o t y e t c a l l i n g f o r t h e c o m ­ p le t e e r a d ic a tio n o f w e lfa r e , s o c ia l s e r v ic e s w e r e t o b e p r iv a tiz e d a n d g o v -

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e rn e d b y m a r k e t fo r c e s a n d th e u rb a n p o o r w o u ld b e fr e e d o f th e ir d e p e n ­ d e n c y o n w e l f a r e a n d r e e d u c a t e d t h r o u g h a n e w c u lt u r e o f e n t e r p r i s e , f a m ily , a n d s e lf- h e lp . L ik e th e g o v e r n m e n t, th e in d iv id u a l w a s to b e d is c ip lin e d a c ­ c o r d in g to th e lo g ic o f th e m a rk e t. R e b u i ld L o s A n g e l e s f i t s q u a r e l y w i t h i n t h e s e i d e o l o g i c a l a n d p r o g r a m ­ m a t i c s h i f t s in n a t i o n a l p o l i c y . T h e p r o g r a m w a s a c o m p e l l i n g e x a m p l e o f t h e p r i v a t i z a t i o n o f f u n c t i o n s f o r m a l l y a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e s t a t e . I t is i n s t r u c t i v e t o c o m p a r e r l a a f t e r t h e L o s A n g e l e s r i o t s o f 1 9 9 2 t o t h e C o m m u n i t y R e d e v e l­ o p m e n t A g e n c y ( c r a ) i n s t i t u t e d a f t e r t h e W a t t s r i o t s in 1 9 6 5 . B o t h e n t i t i e s w e r e s e t u p b y M a y o r T o m B ra d le y in o rd e r to a d d r e s s th e p o s t- r io t n e e d s o f t h e i n n e r c it y . B u t w h e r e a s t h e c r a w a s a c i t y a g e n c y r l a w a s a p r iv a t e l y i n ­ c o r p o r a te d o r g a n iz a t io n . T h e lite r a tu r e p r o d u c e d b y r l a w a s fille d w it h p e j o r a t i v e s a b o u t g o v e r n m e n t . I n d e e d , i t b o a s t e d t h a t “ r l a is n o t g o v e r n m e n t , i t is n o t la w s , t a x e s , c o u r t s ” b u t r a t h e r “ t h e o n l y predominantly private-sector r e s p o n s e t o c iv ic c r i s i s in h i s t o r y ” ( it a li c s m i n e ) ; a n d , f u r t h e r , t h a t w h e r e “ g o v e r n m e n t [ h a s ] f a i l e d . . . t h a n k f u l l y c o r p o r a t e A m e r i c a h a s r e s p o n d e d .” T h is is n o t t o s a y t h a t g o v e r n m e n t d id n o t h a v e a r o l e t o p la y , a l b e i t s u b ­ o r d i n a t e d , i n r e d e v e l o p m e n t . 9 T o q u o t e t h e d e s i g n e r o f r l a ’s t h r e e - r i n g e d lo g o , th e r in g s r e p r e s e n te d “ th e tr ip o d o f th e C o m m u n ity , th e G o v e r n m e n t, a n d t h e P r iv a t e S e c t o r .” G o v e r n m e n t w a s c e r t a i n l y p r e s e n t — a l b e i t r e e n v i ­ s i o n e d a s a n e n t r e p r e n e u r i a l v e n t u r e . M y c o n c e r n h e r e is w i t h t h e r o l e t h a t “ c o m m u n i t y ” w a s m e a n t t o p l a y in r e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d w h a t t h i s d is c u r s iv e m o v e o b s c u r e d . F ir s t , w h o w a s t h i s “ c o m m u n i t y ” ? A s I m e n t i o n e d a b o v e , r la

d id o p e n i t s d o o r s t o t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n “ c o m m u n i t y ” w i t h a s e a t o n

its b o a r d . A n d in d e e d , r l a c a n n o t b e fa u lt e d fo r its la c k o f r e p r e s e n ta tio n o f th e o ffic ia l A fr ic a n A m e r ic a n , L a tin o , a n d A s ia n c o m m u n it y le a d e r s h ip — m a n y o f w h o m w e r e r e l a t i v e l y n e w v o i c e s in L o s A n g e l e s , a n d h a d n e v e r s a t a t t h e s a m e t a b le w i t h t h e l i k e s o f t h e g o v e r n o r o r t h e C E O s o f B a n k o f A m e r i c a , a r c o , a n d g t e . I n d e e d , t h i s p o s i t i o n w a s n o s m a l l f e a t f o r C a r lo s V a q u e ra n o , w h o fir s t c a m e to L o s A n g e le s to w o r k w it h th e C e n tr a l A m e r i­ c a n s o l i d a r i t y m o v e m e n t a g a i n s t t h e S a l v a d o r a n s t a t e a n d t h e U .S . c o r p o r a t e in t e r e s t s th e r e in . A t th e tim e o f th is w r it in g , V a q u e r a n o h e a d s th e S a lv a ­ d o r a n A m e r i c a n L e a d e r s h i p a n d E d u c a t i o n a l F u n d ( s a l e f ) . T h is o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n d r a w s m u c h o f it s s u p p o r t f r o m c o r p o r a t e c o n t a c t s , w h i c h V a q u e r a n o w o u ld a r g u e h e m a d e th r o u g h r l a . S e c o n d , w h a t d i d t h e l a n g u a g e o f “ c o m m u n i t y ” d i s p l a c e ? T h e “positive

power o f c o m m u n i t y ” ( i t a li c s m in e ) , t o u s e t h e l a n g u a g e f r o m

r l a ’s

o r g a n i­

z a t i o n a l b r o c h u r e , e x c l u d e d l a b o r a n d i n n e r - c i t y r e s i d e n t s t h e m s e lv e s . O n e

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C H A P T E R T WO

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can arguably infer the indirect representation o f inner-city residents in the board membership o f city council members, church leaders, and agency di­ rectors — the official representatives, albeit invariably not the residents o f the inner city. But where were the official representatives o f labor on the eightymember board o f

r la

?

The previous social contract o f the Ford-Keynesian

era between business, government, and labor— dismantled in the 1970s and 1980s— had been rewritten as private sector, government, and community. To be sure, the discursive shift to “community” implied that a “continuing recognition that some degree o f inclusiveness was necessary to ensure stable growth o f capital.” 10 However, it would appear that if business were going to be “persuade[ed] to come back to the inner city,” n it was going to have to be without organized labor. Certainly in the case o f the Central Ameri­ can immigrant “community,” this was a remarkable exclusion. To elide the historical fact that Central Americans comprised a significant sector o f the low-wage immigrant labor pool that was vital to the contemporary restruc­ turing o f Los Angeles was also to avoid the centrality o f their role in a newly invigorated labor movement, a movement that was building strength at that very moment in the history o f Los Angeles.

THE J US T J ANi TOR

Indeed, less than a month after the riots the project Justice for Janitors of the Local 399 o f the Service Employee International Union held its second annual march to commemorate the beating in 1990 o f a pregnant union member by Beverly Hills police— that is, their equivalent to the Rodney King incident. The marchers, many who resided in Central Los Angeles and the vast majority who were immigrants and mostly from Latin America, gathered in Century City Plaza. Dressed in militant red-and-black justicia (justice) T-shirts and with red bandannas wrapped around their foreheads, and some with faces covered by monstrous masks inscribed with the let­ ters

l a pd

,

they all held up placards with the campaign slogan “L.A. must

work for everyone.” This invisible workforce— the members o f which ordi­ narily are in and out o f the Century City towers after and before regular busi­ ness hours— gathered on a grassy inner circle between the four corners of glass and steel— towering monuments to corporate America. In contrast to their nightly routine they stood in broad daylight, clashing with the threepiece suits pouring out o f their executive suites for “power lunches.” The march began with the transnational rallying cry “¿Qué queremos? ¡Justicia! ¿Cuándo queremos? ¡Ahora! ” (“What do we want? Justice! When do we want S T R E ET HOODLUM

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8l

it ? N o w ! ) . N e i t h e r t h e c o l o r s n o r t h e c h a n t h a d c h a n g e d w i t h t h e j o u r n e y f r o m C e n t r a l A m e r i c a t o B e v e r l y H i l l s . 12 T h e c o n f r o n t a t i o n in 1 9 9 2 , h o w e v e r , w a s n o t w i t h l a w e n f o r c e m e n t . T h e g r a y - s u i t e d l a b o r d e t a il p o l i c e s t o o d o f f a t a s a f e d i s t a n c e o n t h e b a l c o n i e s a b o v e . T h e lo w e r e c h e lo n o f th e p o lic e fo r c e , u n ifo r m e d , t o o k to th e s tre e ts o n m o to r b ik e s . S in c e th e b e a t in g o f th e p r e g n a n t u n io n m e m b e r a n d th e i n c i d e n t s s u r r o u n d i n g R o d n e y K i n g , t h e p o l i c e w e r e o n t h e i r b e s t b e h a v io r . T h e u n io n h a d w o n a c o n tr a c t a s a r e s u lt o f th e p r e s s c o v e r a g e fr o m th e la s t b e a t i n g . T h is t i m e t h e o f f i c e r in c h a r g e s h o o k h a n d s w i t h t h e u n i o n o r g a ­ n i z e r a s t h e y d i s c u s s e d t h e r o u t e f o r t h e m a r c h . T h is y e a r t h e p o l i c e w e r e a h e lp fu l e s c o rt. I n s t e a d , t h e c o n f r o n t a t i o n w a s w i t h t h e d e v e l o p e r s a n d w i t h r l a in p a r ­ t ic u la r . W h i l e o v e r t h e l a s t y e a r J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s h a d m a d e g r o u n d w i t h l a w e n f o r c e m e n t , t h e y h a d y e t t o b e in v i t e d o n t o r l a ’ s c o m m u n i t y b o a r d . T h a t b o a r d , a c c o r d i n g t o r l a ’ s le a d e r a t t h e t im e , P e t e r U e b e r r o t h , w a s “ r e p ­ r e s e n t a t i v e o f e v e r y s e c t o r o f o u r s o c i e t y .” N o t s o , s a id J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s , w h i c h l a t e r t o o k i t s p r o t e s t t o r l a ’s o f f i c e s . U e b e r r o t h r e f u s e d t o m e e t w i t h t h e d e m o n s t r a t o r s o u t s i d e h is o f f i c e a s r e q u e s t e d , a s k i n g t h e m i n s t e a d t o m a k e a n a p p o i n t m e n t t o s e e h i m in p r iv a t e . B u t J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s w o u l d n o t b a c k d o w n . T h e y w o u l d m a k e t h e i r d e m a n d s h e a r d in t h e p u b l i c a r e n a , n o t in t h e p r iv a t e s e c t o r . T h e d ir e c t o r o f th e p r o je c t la te r w r o t e to f o llo w u p o n th e d e m o n s t r a ­ t i o n o u t s i d e r l a ’ s o f f i c e . J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s w a n t e d a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o d i s ­ c u s s t h e i r “ W o r k e r s ’ B i l l o f R i g h t s ” — o u t in t h e o p e n , o f c o u r s e — a n d t o c h a l l e n g e U e b e r r o t h ’s s t a t e m e n t t h a t “ m i n i m u m w a g e j o b s b r i n g d i g n i t y t o t h o s e w h o la b o r .” T h e l e t t e r t o U e b e r r o t h a r g u e d t h a t r l a ’ s e c o n o m i c p la n fo r “ fa s t - t r a c k in c e n tiv e s ” to b r in g b u s in e s s b a c k to th e in n e r c ity w a s fla w e d b y its v e r y n a tu re . F u rth e r, r l a h a d fa ile d to r e c o g n iz e th e re a l p r o b le m o f t h e in n e r c it y : n a m e ly , “ t h e m i s e r y o f p e o p l e w o r k i n g a 4 0 h o u r w e e k a n d s t i l l l i v i n g b e l o w t h e p o v e r t y l e v e l .” J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s r e d e f i n e d t h e p r o b l e m o f th e in n e r c ity a s n o t t o o f e w b u t r a th e r t o o m a n y d e a d -e n d m in im u m - w a g e j o b s . “ L A s h o u l d w o r k f o r e v e r y o n e ,” t h a t is , t h e working poor a l o n g s i d e t h e “ l a w l e s s c o r p o r a t e c l a s s .” T h e c o m p l a i n t t h u s w a s t w o f o l d : n o t o n l y d id r l a n o t h a v e a n y m e m b e r s h ip fr o m la b o r o n its c o m m u n ity b o a r d b u t its tw e n ty t w o - p o in t lis t o f “ W h a t c a n c o m p a n ie s d o ? ” d id n o t m a k e a s in g le r e fe r e n c e t o q u a l i t y o f j o b s o r l a b o r p r a c t i c e s . A s s u c h , J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s a r g u e d t h a t r la

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f a i l e d t o s e r v e it s p r o f e s s e d g o a l t o a d d r e s s t h e c a u s e s o f t h e r i o t s a n d t o

C H A P T E R T WO

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alleviate poverty. The focus by Justice for Janitors on economic justice issues effectively shone a light on the larger economic restructuring processes as­ sociated with the shift from Keynesian to neoliberal labor practices.

A C O M M U N i T Y OF C O N S U M E R S

If

r l a ’s

spatial discourse failed to recognize or to acknowledge the Cen­

tral American “community” as “the working poor,” that discourse worked actively to represent them as an untapped community o f consumers. The redevelopment strategies o f

Rla

in Pico Union focused on the “shopping

cluster concept,” and the intersection became a featured “investment pack­ age” therein. Using the Atlas Mapping Programs o f the city’s Geographical Information Service,

r la

matched the vacant lots at Pico, Alvarado, and

Hoover with a number o f geographical variables. The site was photographed, its title reports obtained, property owners contacted, and zoning informa­ tion gathered. Potential investors were to be sold on the idea that this im­ migrant neighborhood represented an as yet “untapped consumer market,” and that “businesses were likely to yield high profits because o f the large degree to which [this] neglected area [was] underserved.” These claims were backed up by “community needs assessment surveys,” which in document­ ing consumer retail and commercial needs were in effect marketing research surveys. The interests o f capitalist expansion were expressed therein as the fundamental and essential material needs o f the community. This call for private enterprise to meet the “underserved community’s . . . pent-up de­ mand” was, to say the least, ironic in the aftermath o f the riots. Or was it? Hadn’t looters behaved like consumers par excellence? Isn’t the looter, the ur-form o f the consumer, an objective emblem o f commodity fetishism and o f consumerist culture in late capitalist society? For the im­ migrant working poor, might not looting represent a spontaneous fantasy o f realizing this aspect o f the American dream as yet unrealized? From this vantage, looting might be understood as a mimetic improvisation o f the capitalist exhortation to buy and buy, and this newest stratum o f immigrants viewed as a “dreaming collective o f consumers” cultivated by global media capitalism.13 The looter who takes o ff with a designer pair o f Nikes appro­ priates these commodities as fetishized wish images o f the unrealized and broken dreams o f El Norte as a place o f luxury, wealth, and excess^4 As Héctor Tobar, the novelist and Los Angeles-based Guatemalan Ameri­ can reporter and later columnist for the Los Angeles Times, put it to me:

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I w a s a p r o fe s s io n a l w it n e s s to th e r io ts a n d to th e m a s s e s o f p e o p le s to r m in g th e m a r k e ts . T h e lo o t in g w a s a m e ta p h o r fo r p e o p le w h o fe lt c h e a t e d . I t ’s a l m o s t a s u b c o n s c i o u s n e s s ; a c l a s s s u b c o n s c i o u s I t h i n k is t h e w a y t o l o o k a t w h a t w a s h a p p e n i n g t h a t d a y . I t w a s a ll v e r y v is c e r a l , y o u k n o w . P e o p le w e r e ju s t r e a lly a c tin g fr o m th e m o s t p e r s o n a l, a lm o s t c h i l d l i k e m o t i v e s — y o u k n o w , “ I w a n n a g e t s o m e , ” “ E v e r y b o d y e ls e is g e t ­ t in g s o m e t h in g ” . . . I w a s o u ts id e th is s to r e o n 3 r d S tre e t, th is g r o c e r y s t o r e t h a t w a s b e i n g l o o t e d , a n d t h i s k i d r u n s o u t . I a s k e d h i m , “ W h a t d id y o u g e t ? ” A n d h e s h o w s m e t h e b a g . . . i t w a s a ll t h e c a n d y . T h e g r a n d e s t ir o n y w a s h o w th e lo o t in g w a s fu r t h e r in d u c e d b y th e c o n t r a ­ d ic tio n s o f c o n s u m e r c a p ita lis m . T o w a r d th e e n d o f th e r io ts th e n e w s c a s te r s b e g a n t o n o d t h e i r h e a d s in s h a m e a n d d e n ia l a s c a l l e r s t o t h e s t a t i o n b e g g e d t h e m t o c o n s i d e r t h e i r r o l e in f a n n i n g t h e f l a m e s a n d f u r t h e r i n c i t i n g t h e l o o t e r s a n d r i o t e r s . “ W h a t r o l e is m e d i a p l a y i n g ? ” a s k e d o n e s u c h c a lle r : “ P e o p l e s e e t h e l o o t i n g [ t h r o u g h ] . . . a l l t h e b r o a d c a s t i n g . . . Y o u ’v e g o t to c o n s id e r t h e ir p s y c h o lo g ic a l m in d s e t . T h e y ’re g o i n g t o r u n o u t a n d to d o t h e s a m e .” A l t h o u g h m u c h o f t h e f o o t a g e w a s f i l m e d f r o m t h e a i r a n d n o t o n t h e g r o u n d , m e d i a d id n o t m e r e l y c o v e r t h e e v e n t f r o m a d i s t a n c e b u t a c t u a l l y p a r t i c i p a t e d in i t b y a d d i n g f u e l t o a n a lr e a d y i n f l a m e d s e t t i n g . H e lic o p te r s m a k in g ru n s fo r t v n e w s s h o w s a ls o s e rv e d a s r e c o n n a is s a n c e f o r t h e p o p u l a c e b e lo w . T V c o v e r a g e p r o v i d e d v i e w e r s w i t h u n p r e c e d e n t e d v is u a l a c c e s s a n d th e r io te r s a n d lo o t e r s w it h th e in t e llig e n c e to c o n d u c t fu r t h e r s tr ik e s a n d r a id s .^ M ik e D a v is , w it h a t o n g u e - in - c h e e k a p p r o p r ia ­ t i o n o f G e o r g e B u s h ’s p h r a s e “ a t h o u s a n d p o i n t s o f l i g h t , ” d e s c r i b e s h o w , l i k e t h e f ir e s in L o s A n g e l e s , t h e r i o t s s p r e a d f r o m L o s A n g e l e s t o L a s V e g a s a n d b e y o n d . T h e r i o t c o v e r a g e p a r o d i e d l o c a l n e t w o r k t e l e v i s i o n ’s e v e r y d a y p r a c t i c e s — t h e p r o m o t i o n o f la w , o r d e r , a n d c o n s u m e r i s m . N o w t e l e v i s i o n w a s a d v e r t i s i n g f ir e s a l e s o f a d i f f e r e n t l a w a n d o r d e r ; t h e l o o t i n g s i t e s w e r e l i k e li q u i d a t i o n s a le s w h e r e “ a ll m e r c h a n d i s e m u s t g o ” a n d “ p r i c e s h a v e b e e n s la s h e d to r o c k b o t t o m .” T o b a r, p o in t in g to th e in te r a c tiv e n a tu r e o f m e d ia c o v e r a g e , e x p la in e d th e p h e n o m e n o n to m e a s fo llo w s : I w a s o u ts id e o f a m a r k e t th a t w a s b e in g lo o t e d , a n d it w a s c le a r to m e th a t p e o p le w e r e c o m in g fr o m a s fa r a w a y a s [th e p r im a r ily w h ite , u p p e rm i d d l e - c l a s s n e i g h b o r h o o d o f ] S a n t a M o n i c a t o t a k e p a r t in t h e l o o t i n g . S o t h e y h a d s e e n i t o n T V a n d d e c i d e d t o d r iv e o u t a n d t a k e a d v a n t a g e . In

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the same way that a few years later, when O. J. Simpson was involved in that car chase. People saw it on t v , decided to run out, and even had time to make signs to show O. J. as he headed towards his home. As a mimetic improvisation o f the capitalist edict to consume, looting was the active reproduction o f television’s technical production and the vehicle through which desire and need were expressed, realized, and enacted.16 Members o f the Situationist International,!7 writing about the Watts riots in 1965, argued that those events were a rebellion against the commodity, against the world o f the commodity in which worker-consumers are hierarchically subordinated to commodity values. Like the young delinquents o f all o f the advanced countries, but more radically because they are part o f a class totally without a future, a sector o f the proletariat unable to believe in any significant chance of integration or promotion, the Los Angeles blacks take modern capital­ ist propaganda, its publicity o f abundance, literally . They want to pos­ sess immediately all the objects shown and abstractly accessible because they want to use them. That is why they reject their exchange-value, the com m odity-reality . . . The looting o f the Watts district was the most di­

rect realization o f the distorted principle, “To each according to his false needs” . . . But since the vaunting o f abundance is taken at its face value and immediately seized upon instead o f being eternally pursued in the rat race o f alienated labor and increasing but unmet social needs, real desires begin to be expressed in festival, in playful self-assertion, in the potlatch o f destruction . . . The flames o f Watts consummated the system of

consumption . . . Looting is the natural response to the society o f abundance— the society not o f natural and human abundance, but o f abun­ dance o f commodities . . . What is a policeman? He is the active servant o f the commodity . . . whose job it is to ensure that a given product of human labor remains a commodity with the magical property o f having to be paid for . . . The Watts youth, having no future in market terms [no buying power], grasped another quality o f the present . . . By wanting to participate really and immediately in the affluence, which is the official value o f every American, they demand the egalitarian realization o f the American spectacle o f everyday life.18 The fears expressed by journalist Jack Miles in his article, “Black vs. Brown,” discussed in the previous chapter, were thus not altogether un­

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f o u n d e d . M i l e s , t h e “ w o r r i e d R o m a n ,” w a t c h e s t h e l o o t e r s , t h e “ G o t h s a t t h e i r s a c k ” o n t e l e v i s i o n . 19 I f t h e l o o t e r s w e r e a s i g n o f i t s c o n s u m e r c u lt u r e g o n e a w r y , t h e b u i l d i n g s g o i n g u p in f l a m e s o n t h e s c r e e n r e p r e s e n t e d t h e “ f a i l e d m a t e r i a l o f [ la t e ] c a p i t a l i s m . ” A f t e r a ll, t h e s e r u i n s w e r e o v e r w h e l m ­ in g ly c o m m e r c ia l e s t a b lis h m e n t s a n d n o t d o m e s t ic r e s id e n c e s , s c h o o ls , o r e v e n g o v e r n m e n t b u i l d i n g s . T h e t a r g e t w a s , in e f f e c t i f n o t in i n t e n t i o n , c o n ­ s u m e r c a p i t a l i s m . T h e r u i n s in L o s A n g e l e s , m u c h l i k e t h e s h o p p i n g a r c a d e s o f W a l t e r B e n j a m i n ’s w r i t i n g s , w e r e n o t o n l y e m b l e m s o f t h e t r a n s i t o r y n a ­ tu re a n d fr a g ility o f c a p it a lis t c u ltu r e b u t a ls o o f its d e s tr u c tiv e n e s s a n d in ­ h e r e n t c o n t r a d i c t i o n s . 20 L o o t i n g w a s t h u s n o t d i v o r c e d f r o m c o n s u m p t i o n b u t i n s t e a d w a s a p a r t ic u la r , i n d e e d a p a r o d i c , m o d e o f c o n s u m p t i o n , w h i c h s u b v e r t s “ c u l t u r a l l y a n d l e g a l l y a p p r o v e d p a t h s o f e x c h a n g e .” 2 i B u t t h e l o o t ­ in g w a s a ls o p a r t o f th e m a d n e s s b o r n e o f c o n s u m e r e x c e s s , its a c c u m u la te d e n e r g y , its c u ltu r a l b o m b .

Wi NDOW SHOPPi NG I n t e r e s t in g l y , n o t e v e n l a b o r r e m a i n e d u n t o u c h e d b y t h e l o g i c o f t h e n e o l i b ­ e r a l m a r k e t . It, t o o , i n t e r n a l i z e d a c o n s u m e r i s t i n f l e c t i o n . L e t ’s r e t u r n b r ie f ly t o t h e J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s m a r c h in 1 9 9 9 . I w a s t h e r e w i t h c a m e r a in h a n d ; in m y c a p a c ity a s o ffic ia l o b s e rv e r, I w a s to ta k e p h o to g r a p h s a n d s ta te m e n ts i f a n y p r o b l e m a t i c i n c i d e n t s w i t h t h e p o l i c e a r o s e . S in c e t h e m a r c h p r o c e e d e d s m o o th ly , I t o o k p h o to g r a p h s o f a d iffe r e n t s o r t. T h e c r o w d o f u n io n m e m ­ b e r s w a l k e d u p R o d e o D r iv e p a s t it s e x c lu s i v e s h o p s a n d r e s t a u r a n t s , a n d th e n a s c e n d e d th e s ta ir c a s e o f a n in t e r n a t io n a lly c e le b r a te d p o s tm o d e r n r e ­ v iv a l o f a E u r o p e a n s t r e e t . C o n t i n u i n g p a s t t h e d r a m a t i c w r o u g h t - i r o n g a t e s o f t h e B e v e r l y F a i r m o n t H o t e l, t h e c r o w d f i l e d t h r o u g h t h e s e r v i c e e n t r a n c e a t th e b a ck . T w o m e n b r a n d is h in g p la c a r d s m a d e f o r th e m a r c h - o n e , a p h o t o g r a p h o f th e b e a tin g fr o m tw o y e a r s b e fo r e w it h th e s lo g a n “ N e v e r A g a in ,” a n d th e o t h e r , a r e d - a n d - b l a c k g r a p h i c o f w o r k e r s m a r c h i n g w i t h t h e s l o g a n “ L .A . m u s t w o r k f o r e v e r y o n e ” - s t o p p e d in f r o n t o f a R o l l s R o y c e s h o w r o o m . T h e ir i m a g e s , t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e r e f l e c t i o n o f t h e F ir s t I m p e r i a l B a n k b u i l d ­ i n g b e h i n d t h e m w e r e r e f r a c t e d o n t h e s l e e k b o d y o f t h e R o ll s R o y c e o n v ie w . A t t h e n e x t c o r n e r , t h e y s t o p p e d in f r o n t o f a m e n ’s f in e c l o t h i n g s t o r e o f t h e s o r t w h e r e th e s a le s m e n e v o k e th e b y g o n e e ra o f h a b e r d a s h e r s . B y n o w th e y w e r e h o t f r o m m a r c h i n g a n d h a d p l a c e d t h e i r l a p d m o n s t e r m a s k s o n t h e ir h e a d s lik e c a p s . T h e y s ta r e d w it h b e m u s e d lo o k s a t th e w in d o w d is p la y a n d

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a t t h e c a r d b o a r d s i l h o u e t t e s o f g e n t l e m e n in t o p h a t , c o a t , a n d t a i l s m o u n t e d in fr o n t o f a p e n n y -fa r th in g . L e t ’s p u l l t o t h e f o r e t h e i m a g e r e f r a c t e d in t h e w i n d o w p a n e o f a R o ll s R o y c e s h o w r o o m . T h e i m a g e is a m o n t a g e o f t h e e x c lu s i v e s t o r e s l i n i n g R o d e o D r iv e , t h e r e f l e c t i o n s o f t h e J u s t J a n it o r h o l d i n g h i s s i g n “ L .A . m u s t w o r k f o r e v e r y o n e ,” a n d t h e m a r q u i s o n t h e b u i l d i n g b e h i n d h i m , “ F ir s t I m ­ p e r i a l B a n k .” L i k e B e n j a m i n ’s e m b le m , t h e p h o t o is a “ c o n c e p t i m a g i s t i c a l l y c o n s t r u c t e d o u t o f a m o n t a g e o f v is u a l im a g e s a n d lin g u is t ic s ig n s . . . fr o m w h i c h o n e c a n r e a d , l i k e a p i c t u r e p u z z l e . ” A n d l i k e t h e i m a g e in t h e p r e v i o u s c h a p te r o f th e L a tin o lo o t e r ly in g fa c e d o w n o n th e p a v e m e n t in fr o n t o f th e r u in e d m in i- m a ll, th is i m a g e - r i s i n g u p a g a in s t th e b a c k d r o p o f th e to w e r ­ in g h ig h - r is e s o f d o w n t o w n L o s A n g e l e s - i s y e t a n o t h e r “ in t e lle c t u a l s p e c ­ t a c l e ” t h r o u g h w h i c h t o r e r e a d h i s t o r y .22 T h e c e n t e r p i e c e s in b o t h o f t h e s e b e fo r e - a n d - a ft e r im a g e s a re c o m m e r c ia l e s t a b lis h m e n t s . T h e d is p a r itie s c o n ta in e d w it h in a n d b e t w e e n b o th p h o t o g r a p h s b r in g t w o s p h e r e s u s u a lly s e p a r a te d fr o m o n e a n o t h e r th r o u g h a s p a tia l a p a r th e id in t o c r itic a l e n g a g e ­ m e n t . T h e s e d i s t i n c t f i e l d s o f a c t i o n , a m i n i - m a l l in a C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n b a r ­ r io , t h e g l a s s t o w e r s in t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l f i n a n c i a l c e n t e r s o f L o s A n g e l e s , a n d t h e e x c lu s iv e s t o r e f r o n t s o f B e v e r l y H i lls , c o m b i n e w i t h t w o m o d e s o f a c t i o n - l o o t i n g a n d m a r c h in g . W h e n t h e J u s t J a n it o r , w h i l e m a r c h i n g , p a u s e s t o l o o k t h r o u g h t h e d i s ­ p l a y w i n d o w , is h e g a z i n g u p o n t h e B e v e r l y H i l l s R o ll s R o y c e d e a l e r s h i p w i t h a c r i t i c a l s m i r k t h a t c o m e s in r e c o g n i t i o n o f h o w p e r f e c t l y t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n l a b o r a n d c a p i t a l is c o n d e n s e d i n t o a n e m b l e m b y t h e r e f r a c t i n g g l a s s ? I s h e f i l l e d w i t h t h e d e s ir e t o a c q u i r e t h e i m a g e s t h a t w e r e d a n g l e d in fr o n t o f h im fr o m a fa r a b o u t E l N o rte ? S h o u ld n ’ t th e a n t h r o p o lo g is t p a u s e t o w o n d e r - i n t h e a m b i g u i t y o f t h i s g a z e - i f t h e t r a d e u n i o n i s t i s n ’ t a ls o g a z i n g u p o n h i s w i s h i m a g e o f E l N o r t e , n o w a p r iv a t e b r o k e n d r e a m ? D id h e i m a g i n e t h a t in E l N o r t e h e w o u l d b e p a t r o n i z i n g t h e s e s p e c i a l t y s t o r e s a n d s ilv e r s e r v i c e r e s t a u r a n t s o n R o d e o D r iv e r a t h e r t h a n t h e 9 9 - c e n t s t o r e a n d E l P o l l o L o c o o n P i c o B o u le v a r d ? I n d e e d , a s f a r a s c o m m o d i t i e s a n d c o n ­ s u m e r c h o i c e g o , P i c o U n i o n is c l o s e r t o C e n t r a l A m e r i c a t h a n R o d e o D r iv e . Its s w a p m e e t s a re fille d w it h th e s a m e c h e a p a s s e m b ly - lin e g o o d s p r o d u c e d in a n d d u m p e d o n t h e t h i r d w o r l d m a r k e t . I s t h e J u s t J a n it o r f e e l i n g o u t r a g e a t th e d is p a r ity b e tw e e n th e s e c ity s c a p e s ? O r is h e h a n k e r in g a ft e r th e p r o m ­ i s e f o r a b e t t e r l i f e l o s t o n t w o f r o n t s ? A f t e r a ll, h e ’s s t i l l s h o u t i n g t h e s a m e c h a n t , “ ¿ Q u é q u e r e m o s ? ¡J u s tic ia ! ¿ C u á n d o q u e r e m o s ? ¡A h o r a ! ” t h a t g o t h i m

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booted out o f Central America. With his right to bargain for a fair wage still quite tenuous and fair wages being 50 percent o f their value in the 1970s,23 it appears that the Central American immigrant isn’t going to get a Rolls Royce or a fine Italian suit from either looting or marching. The next time I joined the janitors in their annual march was in May 1999. This time the route led from Beverly Hills up the Avenue o f the Stars and into the Plaza on Century Park East— a shopping mall filled with restau­ rants and movie theaters below a quadrangle o f high-rise corporate towers occupied by lawyers, real estate tycoons, and the like. As we entered the mall, the chant changed from “¿Qué queremos? ¡Justicia!” to “Se ve pre­ sente, la unión está presente” (“The union is present.”). And what a visible presence, indeed. The roughly one thousand marchers filed down two sets of stairs cascading on either side o f the open shopping mall to the left and to the right against the background o f a marquis announcing the latest Holly­ wood releases, including Free Enterprise. We continued our march down the four parallel passageways o f the lower level, passing the lunchtime crowd o f executives and secretaries, and then cascaded down the remaining set o f stairs into the plaza below. This year Latino- and labor-friendly city, county, and state politicians joined the Janitors in full. The Janitors had come a long way in winning wide respect and recognition. One speaker after another placed their moral and political weight behind the Janitors’ campaign for 2000 entitled Principles for a Responsible Real Estate Industry. Behind this performance o f labor’s demands, the plaza gave way to a bizarre set o f contradictions. On one half of its circular grounds, there was a luncheon buffet in session. The theme was a Hawaiian luau, complete with a musical trio and hula dancers. A gleamingred Porsche was being raffled on one side o f the plaza, while the other side was taken over by the Janitors. The philanthropic charitable discourse o f the raffle sign, “Win a Porsche. Help change a life,” mingled with the trade unionist slogans o f the Justice for Janitors campaign placards. Some janitors wore white mops on their heads and carried their brooms and blue buckets with Local 1877 printed thereon. A few gay pride activists also were present with placards reading “pride at work,

o u t

and organizing” to show their

solidarity for this “coming out” o f the janitorial cleaning supply closet. Strangely, the union’s demands and wishes began to incorporate the backdrop o f the Porsche for raffle and the Hawaiian luau. Alongside the usual call for salary increases, vacation, sick leave, and health care cover­ age, the union leadership turned to the unanticipated props behind them to 88

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a c k n o w l e d g e d i r e c t ly t h e d e s i r e s o f t h e i r m e m b e r s t o j o i n t h e r a n k s o f t h e m i d d l e - c l a s s c o n s u m i n g p u b l i c . “ W h y n o t s a y it? ” b o o m e d a m e m b e r o f t h e

ju n ta directiva ( b o a r d o f d ir e c t o r s ) . “ Y e s , t o b u y a n i c e n e w c a r . T o t a k e v a c a ­ t i o n s w i t h o u t w o r r y i n g a b o u t h o w t o c o v e r o n e ’s d a ily l i v i n g e x p e n s e s .” E v e n t h i s “ ¿ Q u é q u e r e m o s ? ¡J u s tic ia ! ” c a l l o f t h e r a d i c a l L a t i n A m e r i c a n L e f t h a d , a f t e r y e a r s o f o r g a n i z i n g in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , t a k e n o n a n o v e r t ly c o n s u m e r i s t i n f l e c t i o n . T h e J u s t J a n it o r h a s b e e n m o b i l i z e d o n t w o f r o n t s — a s r a d i c a l t r a d e u n i o n i s t a n d a s c o n s u m e r . H is “ m o b i l i z e d g a z e ” a s w i n d o w s h o p p e r , h o w e v e r , s p e a k s t o h i s l a c k o f a n d d e s ir e f o r e m p o w e r m e n t in t h e m a r k e t ­ p la c e . W h ile th e ju x ta p o s itio n o f th e P o r s c h e a n d th e u n io n is t h a d n o t b e e n in ­ t e n t i o n a l l y s t a g e d , s u c h s t a g i n g s a r e , i n f a c t , c o m m o n p l a c e in t h e p h o t o ­ g r a p h s t h a t f a m i l i e s in E l S a l v a d o r a n d e l s e w h e r e r e c e iv e f r o m t h e i r i m m i ­ g r a n t f a m i l i e s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . T h e c o v e r o f S a r a h M a h l e r ’s e t h n o g r a p h y o f S a l v a d o r a n a n d S o u t h A m e r i c a n i m m i g r a n t s is a v iv id p o r t r a y a l o f t h i s p h e ­ n o m e n o n , s o m e th in g s h e c a lls im m ig r a n t s ’ “ m a te r ia l fe t is h is m .” A g a in s t t h e s t a r k b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e r e a l i t y o f t h e i m m i g r a n t ’s m a k e s h i f t b e d r o o m in w h a t is m o r e t h a n l i k e l y a l i v i n g r o o m in a n o v e r c r o w d e d o n e - b e d r o o m o r e ffic ie n c y a p a r tm e n t, w it h c lo th e s h a n g in g o n w ir e s th a t e x te n d a lo n g th e c e i l i n g , is a p h o t o g r a p h t h a t m a n u f a c t u r e s t h e i m m i g r a n t ’s m a t e r i a l s u c c e s s i n E l N o r t e . I n t h i s “ c o n s t r u c t e d i l l u s i o n , ” t h e i m m i g r a n t is p o s i n g n e x t t o a fla s h y r e d s p o r ts c a r a g a in s t a b a c k d r o p o f a n u p p e r - m id d le - c la s s b u ild in g c o m p l e x . H e h a s g o n e in s e a r c h o f t h e s e p r o p s t o s e n d a n i m a g e b a c k t o h is f a m i l y in E l S a l v a d o r t h a t c o n v e y s h i s s u c c e s s f u l r e a l i z a t i o n o f t h e A m e r i c a n d re a m . A s M a h le r n o te s , “M a te r ia l fe t is h is m . . . e r u p ts w h e n p e o p le fr o m c o m m o d i t y - p o o r s o c i e t i e s e n t e r c o n s u m p t i v e , i n d u s t r i a l i z e d o n e s .” A s w i t h t h e c a r g o c u l t s in t h e S o u t h P a c i f i c d u r i n g t h e S e c o n d W o r l d W a r , “ t h e m a ­ te r ia l g o o d s m ig r a n t s s e n d o r b r in g h o m e h a v e fo s te r e d a fe t is h is m th a t m y s t i f i e s t h e h u m a n e f f o r t s w h i c h p r o d u c e d t h e m .” 24 I n t h e J u s t ic e f o r J a n it o r s c a m p a i g n o f 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 0 , t h e i n c r e a s e d buying

power o f i m m i g r a n t l a b o r a p p e a r e d , a l b e i t b y s e r e n d ip it y , a l o n g s i d e t h e n e g o ­ t i a t i o n p a c k a g e f o r b e t t e r s a la r i e s , b e n e f i t s , i m p r o v e d w o r k i n g c o n d i t i o n s ( i n c l u d i n g t h e i m m i g r a n t ’s r i g h t t o w o r k w i t h o u t f e a r o f i n s r a i d s ) , a n d w a g e e x p l o i t a t i o n . W a s t h i s c o n s u m e r i s t i n f l e c t i o n s im p ly , t o q u o t e M a h le r , “ a fe t is h is m th a t m y s tifie s th e h u m a n e ffo r ts to p r o d u c e ” ? D o e s c o n s u m p ­ t io n o n ly a c t to m y s t ify th e s o c ia l r e la tio n s o f p r o d u c tio n ? I f r e a liz e d , th e p la t fo r m o f th e ja n it o r s ’ g r o u p w o u ld b r in g im m ig r a n t la b o r in t o c o n s u m e r c a p it a lis m a n d c lo s e r to th e r e a liz a t io n o f th e m a te r ia lity a n d lu x u r y o f th e

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American dream. To quote from the docudrama featuring Justice for Jani­ tors, Bread and Roses: “We want bread, but we want roses too!” In expressing this view, they registered their inequality as laborers and as consumers o f luxury goods too. In the aftermath o f the riots, that “pent-up demand” for goods unleashed by the frenetic disorderly crowd o f looters had now been absorbed into r l a ’ s discourse o f redevelopment, which refashioned looters and laborers alike as a potential docile consuming public. Indeed, another o f the Central Ameri­ can leaders present at that press conference went on to earn a master’s de­ gree in business administration, after which he began to give PowerPoint presentations on the Central American consumer at venues such as the ex­ clusive downtown Los Angeles City Club, the long-time home o f the city’s business elite. The Central American population’s settlement and consump­ tion patterns had made the agenda. Indeed, as the body o f the Latino looter was being circulated as a political text for the anti-immigrant movement, in the business realm Central Americans were being discovered as something more than a cheap labor force for global capitalism. They were now also ripe subjects for consumer capitalism. As a project,

r la

did not last long; indeed, it closed its doors two years

after the riots, and by all accounts it was relatively ineffectual.^ Nonetheless, r la

was a sign o f its times. Its redevelopment strategy for Pico Union mir­

rored broader economic restructurings and was embedded within the wider periodicity o f late capitalism on these three fronts: the privatization or devo­ lution o f the welfare state, the post-Fordist reneging on the social contract with labor, and the emphasis on consumption rather than production.

The Los Angeles Police Departm ent While the ambivalent critique o f consumption by Justice for Janitors recog­ nized the power o f the Latino immigrant as a new class o f consumers in the emergent neoliberal order, it failed to account for the production o f a new criminal class. Surely a critique o f neoliberalism must also account for the place o f security policy and for the combined spatial practices o f consuming and policing. I turn now to the second project o f topographic reform under investigation in this ch apter-policin g and the spatial discourse o f

l a p d ’s

special gang-abatement unit, Community Resources against Street Hood­ lums

( c r a s h ).

The notion o f the street hoodlum was to the rebuilt environ­

ment o f Pico Union as the Latino looter was to its ruined environment. On 90

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t h e s a m e s i t e t h a t r l a p r o p o s e d i t s V a c a n t L o t R e v i t a l i z a t i o n P r o je c t , t h e l a pd

p r o p o s e d a c o u r t in ju n c t io n a g a in s t th e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g . T h e lit ig a ­

t i o n m a p s p r e p a r e d f o r t h e d i s t r i c t a t t o r n e y ’s g a n g u n i t b y t h e c i t y ’s G e o ­ g r a p h ic I n fo r m a t io n S p e c ia lis t ( g i s ) t o o k in t o th e ir d o m a in th e v e r y s a m e n e i g h b o r h o o d g e o g r a p h y a s r l a ’s g i s i n v e s t m e n t m a p s . P a s s e d i n 1 9 9 7 , t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g i n j u n c t i o n le v e r a g e d p u b l i c n u i s a n c e a n d l o i t e r i n g la w s t o l e g a l l y e n s h r i n e a n d f o r m a l i z e s e v e r e r e s t r i c t i o n s o n th e fr e e d o m o f m o v e m e n t a n d th e r ig h t to fr e e a s s o c ia tio n b e tw e e n g a n g m e m b e r s , t h e r e b y c r i m i n a l i z i n g e v e r y d a y b e h a v io r . I t a l s o g a v e l a p d ’ s s p e ­ c ia l c r a s h u n it a v e r y n e a r ly id e a liz e d e x e r c is e o f d is c ip lin a r y p o w e r o v e r t h e r e b u i l t e n v i r o n m e n t in q u e s t i o n . G a n g i n j u n c t i o n s , m u c h l i k e t h e m e d i a s p la s h e s b y th e i n s a t th e b o r d e r b e t w e e n th e U n ite d S ta te s a n d M e x ic o , a r e s p e c t a c u l a r p e r f o r m a n c e s in s p a t i a l l e g i s l a t i o n d e s i g n e d t o r e t a k e c o m ­ m a n d o v e r a p o lit ic a lly m a r k e d s p a c e . B u ild in g o n th e S tre e t T e r r o r is m E n ­ fo r c e m e n t P r e v e n tio n A c t ( s t e p ) a n d c o m b in e d w it h a n t i- lo it e r in g la w s , th is in ju n c tio n b a n n e d a ll fo r m s o f a s s o c ia tio n a n d c o m m u n ic a t io n b e tw e e n t w o o r m o r e g a n g m e m b e r s — b e t h e y s t a n d i n g , s i t t i n g , w a l k i n g , d r iv in g , g a t h e r i n g , a p p e a r i n g , w h i s t l i n g , o r g e s t u r i n g a n y w h e r e in p u b l i c v ie w . T h e n e t e ffe c t o f th e s t e p A c t w a s to d e s ig n a te a p r o file o f y o u n g p e r s o n s w h o s e r i g h t s a n d p r o s p e c t s w e r e s t a t u t o r i l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m o t h e r s in t h e i r c o h o r t a n d to tr a n s fo r m a n y k in d o f y o u t h fu l s t e p p in g o u t o f lin e in t o m a jo r c o n ­ fr o n t a t io n s w it h th e s y s te m . T h e s t e p A c t c o m b in e d w it h th e in ju n c t io n e n ­ a b le d th e l a p d to fin e s s e th e s ta n d a r d s o f “ p r o b a b le c a u s e ” o r “ r e a s o n a b le s u s p ic io n ” b y “ r e n d e r in g s u s p ic io u s a n y o n e w h o lo o k s lik e a g a n g b a n g e r o r h a s b e e n f i n g e r e d b y a n i n f o r m a n t . I f t h e f r i s k r e v e a ls l i t t l e e v id e n c e , t h e o ffic e r s t ill c a n w r ite u p a s u s p e c t a s a “ g a n g a s s o c ia te ,” d e s p ite th e fa c t th a t t h e r e s i m p l y i s “ n o s u c h m e m b e r s h i p c a t e g o r y in t h e g a n g w o r l d . ” 26 M o r e ­ o v er, “ e n h a n c e m e n ts ” w e r e a d d e d to th e a lr e a d y - e s ta b lis h e d s e n te n c in g g u i d e l i n e s , w h i c h r e s u l t e d in i n c r e a s e d s e n t e n c e s a n d f in e s f o r a l l e g e d g a n g a s s o c ia te s . In th e e v e n t o f a n y fu tu r e e n c o u n te r s b e tw e e n th o s e a lle g e d a s s o ­ c ia te s a n d la w e n fo r c e m e n t, a d d itio n a l e n h a n c e m e n ts w o u ld b e a p p lie d y e t a g a in .2 7

A T ROUBLED CORNER L ik e th e i n s c a m p a ig n s a t th e b o rd e r s u c h a s O p e r a tio n G a te K e e p e r ^ 8 g a n g in ju n c t io n s a re e x a g g e r a t e d r e e n a c tm e n ts o f p r a c tic e s a n d p r o c e d u r e s a lr e a d y g e n e r a liz e d o v e r a m u c h la r g e r te r r ito r y s u c h a s r a c ia l p r o filin g o f y o u t h o f c o lo r . T h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g i n j u n c t i o n t o o k a s i t s f i e l d o f o p e r a t i o n

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the architecture and geometry o f the barrio o f the Hoover Street Locos, one o f five 18th Street cliques operating in the Rampart division, and the inter­ section o f Pico and Alvarado was identified as a strategic site therein. Ram­ part’s six-volume case file constructed Pico Union not as a “neglected area” ripe for redevelopment but as a violent topography in which a countervailing and illegal economy strangled legitimate local business. A three-part series in the Los Angeles Times on the 18th Street Gang, which was included as sup­ porting documentation in the case file and which mirrored much o f the tes­ timony therein, devoted considerable attention to The Pico Fiesta mini-mall at the southeast corner o f Pico and Alvarado— just one short block east of the Jack in the Box. The architectural rendering o f the mall, titled in bold “Troubled Corner,” was introduced with the words: “Burned to the ground during the 1992 riots. Rebuilt, it now faces a more insidious danger: dope dealing orchestrated by the 18 th Street gang.” The article broke down the topography o f this violence play by play in and around the three structures that comprise the mini-mall, as follows: (1) The Street: Gang members patrol Pico Boulevard to protect their drug-dealing partners; (2) King Taco: An armed guard, a veteran o f the Nicaraguan National Guard, eyes illicit activity; (3) La Casita de Don Carlos: Gang members and dealers drink beer inside the restaurant, watching the activity and coming outside to make sales. The owner stands by helplessly; (4) El Pavo Bakery: Dealers line up in front o f the bakery, selling to walk-up traffic; (5) The Fiesta Parking Lot: As a lookout watches for police, dealers loiter on the sidewalk and sell to customers who drive through the strip mall.29 The reader is left with a most vivid picture o f the mini-mall as an occupied territory: a resistant space o f significant strategic importance to the 18th Street Gang and, therefore, in the war for and against drugs. The gang has successfully superimposed its countervailing economy on the rebuilt mini­ mall by using its architecture to tap into a consumer market quite distinct from that targeted in r l a ’s strategic plan. Here we have a clash between two competing ideologies o f entrepreneurship and their respective niches in the market: dangerous and docile consuming publics. The signage on the built environment is testimony to this mixed economy o f the neighborhood. Graf­ fiti is visible on the wall behind the barbed wire fences and iron gates bear­ ing “no trespassing” signs, and under and above the signage for the local businesses advertising their productos Latinos— carne, lengua, pupusas, and the like, defacing even the occasional cultural-heritage board signs in the neigh92

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b o r h o o d s . O n c e “ c o n s u m e d ” b y l o o t e r s , t h i s a r e a r e b u i l t is n o w a t h r i v i n g c o m m e r c ia l z o n e fo r th e s tr e e t h o o d lu m . L ik e th e lo o te r , th e h o o d lu m w a s a m im e t ic im p r o v is a tio n o f its n o r m a ­ t iv e c o u n t e r p a r t , in t h i s c a s e t h e m i n o r i t y e n t r e p r e n e u r .30 B o t h l o o t i n g a n d d r u g d e a lin g w e r e th e m o r e v is ib le a n d h e ig h t e n e d a s p e c t s o f a c o u n t e r ­ v a ilin g s e t o f e c o n o m ic p r a c tic e s w h e r e in c e r ta in “ in te r e s te d p a r t ie s ” e n g i­ n e e r e d d i v e r s i o n s t o r e m o v e t h i n g s f r o m a n e n c la v e d z o n e t o o n e w h e r e e x ­ c h a n g e is l e s s c o n f i n e d a n d m o r e p r o f i t a b l e . T h is d iv e r s io n o f c o m m o d i t i e s fr o m th e ir p r e s c r ib e d a n d c u s t o m a r y p a th s , a n d I in c lu d e h e r e th e m ix o f e c o n o m ic p r a c tic e s c o m m o n ly re fe r r e d to a s th e in fo r m a l o r u n d e r g r o u n d s e c t o r , a lw a y s c a r r i e s a r i s k y a n d m o r a l l y a m b i g u o u s a u r a . 3 1 T h e s e o p e n l y ille g a l e x c h a n g e s a re a p a r o d y o f fo r m a l c a p it a lis t r e la tio n s o f e x c h a n g e a n d th e n e o lib e r a l lo g i c o f c o n s p ic u o u s c o n s u m p t io n . T h e y a re a ls o p a r o d ic o f th e q u a s i- le g a l e c o n o m ic c o p in g p r a c tic e s o f s u b a lte r n g r o u p s m a r g in a liz e d w it h in c a p it a lis m b y r e la tio n s o f p r o d u c t io n a n d c o n s u m p tio n .

E NC L OS UR E T h e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g in ju n c t io n e q u a te d g a n g - id e n t ifie d y o u th w it h o r g a ­ n i z e d c r im e , a l b e i t a t it s l o w e s t e c h e l o n s , a n d t h e i r v e r y p r e s e n c e in p u b ­ lic a s tr a n s g r e s s iv e . A s w it h th e tr a n s g r e s s iv e m o b ilit y o f th e b r a z e n L a tin o l o o t e r d e s c r i b e d in t h e p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r , t h e i n j u n c t i o n ’s c r i m i n a l i z a t i o n o f y o u t h ’s m o s t m i n u t e a n d b a n a l m o v e m e n t s b r i n g s t o m i n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p e x p lo r e d b e t w e e n m o b ilit y a n d fr e e d o m th r o u g h c o m p a r is o n s d r a w n b e ­ tw e e n E u r o p e a n e n c lo s u r e s a n d A fr ic a n A m e r ic a n m o b ility . In th e s e v e n ­ te e n th c e n tu ry , a u th o r itie s a tte m p te d to c o n tr o l th e m o v e m e n t o f, a c c o r d in g to T h o m a s D u m m , “ m a s te r - le s s m e n ” t h r o u g h th e e s t a b lis h m e n t o f “ p o o r l a w s t o c r i m i n a l i z e v a g a b o n d a g e — t h e s t a t e o f b e i n g in t r a n s i t . ” I n t h e c o n ­ t e m p o r a r y c o n t e x t o f th e U n ite d S ta te s , la r g e s e g m e n t s o f A fr ic a n A m e r i­ c a n a n d L a tin o m a le p o p u la t io n s a re s u b je c t to th is o p e r a tio n o f e n c lo s u r e t h r o u g h “ i n t e r n m e n t ” o r i n c a r c e r a t i o n . 32 I n ju n c tio n s d r a w u p o n th e h ig h ly lo c a liz e d g e o p o lit ic a l k n o w le d g e o f c it y o ffic ia ls a n d th e in te n s e s c r u tin y o f th e e v e ry d a y p r a c tic e s o f p a r tic u la r in d i v i d u a ls . I n d e e d , a c r u c i a l p h a s e in t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f a n i n j u n c t i o n is t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f t h e d a n g e r o u s i n d i v i d u a l, w h o h e is , w h e r e h e h a n g s o u t, h o w h e is to b e c h a r a c te r iz e d , h is g a n g a ffilia tio n , h is m o n ik e r (o r h is n o m d e g u e r r e ) , a n d h o w s u r v e i l l a n c e is t o b e e x e r c i s e d o v e r h i m in a n i n d i ­ v id u a l w a y . T h is a n a ly s i s o f t h e m a s s i v e p l u r a l i t y o f t h e g a n g , n o t u n l i k e t h e t e c h n iq u e s a n d p r o c e d u r e s th a t F o u c a u lt d is c u s s e s a s th e “ p r in c ip le o f en -

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closure,” attempts to break up collective dispositions and their distribution, circulation, and dangerous coagulation.33 The injunction’s first and foremost principle is therefore to ensure that these gang members have no opportunity to com bine34 In 1997 sixty such individuals were named within Pico Union’s 18th Street injunction and were prevented from “combining” therein— although the effects were general­ ized to all neighborhood youth. Oddly enough, according to the spatial ar­ rangements o f the injunction, these gang members were theoretically not prohibited from “combining” outside their barrio. As Rebelde, a member o f 18th Street’s arch rival, said to me: “The injunction doesn’t really matter anyway, because as soon as you cross over the border, say it’s Normandie, then the injunction doesn’t apply to you anymore, and the police in the next division don’t know you, because their c r a s h units only work with the gang in that neighborhood.” In this respect, the injunction would seem to have worked quite differently from other well-known forms o f spatial legislation such as the U.S.-Mexico border or South Africa under apartheid .35 The in­ junction was not directed at the borders between territories, nor does it en­ tail confinement to the barrio, and it did not focus on violence produced by trespass o f another order— that is, gang members crossing over into rival neighborhoods. Clearly, policing these boundaries was in full force for gang members or presumed gang members and youth o f color as they traveled through the city and its surrounding neighborhoods. Moreover, the rival gang was hard at work policing the borders between the barrio and the territory o f their rivals. However, the injunction itself was directed at the territory within and inte­ grally tied to the geometry o f the barrio as it was mapped out and produced by the gang structure itself. In so doing, the anti-loitering ordinances effec­ tively struck at the heart o f the gang, its raison d’etre and modus operandi: hanging or “kicking it with [one’s] homies in the barrio,” an activity often referred to as el vacil. This term, derived from the verb vacilar, is the flipside o f loitering, and both are integrally tied to the pedestrian quality o f the barrio— the everyday use o f its built environment^6Indeed, the barrio is one of the few spaces in the contemporary built environment o f Los Angeles where pedestrianism exists outside the postmodern theme-park shopping malls of City Walk or the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and in a city that is otherwise intimately associated with the “death o f the street.” 3 7 Until recently, in urban theory Los Angeles has been taken as the extreme demonstration o f the decline o f public space and o f the destruction o f any 94

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truly democratic urban space.38 The corner at Normandie and Eighth was, however, a vivid site for viewing what Mike Davis theorizes in his mani­ festo Magical Urbanism as “the redemptive power o f Latinidad for the preserva­ tion and revitalization o f public space.” 3 ° The policing o f the barrio was very much about the disciplining o f new subjects for particular kinds o f spatial orders. The gang was only one site (albeit the most publicly acknowledged and sanctioned) for punishment. But even those more palatable and overtly progressive social movements o f street vendors and janitors have met with similarly heavy-handed police reactions to their attempts to take over and use public space. Given the centrality o f the street to life in the barrio, it was nearly impossible not “ to combine” under the terms o f the injunction. If the gang member was to avoid incarceration for violation o f the injunction, he had two options: to stay o ff the streets entirely or to leave the barrio. Anti­ loitering laws on the streets o f the barrio effectively placed the gang mem­ ber under house arrest, at least within the boundaries o f the neighborhood, or forced the gang member into exile by essentially evicting him from his barrio.40 Interestingly, the injunction rested on and derived its moral authority from a similar trinity o f social forces as that employed by Rebuild Los Ange­ les: private enterprise, the state, and the community. The name o f the case file was, after all, “The People vs. the 18th Street Gang,” and the concept o f community was built into the acronym c r a s h : Community Resources against

Street Hoodlums. As Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox, author o f the injunc­ tion, explained to me, the injunction was intended to “help the commu­ nity take back their neighborhoods.” Indeed, gang injunctions are gener­ ally framed within the tradition o f community policing and are pitched as a strategy to engage community involvement with law enforcement and thus improve the quality o f life in neighborhoods.4 1 The question thus arises once again: who was this “community,” the pur­ ported agent in and benefactor o f the restoration o f this former social spatial harmony? By

c r a s h ’s

own account, the Pico Union Neighborhood Watch,

the only representative body o f the community’s concerns included in the case file, drew few people to its gatherings. Community residents, we are told, were fearful o f retaliation by gang members. I don’t want to disre­ gard this fear, but the relative weight given to declarations submitted by police, government employees, security guards, and business owners, on the one hand, versus that given to community residents, on the other, is over­ whelming. And the community residents included therein were, with one S T R E ET HOODLUM

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e x c e p t i o n , p r o p e r t y o w n e r s — a r a r e b r e e d in P i c o U n i o n in t h e 1 9 9 0 s w h e r e th e h o u s in g s t o c k w a s g iv e n o v e r a lm o s t e x c lu s iv e ly to r e n ta l u n its . A b s e n t fr o m c o m m u n it y t e s t im o n y w e r e th e r e n te r s o f th o s e p r o p e r tie s : s tr e e t v e n ­ d o r s , d a y l a b o r e r s , j a n i t o r s , m a i d s , g a r d e n e r s , a n d n a n n i e s a n d t h e i r “ a tr i s k ” c h i l d r e n , b e t h e y a c t i v e ly o r a l l e g e d l y a f f i l i a t e d w i t h g a n g s . T h e o r i g i ­ n a l a c r o n y m o f c r a s h w a s , in f a c t , t r a s h

(T o ta l R e s o u r c e s a g a in s t S tre e t

H o o d l u m s ) , b u t t h e r i n g o f i t d id n o t s i t w e l l w i t h t h e “ c o m m u n i t y . ” T h e s p a tia l-c u ltu r a l d is c o u r s e s o f th e in ju n c t io n th u s r e s te d o n a s im ila r s o c ia l e x c l u s i o n a s t h a t o f r l a ’ s r e d e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g y : P i c o U n i o n ’s w o r k i n g p o o r i n n e r - c i t y r e s i d e n t s a n d t h e i r c h i l d r e n .42

Inside the Jack in the Box I t ’s t h e s u m m e r o f 2 0 0 0 , a n d I a m e a t i n g l u n c h in t h e J a c k in t h e B o x a t t h e in te r s e c tio n o f P ic o a n d H o o v e r . M y lu n c h c o m p a n io n s a re M a g d a le n o , a l o n g - t i m e C h i c a n o a n d c iv il r i g h t s a c t i v i s t , a n d M e l l y a n d C r i s t i n a , s i s t e r a n d w i f e r e s p e c t i v e l y t o A le x , t h e f o r m e r le a d e r o f t h e N o r m a n d i e c l i q u e o f 1 8 t h S t r e e t ’s r iv a l g a n g , L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a . I t ’s m y t r e a t , b u t i t ’s M e l l y a n d C r i s t i n a ’s c h o i c e . T h e f a s t - f o o d v e n e e r , i n d i s t i n g u i s h a b l e f r o m a n y o t h e r J a c k in t h e B o x o n t h e o u t s i d e a n d f r o m t h e s t r e e t le v e l , r e a d s q u i t e d if f e r e n t l y o n th e in s id e . M y c o m p a n io n s a n d I o r d e r th r o u g h a P le x ig la s b u ffe r, w h ic h s h i e l d s t h e c o u n t e r h e lp a n d c a s h r e g i s t e r s f r o m it s n e i g h b o r h o o d c l i e n t e l e . A ll le g itim a te tr a n s a c tio n s — th e e x c h a n g e o f m o n e y fo r f o o d — a re c o n v e y e d t h o u g h d r a w e r s t h a t c a n o n l y o p e n o u t t o o n e s id e o f t h a t e x c h a n g e a t a t im e . T h e c h a n c e o f t h e i l l i c i t u s e o f b u l l e t s , k n i v e s , m o n e y , o r d r u g s is t h u s c a r e ­ f u l l y c u r t a i l e d b y t h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f t h i s J a c k in t h e B o x , w h i c h o n t h e i n s i d e l o o k s m o r e l i k e a h i g h - s e c u r i t y b a n k o r p r i s o n . I n s id e t h e J a c k in t h e B o x , it w o u ld s e e m th a t d e v e lo p m e n t a n d p o lic in g h a v e c o m b in e d to c o n t r o l th e s p a c e s o f c o n s u m p t i o n in t h is b a r r io a n d t o o r d e r t h e a c t o f c o n s u m p t i o n a l o n g a c c e p t a b l e p a t h s o f c i r c u l a t i o n in t h e f a c e o f t h a t “ p e n t - u p ” d e m a n d fo r , a m o n g o t h e r t h i n g s , i n t o x i c a t i n g g o o d s . M y c o m p a n io n s a n d I h a v e ju s t c o m e fr o m a h e a r in g a t th e L o s A n g e le s C o u n t y C r i m i n a l C o u r t in d o w n t o w n L o s A n g e l e s . S i t t i n g o n y e l l o w a n d r e d p la s t ic s t o o ls , e a t in g b u r g e r s a n d fr ie s a n d d r in k in g s h a k e s , o u r c o n v e r s a ­ t i o n a b o u t t h e m o r n i n g ’s c o n v o l u t e d l e g a l a r g u m e n t s a n d t h e c o m p l e x r e ­ l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n c r i m i n a l a n d i m m i g r a t i o n l a w is r e p e a t e d l y in t e r r u p t e d b y M e l l y ’s a n d C r i s t i n a ’s c e l l p h o n e c h a t t e r w i t h b o y f r i e n d s , h o m e g i r l s , a n d h o m e b o y s : W h e r e d id I g e t m y c o o l n e w r e d , s p o r t y b o o k b a g w i t h c e l l p h o n e

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p o c k e t? W h e r e c a n C r is t in a g e t h e r n a ils d o n e lik e P u p p e t, w h o ju s t g o t o u t o f “ j u v y ” ( j u v e n ile h a ll) a n d is l o o k i n g “ h o t ” ? W h e n c a n w e g o t o U n iv e r s a l S t u d i o ’s C i t y W a l k , t o s e e a m o v i e a n d t o b e s e e n ? C a n M a g d a l e n o , w h o is b o u n d f o r E l S a lv a d o r , t a k e t h e m t o a s w a p m e e t in S o u t h C e n t r a l L o s A n g e ­ le s t o b u y D i c k i e s c l o t h i n g , h a i r c o m b s , a n d T h r e e F l o w e r s h a i r o i l f o r t h e i r h o m e b o y s d e p o r t e d t o E l S a lv a d o r ? C a n I g i v e t h e m a r id e f o r t h e i r F a t h e r ’s D a y w e e k e n d p la n s t o v i s i t C r i s t i n a ’s c h i l d ’s f a t h e r , w h o is i n p r i s o n , a n d A l e x , w h o is b e i n g h e l d in a n i n s d e t e n t i o n c e n t e r ? W h e n M a g d a l e n o a s k s t o b o r r o w t h e p h o n e t o c h e c k i n a b o u t h i s n e x t m e e t i n g , C r i s t i n a c h i d e s h im t o b e q u i c k , a d d i n g in a g l e e f u l g l o a t o v e r t h i s l a t e s t a c q u i s i t i o n , “ N o e s p ú ­ b l i c o . A p u r á t e ! A p u r á t e ! ” ( I t ’s n o t a p u b l i c p h o n e . H u r r y ! H u r r y ! ) . T h e ir e x ­ c i t e d c h a t t e r a b o u t c o n s u m p t i o n , l a c e d a s i t is w i t h s i g n s o f i n c a r c e r a t i o n a n d d e p o r ta tio n , r u b s a g a in s t th e b a c k d r o p o f r e d e v e lo p m e n t a n d p o lic in g a s t h e y c o m b i n e in t h e a r c h i t e c t u r e i n s i d e t h e J a c k in t h e B o x . P e r h a p s i t is n o t a l l t h a t s u r p r i s i n g t h a t r l a a n d t h e l a p d w o u l d c o n ­ v e r g e a t t h i s c o r n e r a n d in t h i s f a s t - f o o d j o i n t . I a m n o t s u g g e s t i n g h e r e t h a t r l a ’ s V a c a n t L o t s t r a t e g y w a s w r i t t e n in d i r e c t c o n s u l t a t i o n w i t h t h e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g in ju n c t io n , o r v ic e v e r sa . I w o u ld a r g u e , h o w e v e r , th a t b o th w e r e w r i t t e n in c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h a b r o a d e r s e t o f a s s u m p t i o n s u s h e r e d in b y t h e s a m e la r g e r f i e l d o f c u l t u r a l a n d p o l i t i c a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s t h a t h a v e c o m e t o b e c a l l e d n e o l i b e r a l i s m . T h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f t h e J a c k in t h e B o x a n d t h e e x c i t e d c h a t t e r o f it s y o u n g i m m i g r a n t c u s t o m e r s a r e a v iv id m a n i f e s ­ ta tio n o n th e g r o u n d o f th o s e tr a n s fo r m a tio n s , fr a m e d a s th e y a re h e re b y t h e s e “ b i f u r c a t e d t e c h n o l o g i e s ” o f n e o l i b e r a l i s m , r e d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d la w e n f o r c e m e n t . 43 A s w i t h r l a , t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g i n j u n c t i o n w a s a l s o l i n k e d t o la r g e r n e tw o r k s a n d s tr u c tu r e s o f n a tio n a l tr e n d s . T w o la w e n fo r c e m e n t p r o je c ts in p a r tic u la r c o m e to m in d : th e F e d e ra l W e e d a n d S e e d p r o g r a m a n d B ro k e n W in d o w s , a s p o p u la r iz e d a n d in d e e d g lo b a liz e d b y th e n c h ie f o f th e N e w Y o r k P o lic e D e p a r tm e n t, W illia m B ra tto n (w h o w o u ld la te r b e c o m e c h i e f o f t h e l a p d ), a n d t h e n m a y o r o f N e w Y o r k R u d o lp h G u i l i a n i in t h e r e d e v e l o p ­ m e n t o f T i m e s S q u a r e . T h e f e d e r a l in i t i a t i v e , t h e W e e d a n d S e e d P r o g r a m , w a s s e t u p t o f u n n e l u r b a n r e n e w a l m o n i e s t h r o u g h t h e J u s t ic e D e p a r t m e n t . A f t e r t h e t o u r o f L o s A n g e l e s b y G e o r g e B u s h S r. in t h e a f t e r m a t h o f t h e r i o t s , t h e p r e s i d e n t r e s p o n d e d t o t h e “ m a l i g n n e g l e c t ” o f t h e in n e r c i t y b y o f f e r ­ in g to e x te n d th e n a tio n a l p ilo t p r o je c t to L o s A n g e le s . W e e d a n d S e e d w a s a r e d e v e lo p m e n t m o d e l th a t r e s te d o n th e p r e m is e th a t n e ig h b o r h o o d w e e d s ( t h a t is , it s c r i m i n a l e le m e n t s ) m u s t b e e r a d i c a t e d b e f o r e a n y t h i n g e ls e , s u c h

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as enterprise zones, can take seed. The City o f Los Angeles actually rejected the Weed and Seed money offered to them by Bush.44 The Broken Windows model, as it enabled gentrification and commercialization o f whole neigh­ borhoods and developments in Manhattan, was yet another model that tied urban revitalization to zero-tolerance policing strategies.45 Crime preven­ tion was, therefore, key to laying the conditions for stable economic devel­ opment. Certainly, with respect to crime prevention,

r la

was a much more subtle

agenda for redevelopment. After all, “security” was the last item to be in­ cluded in the “investment packages” o f

r l a ’s

Vacant Lots Revitalization

Project. The Vacant Lot strategy was aimed at cleaning up the lots whose “deterioration,” it was argued, “breeds illegal dumping and accumulation o f trash and crime.” Nonetheless, the conflation between enterprise zones and “weeding” was made explicit in an editorial in the Los Angeles Times that argued strongly that r l a ’ s work to encourage greater investment could only succeed if the “federal government also . . . promot[ed] public safety by sup­ porting urban police forces.” 4 6 In both cases o f redevelopment and polic­ ing there was no illusion that the market could govern by itself. As Patrick O ’Malley writes, this was particularly true for “ those sectors o f the popula­ tion not connected to the market, and certainly not where the demand for commodities rarely follows meekly down the paths convenient to govern­ ment and good order.’M7 The 18th Street Gang injunction put into effect in the neighborhood surrounding the Jack in the Box and the Pico Fiesta mini­ mall is a case in point. While

r la

did acknowledge structural issues such as poverty and un­

employment, the

l a p d ’s

zero-tolerance strategies acknowledged no such

root causes, except a “moral deficit in the individual.^8 Nonetheless, entrepreneur, like the street hoodlum in

c r a sh

,

r l a ’s

was an autonomous sub­

ject o f responsibility utilizing his or her freedom. And the relation between the responsible individual and his or her self-governing community came to substitute for that between social citizens and their common society in both institutional agendas49 Redevelopment and law enforcement thus shared the governing strategies o f advanced liberal societies as discussed by Niko­ las Rose. This political rationality is, according to Rose, a form o f govern­ ment that shapes “the powers and wills o f autonomous entities: enterprises, organizations, communities, professionals, individuals,” and, I would add, alleged criminals.50 Finally, it is no coincidence that both

r la

and the

la pd

derived their moral authority from the language o f “community.” Commu98

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n it y , a s a r e f e r e n t t o a n o u t s i d e o r i g i n o f p o w e r , c o n v e n i e n t l y t r a n s c e n d s t h e o n g o i n g p o l i t i c a l a n d c o n t e s t e d n a t u r e o f u r b a n s p a c e o v e r a n d w i t h i n c it y n e i g h b o r h o o d s .51 B o t h r l a a n d t h e l a p d in v o k e d t h e d e p o l i t i c i z i n g l a n ­ g u a g e o f c o m m u n it y to r e b u ild a n d r e ta k e th e v a c a n t lo t o n th e c o r n e r o f P i c o a n d A lv a r a d o .

S T R E E T H O O D LU M

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C RI MI NAL COP

THREE

SPA T IA L JUSTICE

In la te s u m m e r 1 9 9 9 , O ffic e r R a fa e l P e r e z o f th e l a p d w a s a r r e s te d fo r c o c a in e p o s s e s s io n . P e r e z m a d e a d e a l fo r a lig h t e r s e n te n c e in r e tu r n fo r i n f o r m i n g o n w h a t h e d e s c r i b e d a s “ a c a n c e r [ o f c o r r u p t i o n ] ” in t h e C o m m u ­ n i t y R e s o u r c e s A g a i n s t S t r e e t H o o d l u m s ( c r a s h ) u n i t in t h e R a m p a r t n e i g h ­ b o r h o o d . Its o ffic e r s p a tr o lle d th e r e b u ilt e n v ir o n m e n t o f P ic o U n io n , a n d th e ir d e c la r a tio n s h a d b e e n u s e d to s u p p o r t th e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g in ju n c tio n , a s d e s c r i b e d in c h a p t e r 2 . J u s t a s t h e y d id in t h e p o s t - r i o t c l i m a t e , d u r i n g t h e R a m p a r t c r i s i s l a w e n f o r c e m e n t o f f i c i a l s o n c e a g a i n i n v o k e d t h e la n g u a g e o f “ c o m m u n it y ” to r e s to r e o r d e r a n d to s ile n c e r e s is ta n c e a n d c o n t r a d ic ­ t i o n p r e c i s e l y a t t h e l e v e l o f “ c o m m u n i t y .” A N e w York Tim es M agazine a r t i c l e o n O ffic e r P e re z , e n title d “ l a p d C o n fid e n t ia l,” c la im e d th a t “ th e p r e d o m i­ n a n t l y L a t i n o c o m m u n i t y o f R a m p a r t h a s b e e n s u p p o r t i v e o f t h e L .A .P .D .” T h a t c la i m w a s b o l s t e r e d b y t h e c o n c l u d i n g s t a t e m e n t t h a t “ a f t e r t h e P e r e z d i s c l o s u r e s , p o l i c e s u p p o r t e r s s t a g e d a w e l l - a t t e n d e d p r o - R a m p a r t r a l l y [in

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t h e c o m m u n i t y ] ; a p r o t e s t r a lly s c h e d u l e d f o r t h e f o l l o w i n g d a y n e v e r c a m e o f f . ” 1 T h is b r o a d b r u s h s t r o k e o f g e n e r a l i z e d L a t i n o s u p p o r t f o r R a m p a r t d id t h e l a p d ’ s b i d d i n g b y w i p i n g o u t a ll r e s i s t a n t s p a c e s i n s i d e t h e n e i g h b o r ­ h o o d s s u r r o u n d i n g R a m p a r t . S im ila r ly , b o t h r e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d l a w e n ­ f o r c e m e n t w o r k e d t o s u p p r e s s c o m m u n i t y p r o t e s t s o v e r u r b a n s p a c e in t h e p o s t- r io t c lim a te . T h e p r o b le m a t ic c o n s t r u c t io n o f “ c o m m u n it y ” a s a n u n ­ c o n d itio n a l s o c ia l u n ity a n d a s a h o m o g e n e o u s u n a n im ity s h u t d o w n th e a v a ila b le s p a c e s o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f o r a lt e r n a t i v e v ie w s . In th is c h a p te r I c o u n t e r p o s e th e d ia le c tic a l im a g e s o f th e c r im in a l c o p w i t h t h e g a n g p e a c e a c t i v i s t . W h e r e a s t h e c r i m i n a l c o p is s i m u l t a n e o u s l y t h e l a w a n d it s t r a n s g r e s s i o n , t h e g a n g p e a c e a c t i v i s t l e v e r a g e s h is s t a t u s a s veterano ( v e t e r a n ) o f t h e g a n g t o r e c r u i t n e i g h b o r h o o d y o u t h f o r p e a c e ­ fu l r a th e r th a n v io le n t e n d e a v o r s . T h e g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is t, a n o t h e r fig u r e o b s c u r e d in t h e la n g u a g e o f “ c o m m u n i t y ,” o f f e r s a p a r t i c u l a r l y c o m p e l l i n g l e n s b y w h i c h t o r e p o l i t i c i z e a r g u m e n t s o v e r u r b a n s p a c e . W h e r e a s in t h e p r e v io u s c h a p t e r I lo o k e d a t th e r e p r e s e n t a t io n s o f th e s p a c e o f th e b a r ­ r i o i m p o s e d b y R e b u i ld L o s A n g e l e s a n d l a p d , in t h i s c h a p t e r I t u r n t o t h e s p a c e s o f r e p r e s e n ta tio n in th e b a r r io o p e n e d b y im m ig r a n t r ig h t s a d v o c a te s in g e n e r a l , a n d b y H o m i e s U n i d o s , i n p a r t i c u la r . T h e L o s A n g e l e s b r a n c h o f H o m i e s U n i d o s is a y o u t h a d v o c a c y a n d v i o l e n c e p r e v e n t i o n o r g a n i z a t i o n th a t fo c u s e s o n C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n im m ig r a n t y o u th a n d L a tin o y o u th liv in g in P i c o U n i o n a n d t h e s u r r o u n d i n g a r e a s . H o m i e s U n i d o s w a s a c t u a l l y f o u n d e d in S a n S a l v a d o r in 1 9 9 6 b y m e m ­ b e r s o f t h e a r c h r iv a l g r o u p s t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g a n d L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a (m s ), m o s t o f w h o m h a d b e e n fo r c ib ly r e tu r n e d to E l S a lv a d o r a ft e r s e r v in g s e n t e n c e s f o r c r i m i n a l o f f e n s e s . 2 T h e L o s A n g e l e s b r a n c h o f H o m i e s U n id o s w a s f o u n d e d t w o y e a r s la t e r , in 1 9 9 8 . T h e p o i n t p e r s o n f o r t h e l o c a l o f f i c e , A l e x S a n c h e z , h a d b e e n a v e t e r a n le a d e r o f t h e N o r m a n d i e S t r e e t c li q u e o f L a M a r a S a lv a tru c h a . In th is c h a p te r, I s h ift a w a y fr o m th e e t h n o g r a p h ic s e t t in g o f t h e p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r t o a b a r r i o in K o r e a t o w n , j u s t w e s t o f P i c o U n i o n , a n d t o a n o t h e r s t r e e t c o r n e r , s t i l l w i t h i n R a m p a r t ’s j u r i s d i c t i o n . 3 T h e i n t e r ­ s e c t i o n a t N o r m a n d i e a n d E i g h t h w a s h o m e ( o r b a r r io ) t o A l e x S a n c h e z a n d th e N o r m a n d ie c liq u e o f L a M a r a S a lv a tru c h a . W h ile th e r e h a d b e e n a lo o s e a l l i a n c e b e t w e e n m s a n d 1 8 t h S t r e e t , t h e y b e c a m e a r c h r iv a ls in 1 9 9 2 . A s t h e n a m e c o n n o t e s , m s w a s m a d e u p a l m o s t e n t i r e ly o f u n d o c u m e n t e d S a l v a ­ d o r a n a n d o t h e r C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n i m m i g r a n t y o u t h .4 H o w e v e r , b y v ir t u e o f it s g e o g r a p h y , t h e g a n g w a s b y 1 9 9 8 a m i x t u r e o f o t h e r L a t i n o s , b e t h e y i m m i g r a n t o r b o r n in L o s A n g e l e s , a n d e v e n a n o c c a s i o n a l A f r i c a n A m e r i-

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can or Asian American. Even so, the gang remained closely identified with the history o f Salvadoran mass migration to Los Angeles during the United States-funded Salvadoran civil war in the 1980s. In the early days o f its founding in Los Angeles, Homies Unidos held its organizational meetings in Los Comales, a Salvadoran pupuseria on the cor­ ner at Normandie and Eighth .5 In the late 1990s, the architecture o f this particular intersection — the restaurant, the parking lot behind it, the sur­ rounding tenement apartments, and the arcade across the way— was heavily worked on and over by the three competing forces o f Homies Unidos, the Rampart c r a s h unit, and La Mara Salvatrucha. The central device in chapter 2 was the destruction and redevelopment of the ruin. In this chapter, the figure o f the street and the struggle to win the right to it and to take control o f it, is at the heart o f this chapter. In this light I consider how the organizing strategies o f Homies Unidos, which relied heavily on the pedestrian quality o f the barrio, ran against the grain o f the spatial discourses o f law enforcement and countered c r a s h

’s

techniques of

representing and managing the inner city and its immigrant population. The refusal by Homies Unidos to relinquish the barrio and its streets as its space o f representation was, in fact, an argument over space and for the equality o f mobility through space— that is, a political project o f spatial justice. This struggle to win back their neighborhoods from the gang and from law en­ forcement led to the arrest and detention o f Alex Sanchez, two commu­ nity protests outside the Rampart station, a political asylum trial, a hunger strike, and a lawsuit. Alex Sanchez’s case was not a Rampart case in the literal sense, as it was not one o f the cases officially under review by the l a p d . But it was a case that unfolded in the Rampart division during the Rampart scandal, and it was certainly read as a Rampart case by Homies Unidos. In other words, Homies Unidos saw the harassment against its members as a continuation o f the same misconduct under formal investigation, and proof that the police cor­ ruption was ongoing even during the scandal itself.

Our Place In September 1999— right around the time o f the “well-attended pro­ Rampart rally” and the failed counter-rally mentioned in the New York Times as cited above— members o f Homies Unidos and leaders in the Latino, Asian, and African American “community” in the Rampart division gathered in crímínal c o p

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t h e b a s e m e n t o f t h e I m m a n u e l P r e s b y t e r ia n C h u r c h . T h e c h u r c h , w h i c h w a s ju s t a f e w b lo c k s n o r th o f th e H o m ie s U n id o s “ o ff ic e ” a t th e c o r n e r o f N o r ­ m a n d i e a n d E i g h t h , h a d b e c o m e h o m e t o t h e g r o u p ’s w e e k l y c r e a t iv e w r i t i n g a n d p o e t r y w o r k s h o p s . T h is w e e k , in p l a c e o f t h e p o e t r y w o r k s h o p , H o m i e s U n id o s w a s h o s t in g a s p e c ia l p a n e l c o n v e n e d b y th e C a lifo r n ia s ta te s e n a ­ t o r T o m H a y d e n , c h a ir o f a s p e c ia l ta s k fo r c e o n p r e v e n tin g g a n g v io le n c e e s t a b l i s h e d b y t h e p r e s i d e n t o f t h e s t a t e s e n a t e . H a y d e n ’s “ c i t i z e n p a n e l ” i n ­ c l u d e d la w y e r s a n d r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m f i f t e e n o f t h e l e a d i n g c iv il a n d i m ­ m i g r a n t r i g h t s g r o u p s in L o s A n g e l e s . A m o n g t h o s e p r e s e n t w e r e t h e R e v ­ e r e n d J a m e s L a w s o n , C o n n ie R ic e , A n g e la O h , a n d r e p r e s e n ta tiv e s fr o m th e C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n R e s o u r c e C e n te r, th e M e x ic a n A m e r ic a n B a r A s s o c ia t io n , a n d th e C o a litio n fo r H u m a n e Im m ig r a n ts R ig h t s - L o s A n g e le s .6 T h e p a n e l is o f i n t e r e s t h e r e o n t w o le v e l s : f ir s t , w i t h r e s p e c t t o t h e k i n d o f s p a c e o f r e p r e s e n ta tio n it o p e n s u p to th o s e s o - c a lle d d a n g e r o u s c la s s e s ;7 a n d s e c ­ o n d , f o r its p a r t ic ip a n t s ’ a lte r n a tiv e v ie w s o f g a n g m e m b e r s : th e ir tr a n s ­ fo r m a tiv e p o t e n t ia l, h o w th e y g e t tr a n s fo r m e d , a n d th e p a r tie s w h o m th e p a n e lis ts d e e m th e p r o p e r a n d c o r r e c t a g e n t s fo r th e ir tr a n s fo r m a t io n .8 T o th e s e p a n e lis ts , A le x S a n c h e z , th e g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is t, a p p e a r e d a s a p o s itiv e c o u n t e r w e i g h t a n d a l e g i t i m a t e a lt e r n a t i v e t o R a f a e l P e r e z , t h e c r i m i n a l c o p . O f c o u r s e , th is b o d y w a s n o t n e c e s s a r ily a n y m o r e r e p r e s e n ta tiv e o f th e L a t i n o “ c o m m u n i t y ” t h a n w a s t h e p r o - R a m p a r t r a lly , b u t i t d id r e p r e s e n t a d is s e n t in g v o ic e , th e c o m p e t in g s t r a t e g ic d is c o u r s e o f th e L e ft. A ll o f th e p a n e l i s t s w e r e c le a r ly v o c a l c r i t i c s o f “ t h e h a r d s i d e ” o f n e o l i b e r a l i s m a n d its “ p u n itiv e t e c h n o lo g ie s .” 9 H a y d e n o p e n e d th e s e s s io n e x p la in in g th a t th e p u r p o s e o f th e p a n e l w a s , a s w a s th e p u r p o s e o f h is c o m m itte e , to “ b r in g t o l i g h t c o n d i t i o n s a n d p r o b l e m s in t h e i n n e r c i t y . . . t h a t m i g h t g i v e r is e to g a n g b e h a v io r a n d to g iv e a v o ic e to p e o p le w h o a re in v is ib le , w h o a re v o ic e le s s . . . g iv e a v o ic e to p e o p le w h o a re p o w e r le s s .” S e n a to r H a y d e n h a d c o m e t o t h e m e e t i n g w i t h a n a g e n d a g a i n e d t h r o u g h h is e x p e r i e n c e w i t h t h e C r ip s a n d B lo o d s g a n g p e a c e p r o c e s s , a p r o c e s s th a t b e g a n b e fo r e th e L o s A n g e l e s r i o t s in 1 9 9 2 b u t g a i n e d s t r e n g t h in i t s a f t e r m a t h . 10 I n d e e d H a y d e n is a n i n t e r e s t i n g f i g u r e h e r e b e c a u s e h e i s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a p o l i t i c i a n , a n a d v o c a te fo r th e g a n g p e a c e p r o c e s s , o n e o f th e fo u n d e r s o f th e S tu d e n ts f o r a D e m o c r a t i c S o c i e t y in t h e e a r ly 1 9 6 0 s , a n d p r o l i f i c a u t h o r o f w r i t i n g s a b o u t — a m o n g o th e r to p ic s — s tr e e t g a n g s . S a n c h e z a l s o h a d a h is t o r y . H e w a s d e p o r t e d t o E l S a l v a d o r i n 1 9 9 4 a f t e r s e r v i n g a s e n t e n c e in f e d e r a l p r i s o n , b u t h e r e t u r n e d t o L o s A n g e l e s in 1 9 9 6 w i t h o u t a u t h o r i z a t i o n in o r d e r t o b e “ a f a t h e r t o h i s s o n ” (a s h e p u t it ) .

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A l e x i t o ( L it t le A le x ) w a s b o r n w h i l e h i s f a t h e r w a s s t i l l i n p r i s o n . U p o n h is r e tu r n to L o s A n g e le s , A le x s ta r te d o u t a s a n in fo r m a l c o u r ie r d e liv e r in g le t ­ t e r s f r o m h i s “ h o m i e s ” i n E l S a l v a d o r t o t h e i r f a m i l y a n d f r i e n d s in L o s A n g e ­ le s , a n d a s a c o u n s e lo r - c u m - s o c ia l w o r k e r v is itin g p a r e n ts e s tr a n g e d fr o m o r w o r r y i n g o v e r t h e i r d e p o r t e d s o n s . T h is w o r k b r o u g h t h i m in c o n t a c t w i t h M a g d a l e n o R o s e - Á v ila , w h o b e g a n t o m e n t o r A l e x i n t h e n o n v i o l e n c e t r a i n ­ in g te c h n iq u e s h e h a d le a r n e d t h r o u g h h is w o r k w it h C é s a r C h a v e z . H a y d e n o p e n e d t h e p r o c e e d i n g s b y s t a t i n g , “ I f n o t h i n g is d o n e q u i c k l y t o c r e a t e s p a c e f o r in d i v i d u a l s w o r k i n g f o r p e a c e i n L o s A n g e l e s , s o m e o f t h o s e in d i v i d u a l s w i l l s u r e l y b e l o s t t o u s t h r o u g h i n c a r c e r a t i o n , d e p o r t a ­ t i o n , i n j u r y o r d e a t h . I t i s w i t h t h a t g r a v i t y t h a t t h i s m e e t i n g h a s b e e n c a l l e d .” H a y d e n w a s lik e ly r e fe r r in g to th e th r e e H o m ie s U n id o s m e m b e r s w h o h a d a lr e a d y b e e n k i l l e d a f t e r t h e i r d e p o r t a t i o n t o E l S a lv a d o r . B e f o r e A l e x ’s t e s t i m o n y t h a t e v e n i n g , h e w a s i n t r o d u c e d b y H a y d e n ’s c h i e f o f s t a f f , R o c k y R u s h in g : W e ’ r e in M r .

S a n c h e z ’s n e i g h b o r h o o d

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. . . L a s t w in te r ,

M r . S a n c h e z w a s in o n e o f h i s n e i g h b o r h o o d r e s t a u r a n t s t a l k i n g t o s o m e y o u n g s t e r s , p a s s i n g o u t s o m e l e a f l e t s a n d b u t t o n s , d i s c u s s i n g p r i m a r i ly th e b e n e fits o f p e a c e w h e n th e d is c u s s io n w a s in te r r u p te d b y a n l a p d o ffic e r . . . H e o rd e re d A le x o u ts id e , c la im in g th a t A le x m a t c h e d th e d e ­ s c r ip tio n o f a r a p e s u s p e c t. S a id it lo u d e n o u g h fo r e v e ry o n e to h e a r . . . [ A le x is t h e n ] t a k e n t o t h e W i l s h i r e s t a t i o n , w h e r e h e is i n t e r r o g a t e d f o r s e v e r a l h o u r s . A f t e r th e p o lic e r e a liz e th e y h a v e n o g r o u n d s to h o ld h i m , t h e y o f f e r h i m a r id e h o m e . . . T h e y d r iv e A l e x a r o u n d t h e n e i g h ­ b o r h o o d , g i v i n g t h e a p p e a r a n c e t h a t h e ’s c o o p e r a t i n g w i t h p o l i c e . A f t e r s e v e r a l h o u r s th e y fin a lly d ro p h im o ff. T h e p o lic e m a n y e lls lo u d e n o u g h fo r e v e ry o n e to h ear, “ T h a n k y o u . I f y o u h a v e a n y in fo r m a tio n , y o u k n o w w h e r e y o u c a n g e t h o l d o f m e .” T h e y ’ v e c o n f i s c a t e d A l e x ’s li t e r a t u r e . T h e y k n o w fu ll w e ll th a t h e w o r k s fo r a g a n g in te r v e n tio n o r g a n iz a t io n . D e ­ s p i t e t h a t , h e ’s b e e n p h o t o g r a p h e d , h a n d c u f f e d , a n d h a d s e v e r a l e n c o u n ­ t e r s w i t h l a w e n f o r c e m e n t r i g h t u p t o , I b e lie v e , y e s t e r d a y [ A le x l e a n s o v e r t o h im ] , a n d e v e n to d a y . I h a d f i r s t m e t A l e x s h o r t l y a f t e r t h e i n c i d e n t in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d r e s t a u ­ r a n t, a n d it w a s th e t o p ic o f c o n v e r s a t io n b e t w e e n h im , h is h o m e b o y s , a n d M a g d a l e n o R o s e - Á v ila . M a g d a l e n o t a l k e d a b o u t t h e n e e d t o s i t d o w n w i t h t h e p o l i c e a n d g e t t h e c r e d e n t i a l s t o b e o u t in t h e s t r e e t s d o i n g t h is w o r k , b u t a l s o t h e d i f f i c u l t y i n v o lv e d c o n v i n c i n g t h e m t h a t t h e “ H o m i e s ” w e r e “ r e a lly

crímínal c o p

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d o w n f o r t h e w o r k . ” C e r t a i n l y A l e x ’s l o o k s — h is h e a v y w e i g h t l i f t e r b u i ld , t h e m a r k o f t i m e in t h e p r i s o n y a r d ; h i s a r m s t a t t o o e d w i t h h is m s a f f i l i a t i o n , th e p r is o n g u a r d to w e r, th e la u g h in g - c lo w n s m ile n o w , c r y la te r m o tif; a n d h is s till c lo s e ly sh a v e n h e a d — t o g e t h e r w it h h is c r im in a l r e c o r d a n d ille g a l r e e n tr y w e r e n o t r e a s s u r in g . A l e x b e g a n h i s t e s t i m o n y w i t h t h e h i s t o r y o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in E l S a l v a ­ d o r a n d h o w h e b e c a m e in v o lv e d in o r g a n i z i n g a b r a n c h in L o s A n g e l e s . R e ­ f e r r i n g t o t h e s p a c e w h e r e w e w e r e s i t t i n g , h e e x p la i n s : T h is is H o m i e s U n i d o s ’ A r t s E x p a n d p r o g r a m . T h is is w h e r e w e m e e t e v e r y T h u r s d a y a t 7 : 0 0 t o 9 : 3 0 , a n d t h i s is w h e r e w e d o o u r p o e t r y , o u r a r t s , o u r t h e a t r i c a l w o r k s w i t h t h e h e lp o f A r t s E x p a n d . T h is is o u r p l a c e , a n d a s I w a s t o ld , t h e p o l i c e a l s o k n o w , a n d t h e y w e r e h e re to d a y . I d o n ’t k n o w i f y o u s a w th e m . I d o n ’t k n o w i f y o u h a d th e c h a n c e to s e e M r. A m e z q u a a n d M r. M a r q u e z to d a y , t w o o ffic e r s o f th e R a m p a r t D i v i s i o n . W e ll, t h e y d o n ’ t r e a l l y b e li e v e t h i s is h a p p e n i n g a n d I d o n ’ t k n o w w h y . B u t o u r m i s s i o n is t o c o n t i n u e o u r p e a c e w o r k a s y o u ’v e b e e n h e a r i n g [ fr o m ] t h e e x p e r i e n c e s o f a ll o f u s t o d a y . A s I w a s t o le a r n f r o m t h e p a s t o r o f t h e I m m a n u e l P r e s b y t e r ia n C h u r c h , F r a n k A l t o n , A m e s q u a a n d M a r q u e z h a d a c t u a l l y c o m e b y e a r lie r t h a t d a y t o a s k th e c u s to d ia l s t a f f i f th e r e m ig h t b e a p la c e th e y c o u ld h id e to s p y o n th e m e e t in g s o f H o m ie s U n id o s . A le x c o n tin u e d b y s ta tin g : I h a v e th e e x p e r ie n c e o f g o in g t h r o u g h a lo t o f th is h a r a s s m e n t b y th e p o l i c e o f f i c e r s . C u r r e n t ly , w e h a v e o n e o f o u r y o u t h t h a t w a s o n e o f t h e m o s t a c t i v e in t h e p r o g r a m i n c a r c e r a t e d [ f o r a n a l l e g e d m u r d e r ] . H e w a s w it h u s d u r in g th e tim e th a t th e in c id e n t [th e m u r d e r o f w h ic h h e h a d b e e n a c c u s e d ] t o o k p l a c e . N o w h e ’s a r r e s t e d . . . I g u e s s o u r w o r d i s n o t o f m u c h v a lu e t o t h e c o u r t s a n d n o t b e i n g r e l i ­ a b l e w i t n e s s e s , s o t h e y o u t h is n o w in j a i l , a n d h e w a s h e r e [ in a H o m i e s U n id o s p o e t r y w o r k s h o p ] a t th e tim e [ o f th e m u r d e r ] . B u t th is is s o m e ­ t h i n g t h a t h a s b r o u g h t s o m e a t t e n t i o n o u t in t h e s t r e e t s b e c a u s e t h e y k n o w t h a t I ’ m t e s t i f y i n g f o r t h e y o u t h , t h a t h e w a s h e r e t h a t d a y a n d s o is H é c t o r P i ñ e d a [ f o r m e r p r e s i d e n t o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in E l S a lv a d o r ] t h a t w o r k s w i t h m e in t h i s p r o g r a m . T h e y k n o w t h a t w e ’ r e i n v o lv e d i n t h e c a s e , s o t h e y ’ r e c o m i n g a r o u n d l o o k i n g f o r u s a n d r e a lly t r y i n g t o g e t s o m e ­ th in g o n u s.

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L a s t tim e I g o t a t ic k e t fo r ja y w a lk in g , a n d th e y a ls o g a v e m e a tic k e t f o r n o t n o t ify in g th e d m v o f m y a d d r e s s c h a n g e w it h in te n d a y s. N o w , I d o n ’t k n o w h o w p e tty yo u ca n g e t . . . A l e x h a d s h o w n m e t h e j a y w a l k i n g t i c k e t t h e w e e k h e g o t it . T h e o f f i c e r h a d s c r a w l e d “ B i g A l , g a n g m e m b e r ” in l a r g e l e t t e r s o n t h e t i c k e t . A s A l e x c o n ­ t i n u e d h is t e s t i m o n y t o t h e p a n e l , I w a s t r a n s p o r t e d b a c k t o a n o t h e r m e e t ­ i n g , t h r e e d a y s e a r lie r . I t w a s in t h e h o m e o f J o s é , o r S le e p y , a f i f t e e n - y e a r o ld m e m b e r o f H o m ie s U n id o s a n d th e y o u th th a t A le x r e fe r r e d to w h o w a s b e in g h e ld f o r m u r d e r c h a r g e s d e s p ite h is a lib i w it n e s s e s . T h e ju d g e h a d ju s t d e t e r m i n e d t o t r y J o s é a s a n a d u lt ; t h i s b e i n g t h e y e a r t h a t s t a t e R e p r e s e n t a ­ t iv e P e t e W i l s o n — f r i e n d t o P r o p o s i t i o n s 1 8 7 a n d 1 8 4 — h a d a u t h o r e d a n e w p r o p o s it io n to , a m o n g o th e r th in g s , tr y ju v e n ile s a s a d u lts a n d m a k e ju v e ­ n ile s s u b je c t to th e d e a th p e n a lty . Jo sé h a d b e e n p ic k e d u p b y th e R a m p a r t cr a sh

u n i t in h is b a r r i o — b u t h i s p a r e n t s n o w liv e d in t h e r a p i d l y L a t i n i z i n g

a r e a o f S o u th C e n tr a l L o s A n g e le s . T h e y h a d o p e n e d th e ir h o m e th a t e v e n in g to ta lk , a n d s e v e r a l o th e r c o n c e r n e d p a r e n ts w e r e p r e s e n t: T h e m o th e r s o f t w o o t h e r p r o g r a m p a r t i c i p a n t s , H a p p y a n d C le v e r , a l o n g w i t h H é c t o r a n d m e . H é c t o r w a s a f o u n d i n g m e m b e r o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in E l S a lv a d o r . A l ­ t h o u g h h e h a d b e e n a le a d e r in m s in L o s A n g e l e s i n t h e 1 9 8 0 s , h e w a s n e v e r d e p o r te d a n d s o c o u ld r e tu r n le g a lly to L o s A n g e le s . T h a t n i g h t , I w a s d e e p ly m o v e d b y S l e e p y ’s p a r e n t s , w h o w e r e s t i l l s t u n n e d b y t h e t e r r i b le s h o c k o f t h i s t u r n o f e v e n t s . S l e e p y ’s f a t h e r b e g a n t h e d i s c u s ­ s i o n b y s a y in g : “ O n e n e v e r k n o w s w h a t ’s h a p p e n i n g . W e h a v e g o t t o w a k e u p . T h e y , w h a t t h e y w a n t is t o d e s t r o y o u r c h i l d r e n . W e h a v e g o t t o o r g a n i z e t o s t o p w h a t t h e y a r e d o i n g t o o u r c h i l d r e n . T h e y a r e o b j e c t s o f b r u t a li t y .” H é c t o r , w h o h a d o r g a n i z e d t h i s m e e t i n g , in t e r j e c t e d : “ T h e y p u t a t i c k e t o n m e f o r n o t h i n g . I t ’s j u s t a m e t h o d t o k e e p u s o f f t h e s t r e e t s . T h e y k n o w w e c a n ’ t p a y . W e d o n ’ t h a v e g o o d c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h o u r p a r e n t s . W e ’v e g o t to w a k e u p o u r p a re n ts s o th a t th e y b e c o m e a w a re o f th e s e a b u s e s . W e are j a i l e d , d e p o r t e d u n ju s t ly . M o t h e r s , w h a t y o u h a v e n o t s u f f e r e d w i t h y o u r c h i l ­ d r e n ! ” A s w e c o n t i n u e d a r o u n d t h e r o o m , H a p p y ’s m o m , w h o h e r s e l f w a s h a v i n g d i f f i c u l t y w i t h t h e p o l i c e f o r s t r e e t v e n d i n g , 11 v o i c e d h e r c o n c e r n s . R a m p a r t o ffic e r s h a d e n te r e d h e r a p a r tm e n t w it h o u t a w a r r a n t a n d ta k e n p h o t o s o f h e r n e p h e w . S o m e tim e s h e r d a u g h te r w a s c o m in g h o m e w it h th re e t ic k e ts a d ay; sh e h a d a n a p p o in t m e n t to a p p e a r b e fo r e th e ju d g e th e f o llo w ­ in g w e e k . C l e v e r ’s m o m b e g a n t o t a l k a b o u t n i g h t s in t h e b a r r i o a n d a m o t h e r ’s

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fe a r s f o r h e r c h ild r e n . E v e r y n ig h t , s h e e x p la in e d , s h e w o u ld g o o u t o n to th e b a lc o n y o f h e r fiv e -s to r y a p a r tm e n t b u ild in g — th e e le g a n t a n d g r a c io u s u r b a n a r c h ite c tu r e o f th e L o s A n g e le s o f th e tw e n tie s n o w tu r n e d in n e r -c ity te n e m e n t b u ild in g — a n d lo o k u p a t th e h e lic o p te r h o v e r in g a b o v e , lo o k in g d o w n a t h e r. “ T h e y m u s t k n o w m y fa c e b y n o w , h a v e a p ic tu r e o f m e ,” sh e s a id , f r a m i n g h e r f a c e w i t h h e r h a n d s a n d c o c k i n g i t t o o n e s id e : “ W h e n ­ e v e r I a m balconeando [ o u t o n t h e b a l c o n y ] , t h e y ’ r e a lw a y s t h e r e a b o v e m e . T h e y m u s t h a v e a c lo s e - u p p h o t o g r a p h o f m y fa c e p e e r in g u p in t o th e sk y w i t h t h a t w o r r i e d l o o k , w o n d e r i n g , a lw a y s w o n d e r i n g : W h o a r e t h e y l o o k ­ i n g fo r ? W h e r e i s m y s o n ? W h a t t e r r i b le t h i n g h a s h a p p e n e d o r is a b o u t t o h a p p e n ? ” T h e s e th o u g h ts a n d im a g e s w e r e a t th e fo r e fr o n t o f m y m in d a s I s a t a t S e n a t o r H a y d e n ’s p a n e l , l i s t e n i n g t o t h e s e n a t o r a n d A l e x d i s c u s s t h e g r o u p ’s p o e t r y r e a d i n g . T h e e v e n t h a d t o b e d e l a y e d a n d s h o r t e n e d f r o m t w o n ig h ts to o n e , b e c a u s e h a lf o f th e p a r tic ip a n ts h a d b e e n tic k e te d a n d ta k e n i n b y t h e p o l i c e o v e r t h e p r e v i o u s m o n t h . “ W h e r e d id t h e y g o ? ” H a y d e n a s k s . “ J u v e n ile h a l l a n d t h e c o u n t y ,” A l e x r e p l ie s . A g a i n , m y m i n d w a n d e r e d b a c k in t i m e t o t h e p o e t r y r e a d i n g h e l d j u s t t w o w e e k s e a r lie r . T h a t p e r f o r m a n c e e n d e d w i t h a t r i b u t e t o a ll t h e H o m i e s w h o w e r e n o t t h e r e . A d e d i c a t i o n w a s a l s o p r i n t e d in t h e e v e n i n g ’s p r o g r a m : “ H o m i e s w e w i s h w e r e h e r e : J o s é , L a u r a , L a L a ff y , H a p p y , B i t c h o , B a n d it , S le e p y , C le v e r , F u n n y . A l l t h e h o m i e s i n c a r c e r a t e d .” F r o m h i s i n c a r c e r a t i o n a t t h e Y o u t h A u t h o r i t y , C l e v e r h a d s e n t in a n e n t r y f o r t h e p o e t r y r e a d i n g . E n title d “ N o t E v e n W o r th a D im e ,” it s p o k e a b o u t d o in g “ d e a d t im e ” a n d o ffe r e d a w a r n in g to a ll th e H o m ie s to b e c a r e fu l o n th e s tr e e ts a n d to s ta y o u t o f j a i l. P u l l i n g m y s e l f b a c k o n c e m o r e t o t h e p r o c e e d i n g s in f r o n t o f m e : I w a t c h e d a s H a y d e n p o i n t e d t o A r l e n e A lv a r a d o , w h o s e p o e t r y w a s p r i n t e d in t h e p r o ­ g r a m b o o k le t. A r le n e , a w o m a n o f n o m o r e th a n tw e n ty y e a rs o f a g e , in t r o ­ d u c e d h e r s e lf to th e s e n a to r a s a c o o r d in a to r fo r th e g ir ls p r o g r a m ru n b y H o m i e s U n i d o s . H a y d e n , p o i n t i n g t o t h e c h i ld s h e h a d in h e r a r m s , a s k e d h e r w r y ly , “ I s t h a t t h e b a b y t h a t t h e p o l i c e s t o p p e d ? ” “ Y e s ,” r e s p o n d e d A r l e n e . H a y d e n s h o o k h is h e a d a n d c o m m e n te d w ith s a r c a s tic w it, “H e lo o k s lik e a r e a l t r o u b l e m a k e r .” A r l e n e t h e n r e c o u n t e d t h e e x p e r i e n c e s s h e h a d w i t h t h e p o lic e p u ttin g b o th h e r a n d h e r b a b y a g a in s t th e w a ll to c o n d u c t se a rc h e s fo r n o a p p a r e n t r e a s o n . T h e y h a d d o n e th is to h e r c h ild th re e tim e s sh e sa y s; t h e f i r s t t i m e h e w a s o n l y s ix m o n t h s o ld . L a s t w e e k , s h e r e la t e s , c r a s h d e ­ s c e n d e d o n t h e b a r r io . T h e s t r e e t s w e r e f l o o d e d w i t h c r a s h o f f i c e r s w e a r ­ in g h e lm e ts a n d b la c k s h ir ts a n d p a n ts , g o in g th r o u g h th e s tr e e ts s e a r c h in g

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e v e ry c a r. “ W h o w e r e th e y lo o k in g fo r ? ” H a y d e n a s k e d . “ T h e y ’re lo o k in g fo r a n y b o d y t h e y c a n g e t , ” s h e e x p la i n s , a n d a d d s , “ T o n i g h t , w h e n w e c a m e in t h e y [ O f f i c e r A m e s q u a e t a l.] w e r e h e r e , a n d t h e y s a i d t h e y ’ d b e w a i t i n g f o r a ll t h e H o m i e s w h e n w e c a m e o u t .” “ I s t h e r e a n i n j u n c t i o n in t h i s n e i g h b o r ­ h o o d ? ” a s k s H a y d e n . “ N o .” H e p r e s s e s f u r t h e r , “ I s t h e r e a c u r f e w ? ” A r l e n e re p lie s : “J u st f o r th e m in o r s .” A le x ta k e s b a c k th e m ic r o p h o n e fr o m A r le n e to a n s w e r q u e s tio n s fr o m R e v e r e n d L a w s o n , a n o n v io le n c e p io n e e r fr o m th e h e y d a y o f t h e c iv il r i g h t s m o v e m e n t : “ S o y o u t h i n k t h e p o l i c e a r e o u t t o g e t y o u ? ” A l e x c o n f i r m s : “ Y e s I w o u l d s a y s o .” “A r e t h e p o l i c e a t w a r w i t h y o u ? ” L a w s o n w a n t s t o k n o w . N o d d i n g h i s h e a d a g a i n , A l e x e la b o r a t e s : “ Y e s , i t ’s a q u e s t i o n o f w h o ’ ll w i n t h e w a r , e i t h e r m y ‘g a n g ’ o r y o u r ‘g a n g . ’ I ’m p u t t i n g m y l i f e in d a n g e r a s m u c h a s e v e r y o n e e ls e . I ’m a s m u c h a f r a i d o f t h e p o l i c e , o f t h e c r a s h d iv i s i o n , a s I a m o f o t h e r g a n g s . ” T h e n A n g e la O h s p e a k s u p . S h e c a lls a tt e n t io n to th e s t a r k r e a lit y th a t m a k e s t h e p r o g r a m s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s i l l e g a l in p r i n c i p l e a n d t h u s c r i m i ­ n a liz e d fr o m th e s ta rt, b e th e y p o e t r y r e a d in g s o r p r a y e r in s id e th e c h u r c h . P r o b a tio n p r e v e n ts a n y y o u th w h o h a s g r a d u a te d b e y o n d th e “ a t r is k ” c a t e ­ g o r y fr o m a n y fo r m o f a s s o c ia tio n w ith o th e r k n o w n g a n g m e m b e r s . I w o n ’t r e p e a t h e r e t h e v e r y l o o s e c r i t e r i a b y w h i c h “ g a n g m e m b e r s h i p ” is d e f in e d ; t h e p o i n t is l a w s t a r g e t i n g a f f i l i a t e d a n d a l l e g e d g a n g y o u t h g u t t h e r i g h t t o fr e e d o m o f a s s o c ia tio n . O h is i n t e n t o n e m p h a s i z i n g t h i s m a t t e r t o A l e x . “ U n t i l y o u g e t c l e a r w i t h p r o b a t i o n , y o u ’ r e in a p o s i t i o n o f v i o l a t i n g . I f t h e y [ t h e p r o b a t i o n o f f ic e r s ] a r e n o t a w a r e o f y o u r p r o g r a m , y o u c a n ’ t b e in t h is c h u r c h , e v e n i f y o u ’ r e j u s t p r a y i n g t o g e t h e r .” A s I l i s t e n , I ’m w o n d e r i n g t o m y s e l f i f h o l d i n g t h is m e e t i n g h e r e is a n e n o r m o u s o v e r s i g h t o r i n t e n t i o n a l r e s i s t a n c e o n t h e p a r t o f H o m ie s U n id o s . I a m s h o c k e d in t o r e c o g n it io n o f h o w d a n g e r o u s th e s e b e n ig n m e e tin g s m ig h t tu rn o u t to b e fo r s o m e o f th e s e y o u n g p e o p le , a n d h o w r i s k y t h e e n t e r p r i s e o f p e a c e m a k i n g , o f n o n v i o l e n c e , is in p r a c t i c e . In r e s p o n s e to O h , A le x s ta te s : “ B u t th e y [th e p o lic e ] h a v e th e c h o ic e to d o it [ i.e ., t i c k e t t h e m f o r v i o l a t i o n o f p r o b a t i o n ] , ” a n d H a y d e n b a c k s h i m u p b y n o t i n g “ I t ’s d is c r e t i o n a r y , n o t m a n d a t o r y .” T h e n H a y d e n i n v o k e s t h e b i g p i c t u r e . “A l l t h is g o e s t o t h e i s s u e : H o w c a n y o u m a k e th is p e a c e p r o c e s s le g a l? H o w c a n it b e p r o te c te d w h e n b y d e fi­ n it io n it in c lu d e s p e o p le w h o a re v u ln e r a b le o f b e in g p ic k e d u p ? ” O h n o d s in a g r e e m e n t , s a y i n g , “ T o b e . . . b e e f f e c t i v e o n t h e s t r e e t s y o u h a v e t o h a v e b e e n in [ t h e g a n g s , t h e c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e s y s t e m ] . O n c e y o u g e t in y o u ’v e p r o b ­ a b l y b e e n t a g g e d . O n c e y o u ’ v e b e e n t a g g e d , y o u ’v e g o t t o s t a y a w a y o r n o

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a s s o c i a t i o n . S o t h e v e r y p e o p l e w h o a r e in a p o s i t i o n t o d o t h e p e a c e w o r k c a n ’ t fr e e ly a s s o c ia te .” H a y d e n t u r n s t o A l e x , “ Y o u ’v e g o t a r a p s h e e t ? ” “ Y e s ,” A l e x r e p l i e s , “ I ’ v e d o n e m y t i m e .” “ H a v e y o u s a t d o w n w i t h t h e m — t h e c r a s h u n i t ? ” a s k s H a y ­ d e n . “ N o . T h e y d o n ’ t b e lie v e ; t h e y d o n ’ t w a n t t o b e li e v e in t h i s w o r k . T h e y w a n t t o d o i t t h e i r w a y a n d t h e i r w a y is t o l o c k e v e r y b o d y u p .” A l e x m a y n o t h a v e s p o k e n to th e p o lic e , b u t o th e r p e o p le , in c lu d in g H a y d e n , h a v e d o n e so o n h i s b e h a l f in a n e f f o r t t o g e t h i m t h e i m m u n i t y h e n e e d s t o d o h is p e a c e w o r k in t h e s t r e e t s . I n f a c t , t h e f i r s t t i m e I h e a r d a b o u t A l e x w a s in E l S a l v a d o r in N o v e m b e r 19 9 8 , w h e n I w a s w it h H a y d e n o n a n in v e s tig a tiv e d e le g a t io n s p o n s o r e d b y th e L o s A n g e le s - b a s e d im m ig r a n t r ig h t s o r g a n iz a t io n a s o s a l ( A s s o c ia tio n o f S a l v a d o r a n s in L o s A n g e l e s ) . D u r i n g o u r m e e t i n g w i t h t h e U .S . a m b a s ­ s a d o r t o E l S a lv a d o r , H a y d e n b r o u g h t u p A l e x ’s c a s e , a n d a b o u t t h e l a c k o f p o l i t i c a l s u p p o r t f o r g a n g p e a c e a c t i v i s t s l i k e A le x : T h e o d d t h i n g is , t h e a n o m a l y is t h a t i f y o u ’ r e a n i n f o r m a n t w i t h a l i f e l o n g c r im in a l r e c o r d a n d y o u tu rn in fo r m a n t, y o u c a n g e t a p a p e r fr o m th e i n s a l l o w i n g y o u t o s t a y in t h i s c o u n t r y a s a n i l l e g a l p e r s o n , b u t y o u c a n ’ t g e t a p i e c e o f p a p e r i f y o u a s k t o b e s u p e r v i s e d a s a p e a c e a c t i v i s t . T h e r e ’s a p o l i t i c a l w i l l i s s u e h e r e , a n d I t h i n k t h a t t h e p o l i c e a t t i t u d e is a p r o b l e m , b u t e v e n i f y o u g e t th r o u g h it y o u ’re g o in g to h a v e to c r e a te a . . . m e c h a ­ n is m th a t a llo w s th e p o lic e to s ta y b a c k fr o m th is p r o c e s s s o th a t th e y w o n ’ t b e h e l d l i a b l e i f s o m e t h i n g h a p p e n s . T h a t ’s t h e b i g l e g a l a r g u m e n t . T h e r e s u l t o f H a y d e n ’s e f f o r t s w a s a w i l d g o o s e c h a s e , w i t h l a p d d e f e r r i n g to th e i n s , a n d th e i n s d e fe r r in g b a c k to l a p d . M e a n w h ile , A le x c o n tin u e d t o b e v u l n e r a b l e o n t h e s t r e e t s . 12 B a c k a t t h e p a n e l h e a r i n g , A l e x ’s t e s t i m o n y e n d e d w i t h a q u e s t i o n f r o m th e im m ig r a t io n a tt o r n e y A la n D ia m a n te : “ D o y o u k n o w o f a n y m e m b e r s o f H o m ie s U n id o s th a t w e r e o n p r o b a t io n a n d w h e t h e r th e p r o b a t io n o ff i­ c e rs r e p o r te d th e m to th e i n s o r p o lic e o ffic e r s r e p o r te d th e m to th e i n s ? ” A le x a s k s fo r c la r ific a tio n : “ D ir e c tly fr o m H o m ie s ? . . . N o , w e h a v e n ’ t h a d a c a s e l i k e t h a t .” T h e h e a r i n g c o n t i n u e s , b u t A l e x a n d t h e m e m b e r s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s le a v e t o g a t h e r in t h e s m a l l e r a d j o i n i n g r o o m . I a c c o m p a n y t h e H o m i e s a s t h e y l e a v e — a s d o R o c k y R u s h i n g , S ilv ia B e lt r á n ( H a y d e n ’s l e g i s ­ la t iv e a s s i s t a n t a n d c o m m u n i t y l i a i s o n ) , a n d R a n a H a u g e n ( t h e a s s i s t a n t d i ­ r e c to r o f th e p o e tr y -r e a d in g g r o u p A r ts E x p a n d ) — b e c a u s e w e a re w o r r ie d a b o u t th e p o lic e p r e s e n c e in s id e a n d o u ts id e th e b u ild in g . T h e H o m ie s , as

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th e y a re c o lle c tiv e ly c a lle d a n d c a ll th e m s e lv e s , a re c h a t t e r in g w it h n e r v o u s e n e r g y , f e a r f u l y e t e x c it e d . M a n y o f t h e m h a d b e e n s t a r t l e d t o w a l k i n t o t h e i r n o r m a l m e e tin g s p a c e to s e e it o c c u p ie d b y c a m e ra s a n d p o litic ia n s a n d to d is c o v e r th a t th e ir w e e k ly p o e tr y w o r k s h o p h a d tu rn e d in to a v e r y p u b lic p o l i t i c a l b a t t le f i e l d . T h e y w o r r i e d a b o u t t h i s p u b l i c e x p o s u r e a n d t h e d a n g e r s o f s p e a k in g u p . E v e n t h o u g h th e y h a d w a n t e d to g iv e th e ir a ffid a v its , th e y w o u l d h a v e p r e f e r r e d t o d o s o in a s a f e r a n d m o r e p r iv a t e s p a c e . T h e a r t s p r o ­ g r a m d ir e c to r is in d ig n a n t . S h e h a s w o r k e d s o h a r d to b u ild a s a fe h o u s e fo r th e s e y o u n g p e o p le to c o m e o f f th e s tr e e ts . “ T h e y o u th w e r e n ’ t e v e n w a r n e d ,” sh e p ro te sts . A l e x is c l e a r l y n e r v o u s b u t a l s o f u l l o f b r a v a d o : “ L e t t h e m c o m e f i n d m e .” H e k in d o f lik e s th a t th e p o lic e a re a s k in g fo r “ B ig A l,” h e sa y s. H e k n o w s h e is in t h e l i m e l i g h t a n d t h a t t h e r e i s n o g o i n g b a c k . H e k n o w s h e is in d a n ­ g e r , b u t t h e d a n g e r is i n t o x i c a t i n g . I t r e m i n d s h i m o f h i s g a n g b a n g i n g d a y s , t h e e x c i t e m e n t o f w a r , a n d t h e “ u s ” v e r s u s “ t h e m , ” o r s o h e c la i m s . T h e i m ­ m e d i a t e p r o b l e m a t h a n d , h o w e v e r , is h o w t o g e t t h e H o m i e s o u t o f t h e b u i l d i n g s a f e l y w i t h o u t b e i n g s t o p p e d b y t h e p o l i c e . E a r lie r t h a t e v e n i n g , t h e p o l i c e h a d o r d e r e d o n e o f t h e H o m i e s t o v a c a t e t h e p r e m i s e s im m e d ia t e ly , a n d w a r n e d a n o t h e r th a t m o r e p o lic e w o u ld b e w a it in g f o r h im o u ts id e w h e n h e c a m e o u t. W e o r g a n iz e d a c o n v o y o u t to th e c a r s , a n d g a v e r id e s h o m e fo r e v e r y o n e a s a b u ffe r b e t w e e n th e m a n d th e p o lic e . It w a s a ll w e ll a n d g o o d , b u t w e w o u ld n ’ t b e w it h th e m o n th e s tr e e ts th e n e x t day. A ft e r th a t e v e n in g , A le x w a s v e r y m u c h o n e d g e . T h in g s w e r e c o m in g d o w n o n a ll s id e s : in E l S a lv a d o r , c e r t a i n i n f o r m a l a n d i n t e r m i t t e n t g a n g t r u c e s b e ­ t w e e n r iv a l b a r r i o s w e r e u n r a v e l i n g . I n L o s A n g e l e s , A l e x w a s s t o p p e d b y cr a sh

o ffic ia ls , w h o th r e a te n e d th a t h e a n d H o m ie s U n id o s w o u ld b e g o n e

i n s ix m o n t h s . A l e x w a s a l s o n e r v o u s b e c a u s e o f S l e e p y ’s m u r d e r t r ia l. T h e r e w a s a d i s t u r b i n g p a t t e r n o f o f f i c i a l i n t i m i d a t i o n , in d e e d o f s t a t e - f e d e r a l c o l ­ la b o r a tio n , th a t h a d n o t y e t e m e r g e d in th e p r e s s c o v e r a g e o f th e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l . I t w a s a p a t t e r n t h a t A l e x k n e w a ll t o o w e l l f r o m h is s t r e e t - l e v e l e x ­ p e r i e n c e . T h e n u m b e r s in r e p o r t s r e l e a s e d la t e r w e r e t o c o r r o b o r a t e h is c o n ­ c e r n s : th e l a p d h a d ta r g e t e d te n t h o u s a n d g a n g m e m b e r s f o r d e p o r ta tio n , a n d th e i n s a n d B o rd e r P a tro l a g e n ts m a in ta in e d a r e g u la r p r e s e n c e in l a p d b o o k in g a n d c h a r g in g - o u t fa c ilit ie s . A s a r e s u lt o f th is c o lla b o r a tio n , e v e n w h e n th e c r im in a l c h a r g e s a g a in s t g a n g s a n d p u r p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e o v e r tu r n e d , th e i n s s till m a in ta in e d a d e p o r ta tio n h o ld o n th e m . A c c o r d in g t o t h e P u b l i c D e f e n d e r ’s o f f i c e , t h i s t a c t i c h a d b e e n e m p l o y e d b y t h e l a p d t o p u s h m a n y k e y h o s t ile w it n e s s e s in t o a n d th r o u g h th e d e p o r ta tio n p ip e lin e ,

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t h e r e b y h i n d e r i n g t h e e f f o r t s o f d e f e n s e a t t o r n e y s in p e n d i n g c a s e s a g a i n s t im m ig r a n ts , a s w e ll a s th e e ffo r ts o f th o s e s e e k in g to p r o s e c u te r o g u e o ffi­ c e r s in t h e R a m p a r t c a s e i t s e l f . I t w a s A l e x ’s f e a r t h a t t h e R a m p a r t c r a s h o ffic e r s w o u ld u s e th e p r o c e s s o f d e p o r ta tio n to e lim in a te h im a s a h o s t ile w i t n e s s in S l e e p y ’s t r ia l.

The Barrio as a Space of Representation W h y d id th e m e m b e r s o f H o m ie s U n id o s a n d th e ir w o r k w it h im m ig r a n t L a tin o y o u th a ffilia te d w it h g a n g s a n d th o s e im p a c t e d b y th e m m e e t w it h t h e s a m e h e a v y - h a n d e d g a n g a b a t e m e n t s t r a t e g i e s t h a t t a r g e t e d c r i m i n a ls a n d g a n g m e m b e r s ? W h i l e t h e r e a r e m a n y w a y s in w h i c h t h e b e h a v i o r o f t h e g a n g p e a c e a c t i v i s t is n o t s u b j e c t t o t h e p o l i t e n e g o t i a t i o n o f c iv ilit y , t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p o f H o m i e s U n i d o s t o t h e s p a c e o f t h e s t r e e t is a k e y h e r e .13 A s I h a v e s h o w n in p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r s , t h e t o p o g r a p h i c a l r e f o r m o f t h e b a r ­ r io fo c u s e s o n th e s p a c e o f th e s t r e e t — b e it to s h u t d o w n th a t s p a c e o r to p r e s e r v e a n d e x p a n d it . W i t h o u t r e c o u r s e t o a c o u r t i n j u n c t i o n , c r a s h e m ­ p lo y e d v e r y s im ila r t a c t ic s a t th e c o r n e r o f N o r m a n d ie a n d E ig h th , th e n th e o r g a n iz in g g r o u n d fo r H o m ie s U n id o s . T h e in ju n c t io n w a s d e fa c t o i f n o t d e j u r e in p l a c e . M o r e o v e r , c r a s h a p p e a r e d e q u a lly i n t e n t o n i d e n t i f y i n g a n d t a r g e t i n g t h e le a d e r s h i p o f H o m i e s U n i d o s a n d b r e a k i n g u p t h e o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n ’s c o l l e c t i v e d i s p o s i t i o n s a n d p e d e s t r i a n p r a c t i c e s a s i t w a s o n t h o s e o f L a M a ra S a lv a tru c h a a n d th e 1 8 th S tre e t G a n g . A s i n d i c a t e d b y t h e t e s t i m o n i a l s a b o v e o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s l e a d e r s a n d p ro gram

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m o v e m e n t o n th e s tr e e ts o f th e b a r r io h a d e n o r m o u s im p lic a t io n s fo r o r g a ­ n i z a t i o n ’s w o r k . I t s “ o u t r e a c h ” o c c u r r e d o n t h e s t r e e t s , o u t s i d e t h e s e b u i l d ­ in g s a n d o n th e s id e w a lk s . W e h a v e s e e n th a t th is m o d e o f “ c o m m u n it y o r g a ­ n i z i n g ” w a s c r im in a liz e d a s “ja y w a lk in g ” b y c r a s h , a n d th a t m e m b e r s o f H o m ie s U n id o s w e r e c o m in g h o m e w ith s o m e tim e s m u ltip le tic k e ts a d ay fo r ja y w a lk in g , b lo c k in g th e s id e w a lk , a n d im p r o p e r a s s o c ia tio n . A s A le x e x ­ p la i n e d , “ I f y o u d o n ’ t p a y [ t h e j a y w a l k i n g t i c k e t ] , y o u e v e n t u a ll y g e t a w a r ­ ra n t, a n d th e n y o u g o to ja il, a n d th e n y o u g e t p la c e d o n p r o b a t io n , a n d th e n y o u w a i t f o r t h e m t o c a t c h y o u a n d p u t y o u b e h i n d b a r s .” F u rth e rm o re , m e m b e rs

o f th e

o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s l e a d e r s h i p w e r e

o fte n

f r i s k e d b y p o l i c e o f f i c e r s o n t h e i r w a y t o t h e i r w e e k l y p o e t r y w o r k s h o p . In t r y in g to p r e e m p t th is h a r a s s m e n t, th e p r o g r a m d ir e c t o r o f A r ts E x p a n d d e ­ c id e d to p ic k u p th e y o u n g e r m e m b e r s o u ts id e th e ir h o m e s e n r o u te to th e

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church hall. But even this strategy proved problematic. While waiting for her on the streets outside their apartments, program participants would once again be ticketed. Thus, alongside the poetry and games, meetings came to include strategizing about where the youth could wait without being sub­ jected to police scrutiny. At one point, the police even stopped the Arts Ex­ pand staff and questioned their presence in the neighborhood, and I myself began to worry that my participant-observation would include such interro­ gations. From start to finish, the work o f Homies Unidos relied heavily on the pedestrian quality o f the barrio. The group’s strategy o f organizing in the streets was actually a refusal to relinquish the barrio as their “space o f rep­ resentation.” As such, Homies Unidos and the gang peace process ran up against the grain o f acceptable social programs precisely because they failed to withdraw from the streets. This is an argument over spatial justice: the right to organize and to leverage their barrio as a “third space” that is neither that o f the gang nor o f the police, but instead is a “space bearing the pos­ sibility o f new meanings, a space activated through social action and the social imagination.” 14 Even once calmado (calm), no longer activo (active), gang peace activists refuse to shed those aspects o f their identity that are not subject to polite negotiation: their relationship to the streets foremost. Thus, gang peace activists remain “dangerous” insofar as, in the words of Thomas Dumm, their “oppositional energy reanimates [the public space of] civil society.” 15

Crim inal Cop During the Rampart scandal, much was said about how the

la pd

was per­

haps “ the biggest gang o f all.” i6 The material archive on how Rampart offi­ cers played at being gangsters and interiorized their enemy is a rich one. The testimony o f Rafael Perez, criminal cop turned informant, speaks elo­ quently to the ways in which

cr a sh

functioned as “both the law and its

transgression.” !7 From all accounts, Rampart’s

cr a sh

unit was an “espe­

cially tight-knit group” i8— a veritable gang. The officers in c r a s

h

embraced

this gangster identity corporeally. The photograph on the cover o f the issue o f the New York Times Magazine cited above is case in point. Officer Rafael Perez— posing in his prison sweats with his tattoo exposed and his hair shaved close to his head— looked just like any other “gangster,” at least ac­ cording to the overly broad definition used to place alleged gang members crímínal c o p

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o n t h e c a l / g a n g l i s t . 19 P e r e z ’s t a t t o o e x p o s e d t h e i n s i g n i a o f h is u n it , h is c liq u e , h i s g a n g : n a m e ly , a s L o u C a n n o n w r i t e s , “ a s k u l l w i t h a c o w b o y h a t a n d a p o k e r h a n d o f a p a i r o f a c e s a n d p a i r o f e i g h t s , t h e d e a d - m a n ’s h a n d t h a t t h e f r o n t i e r o u t l a w W i l d B ill H i c k o k w a s h o l d i n g w h e n h e w a s s h o t t o d e a t h .” 20 N e i g h b o r h o o d r e s i d e n t s c o m p l a i n e d t h a t c r a s h o f f i c e r s w o u l d c o n f r o n t t h e m , s h o w i n g o f f t h e i r t a t t o o s a s i f t h e y w e r e s a y i n g , “ T h is is m y g a n g . T h is is w h e r e I c o m e f r o m . ” 2 i T h e c r a s h

o f f i c e r u s e d h is t a t t o o t o

m im ic th e te r r ito r ia l id e n t ific a t io n a n d b a r r io m e n t a lit y o f th e g a n g m e m b e r t o m a r k h i s t e r r it o r y , R a m p a r t , a n d t o s i g n i f y h i s g a n g a f f i l i a t i o n , C R A S H .2 2 T h e d ia le c t ic a l im a g e o f th e c r im in a l c o p g o e s w e ll b e y o n d th e s e e x p r e s ­ s iv e f o r m s . A c c o r d i n g t o P e r e z ’s t e s t im o n y , h e a n d h is c o h o r t s — h o m e b o y s , i f y o u w i l l — o r g a n i z e d a n d t o o k p a r t in b a n k r o b b e r i e s , d r u g d e a l i n g , a n d p r o s t it u t io n r in g s fo r o ffic e r s . T h e y w o u n d e d a n d k ille d u n a r m e d g a n g m e m ­ b e rs , a n d p la n te d g u n s a n d d r u g s o n th e ir v ic tim s . T h e y a p p r o p r ia te d g a n g m e m b e r s ’ p a g e r s , a n s w e r e d i n c o m i n g c a l l s , t o o k d r u g d e a ls i n t h e n a m e o f g a n g m e m b e r s , a n d r e s o ld d r u g s th e y h a d r e p o s s e s s e d fr o m th o s e v ery s a m e g a n g m e m b e r s . I n d e e d , th e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l fir s t b r o k e w h e n P e r e z w a s c a u g h t w it h c o c a in e ; h e w a s c h e c k in g o u t r e p o s s e s s e d c o c a in e o s t e n ­ s i b ly a s e x h i b i t i t e m s f o r p e n d i n g t r ia ls , b u t t h e n h e f a i l e d t o r e t u r n i t b e ­ c a u s e h e w a s d e a l i n g in t h e s t u f f . T h e s e c r a s h

o ffic e r s lite r a lly t o o k o n

t h e d r u g t r a d e in t h e R a m p a r t d i v i s i o n t h r o u g h a “ h o s t i l e t a k e o v e r ” o f t h e i r c o m p e tito r s ’ m a r k e t sh a r e . T h e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l h in g e d o n th e d e g r e e to w h i c h O f f i c e r P e r e z ’s a n d h i s c o h o r t s ’ g a n g l i k e p r a c t i c e s w e r e s t r u c t u r a lly e m b e d d e d w ith in th e p o lic e d e p a r tm e n t a n d to w h a t e x te n t th e y c o n s titu te d in s titu tio n a liz e d p r a c tic e s a n d s tr a te g ie s fo r th e “ p a c ific a tio n o f th e d a n g e r ­ o u s c l a s s e s . ” 23 W e s e e t h i s s t r u c t u r a l l o g i c a t w o r k in P e r e z ’s t e a r f u l p u b l i c c o n f e s s i o n . In r e fe r r in g to th e s lo g a n o v e r th e d o o r o f th e R a m p a r t c r a s h o ffic e , “ W e w ill in tim id a te th o s e w h o in t im id a te o th e r s ,” c r im in a l c o p P e r e z o ffe r e d th e s e w o r d s : “ W h o e v e r c h a s e s m o n s t e r s s h o u l d s e e t o i t t h a t in t h e p r o c e s s h e d o e s n o t b e c o m e a m o n s t e r h i m s e l f . ” 2 4 P e r e z ’s c o n f e s s i o n r e s t e d o n t h e id e a t h a t p o l i c e v i o l e n c e is m i m e t i c a n d t h e r e f o r e d e r iv a t iv e o f t h e g a n g ; t h a t is , th e u r - s o u r c e o f v io le n c e is n o t th e s ta te b u t th e g a n g . B u t th e R a m p a r t s c a n ­ d a l u n d i d d i c h o t o m i e s o f g o o d a n d e v il a n d o f h e r o e s a n d v i l l a i n s , a n d it d e m o n s t r a t e d i n s t e a d t h e r e c i p r o c a l n a t u r e o f g a n g a n d p o l i c e v i o l e n c e .25 I t is f a r f r o m e a s y t o s a y w h o w a s t h e i m i t a t o r a n d w h o t h e i m i t a t e d , w h i c h w a s t h e c o p y a n d w h i c h t h e o r ig in a l.2 6 I n d e e d , s o m e a r g u e t h a t t h e s c a n d a l w a s

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n o t a b o u t “ c o p s w h o b e c a m e c r i m i n a l s ,” b u t r a t h e r a b o u t “ c r i m i n a l s w h o b e ­ c a m e c o p s .” 27 A y e a r b e f o r e t h e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l b r o k e , a n i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n t o th e m u r d e r o f o n e c o p b y a n o th e r h a d u n c o v e r e d e v id e n c e th a t p o lic e o ffic e r s w e r e o p e r a t in g w it h in th e L o s A n g e le s P o lic e D e p a r tm e n t b o th a s m e m b e r s o f th e B lo o d s g a n g a n d a s s e c u r ity f o r th e g a n g s t a - r a p k in g p in S u g e K n ig h t, p r e s i d e n t o f D e a t h R o w R e c o r d s . T h e s e o f f i c e r s w e r e c h a r g e d in t h e u n s o l v e d m u r d e r o f o n e o f r a p m u s i c ’s b i g g e s t s t a r s , B i g g i e S m a lls . T h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n w a s s u b s e q u e n t l y d e la y e d , d iv e r t e d , a n d f i n a l l y s h u t d o w n , a n d t h e p r o c e e d ­ i n g s o f a r e la t e d w r o n g f u l - d e a t h s u i t w e r e s u s p e n d e d a n d c a l l e d a m i s t r i a l. N o n e t h e l e s s , t h e c a s e f il e d o c u m e n t s o n e b i z a r r e i n c i d e n t a f t e r a n o t h e r in w h ic h , s im u lt a n e o u s ly p u b lic a n d s e c re t, R a m p a r t c r a s h w a s o ft e n b o th t h e l a w a n d i t s t r a n s g r e s s i o n .2 8

Gang Peace Activist N o t u n l i k e c r a s h , H o m i e s U n i d o s in L o s A n g e l e s w a s a l s o , a l b e i t d i f f e r ­ e n t ly , b e h o l d e n t o t h e s t r u c t u r e o f t h e g a n g . A s a v e t e r a n o f t h e g a n g L a M a r a S a lv a tru c h a , A le x S a n c h e z o c c u p ie d a p o s itio n o f r e s p e c t a n d a u th o r ity w i t h i n h i s c li q u e a n d w i t h i n t h e g a n g a t l a r g e . I n t h i s p o s i t i o n h e r e c r u i t e d , tr a in e d , a n d le d a g r o u p o f “ s o ld ie r s ” to p r o te c t th e t e r r ito r y o f th e N o r ­ m a n d i e c liq u e . I t w a s t h i s s t a t u s a s v e t e r a n t h a t a f f o r d e d h i m t h e a u t h o r i t y t o le a d a n d t o d i r e c t H o m i e s U n i d o s a n d t h a t e n a b le d h i m t o b e a n e f f e c t i v e r e c r u i t e r o f y o u n g e r m e m b e r s — t h i s t im e f o r a g a n g v i o l e n c e p r e v e n t i o n p r o ­ g r a m r a th e r th a n f o r th e g a n g its e lf. O n e d a y , I m e t A l e x in t h e p a r k i n g l o t b e h i n d L o s C o m a l e s . S ilv ia h a d p u l l e d u p w i t h a t r u n k l o a d o f d o n a t e d m e n ’s c l o t h i n g , u s e d b u t v e r y e l e g a n t . S h e w a s p la n n in g to ta k e th e c lo th e s w it h h e r to E l S a lv a d o r fo r th e H o m ie s t h e r e , b u t s h e t h o u g h t s h e ’ d l e t t h e H o m i e s h e r e l o o k t h e m o v e r f ir s t . A l ­ t h o u g h A l e x w a s in t h e p r o c e s s o f f i x i n g h i s c a r , h e s t o p p e d t o t r y t o c o n v i n c e h is b u d d y L a u g h ie in t o ta k in g o n e o f th e ta ilo r e d ja c k e t s to w e a r f o r p u b lic p r e s e n t a t i o n s . L a u g h i e , h o w e v e r , w a s u n e n t h u s i a s t i c . H e a lw a y s s p o r t e d t h e b a g g ie s t o f p a n ts h e ld u p w it h r o p e a n d fin is h e d o f f b e lo w w it h w h ite s n e a k ­ e r s a n d la c e s t i e d i n t o e n o r m o u s b o w s . S ilv ia l e f t , a n d a s I w a i t e d f o r A l e x t o c o n fe r w it h th e n e ig h b o r h o o d m e c h a n ic , a S a lv a d o r a n w it h b lo o d s h o t e y e s c a lle d W e r e w o lf, o n e o f th e H o m ie s p o in t e d to th e t e n e m e n t a p a r tm e n ts a b o v e t h a t l o o k e d a b a n d o n e d — a t l e a s t f r o m t h is a n g l e . H e s t a r t e d r e m i n i s c ­ in g a b o u t th e d a y s w h e n m s “ s o ld ie r s ” h a d o c c u p ie d th e b a s e m e n t o f th a t

crímínal c o p

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building. They would pay the landlord as they could with the things that they stole. One month they paid their rent entirely in Tupperware. He laughed at the absurdity. This very terrain or turf in which Alex was an activo, an active gangbanger, was precisely the same geography o f action where he now worked as a gang peace activist. Similarly, the participants in Homies Unidos programs were “homeboys” and “homegirls” to one another, thus mimicking the territorial basis for gang identification. In fact, because Homies Unidos had been, in its early days, based in the neighborhood and organized around the highly localized geography o f a particular barrio, it was rare to see youth or veterans from other gangs at their meetings.29 For such outsiders to “hang” or “kick it” with its leadership at the corner o f Normandie and Eighth would be even less feasible. Linked as it was to the space o f the barrio, the organization provided a place o f deeply affective and emotional (familylike) relationships, where young people came to feel a sense o f family belonging not unlike that which they derived from their actual gangs.30 The organization was a bit like a halfway house (without the physical facilities) for “recovering gang mem­ bers,” who could “fall o ff the wagon” or “become lost in action” at any time. While they may have strived valiantly to give up la vida loca, it lived on all around them in the underground social and political economy o f the barrio and beyond and in the productive apparatus o f the police and the criminal justice system through injunctions, gang lists, petty violations, and the like. Then there was desire. Take, for example, a fourteen-year-old participant in the arts program o f Homies Unidos. Not long after attending a youth vio­ lence prevention conference, he was picked up for possession o f a firearm, “packing a weapon.” Upon hearing o f his arrest, I found m yself slipping into a “discourse o f sobriety,’^ 1 expressing my dismay to a program volunteer at the contradictory scripts at work in this c a s e -w a r and peace. She came back with this: “It’s the excitement o f being out there on the streets.” She said it almost as if it were understandable child’s play, and indeed, children do play at being “soldiers” - i n this case “soldiers” for La Mara Salvatrucha. This young woman, who was a mentor to these youth and who had herself grown up close to these streets, reminded me, “You have to be patient. It’s a very slow process with lots o f steps backwards.” Pastor Alton o f the Wilshire Presbyterian Church put it best when he explained that “Alex’s work, like any transformational or restitutive approach, is just slower. It just is. It’s a lot faster to put them away.” The transformational, or restitutive, strategies o f Homies Unidos in or1l 6

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ganizing gang youth and youth at risk into a program for nonviolence was based precisely on its ability to mirror the gang— its hierarchy, structures o f solidarity, and the architecture o f its barrio. Consider the fact that the working definition o f “gang member” by law enforcement was already overly broad, and add to this Homies Unidos’s manipulation o f the gang’s spatial practices to perform its own work. Police patrolling the area could well have misrecognized this repetition with a difference as mere repetition. The war and peace efforts o f Rampart and Homies Unidos respectively both required mimetic improvisations o f their object o f transformation. In both cases, these doublings, be they police with gang member, or peace­ maker with gang member, constituted highly unstable unions. Perez and his cohorts, gangster cops, spoke eloquently to this instability. So too did the members o f Homies Unidos. And the desires and intentions o f both Homies Unidos and Rampart converged on the same object: La Mara Salvatrucha and its recruiting ground.32 But while both forces might have wanted the same object, one wanted the gang member in order to lock him or her up, and the other wanted the gang member in order to calm him or her down. Herein lies perhaps the more serious point o f contention between Rampart’s

cr ash

and Homies Unidos: namely, their strategies for the “pacification” o f immi­ grant gang and at-risk youth, transformational and restitutive versus bellig­ erent and punitive. Pacification through incarceration and deportation, based as it was in right-wing criminology, did not allow space for the transformative potential o f gang youth. In contrast, for the gangbanger transforming or transformed into peace activist, pacification was invariably expressed by the adjective cal­

mado, derived from the verb calmar, to calm down or to become calm or peace­ ful. Whereas civility is the outcome o f normalization, or as Patrick O ’Malley puts it, the “ ‘correction’ o f the individual in the direction o f a standard social form ,” 33 the peaceful state, calmado, is not the normalization or pacification o f the “dangerous classes” in a straightforward sense. Through the peace process, activos were to become calmados, but in the transformation from active gang members to peace activists, their oppositional energies were not to be pacified but rather redirected.3 4 Homies Unidos did not ask youth to renounce their gang membership in order to participate in its programs. The intent was to convince them to re­ nounce violence through participation in the organization’s programs. In­ deed, the retention o f “gang culture” was highly visible and audible in the aesthetics, style, language, and gestures o f both the leadership and particicrímínal c o p

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pants o f Homies Unidos, who sported the full costume o f shaved heads, baggy pants, tattoos, cell phones, beepers, and palm combs. The task, said Magdaleno Rose-Ávila, was “ to transform the gang culture from within . . . to use those networks o f solidarity to change the gang mentality from vio­ lence to an understanding o f human rights and human potential.” As Alex wrote in a statement delivered by his brother Oscar, “We are all ‘soldiers’ fighting for peace in the streets.” There it is again, the wedding o f the struc­ ture o f solidarity o f gang to that o f a nongovernmental organization with a mission to build a social movement for nonviolence and human rights. “Consciousness-raising” (concientización) was, not surprisingly, a key trope in Homies Unidos’s violence prevention and intervention project. It was also the means by which these “dangerous classes” were to come to “recognize themselves under disciplinary regimes ” 35 — that is, as a class in and for itself. The political philosophy o f nonviolence, therefore, was not just directed at gang members and youth at risk but extended to the police and to society at large. In this sense, the gang peace activist strove to redirect the energies of the gang into a social movement for change^6

The Deportation Pipeline Perhaps it is not all that surprising that three and a half months after Alex Sanchez testified before the hearing convened by State Senator Hayden, he was banished from the streets after being arrested on an immigration war­ rant by two Rampart

cr a sh

officers outside the arcade at Normandie and

Eighth. Alex was taken to Rampart headquarters for processing. According to Alex, the arresting officers told him that he, Alex, could take “Homies Unidos and shove it . . . and start it in El Salvador” if he wanted.” “So I knew then,” he continued, “that they had gone beyond their investigative work and were actually now dealing with immigration. They knew they could get rid o f me through immigration. I asked them, ‘I don’t owe anybody anything.’ They said, ‘Immigration you do.’ ” Alex was then handed over to

in s

,

who

placed him in the San Pedro detention facility on Terminal Island where he was held for eight months. Immediately after Alex’s arrest, Homies Unidos launched their Campaign to Free Alex Sanchez, and not long after there was a community protest outside Rampart.3 7 At the protest on the steps o f Rampart headquarters a crowd gathered to demand Alex Sanchez’s immediate release, and to file community com­ plaints against the police for their violation o f their own Special Order 40, 118

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a d e p a r tm e n t p o lic y th a t o s te n s ib ly p r o h ib its p o lic e o ffic e r s fr o m m a k in g a r r e s t s o n i m m i g r a t i o n c h a r g e s . S e n a t o r T o m H a y d e n w a s a t t h e h e l m o f t h is g a t h e r i n g t o o . I n t h e b a c k g r o u n d w a s O s c a r , A l e x ’s y o u n g e r b r o t h e r , h o l d i n g a b i g g e r - t h a n - l i f e - s i z e d p o s t e r o f A l e x . O s c a r , w h o liv e d in a s i n g l e a p a r t ­ m e n t in t h e R a m p a r t d i v i s i o n , w a s a n a r t s t u d e n t a t C a l S t a t e L o s A n g e l e s . H e w o r k e d fo r T r e e P e o p le , a n o n p r o fit o r g a n iz a t io n d e d ic a te d to th e r e fo r e s t a ­ t i o n o f t h e c it y . T h e f i r s t t i m e I m e t O s c a r , a t a H o m i e s U n i d o s C h r i s t m a s p a rty , I d id n ’ t m a k e th e c o n n e c t io n b e t w e e n O s c a r a n d A le x u n til h e m a d e i t f o r m e . I a d m i t t o b e i n g t h r o w n c o m p l e t e l y o f f c o u r s e b y O s c a r ’s d r e a d ­ l o c k s a n d r a i n b o w r e g g a e k n i t c a p . T h e c o n t r a s t w i t h A l e x ’s t o u g h g a n g s t e r l o o k c o u l d n o t h a v e b e e n m o r e p r o n o u n c e d . S t a n d i n g t h e r e in t h e r a in s o m e t h r e e m o n t h s la t e r , h o l d i n g t h e c a r d b o a r d c u t o u t o f h i s b r o t h e r in h i s a r m s , O s c a r ’s l o o k is a s s o f t a s h i s b r o t h e r ’s is t o u g h . O s c a r s t e p p e d u p t o t h e m i c r o p h o n e . W e w e r e in t h e m i d s t o f t h e e v e n t s s u r r o u n d i n g t h e d e p o r t a t i o n o f t h e y o u n g C u b a n b o y E liá n , a n d O s c a r a s ­ t u t e l y d r a w s t h e p a r a l l e l .38 A le x , w h o c h a n g e d h i s l i f e a r o u n d a f t e r h i s s o n w a s b o r n a n d r e e n t e r e d L o s A n g e l e s i l l e g a l l y t o b e r e u n i t e d w i t h h i m , is n o w b e in g p a in fu lly a n d ir r e v o c a b ly s e p a r a te d fr o m h is A m e r ic a n - b o r n c h ild . O s c a r h a d ju s t c o m e b a c k fr o m W a s h in g to n w h e r e h e a n d a d e le g a tio n h a d h o p e d t o m e e t w i t h h e a d o f i n s , D o r i s M e i s s n e r . M e i s s n e r h a d e x p la i n e d t h a t s h e w a s t e r r i b ly s o r r y t h a t s h e c o u l d n ’ t s i t in o n t h e m e e t i n g b e c a u s e s h e w a s o v e r w h e l m e d w i t h t h e E liá n c a s e , a n d h e r d e p u t y w o u l d h a v e t o s t a n d in fo r h er. A n o t h e r f i g u r e a t t h e p r o t e s t w a s M a r ia , a r e s i d e n t o f o n e o f t h e a p a r t m e n t b u ild in g s o f fa d e d 19 2 0 s e le g a n c e n o t fa r fr o m th e c o r n e r a t N o r m a n d ie a n d E i g h t h . M a r ia , a m i l i t a n t S a l v a d o r a n p o e t f r o m t h e c iv il w a r e r a , w a s a c t i v e in t h e B u s R id e r s U n i o n i n L o s A n g e l e s ^ 9 I t w a s s o m e t h i n g t o s e e t h i s i c o n o f S a lv a d o r a n r e v o lu tio n a r y p o lit ic s c h a n t in g “ ¡L ib e r ta d A le x S a n c h e z ! ¡L ib e r ­ t a d A l e x S a n c h e z ! ” T h e s e k i n d s o f s l o g a n s a lw a y s d i s o r i e n t e d m e b y t h r o w ­ i n g m e b a c k t o t h e e a r ly 1 9 8 0 s , t h e p e r i o d t h a t o r i g i n a l l y m a d e r e f u g e e s o f A l e x a n d h is fa m il y . A f t e r O s c a r s p e a k s , A n g e l a S a m b r a n o , e x e c u t iv e d i r e c t o r o f t h e C e n t r a l A m e r ic a n R e fu g e e C e n t e r (c a r e c e n ), t o o k th e m ic r o p h o n e to p r o te s t th e ille g a l u s e o f a n i n s w a r r a n t b y c r a s h

to p ic k u p A le x S a n c h e z a n d th e

e ffe c t o f th e c o lla b o r a tio n b e tw e e n th e i n s a n d l a p d o n “ th e L a tin o c o m ­ m u n i t y ” a t l a r g e . “ T h e c o m m u n i t y ,” s h e a r g u e d , “ w i l l n o t r e p o r t c r i m e s t o p o l i c e b e c a u s e t h e y w i l l b e a f r a i d o f t h e i m m i g r a t i o n c o n s e q u e n c e s . ” T h is w a s a ls o a n o n g o in g la m e n t w it h in th e u n d o c u m e n t e d im m ig r a n t c o m m u -

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nity, but the last time it received any significant airing was during the riots. In the past, immigrant rights advocates had argued from the perspective o f victim’s rights. How could undocumented immigrants, victims, or wit­ nesses o f crime approach the police for protection or to assist in investiga­ tions if they feared being turned over to

in s

?

Indeed, the Rampart scandal

drew attention to an insidious intersection between the

and the

in s

Specifically, the scandal led to an internal probe o f allegations that

in s

la pd

in the barrio. agents from the agency’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force “had helped anti-gang officers in the

la pd

Rampart Division have more

than 160 immigrants deported and 40 others prosecuted for illegal reentry into the United States.” That same investigation noted that “incriminating allegations reported by Rampart anti-gang officers were included in immi­ gration files.” 40 But with the immigration act from 1996, this collusion now went well beyond Special Order 40 and the spatial practices o f the l a p d . The immigration consequences o f criminal law were now formalized at the fed­ eral level. In addressing this issue Sambrano brought together the real crux o f the matter— the ways in which the

la pd

and

in s

collude to silence the

com m unity-som ething not accounted for in the depiction o f the “Latino community” in the article in the New York Times Magazine. After the press conference ended, Hayden led the crowd into the police sta­ tion. They repeated after him, “We are here nonviolently to exercise our legal rights to file a complaint against Officer Amesqua and Rampart c r a s h

.”

As

the people wait in line, filling out their complaints forms, an African Ameri­ can began to chant in hip-hop rhythm: “Listen what the people say, Free Alex Sanchez, Free Alex Sanchez; Listen what the people say, Free Alex Sanchez.” Over the next year or so, the efforts by Homies Unidos in Los Angeles shifted to freeing Alex Sanchez and winning political asylum for him. Alan Diamante, the immigration lawyer present at the senate hearing, took on Alex’s case. Together, Homies Unidos in Los Angeles and in El Salvador along with their supporters mounted a very effective campaign both in the media and in the courts. But with his prior felonies, Alex would not qualify for political asylum. The only alternative, Withholding from Deportation— a provision under the Convention against Torture-required a much higher standard o f proof. So while Diamante prepared his case for withholding, the criminal attorney Mark Geragos worked on vacating Alex’s prior felonies. Although the judge agreed to reduce the felony charge for his illegal re-

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e n t r y in 1 9 9 6 t o a m i s d e m e a n o r , A l e x s t i l l h a d a n o t h e r f e l o n y f r o m h i s p r i o r c r im in a l r e c o r d . W h ile G e r a g o s w o r k e d o n th a t m a tte r, H o m ie s U n id o s p u lle d to g e th e r fo r th e im m ig r a tio n c a s e a n e n o r m o u s a m o u n t o f s u p p o r t­ i n g d o c u m e n t a t i o n o n c o n d i t i o n s in E l S a lv a d o r , a s w e l l a s a d i s t i n g u i s h e d c a s t o f e x p e r t w i t n e s s e s , s o m e o f w h o m f l e w in f r o m E l S a lv a d o r . T h e s e i n ­ c l u d e d M i r n a P e r la , a S a l v a d o r a n j u d g e , E d u a r d o L i n a r e s , t h e c h i e f o f t h e S a n S a lv a d o r M e t r o p o lit a n P o lic e , a n d a fo r m e r p o lic e o ffic e r fr o m th e S a lv a ­ d o r a n N a t i o n a l C i v il P o l ic e . T h e L o s A n g e l e s - b a s e d w i t n e s s e s i n c l u d e d S e n a ­ t o r T o m H a y d e n , M a g d a l e n o R o s e - Á v ila , G i l b e r t S a n c h e z o f t h e L A B r i d g e s P r o j e c t , S ilv ia B e lt r á n , a f o r m e r a id e t o H a y d e n a n d la t e r d i r e c t o r o f H o m i e s U n id o s , th e p h o to jo u r n a lis t D o n n a D e c e s a r e , a n d th re e a n th r o p o lo g is ts : S u s a n P h illip s , R o s e m a r y A s h a m a la , a n d m e . T h e im m ig r a tio n c a s e w a s m o u n te d o n tw o fr o n ts . A le x S a n c h e z h a d a w e l l - f o u n d e d f e a r o f p e r s e c u t i o n u p o n r e t u r n t o E l S a lv a d o r . O n t h e o n e h a n d , a s a g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is t A le x w o u ld fa c e o p p o s it io n fr o m th e p o lic e , th e g a n g s , a n d d e a th s q u a d s . M o re o v e r, th e S a lv a d o r a n s ta te w a s in c a p a b le o f o r u n w i l l i n g t o p r o t e c t h i m . F o u r m e m b e r s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in E l S a l ­ v a d o r h a d b e e n k i l l e d in t h e p a s t t w o y e a r s , a n d t h e r e w a s a m p l e d o c u m e n ­ t a t i o n in t h e S a l v a d o r a n p r e s s t o s u g g e s t t h a t d e p o r t a t i o n w a s e f f e c t i v e l y a d e a t h s e n t e n c e f o r g a n g m e m b e r s o r t h o s e m i s t a k e n f o r g a n g m e m b e r s . 41 T h u s A l e x w o u l d b e u n s a f e b o t h o n t h e b a s i s o f h i s p o l i t i c a l o p i n i o n ( h is w o r k a s a g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is t) a n d a s a m e m b e r o f a “ r e c o g n iz a b le s o c ia l g r o u p ” (a g a n g ) . I n t h e m e a n t i m e , A l e x l a n g u i s h e d in t h e S a n P e d r o d e t e n t i o n c e n t e r f o r e ig h t m o n th s . E ven w h ile s u ffe r in g fr o m a c u te d e p r e s s io n , h e m a n a g e d t o m o u n t a h u n g e r s t r ik e d u r in g th e D e m o c r a t ic N a t io n a l C o n v e n tio n to p r o te s t th e p o o r c o n d it io n s in s id e th e fa c ility . A ft e r c o n s id e r a b le o u ts id e p r e s s u r e , h e w a s r e l e a s e d h a l f w a y t h r o u g h h i s i m m i g r a t i o n t r ia l. A y e a r la t e r , t h e j u d g e r u l e d o n h is c a s e . O n t h e s a m e d a y o f t h e r u l i n g , D i a m a n t e w a s s u c c e s s f u l in c l e a r i n g A l e x ’s l a s t f e lo n y . A s a r e s u lt , h e w a s f i n a l l y n o w a b l e t o f i l e a c la i m f o r p o l i t i c a l a s y lu m . T h e j u d g e r u le d fa v o r a b ly , g r a n t i n g A l e x p o l i t i c a l a s y lu m in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . T h e r u l i n g w a s u n p r e c e d e n t e d ; i t w a s t h e f i r s t c a s e in w h i c h a g a n g m e m b e r h a d b e e n g r a n t e d a s y lu m . B u t i t w o u l d b e , a t l e a s t u p u n t i l t h e w r i t i n g o f t h i s b o o k , t h e o n l y s u c h c a s e . A n d it s s u c ­ c e s s w a s o n l y p a r t i a l. T h e j u d g e r u le d o n t h e “ p o l i t i c a l o p i n i o n ” a r g u m e n t b u t n o t o n th a t o f th e “ s o c ia l g r o u p .” A s D i a m a n t e p u t i t in a c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h m e a f t e r t h e e v e n t :

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I k n e w a ll a lo n g th a t th e s o c ia l g r o u p a r g u m e n t w o u ld b e a h a r d p ill fo r t h e c o u r t t o s w a llo w , b e c a u s e t h a t w o u l d o p e n u p t h e f l o o d g a t e s t o g a n g m e m b e r s . B u t n e v e r th e le s s , I in v e s te d s o m u c h e n e r g y in t o it b e c a u s e t h a t w a s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t is s u e . I t r u l y b e li e v e t h a t w a s t h e s t r o n g e s t a r g u m e n t . B u t th e ju d g e r u le d o n th e p o lit ic a l o p in io n [a r g u m e n t] b e ­ c a u s e i t w a s a n e a s y w a y . . . w i t h o u t t o u c h i n g t h e o t h e r is s u e . A n d in h e r o p i n i o n , s h e s p e c i f i c a l l y s a id t h a t s h e w o u l d n o t t o u c h t h e o t h e r i s s u e . S h e g r a n t e d h i m a s y lu m b a s e d o n f u t u r e p e r s e c u t i o n , b a s e d o n p o l i t i ­ c a l o p i n i o n . [ S h e s a i d t h a t ] i t w a s l i k e l y t h a t i f A l e x w a s t o c o n t i n u e h is a c t i v i s m in E l S a l v a d o r t h a t h e w o u l d b e p e r s e c u t e d l i k e s i m i l a r l y s i t u a t e d m e m b e r s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s . I t w a s a c le a r t h a t h e h a d a r e a s o n a b l e f e a r o f fu tu r e p e r s e c u tio n . W e s t r e s s e d h is r o le a s a p o lit ic a l a c tiv is t a g a in s t p o lic e c o r r u p tio n . [ P o lic e ] i m p u n i t y — w a s a t h r e a d t h r o u g h o u r c a s e . . . W e h a d a j u d g e t e s ­ t i f y t o t h a t e f f e c t a n d h a d c le a r d o c u m e n t a t i o n o f h u m a n r i g h t s v i o l a t i o n s b y p o lic e a n d o f ju d ic ia l a b u s e b y d a y s o f th e m o n t h f o r th e la s t c o u p le o f th e y e a rs. T h a t r e p o r t a ls o r e fe r r e d to d e a th s q u a d a c tiv itie s , g a n g m e m ­ b e r s m u r d e r e d in e x t r a - j u d i c i a l s t y le k i l l i n g s w i t h h a n d s t i e d b e h i n d t h e ir backs. A l e x ’s c a s e w o u l d n o t s e t a p r e c e d e n t o n a n y f o r m a l le v e l , n o t e v e n f o r t h e p o l i t i c a l o p i n i o n a r g u m e n t , b e c a u s e i t d i d n o t h a v e t o b e a p p e a l e d . A n d it c e r t a i n l y o f f e r e d n o p r e c e d e n t f o r g a n g m e m b e r s in g e n e r a l . O n t h a t g r o u n d , th e im m ig r a t io n c o n s e q u e n c e s o f c r im in a l la w r e m a in e d u n c h a lle n g e d . W h a t i t d id a c h i e v e w a s A l e x ’s r i g h t t o s t a y in t h i s c o u n t r y , a n d t o b e a f a t h e r to h is s o n . Y e t e v e n th is v ic t o r y w a s h e d g e d . W h ile th e c a s e b r o u g h t s o m e c r itic a l a tte n tio n to th e is s u e , it d id n o t s t o p th e b u ild u p o f z e r o - to le r a n c e s t r a t e g i e s i n L o s A n g e l e s o r p r e v e n t t h e i r a d o p t i o n in c o u n t r i e s l i k e E l S a l ­ v a d o r .42 N e i t h e r d id i t g i v e A l e x i m m u n i t y o n t h e s t r e e t s . F o r t h a t , H o m i e s U n i d o s h a d t o f il e a l a w s u i t . O n J u n e 2 , 2 0 0 0 , w h i l e A l e x w a s s t i l l in d e t e n t i o n , H o m i e s U n i d o s f il e d a f e d e r a l c iv il r i g h t s l a w s u i t a g a i n s t t h e c i t y o f L o s A n g e l e s , l a p d

C h ie f

B e rn a r d C . P a rk s, a n d t w o R a m p a r t o ffic e r s , M a r io M a r q u e z a n d J esu s A m e z c u a . T h e l a w s u i t c h a r g e d t h a t t h e c iv il r i g h t s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s a n d t h o s e o f i t s m e m b e r s w e r e v i o l a t e d b y R a m p a r t o f f i c e r s . T h e ir c o m p l a i n t a l l e g e d t h a t t h e l a p d e n g a g e d in t h e s y s t e m a t i c p r a c t i c e o f h a r a s s i n g m e m b e r s o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n in v i o l a t i o n o f t h e p l a i n t i f f ’s F ir s t A m e n d m e n t r i g h t t o a s s o ­ c ia tio n a n d F o u r th A m e n d m e n t p r o te c t io n fr o m e x c e s s iv e fo r c e , fa ls e a rre st,

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and detention. In short, Homies Unidos was seeking a “mirror im age” o f the gang injunction. “We want the police to stop acting like gangs,” said the lead attorney Paul Hoffman. “It’s as if it’s Los Angeles’ dirty little secret that we treat certain people as if they’re outside the Constitution.” As Magdaleno Rose-Ávila put it, “You can call a Doberman pinscher a Chihuahua, but it’s still a Doberman.” 43 This lawsuit sought spatial justice for Homies Unidos.

Beyond the Street Corner While the case was eventually settled out o f court, the truth is that Homies Unidos never really went back to the streets. While Alex was in detention, Homies Unidos took its office and its operations o ff the streets and away from the corner o f Normandie and Eighth. The organization moved into the La Curacao building— the twin towers to Central American commercial, legal, and civic life in Los Angeles— located in the Pico Union district, the symbolic center o f Central American Los Angeles and 18 th Street Gang terri­ tory. This move out o f and up from the street level was in part about Homies Unidos formalizing its operations as a community organization (and to have a base from which to fight Alex’s case), but it was also intended to give the organization a breathing space o ff the streets and away from the police. Despite the challenge made by Homies Unidos, the harassment had worked. As Alex explained o f the period leading up to his arrest, “They [the police] harassed the guys coming over to the program, more than those hanging out over on the street, [and I was] harassed to the point that every­ where I went to speak I would tell people that, ‘Look, I’m worried I’m going to get arrested.’ I felt it, but there was nothing I could do about it.” “And I even told you,” he said to me as I nodded thinking back to the period just be­ fore his arrest. “I had all these kids that I was responsible for now, that were in some ways blaming me for the trouble they were in. Some o f them didn’t want to come into the program anymore.” By the time Alex was awarded political asylum, his work at Normandie and Eighth had all but dissipated. And while Alex was still waiting for his im­ migration papers, he was effectively banished from the streets. On one level, it appeared that Rampart had succeeded in undermining the spatial practices central to the organizing strategy o f Homies Unidos, thereby subverting the role o f the street in the public life o f the barrio. In Alex’s absence, Silvia Beltrán, former aide to Senator Tom Hayden and

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a S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t h e r s e l f , h a d t a k e n o v e r t h e p o s i t i o n o f d ir e c t o r . A l e x d iv e r t e d h i s e f f o r t s f r o m t h e s t r e e t s t o w o r k i n g w i t h k i d s a n d t h e i r p a r e n t s in n e i g h b o r h o o d s c h o o l s . T h is w a s n o s m a l l f e a t f o r a n e x - g a n g m e m b e r t o b e in v ite d b a c k in t o th e s y s te m th a t h a d fa ile d h im . A n d s o o n e c o u ld a ls o s a y th a t H o m ie s U n id o s n o lo n g e r n e e d e d th e s p a c e o f th e s tr e e t b e c a u s e i t h a d s u c c e e d e d i n c h a l l e n g i n g a m a j o r i n s t i t u t i o n t o o p e n u p s p a c e f o r it . T h e re th e g r o u p fo c u s e s o n v io le n c e p r e v e n tio n a n d p a r e n t in g c la s s e s . W h ile t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l s t r a t e g i e s h a d a r g u a b l y b e e n p a c i f i e d b y t h e i n c l u s i o n o f t h e n e o l i b e r a l p h i l o s o p h y o f i n d i v i d u a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y in it s tr a in in g m o d e ls , H o m ie s U n id o s c o n t in u e d to p r o te s t z e r o - to le r a n c e p o lic e s t r a t e g i e s a n d d e p o r t a t i o n s a n d t o r a i s e a w a r e n e s s o f c o n d i t i o n s in C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . N o n e t h e l e s s , in t h e c a s e o f A l e x S a n c h e z , t h e c o m b i n e d f o r c e s o f la pd

a n d i n s , a n d o f c r i m i n a l a n d i m m i g r a t i o n la w , h a d a t l e a s t f o r t h e

t i m e b e i n g l i m i t e d t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s c h a l l e n g e t o t h e s p a t i a l p o l i t i c s o f n e o ­ li b e r a l s e c u r it y . T h is w a s m y u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e s i t u a t i o n , b u t A l e x S a n c h e z a r g u e d o th e r w is e w h e n I s h o w e d h im th e o r ig in a l c o n c lu s io n to th is c h a p te r : “ W e w e r e n o t d e fe a te d . W e w o n a lm o s t e v e r y th in g th a t w e w a n te d . F o r m a liz in g o u r a g e n c y . K e e p in g m e h e r e w it h m y s o n . W e m a n a g e d to s e ttle o u r la w s u it a g a i n s t l a p d a n d c o n t i n u e s e r v i n g o u r c o m m u n i t y .” S o a l t h o u g h i t is t r u e th a t th e y w e r e n o lo n g e r b a s e d a t th e c o r n e r o f N o r m a n d ie a n d E ig h th , as A l e x e x p la i n e d , “ I t w a s a b o u t K o r e a t o w n . I t w a s a b o u t P i c o U n i o n . I t w a s a b o u t th e W e s tla k e a re a . It w a s a b o u t a ll th e s e o t h e r g a n g s th a t n e e d e d o u r s e r v i c e s .” S o t h e i r s t a g e w a s n o w m u c h l a r g e r , t h e i r n o t i o n o f c o m m u n i t y a n d n e i g h b o r h o o d m u c h b r o a d e r . “ O n c e I s a w a ll t h o s e p e o p l e f r o m d i f f e r ­ e n t n e ig h b o r h o o d s , g a n g s , a n d o r g a n iz a t io n s p r o te s t in g o u ts id e th a t R a m ­ p a r t s ta tio n , I r e a liz e d th e n th a t it w a s n ’ t ju s t a b o u t E ig h th a n d N o r m a n d ie . It w a s a m u c h b ig g e r is s u e .” A le x a r g u e d fo r c e f u lly th a t i f it h a d n ’ t b e e n f o r H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s f i g h t t o p r o t e c t t h e s p a c e in I m m a n u e l P r e s b y t e r ia n C h u r c h f o r th e y o u th a n d f o r th e A r t s E x p a n d P r o g r a m th a t th e c o lla b o r a tio n b e tw e e n R a m p a rt a n d i n s m ig h t n e v e r h a v e b e e n b r o u g h t in to th e R a m p a rt i n v e s t i g a t i o n . 44 S o w i t h o u t A l e x ’s c a s e , R a m p a r t m i g h t n e v e r h a v e b e c o m e a n is s u e o f c o n c e r n to im m ig r a n t r ig h t s a g e n c ie s . E v e n th o u g h R a m p a r t o ffi­ c e r s w e r e n o t t e c h n i c a l l y in v i o l a t i o n o f S p e c i a l O r d e r 4 0 in a r r e s t i n g A l e x , h is a r r e s t “ u lt im a t e ly o p e n e d u p [th a t] c a n o f w o r m s .” T h e “ F re e A le x S a n c h e z ” c a m p a ig n a n d th e la w s u it a g a in s t l a p d , th e r e ­ f o r e , a d d e d t o t h e i m p a c t o f t h e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l . A l e x m u s e d f u r t h e r , “ D id

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it s to p th e a ttitu d e o f la w e n fo r c e m e n t? It m a d e th e m m o r e c a r e fu l, m o r e c a u tio u s . T h e y c o u ld n ’ t m e s s w it h o u r p r o g r a m a n y m o r e . . . th e y c o u ld n ’ t g e t a w a y w i t h w h a t t h e y w e r e g e t t i n g a w a y w i t h b e f o r e .” I n t h e e n d , H o m i e s U n i d o s h a d s u c c e s s f u l l y o p e n e d u p a s p a c e o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n m u c h la r g e r th a n o n e s tr e e t c o rn e r.

crímínal c o p

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PART ii

SAN SALVADOR

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CR IMI NAL D E P O R T E E

F OUR

T RA NS NA T I ONA L SPACE

E a c h w e e k , u p t o t h r e e U .S . M a r s h a l a i r c r a f t f ly i n t o E l S a l v a d o r ’s n a t i o n a l a ir p o r t b e a r in g p la n e lo a d s o f h a n d c u ffe d d e p o r te e s . A n y w h e r e fr o m tw o h u n d r e d t o s ix h u n d r e d S a l v a d o r a n s a r e f o r c e f u l l y r e p a t r i a t e d in t h i s m a n ­ n e r e a c h m o n t h , a n d a m o n g th e m g a n g m e m b e r s w h o h a v e c o m p le t e d th e ir t i m e in p r i s o n s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . 1 S p e a k i n g f r o m S a n S a lv a d o r , W e a s e l , a d e p o r t e e f r o m L o s A n g e l e s , e x ­ p la in s h is s itu a tio n th is w a y : I ’ v e g o t t h i s d o c u m e n t r i g h t h e r e . I t s a y s m y f u l l n a m e a n d i t h a s a li t t le b o x r i g h t h e r e t h a t ’s c h e c k e d a n d i t s a y s d e p o r t a b l e u n d e r s e c t i o n b la h b la h b la h . R e m o v e d f r o m t h e S t a t e s . A n y w a y s , t h e b o t t o m li n e is t h a t I ’v e b e e n b a n is h e d fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s , y o u k n o w , lik e th e y u s e d to d o in t h e m e d i e v a l d a y s , t h e y u s e d t o b a n i s h “ f o o l s ” f r o m t h e k i n g d o m . . . p e o p l e w h o d id s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s c o n s i d e r e d a t h r e a t t o t h e c r o w n

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( in m y c a s e s o c i e t y ) . A n y w a y , t h a t ’s h o w I f e l t . T h e y k i c k e d m e o u t o f s o ­ c i e t y [ t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ] a n d s e n t m e i n t o t h e j u n g l e [E l S a lv a d o r ] t o liv e a l o n e in m y o w n s o l i t u d e .2 B u t W e a s e l i s f a r f r o m a l o n e . H e is s u r r o u n d e d b y “ f o o l s , ” “ h o m e b o y s ” f r o m “ E l a y ” a l s o “ b a n i s h e d f r o m t h e k i n g d o m . ” I n d e e d , E l S a l v a d o r is n o w h o s t t o a n e w s o c i a l f o r m a t i o n b u i l t o n t h is p u z z l i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n s p a c e a n d i d e n t it y . D e p o r t e d S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t g a n g y o u t h - b a n i s h e d f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a f t e r s p e n d i n g t h e b e t t e r p a r t o f t h e i r y o u n g liv e s in t h is c o u n t r y - a r e r e t u r n e d “ h o m e ” t o a p l a c e t o w h i c h , in t h e i r m e m o r y , t h e y h a v e n e v e r b e e n . A s B u l l d o g e x c l a i m e d fiv e d a y s a f t e r h i s r u d e r e t u r n t o E l S a l v a d o r : “ S h it , h o m e s , I ’v e n e v e r b e e n h e r e . I m e a n , I k n o w I ’m f r o m h e r e , h o m e s , b u t I ’ v e n e v e r b e e n h e r e .” A n d t h e n w i t h d i s b e l i e f , “ Y o u f r o m h ere to o ? ” W e a s e l, w h o l e f t E l S a l v a d o r f o r L o s A n g e l e s w h e n h e w a s fiv e y e a r s o ld , c o n t i n u e s t h u s : “ E y, y o u k n o w [a l i t t l e l a u g h ] . . . I w e n t t o k i n d e r g a r t e n in E la y , e l e m e n t a r y s c h o o l , j u n i o r h i g h s c h o o l , h i g h s c h o o l . M a n , I g r e w u p s i n g i n g - y o u k n o w - m y c o u n t r y ’ t is o f t h e e [ h e l a u g h s a g a in ] . . . t h e s o n g ‘A m e r i c a t h e B e a u t i f u l ’ . . . a n d - y o u k n o w - p l e d g i n g a l l e g i a n c e t o t h e f l a g . W e ll, I g r e w u p w i t h a l l o f t h a t . . . a n d h e r e t h e y a r e , y o u k n o w , t w e n t y - s o m e t h i n g y e a r s la t e r , k i c k i n g m e o u t .” W h e n t h e s e S a l v a d o r a n i m ­ m i g r a n t g a n g y o u t h d e p o r t e d f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s r u n i n t o e a c h o t h e r in t h e b u s y , c o n g e s t e d s t r e e t s o f E l S a l v a d o r ’s c a p i t a l, S a n S a lv a d o r , o r in t h e c o b b l e d s t r e e t s o f i t s d u s t y p u e b l o s , t h e f i r s t t h i n g t h e y a s k o n e a n o t h e r is , “ W h e r e y o u f r o m , h o m e s ? ” T h is is a m u l t i p l y d e t e r m i n e d q u e s t i o n a b o u t o r i g i n , g e o g r a p h y , a f f i l i a t i o n , a n d id e n t it y , w h i c h t a k e s t h i s m u c h in c o m m o n - t h e t e r r i t o r y o f t h e L a t i n o b a r r io in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . T h is c h a p t e r , t h e f i r s t o f p a r t 2 , c r o s s e s t h r e e i n t e r n a t i o n a l b o r d e r s t o E l S a l v a d o r ; t o t h e l a n d s c a p e f r o m w h i c h A l e x S a n c h e z h a d f le d , f i r s t a s w a r r e f u g e e a n d t h e n a s a c r i m i n a l d e p o r t e e . T h is is p r e c i s e l y t h e g e o g r a ­ p h y t h a t I a r g u e d in c h a p t e r 1 w a s o b s c u r e d a n d y e t c o p r o d u c e d b y t h e a n t i ­ i m m i g r a n t p o l i t i c s e x p r e s s e d in t h e d o w n s i z e d w o r k e r D - F e n s . H is c r i t i q u e o f L o s A n g e l e s ’s c r u m b l i n g a n d h y p e r v i o l e n t u r b a n g e o g r a p h y f a i l e d t o a c ­ c o u n t fo r th e im p a c t th a t b o th th e fo r e ig n a n d d o m e s t ic p o lic y o f th e U n ite d S t a t e s h a v e h a d in c h a n g i n g t h e f a c e o f L o s A n g e l e s . S im ila r ly , t h e l a n d s c a p e t h a t c o m e s i n t o v i e w i n t h is c h a p t e r is a l s o a n e f f e c t o f t h e c o l d w a r , p la y e d o u t a s i t w a s t h r o u g h t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s - f u n d e d S a l v a d o r a n c iv il w a r a n d t h e w a r o n c r im e a s i t i m p a c t e d L a t i n o i m m i g r a n t s i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s .

13 0

C H A P T E R FOUR

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T h is t r a n s n a t i o n a l s p a c e is p r o d u c e d t h r o u g h t h e c o l l u s i o n o f U .S . c r i m i ­ n a l a n d i m m i g r a t i o n l a w a n d is m a d e v i s i b l e t h r o u g h t h e f i g u r e o f t h e c r i m i ­ n a l d e p o r t e e a n d t h e r e a p p e a r a n c e o f L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a a n d t h e 1 8 th S t r e e t G a n g in E l S a lv a d o r . T r a n s n a t i o n a l f o r m a t i o n s s u c h a s L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a a n d t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g a r e a s o m e w h a t i r o n i c r e s u l t o f n a t i v i s m a n d it s w o r k t o c r i m i n a l i z e i m m i g r a n t s . I n d e e d , in t h e c a s e o f d e p o r t e d S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t y o u t h , i t is o n t h e s t r e e t s o f t h e u r b a n b a r r i o t h a t t h e U n i t e d S ta te s is m o s t e ffe c tiv e ly p o lic in g th e b o u n d a r ie s o f th e n a t io n - s t a t e . T h e lo c a l p o lic e b e a t in c itie s lik e L o s A n g e le s h a s th u s b e c o m e b o th a s t a g in g g r o u n d f o r m a n a g in g th e p r e s s u r e s o f g lo b a liz a t io n a n d f o r p r o d u c in g th e “ t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g c r i s i s .” A s th e jo u r n a lis t P e te r B o y e r e x p la in e d , “ T h e [R a m p a rt] in v e s t ig a t io n w a s a m e s s y p r o c e s s , b e c a u s e i t h a d n o p r e c e d e n t . [ R a m p a r t c r a s h o f f ic e r ] P e r e z [ t h e k e y d e f e n d a n t a n d i n f o r m a n t in t h e c a s e ] w o u l d t e l l t h e t a s k f o r c e a b o u t a b a d c a s e , a n d t h e d e t e c t i v e s w o u l d f a n o u t t o . . . v i l l a g e [ s ] in C e n t r a l A m e r i c a ” in s e a r c h o f w r o n g f u l l y d e p o r t e d i m m i g r a n t s . 3 W h i l e R a m p a r t w a s d e s c r i b e d a s l a p d ’s w o r s t s c a n d a l in s i x t y y e a r s , I w o u l d a r g u e t h a t R a m ­ p a r t w a s a n u n p r e c e d e n te d s c a n d a l la r g e ly b e c a u s e o f its tr a n s n a tio n a l d i­ m e n s i o n s . W h i l e R a m p a r t p o l i c e o f f i c e r s p a t r o l l e d a v e r y li m i t e d a n d h i g h l y l o c a l i z e d b e a t , t h e i r a c t i o n s o n t h e s t r e e t s o f L o s A n g e l e s ’s u r b a n n e i g h b o r ­ h o o d s h a d a tr a n s n a tio n a l re a c h . I n p a r t 1 o f t h i s b o o k , I f o c u s e d o n t h e i m m i g r a n t b a r r i o s in L o s A n g e l e s , w h e r e m a n y o f th e s e d e p o r te d y o u th a re “ fr o m ,” a n d I t r a c k e d th e s p a tia l p o lit ic s b e h in d th e e x p u ls io n o f “ f o o l s ” lik e W e a s e l “ fr o m th e k in g d o m .” Y et a s th e e m e r g e n t s u b je c tiv itie s o f th e s e t r a n s n a tio n a l p r o t a g o n is t s s u g g e s t , a n y s u c h s tu d y m u s t b e a b le to tra v e rs e lo c a l, n a tio n a l, a n d g lo b a l s c a le s a n d to tr a c k f lo w s — m a te r ia l, d is c u r s iv e , a n d a ffe c t iv e — b e t w e e n th e im m ig r a n t b a r r i o s o f L o s A n g e l e s a n d barrios populares ( w o r k i n g - c l a s s n e i g h b o r h o o d s ) o f S a n S a lv a d o r . C e r t a in ly , t h e i n n e r - c i t y b a r r i o in L o s A n g e l e s is a c o m p l e x a r t i c u l a t i o n o f l o c a l f o r c e s . A s I d i s c u s s e d in t h e p r e v i o u s t h r e e c h a p t e r s , it is a s p a c e a c t e d o n b y t h e c o n t r a d i c t o r y p r e s s u r e s o f m e d i a c o v e r a g e , u r b a n r e d e v e lo p m e n t, a n d la w e n fo r c e m e n t a g e n c ie s a n d s o c ia l ju s t ic e o r g a n iz a ­ tio n s , a s w e ll a s b y th e e n a b lin g a n d d is a b lin g e v e r y d a y p r a c tic e s o f r e s i­ d e n t s t h e m s e l v e s .4 B u t t h e r e is s t i l l m o r e a t s t a k e . T h e r e i s t h e s p a t i a l p o l i ­ t i c s o f f o r c e d r e p a t r i a t i o n o n t h e o t h e r s id e , i n C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . I n d e e d , t h e b a r r i o s in L o s A n g e l e s a r e h a u n t e d w i t h v o i c e s f r o m a n d b a n i s h e d t o E l S a lv a d o r .

CR i Mi NA L DEP ORTEE

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Youth deported from Los Angeles walking the streets o f San Salvador call­ ing themselves “homies” are the shock effects o f globalization as it clashes with nationalism. They are the embodiment o f what I term forced trans­ nationality. While the literal mobility o f these deported youth may have been arrested, contained, and reversed by the forces o f nationalism, their narratives— which leak beyond the bounds o f the nation-state— tell us volumes about the complex relationship between space and identity. They reveal a painful rupture between culture and nation, where cultural identity does not correspond to but rather is excluded from national citizenship. It is to those narratives that I now turn to examine the ways in which the geographies of violence, belonging, and exclusion, in the immigrant barrios o f Los Angeles have been relocated and reinscribed within the post-civil war landscape o f San Salvador’s barrios populares or marginales .5

Gato’s Story I met Gato in Modelo, a barrio popular in San Salvador and territory to a clika (clique) o f the gang La Mara Salvatrucha veteran o f the m

s

( m s ).

In Los Angeles, Gato was a

archrival the 18th Street Gang. We began our conversation

in English sitting outside his home, a modest concrete apartment attached to a small liquor and convenience store run by his mother. Gato was fully conversant in both Spanish and English. However, as is clear from the tran­ scription below, he was not a native speaker o f English. His speech— a mix­ ture o f street English, the Spanglish o f Chicano gangs, and the caliche of Salvadoran colloquial Spanish— still marked him as Salvadoran and as im­ migrant to the United States.6 Gato is originally from Modelo. I am confused and curious about how he navigates living inside enemy territory and with the enemy. He begins to ex­ plain: G:

First they told me, “Don’t write on the walls.” You know, write 18th Street . . . And I told them, “I won’t do that.”

E:

So you came to an agreement with them?

G:

Yeah, we came to an agreement. I told them, “If you guys don’t bother me, I’m not going to bother you guys.” But, if they do . . . planning to do something, do it good. You know, kill me.

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E:

So nothing’s happened?

G:

No, that’s because I don’t . . . I’m working. I have my life together. If

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th e y k n o w I ’m s t ill g a n g b a n g in g , o f c o u r s e , th e y c o u ld k ill m e m a n , you know . E : B u t t h i s is y o u r b a r r io , w h e r e y o u ’ r e f r o m ? G: A l l t h e s e g u y s , t h e y w e r e m y f r i e n d s w h e n I w a s a l i t t l e k id , a n d t h e y g e t m a d b e c a u s e [ t h e y s a y ] , “ W h y d o n ’ t y o u b e j u m p i n g in a n m s n e i g h ­ b o r h o o d ? ” Y o u k n o w , I to ld ’e m , “ H ey, w h e n I w e n t to C a lif o r n ia I g r e w u p a t S ix t h a n d J u n io r .” T h a t w a s p b y [ P la y B o y ] t e r r it o r y , n o w i t ’s 1 8 th S tre e t. Y o u k n o w th e h a n g o u t fo r m y n e ig h b o r h o o d ? O f c o u rs e , t h e y a ll g o i n N o r m a n d i e . . . o r o t h e r s t r e e t s t h a t w a s f r o m m s . I w o u l d j u m p i n m s b e c a u s e I lo v e m y c o u n t r y , b u t . . . i t ’s n o t t h a t . B a c k in h i s n e i g h b o r h o o d in E l S a lv a d o r , G a t o m u s t n o w e x p l a i n w h y h e d id n o t j o i n L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a , t h e g a n g a s s o c i a t e d w i t h S a l v a d o ­ ra n s , a t le a s t n o t a t its in c e p t io n . I lo o k a t th e b a r r io a r o u n d u s a n d w o n ­ d e r a t h o w its t e r r ito r ia l id e n t ific a t io n s h a v e b e e n r e s h a p e d b y th e w a r a n d b y U n ite d S t a t e s - b o u n d m ig r a tio n . G a t o a n d h is b e n e v o le n t e n e m y h o s ts g r e w u p t o g e t h e r in t h e s a m e b a r r i o in S a n S a l v a d o r - M o d e l o . B u t b y v ir t u e o f t h e i r r e l o c a t i o n t o a d j a c e n t i n n e r - c i t y n e i g h b o r h o o d s in L o s A n g e l e s P ic o U n io n v e r s u s K o r e a t o w n - t h e y a re n o w fr o m d iffe r e n t n e ig h b o r h o o d s in L o s A n g e l e s a n d , t h e r e f o r e , i n s i d e E l S a lv a d o r . W h i l e t h e y h a i l f r o m t h e s a m e h o m e , th e y a re n o t h o m e b o y s to o n e a n o t h e r b u t in s t e a d a re e n e m ie s . S a lv a d o r a n g e o g r a p h y h a s b e e n r e m a p p e d b y th is m ig r a tio n , in n e r - c ity p o li­ t i c s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , a n d d e p o r t a t i o n . A s G a t o e x p la i n s la t e r , “ T h e p r o b l e m is t h a t w e c a m e d e p o r t e d f r o m t h e S ta te s . S o m e o n e . . . t h e y ’re b r in g in g th e n e ig h b o r h o o d s d o w n to m y c o u n ­ t r y . . . T h a t t h i n g o f t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d [is ] f r o m C a l i f o r n i a . ” I t w a s c o m m o n fo r S a lv a d o r a n y o u th w h o h a d n o t s te p p e d fo o t o n A m e r ic a n s o il to im p lo r e d e p o r t e d g a n g m e m b e r s t o j u m p t h e m in , o r t o f o r m t h e i r o w n c li q u e s b a s e d o n th e in fo r m a tio n th a t th e y c o u ld g le a n fr o m m e d ia c o v e r a g e o f s to r ie s a b o u t a n d e n c o u n t e r s w i t h C a l i f o r n i a g a n g c u lt u r e . G a t o l a u n c h e s i n t o a c r i ­ t i q u e o f t h e n a iv e t r a n s p o s i t i o n o f t h e p o l i t i c a l t e r r a in o f L o s A n g e l e s o n t o E l S a l v a d o r b y S a l v a d o r a n “ w a n n a b e s ” a n d p o o r c o p i e s o f t h e r e a l t h i n g in th e U n ite d S ta te s . I h a v e h e a r d th is c r itiq u e fr o m o n e d e p o r te d g a n g m e m ­ b e r a fte r a n o th e r. W h o e v e r b r o u g h t m y n e i g h b o r h o o d b a c k h e r e i n t h e ’9 0 s , t h e y f u c k e d u p , r e a lly f u c k e d u p m y c o u n t r y . B e c a u s e , m a n , y o u r e a l l y s e e t h e w r i t i n g o n t h e w a l l s in t h e s t r e e t s . T h a t c a m e in t h e ’ 9 0 s . . . I t ’s l i k e y o u ’ r e s e e ­ in g th e fr e e w a y s fr o m L A , a n d th e y d o n ’ t e v e n k n o w h o w to w r ite o n th e

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w a l l s . T h e y w r i t e r e a l s t u p id , y o u k n o w . T h e y p u t “ W e s t s i d e 1 8 t h S t r e e t ” o r “ N o r t h s i d e m s ,” a n d w e ’ r e n o t r e a l l y o n t h e N o r t h s i d e o r W e s t s i d e h e r e . W e ’ r e in S o u t h C e n t r a l . O r t h e y p u t a r e a “ 2 1 3 .” M a n , t h a t ’s a t e l e p h o n e c a l l f r o m d o w n t o w n C a l i f o r n i a ; o r p u t “ 8 1 8 .” T h a t ’s E l M o n t e , y o u k n o w . T h ey g e t m e re a l m a d b e c a u s e th e y d o n ’t e v e n k n o w a b o u t th e S o u th s id e t h i n g , o r t h e N o r t h s i d e t h i n g . T h e y j u s t k n o w e n e m y 1 8 t h S t r e e t , o r en em y m s . A n d s o it is to th e “ r e a l” la n d s c a p e o f C a lifo r n ia th a t o u r c o n v e r s a tio n w a n d e r s . G a t o ’s v iv id a c c o u n t o f t h e g l o b a l i z a t i o n o f h i s sureño ( S o u t h s id e ) i d e n t i t y p o l i t i c s d e m o n s t r a t e s h o w d e e p l y l i n k e d S a n S a l v a d o r is t o t h e s p a c e s i n s i d e L o s A n g e l e s a n d v ic e v e r s a . A s G a t o b e g i n s t o e x p la i n t h e g e o g r a p h y a n d g e n e a lo g y o f h is c r im in a liz a tio n , h e g u id e s u s th r o u g h th e f a m i l i a r la n d m a r k s o f P i c o U n i o n ’s b u i l t e n v i r o n m e n t . G a t o w a s a s t u d e n t a t B e l m o n t H i g h , “ r i g h t t h e r e o n W i l m o n t a n d L u c a s .” H e w a s j u m p e d ( in i­ t ia t e d ) i n t o h i s n e i g h b o r h o o d g a n g w h e n h e w a s f i f t e e n o r s o a s a m e a n s t o s e e k r e v e n g e a g a in s t “ a g u y fr o m R o c k w o o d ” w h o s t o le a g o ld c h a in fr o m h i m . H is f a t h e r , w h o w a s k i l l e d i n E l S a l v a d o r f o r h i s p o l i t i c a l in v o lv e m e n t , h a d g i v e n t h e c h a i n t o G a t o b e f o r e h e d ie d . H is g a n g l i f e c u l m i n a t e d in a n a r r e s t f o r t w o a t t e m p t e d m u r d e r s o f t w o m e m b e r s o f C r a z y R id e r s , w h o h a d d r iv e n i n t o h i s n e i g h b o r h o o d a n d p u l l e d o u t a n A K - 4 7 , h i t t i n g h i s h o m e b o y . “ I t h a p p e n e d r i g h t t h e r e b y a J a c k in t h e B o x , o n S ix t h a n d B o n n i e B r a e , b y w h a t u s e d to b e th e H o te l C a lifo r n ia ( in fa m o u s fir s t s to p fo r m a n y a n e w ly a r r iv e d i m m i g r a n t ) , n e x t t o a p l a c e c a l l e d L a B a r a t a .” H e w a s c h a s e d d o w n W e s t l a k e , c l o s e t o M a c A r t h u r P a r k — t h e s y m b o l i c c e n t e r o f P i c o U n io n . L i k e s o m a n y in h i s s i t u a t i o n , in o r d e r t o g e t a l i g h t e r s e n t e n c e G a t o a c ­ c e p te d a d e a l w it h th e ju d g e a n d p le a d e d g u ilt y t o th e fe lo n y c o u n ts . G a t o b e ­ g i n s t o t a l k a b o u t t h e m i n e f i e l d o f c u lt u r a l p o l i t i c s i n s i d e p r i s o n , w h i c h j u m p b e t w e e n th e s e s c a le s o f id e n t if ic a t io n : n e ig h b o r h o o d (th e g a n g ) , n a t io n a lit y (E l S a l v a d o r v s . M e x i c o ) , g e o g r a p h i c o r i e n t a t i o n ( S o u t h s i d e r v s . N o r t h s i d e r ) , a n d r a c i a l i d e n t i f i c a t i o n ( L a t in o v s . b l a c k , w h i t e , a n d A s ia n ) . E v e ry tim e th e d o o r o p e n s a n d y o u s te p o u t, y o u d o n ’ t k n o w i f th e p r o b ­ l e m ’s g o i n g t o b e w i t h a B l o o d , a w h i t e b o y , o r J a p a n e s e , a n d y o u g o t t o r e a c t b e c a u s e y o u ’ r e L a t i n o m a n , y o u a r e H i s p a n i c . I n s id e p r i s o n , b e lie v e i t o r n o t , w e ’ r e u n i t e d m a n . W e a r e u n i t e d a s S o u t h s i d e r s , sureños . . . It w o u l d b e c o o l i f . . . n e i g h b o r h o o d s c o u l d g e t a l o n g l i k e in p r i s o n m a n . N o t b e c a u s e y o u ’ r e M e x i c a n , y o u ’ r e f r o m P e r u , o r y o u ’ r e f r o m E l S a lv a -

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dor. No. We’re all Hispanic man, we’re all brown, we all speak the same language. Just because I’m a Salvadoran, you’re going to feel better than me? No. We’re all equal, man. Some o f my homeboys, and the guys from m s

,

they don’t think that way.

Once inside the prison, the city’s geography seemed to lose some o f its pri­ macy. The relationship between space and identity now transcended the bor­ ders o f the urban barrio that were so crucial to identity formation prior to incarceration. Local barrio identities gave way to racial, ethnic, regional, and national differences. The prison thus became a crucial site for the re­ mediation o f urban identities, and deportation took this reidentification one step further. Gato’s discussion concludes with an elaboration o f an intricate geography o f belonging: a continental American and pan-ethnic identity as Latino. But upon deportation to the streets o f San Salvador, this concientiza-

ción (consciousness-raising) as Latino and as sureño is more often than not overwhelmed by the reproduction o f divisions between barrios in San Salva­ dor, reworked as they are by those in Los Angeles. Gato’s words weigh heavily as I write. He was killed not long after our interview by an m s gang member. The burden o f representation looms large. Gato’s attempt to be from one barrio and live in another, to marry across barrios, to stake claim to his childhood territo ry-a ll proved fatal. Gato was shot and killed in front o f his infant son for his past affiliation with the 18th Street Gang in the very same spot where his father was killed in front o f him for his political involvement with the f m

l n

(Farabundo Martí National Lib­

eration Front) guerrilla forces.

W easel's Story Weasel, the “fool banished from the kingdom” as he refers to him self above, captured my anthropological imagination from the start. Unlike the depor­ tees I had met up to that point, Weasel bore no traces o f his Salvadoran iden­ tity. I was thrown by his style and his speech. The la tter-fille d as it was with the stylistic markers o f Chicano and Californian youth culture, as well as playful appropriations o f African American linguistic forms, was unmistak­ ably American English. Indeed, Weasel described his reencounter with his “native” country as a “complete culture clash.” Neither did Weasel fit into the dominant configuration o f gang affiliation among Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles:

m s

or 18th Street. I asked

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h im a b o u t h is g a n g . “M y g a n g w a s c a lle d th e W e s ts id e L o s C r a z ie s , a n d w e ’re in E c h o P a r k .” I t e ll W e a s e l t h a t I liv e in E c h o P a r k . H i s e y e s l i g h t u p , a n d h e j o k e s a b o u t m e b e i n g h is h o m e g i r l , a n d f r o m t h e r e o n o u t W e a s e l a lw a y s i n t r o d u c e s m e a s “ E la n a , s h e ’s f r o m m y e x - b a r r i o .” w : T h e m e m b e r s a r e m o s t l y C h i c a n o s , o r i f t h e y ’v e g o t a n y S a l v a d o r a n o r C u b a n b a c k g r o u n d , P u e r to R ic a n , w h a te v e r , y o u k n o w t h e y ’re b o r n t h e r e , t h e y ’ r e b o r n in t h e S t a t e s , y o u k n o w . E : S o i t ’s n o t a n i m m i g r a n t g a n g ? w : N o , n o , n o t a t a ll, n o t a t a ll. I m e a n , t h e y ’ r e a ll b o r n t h e r e . I m e a n t h e i r p a r e n ts c o u ld ’v e b e e n im m ig r a n ts . E: O r y o u w e r e a n im m ig r a n t? w : Y es, b u t I d id n ’t e v e n r e c o g n iz e th a t w o r d “ im m ig r a n t” y o u k n o w u n til I g o t a l i t t l e o ld e r . Y o u k n o w , I j u s t . . . I g r e w u p l i k e , I g u e s s y o u c o u l d s a y li k e , n a iv e t o t h e f a c t t h a t I c a m e f r o m a n o t h e r c o u n t r y a n d I w a s l i v i n g in t h e S t a t e s , a n d I j u s t , I n e v e r t h o u g h t a b o u t y o u k n o w l i k e . . . b a c k g r o u n d s . . . b e c a u s e e v e r y b o d y a r o u n d lik e m e s p o k e S p a n ­ is h o r E n g lis h a n d y o u k n o w th e y w e r e L a tin o in g e n e r a l, th e m a jo r ity w a s M e x i c a n , a n d C h i c a n o s , v e r y f e w b l a c k s . B u t I d id g r o w u p s e e i n g b la c k p e o p le , a n d s o it w a s n ’ t a to t a l L a tin o n e ig h b o r h o o d . E : D o y o u r e m e m b e r w h a t y o u s a i d t o m e t h e o t h e r n i g h t o v e r d in n e r ? Y o u s a id , “ I g u e s s y o u c o u l d s a y I a m , o r I w a s , a S a l v a d o r a n l i v i n g in A m e r i c a l i v i n g a . . .” w : L i v i n g a C h i c a n o li f e s t y l e ! Y e a h , t h a t ’s w h a t I s a id . . . . T h e f u n n y t h i n g , is t h a t e v e r y o n e t h o u g h t I w a s M e x i c a n , ‘ e y . I k e p t o n t e l l i n g t h e m , “ I ’ m n o t , y o u k n o w , I w a s b o r n in E l S a lv a d o r , ‘ e y .” Y o u k n o w , e v e r y t i m e t h e y w o u l d a s k m e , I ’ d s a y , “ I ’ m S a l v a d o r a n . I w a s b o r n i n E l S a lv a d o r .” B u t u h . . . a f t e r a w h i l e t h e y ’ d f o r g e t a b o u t it b e c a u s e t h e y ’re s o u s e d to y o u a n d y o u ’ re s o m u c h lik e th e m th a t it d o e s n ’t e v e n m a tte r, y o u k n o w . . . . L ik e I w a s t e llin g y o u , y o u k n o w , I h a d lik e a M e x ic a n u p b r in g ­ i n g . A n d in L o s A n g e l e s t h e y [ t h e s c h o o l s ] h a v e t h i s , l i k e , t h i s m u l t i ­ c u l t u r a l u h , u h . . . I g u e s s , t h e y t e a c h y o u , a b o u t o t h e r c u lt u r e s , a n d s i n c e t h e r e ’s a l o t o f M e x i c a n s t h e r e , t h e y t e a c h y o u a l o t a b o u t t h a t , y o u k n o w . T h e y te a c h y o u a b o u t C in c o d e M a y o a n d s t u f f lik e th a t. O u r c o n v e r s a tio n tu r n e d to th e s h o c k o f d e p o r t a t io n a n d h is c o m p le t e l a c k o f p r e p a r a t i o n f o r s u c h a n e v e n t u a lit y . H e w a s , a f t e r a ll, a p e r m a n e n t re s id e n t.

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w : W e ll I t h o u g h t I w a s a p e r m a n e n t r e s i d e n t y o u k n o w . . . E : B e c a u s e y o u t h o u g h t p e r m a n e n t r e s id e n t m e a n t p e r m a n e n t? w : Y e a h , p e r m a n e n t , a n d p l u s I n e v e r p a i d m u c h a t t e n t i o n t o t h a t le g a l s ta tu s to o m u c h , y o u k n o w . It w a s ju s t s o m e th in g th a t w a s . . . I m e a n I th o u g h t I w a s a t h o m e , y o u k n o w . I th o u g h t . . . th a t w a s m e fo re v e r. E: Y o u h a d n o i d e a t h a t t h a t w a s a p o s s i b i l i t y — t h a t y o u w o u l d b e d e ­ p o r te d ? w : I t h o u g h t th a t w a s ju s t fo r ille g a ls , y o u k n o w , a n d s in c e I w a s le g a l, y o u k n o w , I w a s a r e s i d e n t , a n d m e a n w h i l e m y b r o t h e r s [ a n d s is t e r s ] w e r e b e c o m in g c itiz e n s . O f c o u r s e , W e a s e l c o u ld n ’ t h a v e k n o w n th a t h e w a s v u ln e r a b le to d e p o r ta tio n b e c a u s e th e la w — w h ic h w a s a p p lie d r e t r o a c t iv e ly — w a s o n ly p u t in t o e ffe c t in 1 9 9 6 , o n c e h e w a s a lr e a d y in p r i s o n a n d t h e y e a r b e f o r e h e w a s d e p o r t e d . E : W h e n d id y o u f i n d o u t t h a t y o u w e r e c o m i n g b a c k t o E l S a lv a d o r ? w : W e ll, t h e f i r s t t i m e I w e n t t o p r i s o n , a n i m m i g r a t i o n g u y , a g e n t , c a m e to t a lk to m e , b u t I w a s s t ill lo s t, y o u k n o w . I w a s a k id , y o u k n o w . E : W h a t d id h e t e ll y o u ? w : H e ju s t to ld m e , y o u k n o w , “ W h e r e w e r e y o u b o r n ,” a n d th is a n d th a t. H e g o e s , “ Y o u b e t t e r b e c a r e f u l, y o u k n o w m e s s i n g a b o u t . T h e y ’ ll s e n d y o u b a c k . . .” B u t I t h o u g h t h e w a s j u s t , y o u k n o w , j o k i n g o r s o m e ­ t h i n g . I s a id li k e , “ H o w ’ r e t h e y g o i n g t o s e n d m e b a c k ? A l l m y f a m i l y ’s h e r e .” I d i d n ’ t e v e n t h i n k o f a n y t h i n g l i k e t h a t . I ’ m h e r e g r o w i n g u p t h i n k i n g I ’ m t h i s ( A m e r ic a n ) w h e n , in r e a lit y , I ’m t h i s ( S a lv a d o r a n ) b e c a u s e I w a s b o r n h e r e , y o u k n o w . . . W h e n I g o t o u t [ o f p r is o n ] t h e i n s [ I m m i g r a t i o n a n d N a t u r a l i z a t i o n S e r v ic e s ] a g e n t c a m e t o v i s i t m e . I d i d n ’ t t h i n k n o t h i n g o f it . T h o u g h t t h a t h e j u s t w a n t e d t o s e e m y g r e e n c a rd a n d p a p e rs . T h e i n s o ffic e r w a s tr y in g to p ro v e th a t I w a s a S a lv a d o r a n . H e k e p t a s k in g m e q u e s tio n s lik e w h a t w a s th e b ig g e s t r iv e r in E l S a lv a d o r . I k e p t t r y i n g t o e x p la i n t h a t I d i d n ’ t k n o w n o t h ­ i n g a b o u t E l S a lv a d o r . I m e a n I h a d n ’ t b e e n t h e r e f o r t w e n t y y e a r s . I m e a n t h e b i g g e s t r iv e r a r o u n d h e r e is t h e L A R iv e r . I g r e w u p i n L A , y o u k n o w . A n y h o w , h e s a id t h a t g i v e n m y c r i m i n a l h is t o r y , h e d i d n ’ t se e n o c h a n c e fo r m e , c o u ld n ’ t se e m e c h a n g in g . . . N o w I k n o w th a t t h e b i g g e s t r iv e r h e r e [in E l S a lv a d o r ] is t h e R i o L e m p a . W e a s e l t h e n r e c o u n t e d h is a r r iv a l s c e n e , a n a m u s i n g — i f n o t i n t e n d e d — p a r o d y o f t h e e t h n o g r a p h e r ’s f i r s t e n c o u n t e r w i t h a s t r a n g e c u lt u r e .

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w : I arrived with a lot o f rumors in my mind about there’s like this death squad that’s going to kill you if you’re all tattooed.7 So I’m a little ner­ vous and scared. Then the police come and snatch you and put you in a little room, and I said, “Oh fuck . . . that’s it, forget it. They got me. They’re going to kill me.” They started asking me like where I live, and where I’m going to live, and took pictures o f me, o f my tattoos, my fingerprints, looked through my stuff, you know . . . E: How did San Salvador feel to you? What were your first impressions? w: It was like they were sending me to Mars or something. I hadn’t been in the country for twenty-something, twenty-two years. And then I come back and I’m completely lost, man. As it turned out, Weasel began his new life in San Salvador in San Jacinto, not far from Gato’s barrio, Modelo. He went on to describe his shock at his new surroundings. It was like real dirty to me, and I was like, “G-d man, where am I?” you know. “What am I going to do here?” They had trees everywhere and, you know, a lot o f shacks. So I was like, “What did I get myself into man. Where am I?” And to my sister, “Hell no, hell no, I ain’t staying here, I ain’t staying here . . . I tried to go get my passport and they, uh, denied me a passport because they didn’t think I was from here, ’cause I couldn’t speak Spanish that well. And if I did speak Spanish, I spoke a different Spanish. Like Modelo, the local geography o f San Jacinto had also been trans­ formed by Los Angeles’s territorial conflicts. Unlike Gato, however, Weasel occupied a much different relationship to that geography. Indeed, local gang members, although initially suspicious, did not in the end know where he was from, which is to say they did not recognize his barrio since it was neither

m s

or 18th Street. This afforded Weasel a modicum o f autonomy

and space in relationship to the Salvadoran gangs, although to Salvadoran society at large he was just another marero (gang member). In El Salvador, Weasel entered into an identity crisis. Yeah, I was telling you about the crisis I had. I’d been in a crisis. It goes back to the same thing too. People look down at you because, you know, the way you dress, baggy clothes . . . they call it marero here, and that’s like something real low to call a person.

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When I first got to San Jacinto, I couldn’t really relate to nobody in the house, so I started going out a little bit, hanging out in the front o f the house, and the neighborhood kids they would see me. [But] talking to those people is like, you know, whoever talks to them is part o f ’em . . . so you’re scum, you’re trash, whatever. So I didn’t really want to be clas­ sified with [gangs], you know, even though I could relate to them. In an effort to reinvent himself, Weasel started to go to punk concerts. E: w

E: w

Cholo? Is that how you would describe your look?

: Gangster.

E: w

This is you moving from your mara (gang) to your punk stage?

: Gangster.

Is that different from cholo?

: Not really, but gangster’s like, I feel it’s a step above cholo. Cholo’s . . . anybody could be cholo. Okay, I started going to concerts. I liked it. These guys were cool . . . I started going out with them. Found a place called La Luna [he laughs], started going there a lot.

E:

La Luna is a very different scene . . .

I was astounded at the cultural fusion here. La Luna was one o f those places where I would retreat to when I needed to escape the assault o f being a foreign woman on her own in a conservative society. So I’m curious that Weasel, a self-described “gangster” from Echo Park, sought refuge there too. But there is a spatial logic at work here, globalization, which brought both Weasel and me into the same space. La Luna caters to middle-class liberal-Left Salvadorans, many o f whom fled El Salvador as political exiles during the civil war, and expatriates working with nongovernmental orga­ nizations

(n g o s ),

many o f whom forged links to El Salvador through the

solidarity movement during the same period. It also attracts unconventional middle-class Salvadoran youth drawn to experimentation with the global cultural flows o f punk, rock ’n’ español, rap, spoken word, and so on. Both Weasel and La Luna are produced and enabled by the spatial logics o f globalization— albeit in and through markedly different registers o f transnation­ alism: bohemianism and youth gangs. Thus, while the focus o f this chapter is on transnational geographies of violence, the presence o f spaces like La Luna in Weasel’s narrative demon­ strate that these global flows are not simply about violence. If anything, La Luna, which is dedicated to opening up alternative performance spaces in a

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s o c i a l l y c o n s e r v a t i v e s o c ie t y , h a s a u t o p i a n d i m e n s i o n . W e a s e l, w h o w a s a n a c c o m p lis h e d t a t t o o a r tis t, w a s a b le th r o u g h h is c o n t a c t s m a d e a t L a L u n a t o e m p l o y g a n g e x p r e s s iv e c u lt u r e t o b u i l d a n “ a r t t a t t o o ” b u s i n e s s f o r h i m ­ s e lf, c a te r in g to m id d le - a n d u p p e r - m id d le - c la s s S a lv a d o r a n y o u th . A s s u c h , W e a s e l c o m e s to e m b o d y th e fu s io n o f b o th o f th e s e d im e n s io n s o f g lo b a l­ iz a t io n — d y s to p ic a n d u to p ia n . E: Y o u [s a id y o u ] h a d a m o h a w k ? w : Y e a h , I d id . E : H e r e in S a n S a lv a d o r ? w : S a n S a lv a d o r . T h a t r e a l l y t r i p p e d p e o p l e o u t . N o b o d y ’s e v e r s e e n s t u f f lik e th a t h e re . In a w a y I w a s . . . I w a n t e d to m a k e a s ta te m e n t . . . E : Y o u w e r e s t i l l l i v i n g i n S a n J a c in t o a t t h e t im e ? w : Yeah . . . T h e a b s u r d i t y o f a p u n k r o c k e r w i t h a b r i g h t - g r e e n M o h a w k h a i r d o in a p o p u l a r b a r r i o in p o s t - c i v i l w a r E l S a l v a d o r w i l l b e l o s t o n t h o s e u n f a m i l ­ ia r w i t h t h a t l a n d s c a p e . W e a s e l s a i d t h a t b e i n g d e p o r t e d t o E l S a l v a d o r f e l t l i k e b e i n g s e n t t o M a r s . A n d o n c e in E l S a lv a d o r , W e a s e l r e f a s h i o n e d h i m ­ s e l f a s t h e M a r t ia n , t h e a l i e n h e is m a d e t o f e e l b y t h e s t a r e s , r e a c t i o n s , a n d d i s a p p r o v a l o f t h e p e o p l e a r o u n d h i m . I n a f o l l o w - u p e - m a i l t o m e in L o s A n g e le s , W e a s e l m o d ifie d h is in it ia l d e s c r ip tio n o f h i m s e lf a s “ a S a lv a d o r a n l i v i n g a C h i c a n o l i f e s t y l e in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ” t o t h e f o l l o w i n g : “ N o w [ I ’ m ] m o r e lik e a d e p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r fr o m L A liv in g a m ix tu r e o f a C h ic a n o , G r in g o , w e ir d o life s ty le .”

Geographical Disorientation T h e c u l t u r a l h i s t o r y a n d g e o g r a p h y o f W e a s e l ’s c r i m i n a l i z a t i o n w a s d i f f e r ­ e n t f r o m t h a t o f G a t o . G a t o r e m e m b e r e d h i s o l d b a r r io , a n d d e s p i t e h is p a n ­ L a tin o d is c o u r s e h e r e ta in e d h is id e n t it y a s S a lv a d o r a n . G a t o m ig r a te d a t a d i f f e r e n t a g e a n d a d i f f e r e n t e p o c h — a t t h e h e i g h t o f t h e c iv il w a r in t h e e a r ly i9 8 o s — a n d in to a g a n g p o litic s p e c ific to th a t e ra a n d to th a t m ig r a tio n . N o n e th e le s s , h is g e o g r a p h ic a l k n o w le d g e , th e o ld m a p s , n o lo n g e r w o r k e d f o r h i m u p o n h i s r e t u r n t o E l S a lv a d o r . T h e b a r r i o ’s d e s i g n a t i o n , it s g e o g ­ r a p h y , h a d c h a n g e d o n h i m , e v e n a s h e w a s c h a n g e d b y it . B o t h G a t o a n d W e a s e l w e r e tr a n s n a t io n a liz e d , a n d th e ir t r a n s n a t io n a liz a t io n le ft th e m o n d i f f e r e n t s id e s o f t h e w a r , a n e w c iv il w a r . G a t o ’s m i g r a t i o n s t o r y b e g a n a n d e n d e d in v i o l e n c e . W e a s e l, o n t h e o t h e r

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h a n d , m o v e d t o L o s A n g e l e s in t h e m i d - 1 9 7 0 s , w e l l b e f o r e t h e S a l v a d o r a n c iv il w a r a n d th e a tte n d a n t m a s s iv e in flu x o f r e fu g e e s . A s a r e s u lt, W e a s e l h a d n o s o c ia l o r g e o g r a p h ic a l m e m o r y o f E l S a lv a d o r a n d n o a tt a c h m e n t to a b a r r i o in S a n S a l v a d o r o r m e n t a l m a p s t h e r e o f . H e k n e w n o t h i n g o f t h e p la c e fr o m w h e r e h e c a m e . T h e t e s t th a t th e i n s o ffic e r g a v e h im o n S a lv a ­ d o r a n g e o g r a p h y w a s a p e r fe c t m a n ife s t a tio n o f h is g e o g r a p h ic a l d is o r ie n t a t i o n — h is r e f e r e n c e p o i n t is t h e L o s A n g e l e s R iv e r n o t t h e R io L e m p a . I t w a s n o t u n t i l t w o y e a r s a f t e r W e a s e l ’s r e t u r n t o E l S a l v a d o r t h a t h e w a s a b le t o c o n s t r u c t a m e n t a l m a p o f t h e g e o g r a p h y o f t h i s t in y c o u n t r y . A s h e p u t it , “ I f e e l l i k e a t o u r i s t , a p e r m a n e n t o n e .” D e s p it e th e ir d iffe r e n t le g a l s ta tu s a n d c u ltu r a l c la im s to “ th e k in g d o m ” ( W e a s e l h a d p e r m a n e n t r e s id e n c y , w h e r e a s G a t o d i d n o t ; W e a s e l w a s r e c ­ o g n i z a b l e a s a n “ A m e r i c a n ,” a n d G a t o a s a n “ i m m i g r a n t ” ), a f t e r 1 9 9 6 t h e d is tin c tio n s b e tw e e n u n d o c u m e n te d a n d d o c u m e n te d im m ig r a n ts w e re n o lo n g e r r e c o g n iz e d b y im m ig r a t io n la w fo r th o s e w it h c r im in a l r e c o r d s . G a t o a n d W e a s e l w o u ld e v e n tu a lly m e e t t h r o u g h th e S a lv a d o r a n b r a n c h o f H o m i e s U n i d o s , t e llin g ly , a l s o e s t a b l i s h e d in 1 9 9 6 . S e v e ra l fo r c e s c a m e t o g e t h e r to b r in g H o m ie s U n id o s S a n S a lv a d o r in to e x is te n c e . In 19 9 6 D o n n a D e C e s a r e , a p h o to jo u r n a lis t fr o m

th e U n ite d

S ta te s , e x h ib ite d h e r w o r k o n th e d e p o r a tio n o f g a n g m e m b e r s fr o m th e s t r e e t s o f L o s A n g e l e s t o t h e s t r e e t s o f S a n S a lv a d o r , in S a n S a lv a d o r . S h e i n ­ v i t e d s e v e r a l g a n g m e m b e r s w h o a p p e a r e d in h e r p h o t o g r a p h s t o t h a t e x h i ­ b i t i o n , a n d t h e n a s k e d t h e m t o s p e a k a t a r e l a t e d c o n f e r e n c e o n y o u t h in E l S a lv a d o r . T h e P e r m a n e n t e C o m m i t t e e o n Y o u t h V i o l e n c e t h a t e m e r g e d o u t o f th a t c o n fe r e n c e in c lu d e d th e p a r t ic ip a t io n o f th e g a n g m e m b e r s p r e s e n t th a t day, lo c a l a n d in te r n a tio n a l n g o s a n d g o v e r n m e n t a g e n c ie s . Ju st d a y s a fte r th e c o n fe r e n c e , M a g d a le n o R o s e - Á v ila r e lo c a t e d to E l S a lv a d o r w it h h is w ife C a r o lin e , w h o w a s to ta k e o n th e r e g io n a l d ir e c to r s h ip o f th e U n ite d S ta te s b r a n c h o f t h e n g o S a v e t h e C h i l d r e n . 8 G i v e n M a g d a l e n o ’s e x p e r i e n c e w i t h y o u th v io le n c e a n d h u m a n r ig h t s is s u e s , h is w ife a s k e d h im to r e p r e s e n t th e n g o

a t t h e f o r u m ’s m e e t i n g s . A s M a g d a l e n o p u t it , h e h a d c o m e t o E l S a l ­

v a d o r t o b e a h o u s e h u s b a n d a n d t o w r i t e a b o o k , b u t h e “ f e l l in l o v e ” w i t h th e h o m ie s . I n d e e d , h e s p e n t h is r e t ir e m e n t fu n d s a n d u s e d u p h is c r e d it o n s ta rt-u p m o n ie s fo r th e o r g a n iz a tio n . M a g d a le n o th e n lin k e d fo r c e s w it h D e C e s a r e to ta k e th e is s u e o f t r a n s ­ n a t i o n a l y o u t h g a n g s t o a u d i e n c e s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , a n d h e s t a r t e d t o c o n t a c t a n d b u i l d c r e d i b i l i t y w i t h l e a d e r s in m s a n d 1 8 t h S t r e e t i n S a n S a l ­ v a d o r a n d in L o s A n g e l e s . T h is w a s n o e a s y f e a t . A s a C h i c a n o , M a g d a l e n o

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fa c e d m u c h s u s p ic io n a n d r e s e n tm e n t, p a r tic u la r ly fr o m m s . T h e fir s t p r e s i­ d e n t o f H o m ie s U n id o s , N e g r o , e x p la in e d h is in it ia l r e a c tio n to M a g d a le n o t h i s w a y : “ I t h o u g h t t o m y s e l f , ‘D a m n w h a t ’s t h i s C h i c a n o g u y d o i n g in my c o u n t r y , t r y i n g t o h e lp us. T h o s e M e x i c a n s , t h o s e C h i c a n o s , t h o s e a r e t h e o n e s w h o w e r e h ittin g o n u s .’ ” H e w a s v e r y s u s p ic io u s , b u t M a g d a le n o to o k a h u g e r i s k a n d i n v i t e d h i m a n d h i s h o m i e s o v e r t o h is h o u s e , w h e r e N e g r o m e t h is w ife a n d h is y o u n g d a u g h t e r in th is “ b ig b e a u tifu l h o u s e .” W h e n o n e d a y M a g d a l e n o l e f t t h e m in h is h o u s e s o t h e y c o u l d f i n i s h u p a p r o j e c t o n t h e c o m p u t e r , N e g r o t h o u g h t , “ D a m n , d a m n w h a t a n i d i o t t h i s g u y is l e a v i n g u s w i t h h i s s t u f f . L e a v i n g u s w i t h h i s c o m p u t e r .” T h e n h e t h o u g h t a g a i n , “ N o m a n , t h i s g u y ’s n o t s t u p id , h e ’s d o i n g t h i s t o s h o w u s h e t r u s t s u s . A n d m a n I ’ m n o t g o i n g t o l e t a n y o n e t o u c h h is s t u f f . W e ’ r e g o i n g t o b e firm e ( c o o l ) .” W o r k i n g in t a n d e m w i t h R a d d a B a r n e n (S a v e t h e C h i l d r e n - S w e d e n ) a n d w i t h t h e c o n s e n t o f k e y g a n g m e m b e r s h i p , N e g r o o f m s a n d P a ja r o o f 1 8 t h S tre e t, M a g d a le n o a p p r o a c h e d M ig u e l C r u z , th e n d ir e c to r o f th e U n iv e r s ity I n s titu te f o r P u b lic O p in io n (i u d o p ) a t th e U n iv e r s ity o f C e n tr a l A m e r ic a w it h th e id e a o f c o n d u c t in g a d e m o g r a p h ic a n d n e e d s a s s e s s m e n t s u r v e y o f g a n g y o u th in th e S a n S a lv a d o r a re a . D e s p ite th e r e lu c t a n c e o f th e le a d e r s h ip o f t h e J e s u it - r u n u n iv e r s i t y , C r u z a g r e e d . H e a n d M a g d a l e n o s t a r t e d t r a i n ­ i n g t h e g a n g m e m b e r s , r e c r u i t e d b y N e g r o a n d P a ja r o , t o c o n d u c t t h e s u r v e y . G iv e n t h e v i o l e n t a n i m o s i t y b e t w e e n t h e t w o g r o u p s , t h e t r a i n i n g h a d t o b e c o n d u c t e d s e p a r a te ly fo r e a c h g a n g . M a g d a le n o w o u ld p ic k u p o n e g r o u p in t h e m o r n i n g a n d t h e n t h e o t h e r in t h e a f t e r n o o n . A t t h e e n d o f t h e s t u d y M a g d a le n o a n d C r u z b r o u g h t b o th g a n g s t o g e t h e r a t U n iv e r s ity o f C e n tr a l A m e r i c a t o h e a r t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e s t u d y .9 I t w a s a g r e a t r is k , a n d t h e m e e t i n g w a s v e r y t e n s e , b u t a s M a g d a l e n o p u t it , “ G a n g m e m b e r s w e r e f i n d i n g o u t th a t 1 8 th S tr e e t w a s a n s w e r in g th e q u e s tio n s th e s a m e w a y a s m s , th a t th e r e w a s n o d i f f e r e n c e . T h e y h a d m o r e in c o m m o n t h a n t h e y k n e w .” In th e m e a n tim e , th e h o m ie s w e r e s till a tte n d in g th e c o m m itte e m e e t ­ in g s , b u t th e y w e r e g e t t in g tir e d o f th e e n d le s s t a lk in g . T h e y w a n t e d a c tio n . C o n c e r n e d th a t th e y w o u ld b e u s e d b y th e o th e r g r o u p s a n d th e ir c o m p e t­ in g in te r e s ts w ith o n e a n o th e r, N e g r o a n d s o m e o f th e o th e r h o m ie s su c h a s N ig h t O w l, D ia b lo , a n d H ü e r a d e c id e d th a t th e y w a n t e d to b u ild th e ir o w n o r g a n iz a tio n . A c c o r d in g to M a g d a le n o , th e o th e r m e m b e r s o f th e p e r ­ m a n e n t c o m m itte e w e n t cra zy , in s is tin g , “ Y o u ’v e g o t to d o it u n d e r u s . Y o u n e e d u s . Y o u ’ r e n o t p r e p a r e d .” T h is o n l y m a d e t h e h o m i e s m o r e r e s o l v e d t o d o it , a n d s o H o m i e s U n i d o s S a n S a l v a d o r w a s b o r n . A s t h e y p u t i t in t h e ir e a r ly b r o c h u r e s : “ T w e n t y - t w o y o u n g m e n a n d w o m e n , e le v e n f r o m m s a n d

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e le v e n f r o m 1 8 t h S t r e e t c a m e t o g e t h e r a n d p u t a s i d e t h e i r d i f f e r e n c e s t o s a y ‘N o , t o v i o l e n c e ! ’ ” T h e ir d i f f e r e n t o r i e n t a t i o n s t o t h e i r S a l v a d o r a n i d e n t i t y n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g , b o th G a t o a n d W e a s e l s o u g h t o u t H o m ie s U n id o s S a n S a lv a d o r p r e c is e ly a s a m e a n s o f r e o r ie n ta tio n to th e ir “ h o m e la n d ,” a n d b o th d r e w u p o n th e o r g a n i­ z a t i o n t o t e a c h t h e m h o w t o n a v i g a t e h o s t i l e a n d f o r e i g n t e r r a in , o r t o d e r iv e a s e n s e o f p la c e a n d a fa m ilia l b o n d . W h ile th e w r it in g m a y h a v e b e e n o n th e w a l l in S a n S a l v a d o r in t h e f o r m o f g a n g t a g g i n g , t h e m e a n i n g s w e r e n o t t h e s a m e a s in L o s A n g e l e s . B o t h d e p o r t e e s d e p e n d e d o n H o m i e s U n i d o s f o r th e tr a n s la tio n o f th e s e d e c e p tiv e ly fa m ilia r c o d e s . A s G a t o to ld u s: F o r u s , i t ’s k i n d o f h a r d f o r u s t o liv e i n o u r c o u n t r y . W h e r e v e r w e g o , w e ’ r e a lw a y s w a t c h i n g o u r b a c k , o u r n e c k s . I t h a n k H o m i e s b e c a u s e t h e y s h o w e d m e m y c o u n t r y , m a n . F r o m t h e m , I le a r n e d w h e r e m y e n e m i e s w e r e , b e c a u s e w h e n I c a m e h e r e I d id n ’ t r e a lly k n o w w h e r e I w a s g o in g . W h e n p e o p l e w o u l d sa y , “ L e t ’s g o o u t , o r l e t ’s g o b u y s o m e t h i n g , ” s h it , I ’ d o n ly g o to th e c o r n e r a n d c o m e r ig h t b a c k . M a g d a le n o a n d H u e r a [ G ü e r a ] 10 [ o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ] w o u l d t a k e m e o u t f o r c o f f e e , a n d w o u l d t e l l m e [a s t h e y d r o v e t h r o u g h t h e c i t y o f S a n S a l v a d o r ] : “ T h e y a r e m s , a n d t h is c o r n e r , t h i s is 1 8 t h .” W e a s e l s t a r t e d c o m i n g t o t h e o f f i c e a f t e r h e h a d s e e n B u lle t , t h e r a p c o m ­ p o s e r a n d p e r fo r m e r a n d m e m b e r o f H o m ie s U n id o s , a t c o n c e r ts . H e e x ­ p la in e d : I c a m e d o w n a n d c h e c k e d i t o u t . I l i k e d it , y o u k n o w . I f e l t l i k e t h a t b o n d w a s t h e r e a g a i n — t h e o n e I l e f t in L A . . . w h e r e I f e l t c o m f o r t a b l e . . . P lu s t o t o p i t o f f , I c a m e t o t h e o f f i c e o n e d a y , a n d I s e e t h is g u y w a l k i n g d o w n t h e s t r e e t . A n d I s a id , “ D a m n , t h a t g u y l o o k s f a m i l i a r , ’ e y .” I g o t c l o s e r a n d c lo s e r , a n d t h e n I s a id “ D a m n , I k n o w t h a t f o o l ! ” “ H e y f o o l ! ” I sa y , “ W h a t ’s u p ? ” A n d i t w a s G r u m p y . A n d m e a n d G r u m p y h a d b e e n l o c k e d u p to g e th e r, so th a t e ve n . . . so th a t e ve n m a d e th e b o n d s tro n g e r . . . I r a n i n t o o t h e r g u y s I k n e w f r o m p r i s o n . . . A l e x , F r a n k , R a b b i t . I t w a s li k e I ’ d f o u n d m y f a m i l y a g a in . T h is r e e n c o u n t e r s c e n e h a p p e n s o u t s i d e t h e f o r m a l a r e n a a n d in t h e e v e r y d a y . B u lle t t o l d o f e n c o u n t e r i n g “ h o m e b o y s ” f r o m L o s A n g e l e s b e f o r e h i s a f f i l i a t i o n w i t h t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n : “ I w a s w a l k i n g a l o n g a n d I h e a r d t h is v o i c e . I t w a s l i k e m usic t o m y e a r s — m y h o m e b o y f r o m L o s A n g e l e s . ”

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B u t in a d d itio n to h a p p y “ f a m ily ” r e u n io n s , th e s e r e e n c o u n t e r s c e n e s c a n h a v e a d a r k a n d i n s i d i o u s s id e t o o . I t is n o t u n u s u a l t o e n c o u n t e r a f o r m e r e n e m y w h o c a r r ie s a v e n d e tta fr o m th e s tr e e ts o f L o s A n g e le s to th o s e o f S a n S a lv a d o r . T a t t o o s a n d o t h e r i d e n t i f y i n g m a r k s c a n a l s o le a d t o t h e r e ­ e m e r g e n c e o f o l d c o n f l i c t s o r p r e c i p i t a t e n e w o n e s . A s A l e x S a n c h e z p u t it, “ I t h o u g h t I ’ d h a v e s o m e t i m e t o r e la x , b u t t h e w a r [ t h a t h e t h o u g h t h e h a d l e f t b e h i n d in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ] s t a r t e d u p a g a i n [in E l S a lv a d o r ] t w o d a y s a f t e r I g o t t h e r e .” H o m ie s U n id o s w a s a n o r g a n iz a t io n b o r n o f a n d d e v o te d to c o u n t e r in g th e a lie n a t in g fo r c e s o f g lo b a liz a t io n a s th e y c o m b in e w it h n a t io n a lis m . C e r ­ t a i n l y G a t o ’s a n d W e a s e l ’s n a r r a t i v e s s p e a k t o a n e e d t o m e d i a t e a j a r r i n g a n d t r o u b l e d r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n s p a c e a n d id e n t it y . B e y o n d t h e g e n e r a l ­ i z e d d e s t a b i l i z i n g e f f e c t s o f c o n t e m p o r a r y u r b a n li f e , d e p o r t e d g a n g y o u t h m u s t c o n te n d w ith th e e ffe c ts o f z e r o - to le r a n c e p o lic in g ta c tic s a s th e y a re d e p lo y e d o n t h e s t r e e t s o f t h e i n n e r - c i t y i m m i g r a n t b a r r i o a n d w i t h t h e s u b ­ s e q u e n t tr a n s n a t io n a liz a t io n o f th e g e o g r a p h ie s o f g a n g v io le n c e b e tw e e n L o s A n g e l e s a n d S a n S a lv a d o r . I h a v e a lr e a d y s h o w n in c h a p t e r s 2 a n d 3 t h e w a y s in w h i c h g a n g s p r o v id e a n i m p o r t a n t s e n s e o f p l a c e a n d a r e in m a n y s e n s e s t h e i m p o v e r i s h e d a r c h i ­ t e c t s o f s p a c e . 11 I n S a n S a lv a d o r , a s in L o s A n g e l e s , H o m i e s U n i d o s w o r k e d t o p r o v id e a n a lt e r n a t i v e “ w a y - f i n d i n g ” f u n c t i o n t o t h e g a n g f o r t h e s e d e ­ p o r t e d g a n g y o u t h b y p r o v i d i n g t h e m w i t h a m a p o f t h e w a y s in w h i c h t h e g e o g r a p h i e s o f v i o l e n c e o f L o s A n g e l e s h a v e b e e n r e w r i t t e n i n t o , a n d a lt e r e d t h r o u g h t h e i r e n c o u n t e r s w i t h , S a n S a l v a d o r ’s u r b a n l a n d s c a p e d 2 T h is g e o ­ g r a p h i c a l r e o r i e n t a t i o n is i n t e n d e d t o a v e r t t h e r e p r o d u c t i o n o f v i o l e n c e i t s e l f . G a t o ’s s t o r y , a l o n g s i d e t h e m a n y o t h e r d e a t h s w i t h i n t h e o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n ’s m e m b e r s h i p , is , s a d ly , t e s t i m o n y t o j u s t h o w c o m p l e x a t a s k t h i s is a n d t o t h e f a c t t h a t in m a n y i n s t a n c e s t h e s e n a v i g a t i o n a l m a p s h e lp t o p r o l o n g b u t m a y n o t u l t i m a t e l y s a v e liv e s a n d s t o p t h e v i o l e n c e . B u t n o n v i o l e n c e i s n o t s i m p l y a n i n d i v i d u a l c h o i c e m a d e t o c h a n g e o n e ’s l i f e s t y l e . I n S a n S a lv a d o r , G a t o w a s f o r e v e r m a r k e d b y “ w h e r e h e i s f r o m , ” w h i c h is t o s a y h i s t e r r i t o r i a l a f f i l i a t i o n s in L o s A n g e l e s . N o l o n g e r a n a c t i v e g a n g m e m b e r , in E l S a l v a d o r G a t o r e m a i n e d a t a r g e t f o r g a n g v e n d e t t a s . M o re o v e r, a c tiv e g a n g m e m b e r s m ig h t h a v e m is r e c o g n iz e d o r m is c o n s tr u e d t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a s a r iv a l g a n g o r v i e w e d i t s o u t r e a c h i n t o t h e i r b a r r i o s a s a n e n c r o a c h m e n t a n d v i o l a t i o n o f t h e i r t e r r it o r y . S o , f o r i n s t a n c e , W e a s e l, w h o h a i l e d f r o m t e r r i t o r y i n L o s A n g e l e s u n k n o w n in S a n S a lv a d o r , b e c a m e

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m o r e v u l n e r a b l e t o g a n g v i o l e n c e t h r o u g h h i s s u b s e q u e n t p a r t i c i p a t i o n in H o m ie s U n id o s a s a g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is t. B e y o n d g a n g v io le n c e , a s th e A le x S a n c h e z c a s e s h o w s , th e r e h a v e b e e n c a s e s o f d e a th s q u a d a n d p o lic e v io ­ l e n c e d i r e c t e d a t g a n g y o u t h a n d a t d e p o r t e d g a n g y o u t h in p a r t ic u la r . D e p o r t a t i o n n a r r a t i v e s d e m o n s t r a t e h o w t h e L a t i n o i m m i g r a n t b a r r io a n d th e S a lv a d o r a n b a r r io p o p u la r h a v e b o th c o m e to o c c u p y th e s p a c e o f th e g lo b a l m o m e n t . G r a n te d , W e a s e l m a y h a v e e x p e r ie n c e d E l S a lv a d o r a s th e p r im itiv e p a s t — a v e r ita b le ju n g le o f m u d h u ts . B u t a s a r e s u lt o f h is d e p o r t a t i o n , h e b e c a m e a n a g e n t in a n d a f o i l f o r ( a n d o f f e r s a n i m m a n e n t c r i t i q u e o f ) t r a n s n a t i o n a l s p a t ia l it y . I n d e e d , t h e c o g n i t i v e m a p p i n g s o f d e ­ p o r t e d i m m i g r a n t g a n g y o u t h in v o lv e c o n s t r u c t i n g l e g i b i l i t y , n o t o n l y w i t h i n b u t b e t w e e n c itie s o f fo r m e r ly d is t in c t h e m is p h e r e s th a t h a v e , a s a r e s u lt o f m ig r a tio n a n d fo r c e d r e p a tr ia tio n , b e c o m e in t im a t e ly c o n n e c te d , th e ir g e o g r a p h ie s in e x tr ic a b ly lin k e d a n d c o m p lic it .

A Spatial Politics of Sim ultaneity T h is c h a p t e r o s t e n s i b l y m a r k s t h e d i v i s i o n b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s - a n d S a l v a d o r a n - b a s e d c h a p t e r s o f t h i s b o o k . B u t t h e s e n a r r a t iv e s o f d e p o r t e d im m ig r a n t s s p e a k e lo q u e n tly to th e fu t ilit y o f e n g a g in g w it h th e s p a tia l p o li­ t i c s o f o n e s id e o f t h i s s o c i a l f i e l d ( L o s A n g e l e s ) w i t h o u t s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a c ­ c o u n t i n g f o r t h o s e a t p l a y o n t h e o t h e r s id e ( S a n S a l v a d o r ) .13 I m a g in e , fo r in s ta n c e , r id in g b u s e s t h r o u g h th e s tr e e ts o f S a n S a lv a d o r w i t h t w o d e p o r t e e s f r o m 1 8 t h S t r e e t t e r r i t o r y in P i c o U n i o n . T h e s t o r i e s o f t h e s e y o u n g m e n a n d o f t h e g e o g r a p h y o f t h e i r e v e r y d a y liv e s in L o s A n g e ­ le s , c a p tu r e d b y m y ta p e re c o rd e r, a re fille d w it h th e b o o m in g s o u n d s o f th e s t r e e t l i f e in S a n S a lv a d o r . B a c k in L o s A n g e l e s , I w o u l d d r iv e t h r o u g h P ic o U n i o n a n d it s s u r r o u n d i n g b a r r i o s t r y i n g t o r e l o c a t e t h e s e n a r r a t iv e s in t h e i r o r i g i n a l g e o g r a p h i e s o f a c t i o n . E c h o P a r k L a k e a n d it s g a n g - g r a f f i t i - c o v e r e d w a l l s b y n o w h a d b e c o m e e n li v e n e d b y W e a s e l ’s s t o r i e s a n d d i s t u r b e d b y h i s a b s e n c e . A s I d ro v e b y M a c A r th u r P a rk , th e H o te l C a lifo r n ia , th e c o r n e r o f B e r e n d o a n d E i g h t h , B e l m o n t H i g h , a n d t h e J a c k in t h e B o x , p i e c e s o f t h e s e n a r r a t iv e s w o u l d f la s h i n t o c o n s c i o u s n e s s : T h is m u s t h a v e b e e n w h e r e G a t o ’s f r i e n d w a s s h o t , t h i s is w h e r e R i n g o liv e d , t h a t ’s w h e r e G a t o ’s f a t h e r ’s n e c k ­ la c e w a s s t o l e n , a n d t h a t ’s w h e r e W e a s e l w a s l a s t p i c k e d u p . T h e u r b a n l a n d ­ s c a p e o f L o s A n g e l e s b e c a m e s a t u r a t e d w i t h t h e n a r r a t iv e s o f t h e s e p e o p l e w h o m I h a d e n c o u n t e r e d in E l S a lv a d o r , a n d e v e n m o r e h a u n t i n g l y b y t h o s e

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w h o h a d s i n c e d i e d in t h e s t r e e t s o f S a n S a lv a d o r . I f e l t t h i s n o t j u s t a s t im e w a r p b u t a ls o a s a s p a c e w a r p — th e “ tim e - s p a c e c o m p r e s s io n ” o f s im u lt a ­ n e i t y .14 T h e t e r r a in i n b e t w e e n w a s a l s o m a r k e d b y t h is m i g r a t i o n . D r i v i n g s o u t h t o t h e U .S .- M e x i c o b o r d e r , h e a d i n g f o r E l S a l v a d o r a n d e l s e w h e r e in C e n t r a l A m e r ic a , o n e b e g in s to n o te , a lo n g s id e th e b o r d e r p a tr o l c a r s , c a ra v a n s o f t h r e e t o fiv e u s e d c a r s , p i c k - u p s , a n d y e l l o w A m e r i c a n s c h o o l b u s e s — a l l i n ­ v a r ia b ly f i l l e d w i t h c a r g o f o r G u a t e m a l a a n d E l S a lv a d o r . T h e s e v e h i c l e s a n d g o o d s w o u l d b e s o l d o r l e f t w i t h f a m i l y in t h e i r c o u n t r y o f d e s t i n a t i o n . I t r a v ­ e l e d t h i s r o u t e w i t h M a g d a l e n o R o s e - Á v ila . W e h a d p u r c h a s e d a u s e d c a r in T e x a s t o i m p o r t o v e r la n d i n t o E l S a l v a d o r f o r t h e S a n S a l v a d o r o f f i c e . I n T a p a c h u la , a t t h e M e x i c a n - G u a t e m a l a n b o r d e r , w e s t o p p e d a t t h e A l b e r g u e B e lé n , a s a f e h a v e n a n d s h e l t e r f o r C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n s h e a d i n g n o r th to th e U n ite d S ta te s . T h e re I ra n in t o a y o u n g S a lv a d o r a n m a n w h o m I fe lt s u re I h a d m e t b e fo r e . A s w e s p o k e , it c a m e to m e . I h a d m e t h im ju s t o n e m o n t h b e f o r e in t h e C o m a l a p a N a t i o n a l A i r p o r t a t t h e w e l c o m i n g o f f i c e f o r d e p o r t e e s i n - b o u n d f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , a n o t h e r k e y s it e f o r m y e t h n o g ­ ra p h y. Y es, h e c o r r o b o r a te d , h e h a d b e e n th r o u g h th e o ffic e a b o u t a m o n th a g o , a n d w a s n o w h e a d in g b a c k n o r th , h o p in g to m a k e it b a c k a c r o s s th e M e x i c o - U .S . b o r d e r . H e w a s w i t h a n o t h e r d e p o r t e e , a n o l d e r m a n , w h o h a d liv e d in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s s i n c e 1 9 9 1 a n d w a s o n h i s w a y b a c k t o h is w i f e , fr o m w h o m h e h a d b e e n s e p a r a te d b y h is r e c e n t d e p o r ta tio n . I n t h e t r a n s n a t i o n a l n a r r a t iv e s o f d e p o r t e e s , L o s A n g e l e s a n d S a n S a l v a ­ d o r, a n d e v e n th e s p a c e in b e tw e e n , h a v e b e e n c o m p r e s s e d in to th e sa m e f i e l d o f v ie w . T h e L a t i n o i m m i g r a n t b a r r i o a n d t h e L a t i n A m e r i c a n b a r r i o p o p u l a r n o w o v e r la p in c r u c i a l w a y s — n o t o n l y f r o m t h e p r i v i l e g e d p e r s p e c ­ t iv e o f t h e t r a v e l i n g e t h n o g r a p h e r b u t a l s o f r o m t h e v a n t a g e o f S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t s t h e m s e l v e s . I n d e e d , t h e s e n a r r a t iv e s o f f o r c i b l e r e t u r n d o n o t s i m p l y f u n c t i o n a s h a u n t i n g m e m o r i e s o r a s r e s i d u e s o f p a s t liv e s . T h e y d o m o r e t h a n r e f e r b a c k t o o r r e c o l l e c t t h e i r b a r r i o s in L o s A n g e l e s . B a n i s h e d t h o u g h th e s e “ f o o l s ” m a y b e fr o m th e “ k in g d o m ,” th e y r e m a in lin k e d to th a t la n d s c a p e t h r o u g h , a m o n g o th e r t h in g s , o n g o in g tie s w it h f a m ily — b e th e y a c t u a l o r f i c t i v e k in . T a k e , f o r i n s t a n c e , D o ñ a O f e li a , w h o liv e s in a o n e - r o o m a p a r t m e n t in t h e P i c o U n i o n d i s t r i c t . I i n i t i a l l y w e n t t o v i s i t h e r a t t h e u r g i n g o f h e r s o n P a ja r o , a d e p o r t e d m e m b e r o f t h e m s g a n g . P a ja r o h a d a s k e d m e t o l o o k h is m o t h e r u p u p o n m y r e t u r n t o L o s A n g e l e s f r o m E l S a lv a d o r . D u r i n g o u r f i r s t m e e t -

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in g , D o ñ a O fe lia a n d I ta lk e d a s s h e r e a d ie d h e r s e lf f o r h e r e v e n in g ja n it o ­ r ia l s h i f t in o n e o f C e n t u r y C i t y ’s t o w e r i n g g l a s s e x e c u t iv e s u i t e s . W h e n o u r c o n v e r s a t i o n t u r n e d t o P a ja r o , s h e b e g a n t o c ry , “ H e c a n n e v e r c o m e b a c k , a n d n o w , I c a n n o t g o b a c k to E l S a lv a d o r to r e tir e a s I h a d p la n n e d , b e c a u s e I m u s t w o r k t o s u p p o r t h i m t h e r e .” D o ñ a O f e l i a ’s s t o r y w a s j u s t o n e o f t h e m a n y m o u r n fu l ta le s I h e a r d fr o m m o th e r s w h o , s e p a r a te d fr o m th e ir c h il­ d r e n o n c e b y c iv il w a r , w e r e r e u n i t e d in L o s A n g e l e s o n l y t o b e s e p a r a t e d o n c e a g a in , th is tim e t h r o u g h th e fo r c e d r e p a tr ia tio n a n d d e p o r t a t io n o f t h o s e s a m e c h i ld r e n . E v e r y th r e e w e e k s o r s o , D o ñ a O fe lia s e ts o u t fr o m h e r a p a r tm e n t to c a tc h th e b u s a t P ic o a n d U n io n b o u n d f o r a n e ig h b o r h o o d c lo s e to th e U n iv e r s ity o f S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a in S o u t h C e n t r a l L o s A n g e l e s . O n h e r w a y t o t h e b u s s t o p , s h e t r a v e r s e s a s t r e e t s c a p e c lu t t e r e d w i t h s i g n s o f C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n a n d M e x ic a n d ia s p o r a s — th e p u p u s e r ia s , s tr e e t v e n d o r s s e llin g g r e e n m a n g o w i t h l i m e a n d c h i l e , a n d t h e bótanica w i n d o w s f i l l e d w i t h p l a s t e r - o f - p a r i s fig u r in e s o f s a in ts p o p u la r to C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n s . S h e c o n tin u e s p a s t T r a n s ­ p o r t e s S a l v a d o r e ñ o s a n d C u s c a t l e c o T r a v e l a n d a n a r r a y o f o t h e r d e l iv e r y a n d t r a v e l s e r v i c e s t h a t t r a n s p o r t p e o p l e , g o o d s , m o n e y , d o c u m e n t s , a n d le t t e r s b a c k a n d fo r th a lo n g th o s e n o w w e ll- w o r n tra v e l r o u te s b e tw e e n L o s A n g e ­ l e s , M e x i c o , a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . D o ñ a O f e l i a is h e r s e l f o n h e r w a y t o d r o p o f f c lo t h in g a n d m o n e y fo r h e r d e p o r te d s o n w it h a p e r s o n a l c o u r ie r . T h e c o u r i e r is D o ñ a L e t i, w h o t r a v e ls b a c k a n d f o r t h b e t w e e n L o s A n g e l e s a n d h e r h o m e t o w n in E l S a lv a d o r , n a v i g a t i n g t h e t r a n s n a t i o n a l s p a c e f o r t h o s e S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t s w h o c a n n o t t h e m s e lv e s t r a v e l b u t w h o m u s t f i n d a m e a n s to m a in ta in a tr a n s n a tio n a l h o u s e h o ld . M a n y o f h e r S a lv a d o r -b a s e d c l i e n t s , w h o o n c e r e c e i v e d p a c k a g e s f r o m t h e i r f a m i l i e s in L o s A n g e l e s , in tu rn b e c o m e h e r L o s A n g e le s - b a s e d c lie n ts w h o n o w s e n d th o s e p a c k a g e s . O n m y f i r s t v i s i t t o D o ñ a L e t i ’s L o s A n g e l e s - b a s e d

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b r o t h e r ’s h o u s e j u s t w e s t o f u s c ) a y o u n g w o m a n t h e r e r e c o g n i z e d m e f r o m E l S a lv a d o r . A m a l i a a n d I h a d m e t t h e y e a r b e f o r e in D o ñ a L e t i ’s h o u s e in S a n t a E le n a , w h e r e s h e h a d c o m e t o p i c k u p l e t t e r s a n d m o n e y s e n t f r o m L o s A n g e l e s . S h e h a d s i n c e m i g r a t e d o v e r la n d w i t h a coyote ( m i g r a n t s m u g g l e r ) t o L o s A n g e l e s , a n d n o w w a s s e n d i n g t h i n g s in t h e o p p o s i t e d i r e c t i o n . ^ I s p e n t t i m e w i t h h e r f a m i l y a n d c o u s i n s , w h o liv e d i n a n a p a r t m e n t c o m p l e x w i t h o t h e r i m m i g r a n t s f r o m S a n t a E le n a i n t h e K o r e a t o w n a r e a , c l o s e t o A l e x S a n c h e z ’s o l d s t o m p i n g g r o u n d s . T h e n e x t t i m e I w e n t t o E l S a lv a d o r , I v i s i t e d t h e i r f a m i l i e s in t h e r u r a l s e t t l e m e n t s s u r r o u n d i n g S a n t a E le n a , a n d

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fo u n d m y s e lf b r in g in g b a c k p h o t o g r a p h s o f h o m e s b u ilt w it h th e ir h a rd e a r n e d r e m i t t a n c e s , in a d d i t i o n t o e m o t i o n a l l y c h a r g e d t a p e d m e s s a g e s fr o m m o th e r s to th e ir d a u g h te r s a n d s o n s . O n t h a t p a r t i c u l a r t r ip t o E l S a lv a d o r , I d r o v e w i t h D o ñ a L e t i a n d h e r h u s ­ b a n d , F r a n c is c o , to S a n M ig u e l. T h e y w a n t e d to s h o w m e th e r a p id e x p a n s io n o f t h i s c ity , w h i c h w a s m o v i n g f r o m it s s t a t u s a s t h i r d - l a r g e s t S a l v a d o r a n c it y t o s e c o n d l a r g e s t . T h e r e w a s s o m e d e b a t e a s t o w h e t h e r it s b o o m c o u l d b e b e tte r a ttr ib u te d to r e m itta n c e s fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s o r fr o m d r u g - m o n e y la u n d e r i n g . O u t s i d e t h e c it y , D o ñ a L e t i a n d F r a n c i s c o s t o p p e d t h e c a r s o t h a t I c o u l d t a k e a p h o t o g r a p h o f a v o l c a n o , t h e b e a u t i f u l , i f a lw a y s t h r e a t e n i n g , b a c k d r o p t o s o m a n y S a l v a d o r a n s c e n e s a n d li t e r a r y w o r k s . A s I s n a p p e d m y c a m e ra , a p ic k u p d ro v e b y h o n k in g . It s t o p p e d a n d r e v e r s e d . It w a s M a n o lo , w h o m I ’ d l a s t s e e n i n h is M a c A r t h u r P a r k a p a r t m e n t in L o s A n g e l e s , b u t w h o I h a d f i r s t m e t i n S a n t a E le n a t h e y e a r p r e v i o u s l y w h e n h e h a d d r iv e n a t r u c k i n f r o m L o s A n g e l e s , a n d d e c i d e d t o r u n f o r m a y o r o f S a n t a E le n a w h i l e h e w a s in t o w n . N i n e t y p e r c e n t o f t h e f u n d i n g f o r t h e f m l n c a n d i d a t e t h a t y e a r c a m e f r o m a “ g r o u p o f T a b u d o s l i v i n g in a f o r e i g n la n d [ t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ] ,” 16 a n d w h o , in a p u b l i c l e t t e r t o t h e t o w n s p e o p l e , c a l l e d t h e m s e lv e s t h e “ f m l n d i p l o m a t i c c o m m i s s i o n o f S a n t a E le n a .” I ’d e n c o u n te r e d a s im ila r p h e n o m e n o n w it h th e a n n u a l b e a u ty p a g e a n ts h o s t e d b y t h e C o m i t e d e A m i g o s d e S a n t a E le n a , a p h i l a n t h r o p i c h o m e t o w n a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h c o m m i t t e e s in S a n t a E le n a , L o s A n g e l e s , S a n F r a n c i s c o , M a r y la n d , a n d H o u s t o n . T h a t y e a r ’s L a R e in a d e S a n t a E le n a ( Q u e e n o f S a n t a E le n a ) w a s f r o m L o s A n g e l e s . O n e o f t h e e n t r a n t s , L o u r d e s , h a d r u n in t h e L o s A n g e l e s - b a s e d p a g e a n t , b u t c o u l d n ’ t r a is e s u f f i c i e n t f u n d s t o w i n t h e c o n t e s t .1 7 S o , w h i l e s h e w a s in S a n t a E le n a v i s i t i n g h e r g r a n d m o t h e r f o r th e C h r is tm a s h o lid a y s , s h e d e c id e d to e n r o ll in th e lo c a l p a g e a n t, k n o w in g th a t s h e h a d a b e tte r c h a n c e o f c o m p e tin g fo r th e p r iz e h e re , d r a w in g a s sh e c o u ld o n m o n e y fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s . I w o u ld b u m p in t o L o u r d e s a g a in in t h e S a n F e r n a n d o V a lle y , a c o l l e c t i o n o f s u b u r b s j u s t n o r t h o f L o s A n g e ­ l e s , t w o y e a r s la t e r . T h e o c c a s i o n w a s a f u n d - r a i s e r f o r S a n t a E le n a ’s f m l n m a y o r a l c a n d i d a t e in t h e m u n i c i p a l e l e c t i o n s o f 1 9 9 9 . D e p o r te d g a n g y o u th , b a n is h e d t h o u g h th e y m a y b e , a re a n in t e g r a l p a r t o f t h i s t r a n s n a t i o n a l n e t w o r k . T h e y a r e , a f t e r a ll, t h e c h i l d r e n o f i m m i g r a n t p a r e n t s w h o t o i l in s e r v i c e t o g l o b a l c a p i t a l i s m a s j a n i t o r s , p i e c e w o r k e r s in t h e g a r m e n t in d u s t r y , c o o k s , n a n n i e s , g a r d e n e r s , a n d d a y l a b o r e r s , a n d w h o s o m e tim e s r u n a g a in s t th e g r a in a s lo n g t im e c o m m u n it y o r g a n iz e r s a n d l a b o r a c t i v i s t s . T h e ir b r o t h e r s a n d s i s t e r s — o f t e n c o l l e g e s t u d e n t s , p o l i c e

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o f f i c e r s , o r s c h o o l t e a c h e r s — m i g h t w e l l b e la u d e d a s e x e m p l a r s o f s u c c e s s ­ fu l in c o r p o r a t io n in t o th e n a t io n - s t a t e a n d its in s t it u t io n s . T h e s e s a m e d u a l­ i s m s a r e e x p r e s s e d in t h e l e g a l l a n g u a g e o f n a t u r a l i z a t i o n a n d d e p o r t a t i o n c a s e s . C a n d i d a t e s f o r c i t i z e n s h i p m u s t d e m o n s t r a t e “ g o o d m o r a l c h a r a c t e r ,” w h e r e a s c r im in a l d e p o r te e s h a v e b e e n ir r e v o c a b ly m a r k e d b y th e ir c r im e s o f “ m o r a l t u r p i t u d e .” W e a s e l ’s b r o t h e r , f o r i n s t a n c e , w o r k e d f o r t h e L o s A n g e ­ le s S h e r i f f ’s D e p a r t m e n t , a n d h i s s i s t e r w a s a n e l e m e n t a r y s c h o o l t e a c h e r . T h e b a n is h m e n t o f g a n g - a ffilia t e d y o u th fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s th u s s ta n d s i n c o n t r a s t t o b u t a l s o in r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e i r p a r e n t s ’ a n d s i b l i n g s ’ n a t u ­ r a l i z a t i o n a s U n i t e d S t a t e s c i t i z e n s . 18 G a n g - a f f i l i a t e d y o u n g a d u l t s w h o a r e d e p o r t e d a l s o le a v e b e h i n d t h e i r U .S .- b o r n c h i l d r e n , w iv e s , a n d g i r l f r i e n d s . M o r e o v e r , i n f e a r i n g G a t o ’s f a t e m a n y o f th e s e d e p o r te e s r e e n te r th e U n ite d S ta te s ille g a lly e v e n t h o u g h th e y r is k r e - im p r is o n m e n t fo llo w e d b y d e p o r ta tio n i f th e y a re c a u g h t d 9 A le x S a n c h e z is a c a s e in p o i n t . F a r b e y o n d t h i s li t e r a l r e t u r n o f t h e r e p r e s s e d — th e ille g a l r e e n t r y o f th o s e e x c lu d e d fr o m th e n a tio n — th e a b s e n c e o f th e d e p o r t e e is a s t r o n g l y f e l t p r e s e n c e in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d . D e p o r t e d g a n g y o u t h r e m a i n a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f t h e “ s t r u c t u r e o f f e e l i n g ” o f t h e b a r r i o ,20 o f i t s i n t e r n a l r e l a t i o n s a n d t h e e v e r y d a y p r a c t i c e s o f it s r e s i d e n t s . I n t h is s e n s e , t h e i d e n t i t y f o r m a t i o n m a d e v i s i b l e in t h e s e d e p o r t a t i o n n a r r a t iv e s b e a r s a r e l a t i o n s h i p t o t h e p o s t c o l o n i a l n a r r a t iv e s .2 1 A l t h o u g h E l S a l v a d o r w a s n e v e r lite r a lly c o lo n iz e d b y th e U n ite d S ta te s , I w o u ld s u g g e s t th a t th e s e S a l v a d o r a n n a r r a t iv e s o f f o r c i b l e r e t u r n r e v e a l a s t r u c t u r a l in t e r d e p e n d e n c e a n d c o m p l i c i t y in i d e n t i t y f o r m a t i o n b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a l ­ v a d o r in g e n e r a l a n d b e t w e e n L o s A n g e l e s a n d S a n S a l v a d o r i n p a r tic u la r .2 2 In th e N o r th -S o u th r e la tio n s u n d e r c o n s id e r a tio n h e re , d e p o r te d S a lv a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t g a n g y o u t h o s c i l l a t e b e t w e e n “ h o m e ” a n d “ a b r o a d ,” w h e r e b o t h h o m e a n d a b r o a d a re th e m s e lv e s u n s ta b le lo c a t io n s . A t t h e s a m e t im e , S a l v a d o r a n g a n g y o u t h w h o h a v e n e v e r b e e n t o t h e U n ite d S ta te s c o n s t r u c t th e ir id e n t it ie s a r o u n d im a g in e d u r b a n g e o g r a p h ie s o f c i t i e s l i k e L o s A n g e l e s . P la c e s in C e n t r a l L o s A n g e l e s w h e r e t h e S a l v a ­ d o r a n o f f s h o o t s o f t h e c li q u e s w i t h n a m e s l i k e T i n y L o c o s o f S h a t t o P a r k t a k e o n th e r o m a n t ic g lo s s o f D is n e y la n d o r th e s a c r e d n e s s o f o r ig in a l g r o u n d . S o m e tra v e l ju s t to s e e a n d e x p e r ie n c e th is la n d s c a p e a t th e c e n te r o f th e ta le s p a s s e d o n fr o m th e o r ig in a l h o m ie s — th e la n d o f th e ir fo u n d in g fa th e r s . O th e r s , w h o a re m o r e s k e p tic a l, g o to v e r ify th a t th e p la c e th a t d e p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r s h a v e p a i n t e d f o r t h e m i n H o l l y w o o d T e c h n i c o l o r r e a lly e x i s t s . A s o n e y o u n g m a n w h o w a s d e p o r te d fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s b u t o r ig in a lly

CR i Mi NA L DEP ORTEE

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h a d b e e n j u m p e d i n t o 1 8 t h S t r e e t in S a n S a l v a d o r s a i d t o m e fiv e m o n t h s a f t e r h i s f o r c e d r e t u r n t o E l S a lv a d o r , “ I d i d t h e i m p o s s i b l e a n d I s u c c e e d e d in g e t t i n g t h e r e . . . I t ’s l i k e a e x t r a o r d i n a r y f i l m t h a t o n l y a r a r e f e w g e t t o e x p e r i e n c e .” O t h e r s w h o c o u l d n ’ t g o w o u l d s p e n d h o u r s s u r f i n g t h e I n t e r n e t l o o k i n g f o r t h e i r h o m e b o y s o n s i t e s l i k e “A m e r i c a ’s M o s t W a n t e d ” — t h e i r e q u i v a l e n t t o t h e c e l e b r i t i e s in People m a g a z i n e . S a lv a d o r a n g ir ls , r e a d in g te e n m a g a z in e s o r w h ile s u r fin g o n lin e , m ig h t r e s p o n d t o p e n - p a l r e q u e s t s p l a c e d b y h o m i e s i n U .S . p r i s o n s . A y o u n g w o m a n fr o m 1 8 th S tr e e t to ld m e o f h e r s m o ld e r in g t r a n s n a tio n a l p a s s io n f o r a n 1 8 t h S t r e e t m e m b e r in L o s A n g e l e s w h o m s h e h a d f a l l e n in lo v e w i t h e le v e n y e a r s e a r lie r a f t e r s e e i n g h i s p h o t o g r a p h i n t h e p e n - p a l s e c t i o n o f a m a g a z in e . S h e c u t o u t th e p ic tu r e a n d k e p t it in h e r w a lle t fo r a ll th o s e y e a rs. H e w a s f r o m t h e f o u n d i n g c l i q u e , w h i c h h a d s p a w n e d h e r s i n E l S a lv a d o r . O n t h e t w o o c c a s i o n s w h e n s h e v i s i t e d L o s A n g e l e s , s h e w e n t in s e a r c h o f h i m — a s k in g th e h o m e b o y s fr o m h e r c lik a to ta k e h e r to C o lu m b ia S tre e t in H o l l y w o o d . S h e n e v e r d id m e e t h i m t h e r e s i n c e h e w a s in v a r i a b ly l o c k e d u p w h e n s h e w a s i n t o w n . I t w a s n ’ t u n t i l h e w a s d e p o r t e d f o r t h e l a s t t im e t h a t s h e f i n a l l y m e t h i m . H e i n t r o d u c e d h i m s e l f w i t h a n o t h e r apodo ( n i c k ­ n a m e ) , b u t s h e c a u g h t h i m o f f g u a r d w h e n s h e s a id , “ N o y o u ’ r e n o t . I k n o w y o u v e r y w e l l . ” T h a t ’s w h e n t h e i r b r i e f a n d t o r r i d a f f a i r b e g a n , a n d w h e n s h e b r i e f ly r e a l i z e d h e r s l u m b e r i n g d r e a m o f b e c o m i n g h e r i d o l ’s heina ( w o m a n ) . D e p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r s a re d e e p ly s e d u c tiv e fig u r e s . T o m a n y S a lv a d o r a n y o u th a n d y o u n g w o m e n , th e y a re a w in d o w in to , a n d a s tr a n g e r e a liz a t io n o f, th e A m e r ic a n d re a m . S a lv a d o r a n d e p o r te d g a n g y o u th p o in t o u t a “ r e p r e s e n t a t io n a l a m b iv a ­ l e n c e ” b e t w e e n L a t i n o a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a n i d e n t it y . T h is “ C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n - A m e r ic a n ” h y b r id s u b je c t, a s A r t u r o A r ia s w r it e s , “ c a n n o t b e d e s ig ­ n a te d u n iv o c a lly a s e ith e r L a tin o o r L a tin A m e r ic a n , b u t — to d r a w o n Ju an F lo r e s — s p e a k s r a t h e r o f l i f e li v e d ‘ o f f t h e h y p h e n , ’ ” w h e r e t h e h y p h e n is a s i g n o f b o t h c o n j u n c t i o n a n d d i s j u n c t i o n . 23 T h e ir n a r r a t iv e s s p e a k e l o ­ q u e n t l y t o t h e n e e d f o r in t e r p r e t i v e m a p s , w h i c h i n t e r r o g a t e t h e r e l a t i o n ­ s h i p b e t w e e n s p a c e a n d i d e n t i t y a n d t h e b lu r r e d b o u n d a r i e s b e t w e e n t h e lo c a l a n d th e g lo b a l.

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GANG P EACE A C T I V I S T

fIVE

THE S PACE OF CIVIL S OCI E T Y

Shortly after the deportation o f Alex Sanchez to El Salvador in 1994, a politi­ cal cartoon depicting a U.S. Marshal plane loaded with deportees appeared in a Salvadoran paper. As Alex recalled in a conversation with me, “ [In the cartoon] a plane was flying over El Salvador trailing a cage, which hovered over the country by a rope. The cage was filled with six hundred tattooed, mohawked child molesters, rapists, and serial murderers.” Alex’s return also coincided with the birth o f La Sombra Negra, a paramilitary group that re­ directed the social cleansing apparatus o f the death squads o f the 1980s at a new enemy— no longer the guerrilla, the clergy, or the student activist but now the delicuente, mara, or gang youth. As Alex explained: We thought o f them as just another gang, another enemy to arm ourselves against and to fight. We didn’t hide from them like the guerrillas, because they were afraid o f death. All gang members expected to die, so why be

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f r i g h t e n e d o f it , i f y o u ’ r e g o i n g t o d ie , y o u ’ r e g o i n g t o d ie . . . . A l o t o f k i d s t h a t w e p e r s o n a l l y k n e w w e r e k i l l e d . T h e y w e r e k i l l i n g i n n o c e n t k id s , g e t t in g r id o f p e o p le th e y d id n ’ t w a n t — o n th e g u is e th a t th e y w e r e g a n g m e m b e r s . W e ju s t t o o k th e a ttitu d e “ c o m e a n d g e t u s ” [a n d ] a r m e d o u r ­ s e lv e s . W e g o t n o t i c e t h a t t h e y w e r e c o m i n g f o r u s . T h e y w o u l d s e n d u s d e a t h t h r e a t s . W e w o u l d n ’ t a l l o w v e h i c l e s w i t h t i n t e d g l a s s w i n d o w s u p in o u r b a r r io s . . . W e g o t s e t a n d r e a d y f o r w a r a g a in . Y o u g o d o w n th e r e to liv e a d i f f e r e n t l i f e , b u t y o u c a n ’ t. Y o u g e t p u t in a p o s i t i o n w h e r e y o u h a v e t o d e f e n d y o u r s e l f . I f n o t y o u g e t k i l l e d . . . a n d t h e n t h e r e ’s t h e s i t u a t i o n th e re a b o u t w o r k . . . y o u c a n ’t g e t jo b s , y o u c a n ’t g o to w o r k o r to s c h o o l i f y o u ’v e g o t ta t t o o s . . . th e n e w s m a k e s it s e e m lik e w e ’re te r r o r is ts , s o a ll th e p e o p le w h o d o n ’ t k n o w n o t h i n g a b o u t u s a re s c a r e d o f u s . S o y o u g e t p u t in a s p o t . U p o n t h e i r a r r iv a l, d e p o r t e d y o u t h a n d y o u n g a d u lt s , l i k e A le x , w o u l d f in d th e m s e lv e s w a lk in g in t o a n d c o n t r ib u t in g to a c o m p le x fo r c e fie ld o f v io ­ le n c e a n d s o c ia l d is c r im in a tio n a n d n e w fo r m s o f p o v e r ty u n le a s h e d b y n e o ­ li b e r a l e c o n o m i c r e f o r m s . T h e d e p o r ta tio n o f g a n g m e m b e r s to E l S a lv a d o r w a s to c o m b in e w ith t h e f l o u r i s h i n g o f o r g a n i z e d c r im e , t h e i n c o m p l e t e d i s a r m a m e n t o f a h i g h l y m i l i t a r i z e d s o c ie t y , t h e r e e m e r g e n c e o f t h e e x t r a l e g a l s o c i a l c l e a n s i n g p r a c ­ t ic e s o f th e d e a th s q u a d s o f th e 19 8 0 s, th e u n e v e n p r o g r e s s o f p o lic e a n d o f j u d i c i a l r e f o r m s , a n d fin a lly , t h e a d a p t a t i o n o f t h e z e r o - t o l e r a n c e g a n g a b a t e m e n t s t r a t e g i e s u s e d in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . 1 T o g e t h e r t h e s e e l e m e n t s w o u ld p r o v id e fe r t ile g r o u n d f o r th e r e p r o d u c t io n a n d a r t ic u la t io n o f th e p a tte r n s o f v io le n c e o f b o th E l S a lv a d o r a n d th e U n ite d S ta te s . It w a s w it h in th is c o n s t e lla t io n o f f o r c e s — p e a c e fu l a n d v io le n t, lo c a l a n d g lo b a l— th a t H o m ie s U n id o s S a n S a lv a d o r c a m e in t o b e in g , b e g a n to flo u r ­ is h , a n d th e n , a s I w ill a r g u e , flo u n d e r . I n d e e d , th e p e r io d u n d e r in v e s t ig a ­ t i o n in t h i s c h a p t e r , 1 9 9 6 t o 2 0 0 3 , m a r k s t h e f o u n d i n g a n d , o s t e n s i b l y t e m ­ p o r a r y , s h u t t i n g d o w n o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s S a n S a l v a d o r p r o g r a m . B e i t t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s b r i e f h i s t o r y o r t h e f i r s t p h a s e o f a l o n g e r o r g a n i z a t i o n a l t r a ­ je c to r y , th e fo r tu n e s o f th e o r g a n iz a t io n c o r r e s p o n d to a p a r tic u la r h is t o r ic a l t r a j e c t o r y w i t h i n E l S a lv a d o r : n a m e ly , t h e r i s e a n d w a n e o f a p o s t - c i v i l w a r h u m a n r i g h t s a n d p o l i c e r e f o r m a g e n d a , o n t h e o n e h a n d , a n d t h e r is e , o r o n e c o u ld s a y r e tu r n , o f th e s e c u r ity s ta te th r o u g h th e g lo b a liz a t io n o f th e z e r o - to le r a n c e s tr a te g ie s o f th e U n ite d S ta te s , o n th e o th e r . T h e f o llo w in g c h a p t e r o f f e r s a n a n a ly s is o f t h e s t r u g g l e o f H o m i e s U n i d o s t o o p e n u p a lt e r -

15 2

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native and neutral spaces o f representation in this complex transnational force field.

The Gang Peace Activist Revisited Homies Unidos was from the beginning an assimilation o f contrary ele­ ments; its very name, for example, is bilingual (English and Spanish).2 But the English is itself an assimilation o f African American gang terminology reworked by Chicano gangs prior to any Salvadoran presence therein. Gangs are, among other things, about uniting against a common enemy, another gang, based on highly localized territorial claims— the barrio. In embracing the unidos in its name, the group was (in principle if not always in practice) an organized effort to assimilate enemies— notably the better-known arch­ rival transnational gangs La Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang but also smaller gangs from the United States and even those indigenous to El Salvador— across vast and disjointed territorial claims. As in Los Angeles, Homies Unidos San Salvador was founded upon the principle o f youth protagonism and dedicated to redirecting toward non­ violent ends the agency that youth derive from their gang involvement. In­ deed, the organization sought to wed the structure o f the gang to that o f an emergent nongovernmental organization

(n g o )

with a mission to foment a

youth movement for nonviolence and to make demands on the state— both that o f the United States and o f El Salvador. As an articulation between two social movements— namely, seeking to enjoin the movement for social jus­ tice with that purportedly organized for crime— Homies Unidos was a con­ troversial project, to say the least. Their work to carve out a space o f repre­ sentation for deported gang youth and to advocate for their transformative potential would meet with resistance on all fronts — the gang, civil society, the state, and even within the organization itself. Again, like its offshoot in Los Angeles, Homies Unidos was beholden to the structure o f the gang. The program’s discourses and practices set out to redirect, not dismantle, the gang structure or its disciplines and solidarities. To quote from the group’s promotional materials: “We do not preach. . . . Our task is to transform the gang culture from within . . . while acting as positive role models in order to change the gang mentality from violence to an understanding o f human rights and human potential.” The organization sought early on to transform the patriarchal nature of the gang by changing its original name o f Homeboys Unidos to the more in­ GA NG PE AC E A C T i V i S T

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elusive Homies Unidos. Nonetheless, its leadership in San Salvador would still be dominated by men, and for that matter, by deportees from the United States rather than “native” gang members. The relative power o f the depor­ tee in the organization only augmented the male-dominated nature o f its leadership, since deported gang members were overwhelmingly men. The latter had much to do with the different ways in which criminality is gen­ dered as male in the United States.3 Homies Unidos has described itself as an “organization of, for, and by gang members.” Hanging out at the San Salvador office, as well as coming and going with the organization’s leadership, was unlike any experience I’d ever had with an

n g o

.

It was more like “kicking it with the homies.” As I

described in chapter 3, the retention o f “gang culture” was highly visible and audible in the aesthetics, style, language, and gestures o f Homies Unidos’s leadership and program participants. Its leaders derived their authority not from their nonprofit management skills but from their status as veterans o f their respective gangs and from their criminal records— prison time, de­ portation, and so on. One member confided to me that he felt discriminated against because the other homies didn’t consider him “criminal” enough. While inside the office the very modestly paid staff would be learning the business o f an

n g o

(reporting, accounting, proposal development, and so

forth), outside on the stairwell and in the courtyard there was always a con­ tingent o f homeboys and homegirls just hanging around. Other members might be inside using the weight equipment, watching gangster movies or rap videos, and surfing the Internet for sites on gangs, hip hop culture, and on “America’s Most Wanted.” 4 As would be true in Los Angeles, the San Salvador organization mimicked the solidarity o f the gang. Participants in Homies Unidos programs were homeboys and homegirls to one another. It was a place o f deep affective relationships where people came to feel a sense o f belonging, not unlike that which they derived from their actual gangs. As one deportee explained o f his first visit to the Homies Unidos office: “I found a group o f people [in Homies] who respected me and who knew where I was coming from.” According to the study noted in chapter 4 by the University o f Central America (in which Homies Unidos collaborated), 43 percent o f male respon­ dents join gangs for el vacil.5 El vacil is understood as a combination o f ac­ tions that can include going out for a walk or an outing, going out to drink and to parties, having sex, meeting in parks, consuming drugs, breaking the law,6 and anything that alludes to diversion, pleasure, or entertainment.7 El 15 4

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v a c il, in t h e s e n s e o f g o i n g o n w o r k - r e l a t e d o u t i n g s , w a s a n e v e r y d a y p r a c t i c e a t H o m ie s U n id o s , a n d it c o m b in e d w ith th e a d m in is tr a tiv e a n d p r o g r a m m a ­ t i c f u n c t i o n s o f t h e n g o in i n t r i g u i n g w a y s . I m a d e m a n y t r ip s w i t h W e a s e l, H o m i e s U n i d o s S a n S a l v a d o r ’s d ir e c t o r , w h o w a s in c h a r g e o f t h e o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n ’s v e h i c l e . W e a s e l ’s j o b a s d i r e c t o r o f H o m i e s U n i d o s o f t e n e x t e n d e d t o p i c k i n g u p m e m b e r s f r o m t h e i r h o m e s a n d d r o p p i n g t h e m o f f a g a i n la t e r . I n i t i a lly , i t s t r u c k m e a s a n o d d a n d i n e f f i c i e n t d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t a s k s f o r a d i r e c t o r o f a n n g o t o b e t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s c h a u f f e u r u n t i l I r e c o g n i z e d u s , t h e t w o w o m e n in t h e c a r s , a s h o m e g i r l s in a g a n g , c r a m m e d t i g h t l y in t h e b a c k s e a t w i t h a t a t t o o e d vato ( d u d e ) o n e i t h e r s id e o f u s a n d t w o h o m e b o y s w i t h t h e h i g h e r s t a t u s in f r o n t , m u s i c b l a r i n g b e t w e e n X - r a t e d r a p , s o f t s o u l, g o l d e n o ld i e s , a n d Q u e e n . T h e s e t r ip s , w h i c h o f t e n i n v o lv e d a b a n k t r a n s ­ a c tio n , p ic k in g u p o ffic e s u p p lie s , o r p a y in g b ills f o r th e o f f i c e - a l l o f w h ic h m ig h t b e a c c o m p lis h e d ju s t a s w e ll b y o n e o r tw o m e m b e r s o f th e s t a f f — w e r e a lw a y s o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o sa lir ( t o g o o u t ) a n d vagar ( to c r u is e ) in t h e c i t y f o r t h e w h o l e , d a r e I sa y , g a n g . L o n g - t i m e o r g a n i z e r M a g d a l e n o R o s e - Á v i la c o - o p t e d e l v a c il a n d th e s e o u t in g s a s o p p o r tu n itie s to o r g a n iz e : “ C h a u ffe u r in g w a s a te c h n iq u e I u s e d a s a fa r m w o r k e r o r g a n iz e r a n d w h ic h I e x te n d e d to H o m ie s U n id o s . Y o u m a k e s u re th a t fo lk s g e t to th e m e e t in g . . . I n o r m a lly u s e d c a r tim e to d o le s s o n s a n d to s e t th e to n e fo r w h e r e e v e r w e w e r e g o in g . I u s e d c a r t i m e f o r m i n i w o r k s h o p s w h e n w e [ H o m ie s U n i d o s ] f i r s t s t a r t e d , s in c e n o o n e c o u ld p a y a tte n tio n fo r o v e r te n m in u te s , a n d w e c o n tin u e to u s e t h e c a r t i m e t o m a k e s u r e t h a t f o l k s k n o w what time it is !” “ H a n g i n g o u t ” a t th e H o m ie s U n id o s o ffic e a ls o h a d s o m e th in g o f th e f e e lin g o f a n A lc o h o lic s A n o n y m o u s tw e lv e - s te p p r o g r a m . A s I w a s to ld b y o n e o f th e H o m ie s w h o , l i k e s o m a n y , h a d g o n e i n a n d o u t o f d r u g ( c r a c k a n d g lu e ) u s e : “ I a lw a y s k n o w t h a t H o m i e s is t h e r e w h e n I ’ m r e a d y t o c le a n m y s e l f u p . ” A l t h o u g h H o m i e s U n i d o s d o e s n o t c la i m t o b e a d r u g r e h a b i l i t a t i o n c e n t e r , i t w a s p e r ­ c e iv e d a s s o m e t h i n g o f a s a f e h o u s e t o w i t h d r a w f r o m t h e s t r e e t a n d la v id a lo c a f o r th o s e w h o s t r u g g le w it h a d d ic tio n . T h e re w a s a ls o th e e c o n o m ic e le m e n t w it h w h ic h to c o n te n d . A s a n a s ­ p ir in g n g o , H o m ie s U n id o s b e c a m e a c h a n n e l fo r s m a ll c h a n g e b y p r o v id ­ in g g a n g m e m b e r s w it h jo b s a n d v e r y m o d e s t p e r d ie m s . O n e g a n g m e m ­ b e r e x p l a i n e d t h a t h e j o i n e d h is g a n g in L o n g B e a c h b e c a u s e h e n e e d e d “ a h u s t le ” — a n in s id e tr a c k o n fa s t c a s h . T h e c a s h p r o v id e d b y H o m ie s U n id o s w a s h a r d ly f a s t o r e v e n t h a t m u c h m o n e y ; it s f u n d i n g c a m e t h r o u g h f o u n ­ d a tio n g r a n t s w it h r e p o r t in g r e q u ir e m e n ts a n d th r o u g h a n u m b r e lla fis c a l a g e n c y in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . N o n e t h e l e s s , t h e r e w a s a “ h u s t l e ” a t t a c h e d t o

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Homies Unidos. There were economic and material perks for hanging out at Homies Unidos, especially when the foreign visitors were in to w n -fr e e meals, gifts, the possibility o f a loan. Visitors from the United States were asked to bring care packages o f Three Flowers hair oil, palm combs for closely shaven hairstyles, Dickies brand clothing, and tattoo equipment and supplies. For all their valiant efforts at building a program for violence preven­ tion and intervention, Homies Unidos was still vulnerable to claims that its members were “transgressing the line” between violence and nonviolence.8 Their work, after all, was positioned precisely at that lin e - th e border be­ tween gang peace activism and gang a ctivity-an d as such, the goal was to transform that activity into activism. The organization’s recruits and constitu­ ency, some o f whom were still active gang members, sometimes confused the organization for a gang (their gang), and thus might transgress the line between gang and

n g o

.

Indeed, learning to hold that line was an ongoing

struggle, and part and parcel o f a gang member’s rehabilitation. Homies Unidos’s members were subject to being threatened, beaten up, and worse still, killed. Gang members had on occasion attempted to secure viáticos, the per diems offered to committed volunteers, through extortion. At one point, rumors circulated that there were plans afoot to kidnap the organization’s director “just to talk” about the organization’s budget. There was also an ongoing struggle for leadership within Homies Unidos between the two major gangs,

m s

and 18th Street. In 1999, these tensions

culminated in an incident where active members from a disgruntled gang first threw a grenade and then shot into the courtyard in front o f the office. Shortly thereafter, Homies Unidos members from

m s

retreated from active

participation in the organization. While there was concerted effort to miti­ gate the effects o f polarized gang politics by recruiting participants from smaller, lesser-known gangs, there was always the need to ensure that the re­ sources o f Homies Unidos were not co-opted by one o f the dominant gangs. Well beyond explicit ideological statements and positions, there were myriad ways in which Homies Unidos’s organizing “strategies” for so­ cial change were built around established “tactics” and “ways o f operat­ ing” among gang members.9 And the reasons for “joining” Homies Unidos may not be all that different from the reasons for joining the gang: el vacil, solidarity, protection, an economic channel, and the aesthetic dimension o f gang identity formation.10 The organization’s g e n iu s - to leverage the structure o f solidarity o f the gang and to mimic its practices for nonviolent 156

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ends— could also, however, lead to dangerous contradictions among its par­ ticipants as well as misrecognition by other n

g o s

and state institutions.

Given its work as a youth violence prevention project, Homies Unidos de­ veloped strategies to enter the fray o f formal identity politics, but it was not yet what Michel de Certeau might have termed a “proper institutionalized location.” 11 Indeed, Homies Unidos did not have persona jurídica (legal status as a nongovernmental organization) in El Salvador. Despite the protests of its San Salvador-based members, the decision was eventually taken to seek nonprofit status in the United States first, in the anticipation that their appli­ cation would be protracted if not denied in El Salvador. Members o f Homies Unidos said that when they met with then-President Calderon Sol through a contact with the United States Embassy, Calderon Sol said that to grant Homies Unidos persona jurídica would be to legalize gangs. In 1997, the Salvadoran legislature had passed a bill to increase the oversight o f

n g o s

and their sources o f foreign funding. This was generally recognized as an attempt to shut down the spaces o f civil society that were flourishing in the post-1992 climate o f the Peace Accords and that marked the most outstand­ ing achievement o f the peace negotiations. The measure was a continuation o f the ruling right-wing’s long-standing historical suspicion o f these organs o f Salvadoran civil society, and the discourse o f doble cara (two-faced). In the 1980s, this discourse had been leveraged to accuse organizations o f operating as fronts for the

f m l n

.

n g o s

and popular

Similarly, in the 1990s

Homies Unidos was often viewed a front for gangsP2 Moreover, Homies Unidos enjoyed a somewhat tenuous place among those

n g o s

,

the organs o f Salvadoran civil society. Undoubtedly, to quote

a Salvadoran researcher on youth violence who spoke with me, they were recognized as “the best channels for access [to gang youth] and those who can best ensure that [the] linguistic codes [of surveys and programs] are compatible, but not beyond tha t” (my emphasis). Homies Unidos was consis­ tently invited and its members recruited to do the groundwork for surveys of gang members by other

n g o s

and research organizations. Homies Unidos

was loosely affiliated with an extensive network o f organizations involved in issues relating to youth, gangs, migration, and health, but their inclusion therein was largely utilitarian or cosmetic and their impact, as I have already indicated, was dismissed as “minimal.” Homies Unidos was only very loosely attached to El Foro Permanente de Migrantes (Permanent Forum on Migrants) and it was not among the n g o s

included in the Bienvenido a Casa (Welcome Home) project managed GA NG PE AC E A C T i V i S T

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b y C a t h o l i c R e l i e f S e r v i c e s a n d b a s e d in t h e S a l v a d o r a n n a t i o n a l a i r p o r t . T h e la t t e r e x c l u s i o n w a s s o r e l y f e l t b y t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n , w h o s e m e m b e r s f e l t t h a t t h e y w e r e , in s o m e s e n s e , i n t e l l e c t u a l a u t h o r s o f t h e p r o j e c t . I t is b y n o m e a n s s u r p r i s i n g t h a t a s d e p o r t e e s w i t h c r i m i n a l s t a t u s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s t h e y w o u l d n o t b e a s k e d t o o v e r s e e a U .S . g o v e r n m e n t - f u n d e d p r o je c t . H o w e v e r , n e i t h e r w e r e t h e y a m o n g t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h a t p a r t i c i p a t e d in t h e p r o je c t d ir e c tly t h r o u g h c o n d u c t in g th e in t a k e in te r v ie w s o f d e p o r te e s a t th e a ir p o r t, a lt h o u g h t h e y w e r e e v e n tu a lly a d d e d to th e r e fe r r a l s h e e t h a n d e d to d e p o r t e e s in t h e i r o r i e n t a t i o n p a c k e t . W h i l e d e p o r t e e s a r e b y n o m e a n s a ll g a n g m e m b e r s , i t is i n t e r e s t i n g t o n o t e t h a t t h e s p e c i f i c n e e d s o f d e p o r t e d g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e n o t a c c o u n t e d f o r i n t h e i n i t i a l d e s i g n o f t h e B ie n v e n id o a C a s a p r o je c t. A s a fo r m e r m e m b e r o f th e F o ro P e r m a n e n te d e M ig r a n te s p u t it , “ H o m i e s U n i d o s h a s n o t s u c c e e d e d i n m a k i n g t h e c l i c k w i t h o r g a n i ­ z a t io n s w o r k in g o n y o u th a n d m ig r a tio n .” F a r fr o m c lic k in g w it h th e m , th e r e p r e s e n ta tiv e o f H o m ie s U n id o s to th e F o ro P e r m a n e n te d e M ig r a n te s fe lt m a r g in a liz e d a n d d is r e s p e c te d w ith in th a t n e tw o r k . T h e p r o je c t “ T o w a r d s a S o c ie ty w it h o u t V io le n c e ” b y th e U n ite d N a tio n s D e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m h a d b e e n a s k e d b y C a t h o l i c R e l i e f S e r v ic e s t o d e v e lo p a p r o g r a m f o r d e p o r te d y o u th w it h in th e ir lo c a l ju v e n ile d e lin q u e n c y p r e ­ v e n tio n p r o je c t. T h e p r o je c t, h o w e v e r , h a d b e e n r e m o v e d fr o m th e ir a g e n d a b e c a u s e , t o q u o t e i t s d ir e c t o r , t h e r e w a s “ n o i n t e r e s t o n t h e p a r t o f t h e c o m ­ m u n i t i e s ” a n d t h e y “ c o u l d n o t l o c a t e d e p o r t e d y o u t h . ” T h e d i r e c t o r ’s e x p l a ­ n a t i o n t h a t t h e y d id n o t w a n t t o c r e a t e a p r o b l e m w h e r e t h e c o m m u n i t y , in c o n t r a s t t o t h e p o l i c e , d id n o t s e e o n e s e e m e d b o t h s t r a t e g i c a n d p o l i t i c . H o w e v e r , th e fa c t th a t H o m ie s U n id o s , w e ll k n o w n to th e p r o g r a m t h r o u g h th e C e n t r a l A m e r ic a n U n iv e r s it y g a n g stu d y , w a s n o t c o n s u lt e d b e fo r e th e p r o j e c t w a s d r o p p e d w a s a l s o t e lli n g . I n d e e d , t o a c e r t a i n e x t e n t i t m a y in f a c t h a v e b e e n H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s i n t e r ­ n a t i o n a l s o l i d a r i t y ( s o m e t o E u r o p e b u t , a t t h e t im e , p r i m a r i l y t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ) t h a t m o r e t h a n a n y t h i n g a f f o r d e d H o m i e s U n i d o s it s e n t r y i n t o S a l ­ v a d o r a n c iv il s o c ie t y . A s o n e o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n - b a s e d p r o g r a m le a d e r s c o m ­ p l a i n e d d u r i n g a c o n f e r e n c e c a ll w i t h t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s - b a s e d o f f i c e , “ E v e r y ­ o n e s u d d e n ly w a n ts to t a lk to u s w h e n y o u s e n d a d e le g a tio n d o w n . B u t as s o o n a s y o u ’ r e g o n e , t h e y d o n ’ t h a v e n o t i m e f o r u s . T h e y d o n ’ t c a r e .” I n t h i s s e n s e , H o m i e s U n i d o s b o r e t r a c e s o f a n o t h e r m o m e n t in U n i t e d S t a t e s S a lv a d o r a n s o lid a r ity p o lit ic s d u r in g w h ic h “ in t e r n a t io n a ls ” p r o v id e d c o v e r a n d c o n t r ib u t e d to o p e n in g u p p o lit ic a l s p a c e s fo r th e S a lv a d o r a n L e f t — b e

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they political refugees criminalized as illegal aliens, grassroots organiza­ tions criminalized as guerrillas, or guerrillas criminalized as terrorists. Take, for instance, the skepticism o f a San Salvador-based researcher who writes on youth violence in Central America. He was not convinced of the successful assimilation o f these contrary elements in Homies Unidos but instead saw evidence o f “contradictory practices.” While he felt strongly that those youth who had left gangs should become involved in the work to engage gang youth in their communities in positive ways, he nonetheless did not believe that former gang members had the capacity to be the “opera­ tors” and “executors” o f programas de inserción (programs for social insertion). For this researcher, these programs were best directed by those structurally ordained spaces for the exercise o f popular interests such as the churches, their parishes, international aid organizations, and perhaps even select gov­ ernment agencies.13 If as Alvarez and others suggest that social movements must not only draw on networks o f everyday life but also must construct or configure new interpersonal, interorganizational, and politico-cultural link­ ages with other existing movements, then the success o f Homies Unidos in San Salvador was still indeterminate.

The Space of Civil Society By 2002, public forums held in posh San Salvador hotels had become the primary stage for the performance o f civil society and democratic debate in postwar El Salvador, and Homies Unidos, despite its controversial status, had become a ubiquitous presence at these events. One day in August o f that year, I arrived late to the Hotel Transcontinental, the location o f a forum for seeking solutions to the phenomenon o f student youth violence. The event was sponsored by the Salvadoran legislative assembly and the University of Texas, Austin, the latter o f which had been providing technical assistance to the assembly through its Modernization o f the State project. When I entered the room housing the forum, the Salvadoran attorney general was speaking very broadly about the causes behind youth violence. As I surveyed the room to find a seat, Luis Ernesto Romero (aka Pansa Loca) o f Homies Unidos sig­ naled to me to come over to sit with him and his “homies.” The first time I saw Homies Unidos members in a setting like this was in November 1998 at a presidential candidates’ debate on migration held at the exclusive Hotel El Salvador. I remember then being taken aback by

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t h e c o n t r a s t s a t p l a y t h e r e . I n t h e b a c k r o w o f t h e e l e g a n t a n d p l u s h s a lo n w e r e e ig h t o r s o g a n g m e m b e r s — m o s t o f th e m d e p o r te e s fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s s p o r t in g s h a v e d h e a d s a n d ta t t o o s d e s ig n a t in g th e ir a ffilia tio n s w it h U .S . L a t i n o i m m i g r a n t g a n g s . S o m e w o r e t h e e x p e c t e d b a g g y a t t ir e . M o s t s t a r t l i n g i n t h i s c o n t e x t w a s a y o u n g w o m a n , L a S m ile y , w h o s e s p i d e r - w e b ta t t o o s c lim b e d u p h e r n e c k a n d o n to h e r fa c e . It w a s d iffic u lt n o t to sta re , a n d to lo o k p a s t th e d is t r a c tin g lin e s , to e n g a g e th e fa c e b e h in d . N e e d le s s t o s a y , t h e e n t r a n c e o f t h e s e y o u n g p e o p l e a g a i n s t t h e s e a o f t a i l o r e d s u it s w a s e n o u g h to tu rn th e h e a d s o f th e c r o w d . T h e s e u n lik e ly m e m b e r s o f S a l­ v a d o r a n c iv il s o c i e t y h a d c o m e t o t h e d e b a t e a s m e m b e r s o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in S a n S a l v a d o r a n d a s l o o s e l y a f f i l i a t e d p a r t i c i p a n t s in t h i s s o c i a l m o v e m e n t fo r m ig r a n t s ’ r ig h ts . F o u r y e a r s la te r a t th e H o t e l T r a n s c o n t in e n ta l, m e m b e r s fr o m H o m ie s U n i d o s w e r e in a t t e n d a n c e a s p a r t i c i p a n t s o f a s o c i a l m o v e m e n t f o r y o u t h r i g h t s . S o m e o f t h e f a c e s f r o m 1 9 9 8 w e r e a g a i n p r e s e n t in t h e r o o m ; o t h e r s , h o w e v e r , h a d s i n c e b e e n l o s t — k i l l e d o n t h e s t r e e t s o f S a n S a lv a d o r . S o m e o f t h e f a c e s w e r e n e w , r e c e n t l y a r r iv e d c o u r t e s y o f U .S . M a r s h a l p l a n e s . T h e t o p i c o f t h e f o r u m in 1 9 9 8 w a s m i g r a t i o n , b u t c r i m e a n d y o u t h g a n g v i o l e n c e s u r fa c e d a s a p o w e r fu l in te r p r e tiv e th r e a d r u n n in g t h r o u g h o u t th e c a n d i­ d a t e s ’ p r e s e n t a t i o n s . A l t h o u g h t h e t o p i c o f t h e f o r u m in 2 0 0 2 w a s y o u t h v io le n c e , m ig r a tio n to th e U n ite d S ta te s , a n d th e s u b s e q u e n t d e p o r ta tio n o f g a n g y o u th fr o m th a t c o u n try , s u r fa c e d a s a k e y e x p la n a to r y c o n c e p t b e h in d y o u th v io le n c e . In e a c h c a s e , y o u th v io le n c e a n d m ig r a tio n h a d b e c o m e in ­ t e g r a l l y l i n k e d . 14

P R E S i D E N T i A L DEBATE ON Mi G R A T i O N , A U G U S T 1 9 9 8 T h e 19 9 8 p r e s id e n tia l d e b a te w a s s p o n s o r e d b y E l F o ro P e rm a n e n te d e M i­ g r a n te s , a c o n s o r tiu m o f c h u r c h e s , r e s e a r c h in s t it u t e s , a n d n g o s o r g a n iz e d f o r t h e d e f e n s e o f m i g r a n t s ’ h u m a n r i g h t s .15 W i t h 2 0 p e r c e n t o f t h e S a l v a ­ d o r a n p o p u l a t i o n l i v i n g a b r o a d , p r i m a r i l y in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , t h e S a l v a ­ d o r a n e c o n o m y w a s a lr e a d y h e a v ily s u b s i d i z e d b y i m m i g r a n t r e m i t t a n c e s . A s a r e s u lt , t h e r e w e r e t r e m e n d o u s a n x i e t i e s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s s u r r o u n d i n g m i g r a t i o n , i n c l u d i n g h o w t o l e v e r a g e t h o s e r e m i t t a n c e s p r o d u c t iv e l y , h o w t o e n s u r e t h e S a l v a d o r a n d i a s p o r a ’s c o n t i n u e d a t t a c h m e n t t o t h e h o m e l a n d , a n d h o w to c o p e w ith fa m ily d is in te g r a tio n a n d o th e r s o c ia l s tr e s s e s c a u s e d b y m i g r a t i o n ^ 6 T h is p r e s i d e n t i a l d e b a t e o n m i g r a t i o n w a s t h e f i r s t o f it s k i n d . I w a s i n t e r e s t e d in t h e p r e s i d e n t i a l e l e c t i o n s i n s o f a r a s t h e y p e r t a i n e d

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to S a lv a d o r a n s ta te p o lic y o n S a lv a d o r a n s a b r o a d a n d th o s e in th e U n ite d S t a t e s in p a r t ic u la r . T h e d e b a te o n m ig r a tio n is s u e s in c lu d e d , a m o n g o th e r s , a c a s t o f c h a r ­ a c t e r s t h a t I h a d m e t in L o s A n g e l e s — s o m e d u r i n g t h e w a r a n d s o m e o n ly v e r y r e c e n t ly . T h e r e w a s S a l v a d o r S a n a b r ia , a f o r m e r f m l n d i p l o m a t i c r e p ­ r e s e n ta tiv e in W a s h in g to n , D .C ., d u r in g th e w a r, a n d J e su s A g u ila r , a f o u n d ­ i n g m e m b e r o f t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n R e f u g e e C o m m i t t e e ( c r e c e n ) in L o s A n g e le s , th e p o lit ic a l c o u n te r p a r t to C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n R e fu g e e C e n te r ( c r e c e n ) t h a t w o u l d s u b s e q u e n t l y d i r e c t c r e c e n I n t e r n a t i o n a l in S a n S a l ­ v a d o r .17 B o t h S a l v a d o r a n d J e s u s h a d b e e n p o l i t i c a l r e f u g e e s t h e m s e l v e s , a n d th e y h a d s h a r e d th e ir b o r d e r - c r o s s in g s to r ie s w it h m e . T h e y h a d r e tu r n e d to E l S a lv a d o r a ft e r th e w a r to p a r tic ip a te in th e r e b u ild in g o f E l S a lv a d o r a n d it s t r a n s i t i o n t o w a r d d e m o c r a c y . J e s u s w a s w o r k i n g d i r e c t l y w i t h t h e F o r o , a n d S a lv a d o r h a d c o fo u n d e d a n e w n g o a n d t h in k t a n k — F u n d a c ió n C e n tr o a m e r ic a n a p a ra e l D e s a r r o llo H u m a n o S o s te n ib le (f u c a d ) (C e n tra l A m e r ic a n F o u n d a tio n fo r S u s ta in a b le H u m a n D e v e lo p m e n t) . In E l S a lv a d o r t h e y w o u l d c o m e t o f o c u s o n h o m e t o w n a s s o c i a t i o n s , a n d s e v e r a l y e a r s la t e r S a l v a d o r w o u l d r e t u r n t o L o s A n g e l e s t o f u r t h e r d e v e lo p t h e s e l i n k s a s d i r e c ­ to r o f E l R e s c a te . T h e re w e r e o th e r s , t o o , th a t I r e c o g n iz e d fr o m L o s A n g e le s ; W e r n e r M a r r o q u i n , f o r e x a m p le , w h o w o r k e d i n t h e I m m a n u e l P r e s b y t e r ia n C h u r c h j u s t u p t h e s t r e e t f r o m t h e m s N o r m a n d i e c li q u e a n d w h e r e H o m i e s U n i d o s h e l d t h e i r p o e t r y g r o u p s i n L o s A n g e l e s . S i t t i n g in t h e s a m e h a ll w a s C a r l o s M a r t í n e z , w h o m I h a d i n t e r v i e w e d in L o s A n g e l e s a b o u t h i s r o l e i n t h e t e r r e s t r i a l a n d m a r i t i m e t r a d e b e t w e e n L o s A n g e l e s a n d E l S a lv a d o r . H i s v e r y s u c c e s s f u l b u s i n e s s , T r a n s p o r t e s S a l v a d o r e ñ o , w a s l o c a t e d i n P ic o U n i o n , a s t r a i g h t s h o t u p f r o m t h e J a c k in t h e B o x a t P i c o a n d H o o v e r s t r e e t s . I h a d m e t C a r lo s t h o u g h a t th e S a lv a d o r a n C h a m b e r o f C o m m e r c e , w h ic h w a s h o u s e d a t th e C u r a c a o b u ild in g — th e tw in to w e r s o f C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n c o m m e r c i a l , l e g a l , a n d c iv ic l i f e i n L o s A n g e l e s w h e r e H o m i e s U n i d o s h a d r e l o c a t e d a f t e r A l e x S a n c h e z ’s a r r e s t b y R a m p a r t c r a s h o f f i c e r s . T h e d e b a te o n m ig r a tio n is s u e s b e g a n w ith th e f m l n p r e s id e n tia l c a n ­ d id a t e a n d f o r m e r g u e r r i l l a c o m m a n d e r F a c u n d o G u a r d a d o . H e c h o s e inse­

guridad ( in s e c u r it y ) a s t h e t h e m e o f h is s p e e c h o n m i g r a t i o n a n d u s e d i t a s a n a n a l y t i c a l b la d e t o d i s s e c t t h e h i s t o r y o f S a l v a d o r a n m i g r a t i o n , w h i c h h e p a r titio n e d in t o th e th r e e h is t o r ic a l w a v e s o f th e p e r io d s b e fo r e , d u r in g , a n d a f t e r t h e c iv il w a r . A c c o r d i n g t o t h i s s c h e m a , S a l v a d o r a n i n s e c u r i t y p r i o r t o t h e c iv il w a r w a s (a s w e r e t h e r e a s o n s f o r m i g r a t i o n ) e c o n o m i c — t h a t is , t h e

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i n s e c u r i t y o f n o t b e i n g a b l e t o e a r n a li v i n g . L e a d i n g u p t o a n d d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r , S a l v a d o r a n i n s e c u r i t y w a s (a s w e r e t h e r e a s o n s f o r m i g r a t i o n ) p o l i t i c a l — n a m e ly , t h e i n s e c u r i t y o f n o t b e i n g a b l e t o e x e r c i s e o n e ’s p o l i t i c a l r i g h t s o r t o e n j o y o n e ’s h u m a n r i g h t s . F in a lly , in t h e p o s t - c i v i l w a r e r a S a l v a ­ d o r a n i n s e c u r i t y is (a s a r e t h e r e a s o n s f o r c o n t e m p o r a r y m i g r a t i o n ) c r i m e . 18 A s in t h e c a s e o f m o s t a n a ly s t s a n d p o l i c y m a k e r s a t t h e t i m e , G u a r d a d o ’s s p e e c h w a s b a s e d o n p u b lis h e d p n c s ta tis tic s th a t p u t th e h o m ic id e ra te a t 1 3 6 .5 p e r 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 i n d iv id u a ls . G u a r d a d o w a s f o llo w e d b y th e c a n d id a t e f o r th e r ig h t - w in g p a rty , th e L e a g u e f o r D e m o c r a tic R e fo r m ( l i d e r ), w h o o ff e r e d h is o w n th e o r y a b o u t t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p o f m i g r a t i o n a n d v i o l e n c e . H e w a r n e d a g a i n s t t h e d a r k s id e o f E l S a l v a d o r ’s m i g r a t i o n s t o r y b y e x p l a i n i n g t h e p h e n o m e n a o f w a n t o n s e x u a lit y , d r u g s , g a n g v i o l e n c e , a n d a i d s in t e r m s o f m i g r a t i o n a n d “ A m e r i­ c a n i z a t i o n . ” T h e s e , h e c o n c l u d e d , w e r e a ll “ c u l t u r a l c o n t a m i n a n t s ” t h a t S a l­ v a d o r a n s h a d b r o u g h t b a c k w it h th e m fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s . T h e d ir e c tio n a n d o b j e c t o f h i s s c o r n — t h e y o u n g m e n s i t t i n g in t h e b a c k o f t h e r o o m — c o u l d n ’ t h a v e b e e n c le a r e r . W h a t , I w o n d e r e d , w e r e they t h i n k i n g ? I w o u l d r e t u r n t o E l S a l v a d o r in 2 0 0 2 t o i n v e s t i g a t e h o w d e p o r t e d g a n g y o u t h h a d b e c o m e s f o i l s f o r a n d a g e n t s in t h e f e a r f u l r e a l i t y o f p o s t - c i v i l w a r v i o l e n c e in E l S a l v a d o r a n d t h e p r a c t i c e s a n d i m a g i n a r i e s t h a t s u r r o u n d it , a l o n g w i t h th e p la c e m e n t o f H o m ie s U n id o s th e r e in .

F ORUM ON Y O UT H V i O L E N C E , A U G U S T 2 0 0 2 B a c k a t th e fo r u m a n d w o r k s h o p fo r s e e k in g s o lu tio n s to th e p h e n o m e n o n o f s tu d e n t y o u th v io le n c e , I m a d e m y w a y a c r o s s to th e g r o u p o f m e m b e r s f r o m H o m i e s U n i d o s , w h o g r e e t e d m e w i t h b o t h t h e f o r m a l L a t i n A m e r ic a n k is s o n th e c h e e k a n d th e g a n g - s ty le h a n d s h a k e . I t o o k a s e a t b e t w e e n C h a ­ m a c o , a d e p o rte e fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s , a n d H u e ra . W h ile H u e ra h a d tra v ­ e le d t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , s h e h a d n e v e r l iv e d t h e r e . U n l i k e t h e o t h e r h o m i e s p r e s e n t t h a t d a y , s h e w a s j u m p e d i n t o h e r g a n g i n E l S a lv a d o r , a l b e i t i n t o a clika ( c liq u e , g r o u p , o r c e ll) s t a r t e d in E l S a l v a d o r b y d e p o r t e e s f r o m t h e U n ite d S ta te s . N o n e th e le s s , s h e s p e lls h e r n a m e , w h ic h m e a n s “ b lo n d ie ” o r fa ir s k in n e d , a c c o r d in g to a S p a n g lis h v e r s io n (H u e ra) r a th e r th a n th e S p a n ­ is h e q u iv a le n t (G ü e ra ). B y th e tim e I s a t d o w n , th e a tto r n e y g e n e r a l h a d fin ­ is h e d s p e a k in g a n d r e lin q u is h e d th e flo o r to th e n e x t s p e a k e r . It w a s M a u r i­ c i o S a n d o v a l, t h e n - d i r e c t o r o f t h e p n c , w h o e x p l a i n e d t h a t g a n g s w e r e n o t n e w to E l S a lv a d o r b u t a p p e a r e d in th e 1 9 7 0 s . B a c k th e n , h o w e v e r , th e y w e r e n o t c o n s i d e r e d v i o le n t , a n d w e r e e v e n t h o u g h t t o b e o f s e r v ic e t o t h e i r c o m -

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munities by working in their defense. But in the 1990s, Sandoval said, these groups turned violent, a condition that was aggravated by the deportation o f delinquent youth from the United States and the associated process o f “transculturalization.” Sandoval suggested that the responses to youth vio­ lence must include all sectors o f the state (the police, the attorney general, and the prisons, as well as broader sociocultural conditions), but he nar­ rowed in on the justice system on two counts. First, he called for a revision o f the law governing juvenile offenders, and second, he decried the use of “human rights as a defensive strategy” on behalf o f these juvenile offend­ ers. And herein lies the crux o f what was at stake in El Salvador— namely, the reform (some would say dismantling) o f post-civil war reforms. Sandoval wanted to gut these protections. Chamaco leaned over to me and says, “Man, that guy just wants to put us all away.” Up next was Salvador Samayoa, president o f the National Council for Public Security. Samayoa offered very different solutions to those given by Sandoval: “I don’t believe that this problem will be solved by police, but rather by social prevention.” Chamaco liked this last comment: “That’s cool. What this guy is saying is good.” Samayoa then began to talk about the pro­ grams he has seen in operation in New York. He listed them o ff one after the other as models to emulate, painting a rosy picture o f success stories in Latino immigrant communities in the United States, New York in particu­ lar. Given the lack o f resources available in El Salvador, the New York model might look progressive, but I was sitting in the midst o f a group o f young people whose presence was a product o f zero-tolerance strategies not unlike those instituted in New York. The last speaker o f the morning was Padre José Pepe Morataya, a Spanish priest o f the Salesian order. He was speaking in his capacity as general man­ ager o f the El Poligono Don Bosco, a church-based program that operated a very impressive complex o f cooperative bakeries, carpentry workshops, and alternative schools. Don Bosco was invariably the example cited alongside Homies Unidos as one o f the only programs in the country focused on the needs o f gang youth. Yet Don Bosco and Homies Unidos had a mutual dis­ regard for each other’s programs. Was this, I wondered, due to their respec­ tive organizing strategies o f Catholic hierarchy versus youth empowerment. Perhaps the European disdain for the role and influence o f the United States in El Salvador was also at work here? Padre Pepe’s charismatic and inflammatory speech brought into sharp re­ lief the points o f contention between the organizations. Organized violence, G A NG PE AC E A C T i V i S T

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h e a s s e r t e d , c o m e s f r o m m i g r a t i o n . A f t e r n o t i n g t h a t E l S a l v a d o r r e c e iv e d fiv e h u n d r e d d e p o r t e e s f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s e a c h m o n t h , h e c l a i m e d t h a t o n t h e i r a r r iv a l, w i t h t h e h e lp o f o t h e r d e p o r t e e s , t h e y t a k e a t o u r o f t h e e n t ir e c o u n t r y t o s u r v e y t h e t e r r a in a n d t o a s s e s s t h e e x i s t i n g n e t w o r k s o f c r i m e in o r d e r t o s e t u p t h e i r b a s e o f o p e r a t i o n . T h e p r i e s t c o n t i n u e d in t h i s v e in b y s ta tin g th a t th e d e p o rte e s s u c c e s s fu lly c re a te r e g io n a l n e tw o r k s th r o u g h o u t C e n tr a l A m e r ic a a n d th a t S a lv a d o r a n s h a v e b e c o m e w e ll k n o w n a s th e r e ­ g i o n a l le a d e r s . H is d i s c o u r s e c r e a t e d a s t i r a r o u n d m e . U p u n t i l n o w , C h a m a c o , s e e m ­ in g ly b o r e d b y th e d ro n e o f ta lk in g h e a d s , h a d b e e n d o o d lin g th e n a m e o f h i s g a n g , c v A m i g o s W e s t s i d e L o s A n g e l e s , u n d e r t h e l e g i s l a t i v e a s s e m b l y ’s l o g o o n t h e n o t e p a p e r p r o v i d e d in t h e e v e n t p a c k e t . B u t P a d r e P e p e h a d c a u g h t h i s a t t e n t i o n : “ Solo paja [ w h a t b u l l s h i t ] ” s a y C h a m a c o a n d T r a v ie s o to e a c h o th e r , s h a k in g th e ir h e a d s a n d la u g h in g . T h e p ic tu r e o f th e d e p o r t e e s ’ s u p p o s e d ly p r iv ile g e d t o u r t h r o u g h a n d b i r d ’s - e y e v i e w o f E l S a l v a d o r w a s v e r y d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e e x p e r i e n c e a n d g e o ­ g r a p h ic a l d is o r ie n t a t io n o f th o s e w h o c a m e t h r o u g h th e d o o r s o f H o m ie s U n i d o s . A s I d e s c r i b e d in t h e p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r , H o m i e s U n i d o s d id p r o v id e o r i e n t a t i o n t o d e p o r t e e s t o h e lp t h e m w i t h t h e s h o c k a n d a l i e n a t i o n t h e y e x p e r ie n c e u p o n th e ir r e tu r n to w h a t f o r m a n y o f th e m w a s a n u n k n o w n “ h o m e l a n d . ” D e p o r t e e s in v a r i a b ly e x p r e s s e d f e a r a t h a v i n g t o g o a s f a r a s t h e c o r n e r s to r e , a n d ju s t g e t t in g o n a b u s c a n b e a t r a u m a tic a n d d a n g e r o u s e x ­ p e r i e n c e . M a n y o f t h e m a p p r o a c h e d H o m i e s U n i d o s t o le a r n h o w t o n a v ig a t e h o s t i l e a n d f o r e i g n t e r r a in , o r t o d e r iv e a s e n s e o f p l a c e a n d f o r g e a f a m i l i a l bond. P e p e c a m e to th e e n d o f h is s p e e c h , a n d th e m c r e to o k th e s ta g e to in i­ t ia t e t h e q u e s t i o n - a n d - a n s w e r p e r i o d . H e s t a r t e d t o r e a d a l o n g l i s t o f q u e s ­ t i o n s , t u r n e d in o n i n d e x c a r d s , i n c l u d i n g : H o w is i t t h a t t h e p n c c a n b e s t r u g g lin g to d im in is h o r g a n iz e d c r im e a n d d r u g tr a ffic k in g a n d s o o n i f t h e r e a r e p o l i c e in v o lv e d in t h e s e p r o b l e m s ? W o u l d y o u d e f in e a g a n g m e m ­ b e r a s a d e l in q u e n t ? I s b e i n g a y o u t h b e c o m i n g a c r i m e in i t s e l f ? I s t h e p n c s a y i n g t h a t y o u t h s h o u l d b e p u n i s h e d a s a d u lt s ? W h y h a s n ’ t t h e l e g i s l a t i v e a s s e m b ly a p p r o v e d th e L e y d e J u v e n tu d (L a w o f th e Y o u th )? Is th e r e a p r o b ­ le m p r o v id in g a lte r n a tiv e e d u c a tio n to g a n g m e m b e r s ? W h y a re th e r e n o o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o s t u d y f o r d e p o r t e e s w h o h a v e c o m p l e t e d n i n t h g r a d e in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ? T h e l a s t w a s T r a v i e s o ’s q u e s t i o n . A s th e fir s t r e s p o n d e n t b e g a n to a d d r e s s th e q u e s tio n s , H u e ra g o t u p , s i g n a l i n g t o t h e H o m i e s t o j o i n h e r . S h e t h e n m o v e d t o t h e s id e o f t h e r o o m

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w h e r e a g r o u p o f y o u n g p e o p l e w e r e u n f o l d i n g b a n n e r s t h a t r e a d , “ Y o u t h is n o t s y n o n y m o u s w i t h v i o l e n c e n o r d r u g s ” a n d “ Y o u t h is n o t a c r i m e .” T h e le a d e r o f t h e g r o u p t r i e d t o g e t t h e a t t e n t i o n o f t h e M C , w h o r e s p o n d e d b y a s k i n g t h e m t o r e s p e c t t h e e s t a b l i s h e d o r d e r o f t h i n g s : t h i s w a s n o t t h e t im e o r t h e p l a c e f o r t h i s s o r t o f a c t i o n . B u t t h e a u d i e n c e in t e r v e n e d o n c e a g a i n b y a d m o n is h in g th e m c to le t th e g r o u p s p e a k . A ft e r h e c o n c e d e d , th e g r o u p m a d e t h e f o l l o w i n g s t a t e m e n t : “ W e a r e t r y i n g t o b u i l d a y o u t h c u lt u r e w i t h th e o b je c t o f c o n t r ib u t in g to o u r c o m m u n ity . S o fa r a ll w e h a v e h e a r d a re th e n e g a tiv e s . W e h a v e n o t h e a r d y o u sa y a n y th in g p o s itiv e a b o u t u s. H e re w e a r e c o n d u c t i n g n a t i o n a l c o n s u l t a t i o n s w o r k i n g t o d e v e lo p L a L e y d e J u v e n ­ tu d . W e h a v e h e a r d y o u s p e a k , b u t th e n e e d s o f S a lv a d o r a n y o u th h a v e s till n o t b e e n fu lfille d . Y o u w a n t to s ile n c e u s , b u t w h y s h o u ld w e le t a d u lts s p e a k f o r u s ? ” A s t h e a u d i e n c e m e m b e r s a p p la u d e d , a g r o u p r e p r e s e n t a t i v e c o n ­ t in u e d : “ W e d o n ’ t u s e a n y v i o l e n c e o r d r u g s . W h a t w e w a n t is f o r y o u t o l i s ­ t e n t o u s t r u t h f u l l y a n d n o t t o le a v e u s o n t h e s i d e l i n e s , o r a s a q u e s t i o n o n a l i t t l e p i e c e o f p a p e r [ t h e in d e x c a r d s ] . W e w a n t a n s w e r s . ” A n d w i t h t h a t , t h e y o u th re tu rn e d th e flo o r to th e p a n e lis ts , w h o r e s u m e d ta k in g th e q u e s tio n s on e by one. S a n d o v a l ’s c a l l f o r r e f o r m s t o t h e j u v e n i l e o f f e n d e r l a w w a s l i n k e d t o a p o s t- h u m a n r ig h ts a g e n d a a n d to th e z e r o - to le r a n c e a n d g a n g a b a te m e n t s t r a t e g i e s o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . I n c o n t r a s t , t h e y o u t h ’s c a l l f o r L a L e y d e J u v e n tu d w a s lin k e d to a n in t e r n a t io n a l m o v e m e n t fo r h u m a n r ig h t s a n d y o u t h r i g h t s . I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e s e v a s t ly d i v e r g e n t s t r a t e g i e s , t h e r e w e r e a ls o v e r y d iffe r e n t n o tio n s o f th e c a te g o r y o f “ y o u th ” a t s ta k e . S a n d o v a l w o u ld t r y m i n o r s a s a d u l t s a n d i n c r e a s e p r i s o n s e n t e n c e s ; H u e r a ’s g r o u p o f y o u t h a d v o c a te s w o u ld e x te n d th e c a te g o r y o f y o u th u p to th e a g e o f th ir ty to p r o ­ v id e r e h a b i l i t a t i o n p r o g r a m s t o t h o s e t r ie d a s j u v e n i l e s b u t r e le a s e d a s a d u lt s . E l S a l v a d o r ’s c o n t e m p o r a r y p o l i t i c s s u r r o u n d i n g y o u t h , g l o b a l i z a t i o n , a n d la w e n fo r c e m e n t w e r e th u s s itu a te d b e tw e e n th e s e t w o p o le s , a lb e it le a n in g h e a v ily in S a n d o v a l ’s d i r e c t i o n . In th e m o n t h s fo llo w in g th e fo r u m o n y o u th v io le n c e , L a L e y d e J u v e n tu d w o u l d f l o u n d e r in c o m m i t t e e w i t h p o s t - e l e c t o r a l c h a n g e s in t h e c o m p o s i ­ t i o n o f t h e l e g i s l a t u r e . 19 S a n d o v a l ’s a g e n d a , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , w o u l d g a i n c o n s i d e r a b l e m o m e n t u m a n d c u l m i n a t e in h is s u c c e s s o r ’s i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f El P la n M ano D ura ( t h e F ir m H a n d , o r I r o n F is t , P la n ) . A s a r e s u l t , C h a m a c o ’s d i s c o n c e r t e d c o m m e n t a r y d u r i n g S a n d o v a l ’s a d d r e s s , “M a n , t h i s g u y j u s t w a n t s t o p u t u s a ll a w a y ,” w o u l d b e p r o v e n c o r r e c t .

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Tentative Space T h e m e m b e r s o f H o m ie s U n id o s p r e s e n t a t th e fo r u m o n y o u th v io le n c e th a t d a y in 2 0 0 2 d id n o t , in f a c t , j o i n t h e i r h o m e g i r l H u e r a a n d t h e g r o u p o f y o u t h in t h e i r p u b l i c p e t i t i o n t o b e s e e n a n d h e a r d t h r o u g h L a L e y d e J u v e n t u d . I a s k e d t h e m w h y . “ N a ,” t h e y s h o o k t h e i r h e a d s . “ W e d o n ’ t l i k e t o d o t h a t k i n d o f s t u f f . W e ’ r e a lr e a d y v i s i b l e e n o u g h . A s i t i s , e v e r y t i m e w e w a l k i n t o p la c e s l i k e t h a t , p e o p l e a lw a y s t u r n a n d s t a r e .” H u e r a , h o w e v e r , w a s n o t a p p e a s e d b y t h is r e s p o n s e . S h e f e l t v e r y l e t d o w n b y t h e H o m i e s a n d b y t h e i r r e f u s a l t o s t a n d u p a n d b e c o u n t e d in t h e m o v e m e n t . B u t I d i s c e r n e d f r o m t h i s s i t u a ­ t i o n t h a t w h i l e H o m i e s U n i d o s m a y h a v e b e c o m e f i x t u r e s a t t h e s e e v e n t s , it s m e m b e r s w e r e u n e a s y p a r t i c i p a n t s in c iv il s o c ie t y . T h e d i s q u i e t i n g p l a c e o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in S a l v a d o r a n c iv il s o c i e t y w o u l d b e c o m e a ll th e m o r e a p p a r e n t th e n e x t d a y a t a s e m in a r s p o n s o r e d b y th e u n d p

. I d i s c o v e r e d t h e r e t h a t m y o w n p o s i t i o n a l i t y a t t h e f o r u m “ s m a c k in

t h e m i d d l e o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ” h a d b e e n d u l y n o t e d , w i t h e y e b r o w s r a is e d , b y t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l f o r P u b l i c S e c u r it y , O s c a r B o n i lla . B o n i l l a w a s t h e r i g h t - h a n d m a n t o t h e c o u n c i l ’s p r e s i d e n t , S a m a y o a . L a u g h ­ in g o f f h is r e m a r k a b o u t m y s it t in g n e x t to H o m ie s U n id o s , b u t f e e lin g l a b e l e d , I a s k e d B o n i l l a in a s u b s e q u e n t m e e t i n g a t h i s o f f i c e i f t h e c o u n c i l h a d w o r k e d w i t h t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n . B o n i l l a r e s p o n d e d t h a t h e d id n o t f in d t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n p a r t i c u l a r l y “ c r e d i b l e .” I n d e e d , w i t h i n S a l v a d o r a n c i v i l s o c ie t y , H o m i e s U n i d o s w a s u l t i m a t e l y a d is c o n c e r t in g a n d u n te n a b le b le n d o f w h a t th e lite r a tu r e w o u ld d u b “ d is ­ t a s te f u l” m o v e m e n ts w ith th o s e s a n c tio n e d a s “ p r o g r e s s iv e ” s o c ia l m o v e ­ m e n t s . 20 T h e g r o u p ’s t a t t o o e d y o u n g m e n a n d w o m e n — m a n y w i t h a c r i m i ­ n a l r e c o r d o f o n e s o r t o r a n o t h e r — w e r e u n lik e ly c o n te n d e r s a lo n g s id e th e “ c a n d i d a t e s o f c h o i c e ” in t h e “ a p p r o v e d ” m a r g i n a l i z e d g r o u p s o f i n d i g e n o u s a n d e th n ic p e o p le s a n d m e m b e r s o f m o v e m e n ts fo r w o m e n , g a y s , a n d th e e n v ir o n m e n t .2 1 A w e e k a ft e r th e fo r u m o n y o u th v io le n c e , H o m ie s U n id o s m e t to ta lk a b o u t, a m o n g o th e r t h in g s , a n in v ita tio n b y th e p n c to p r e s e n t th e ir g a n g v io le n c e p r e v e n tio n p r o g r a m a t th e o ffic e o f H o m ie s U n id o s . T h e d is c u s ­ s i o n w a s h e a t e d . O n e o f t h e H o m i e s c l a i m e d t h a t t h e p n c h a d in v i t e d s o m e g a n g m e m b e r s t o a m e e t i n g in t h e p a s t w h e r e t h e y w e r e o s t e n s i b l y g o i n g t o t a l k a b o u t t h e i r p r o g r a m s , b u t a r r e s t e d t h e m a ll i n s t e a d . “ J u s t t o k n o w th e m ? W h a t fo r ? ” “ I d o n ’t w a n t th e m to k n o w w h e r e o u r o ffic e s a re so th e y c a n c o m e a n d s p y o n u s .” W e a s e l a d d e d , “ W e a lr e a d y h a v e p r o b l e m s w o r k -

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i n g in t h e c o m m u n i t i e s a s i t is . I d o n ’ t w a n t t o b e s e e n a s n o s n i t c h . W h a t t h e y w a n t f r o m u s is i n f o r m a t i o n . ” A n o t h e r m e m b e r w a s a d a m a n t , “ W i t h s o m a n y h o m i e s i n M a r i o n a [ p r is o n ] r i g h t n o w ” w h y w o u l d t h e y w a n t t o w o r k w i t h t h e p o l i c e ? 22 P a n s a a n d H u e r a , w h o h a d i n t r o d u c e d t h e p n c p r o p o s a l t o t h e g r o u p , w e r e d e f e n s i v e . P a n s a i n s i s t e d : “ I ’m n o s n i t c h . I ’ m n o t w o r k ­ i n g f o r t h e p o l i c e . ” H u e r a b r o u g h t t h e d i s c u s s i o n t o a c l o s e , “ W e ’ l l le a v e it t e n t a t i v e t h e n .” “ O k a y ,” s a i d W e a s e l, “ W e ’ ll p u t i t d o w n a s t e n t a t i v e .” T h is t e n t a t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e p o l i c e m a r k e d a s h i f t in H o m i e s U n i d o s . E a r ly o n in i t s f o r m a t i o n , t h e S a n S a l v a d o r p r o g r a m h a d s u c c e e d e d in b u ild in g w o r k in g r e la tio n s w it h b o th th e p n c a n d th e c e n tr a l o ffic e o f S a n S a l v a d o r ’s m e t r o p o l i t a n p o l i c e f o r c e C e n t r o A r e a M e t r o p o l i t a n a ( c a m ). O v e r th e f o llo w in g m o n t h s , w it h th e e x p lo s io n o f a v e r y p u b lic a n d g r u e s o m e m u r d e r a ttr ib u te d to d e p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r s , th e r e la t io n s h ip o f H o m ie s U n i d o s t o t h e p n c b e c a m e e v e n m o r e “ t e n t a t i v e .” T h a t c a s e , d u b b e d t h e “ C a s e o f R o s a N . , ” t u r n e d o u t t o b e j u s t t h e f i r s t in a s e r i e s o f m a c a b r e m u t i ­ la t io n s a n d d e c a p it a t io n s a ttr ib u te d to m e m b e r s o f th e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g . B e ­ t w e e n D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 a n d M a r c h 2 0 0 3 , S a n d o v a l, t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e p n c , l a u n c h e d a m a j o r m e d i a c a m p a i g n a r o u n d t h e s e descabezamientos ( b e h e a d in g s / d e c a p i t a t i o n s ) t h a t in v o lv e d m a s s a r r e s t s o f g a n g m e m b e r s a n d a c a ll f o r t h e p a s s a g e o f s p e c i a l a n t i - g a n g la w s .2 3 O n e m o r n in g in J a n u a ry 2 0 0 3 , I w a lk e d in t o th e o ffic e o f H o m ie s U n id o s , w h ic h w a s a b u z z w it h n e w s o n th e m e d ia c o v e r a g e o f th e r e c e n t m u t ila t io n s a t t r i b u t e d t o 1 8 t h S t r e e t a n d t h e p o l i c e r e a c t i o n t o it . T h e r e w a s a m i x t u r e o f f u r y a n d f r i g h t in t h e a ir . S o m e o f t h e a c c u s e d w e r e a m o n g t h o s e w h o h a d p a s s e d t h r o u g h H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s d o o r s , a n d w e r e k n o w n t o m e m b e r s t h e r e . T h e H o m ie s w e r e fe a r fu l o f th e in e v ita b le g u ilt b y a s s o c ia tio n th a t w o u ld b e m a d e b e tw e e n th e o r g a n iz a t io n , th e g a n g s , a n d th e s c a n d a l. T h e n e ig h b o r s in t h e c o m p l e x w e r e g r o w i n g s u s p i c i o u s o f a n d h o s t i l e t o w a r d t h e o r g a n i z a ­ t io n , a n d e v e r y b o d y fe lt th a t it w a s tim e to m o v e th e o ffic e to n e u tr a l g r o u n d . A s W e a s e l p u t it , “ G e t t i n g a n e w o f f i c e is l i k e s t a r t i n g o v e r , a f r e s h s t a r t .” T h is w o u l d b e t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s f i f t h m o v e in it s s ix - y e a r h is t o r y . T h e re w a s s o m e d is c u s s io n a s to w h e t h e r H o m ie s U n id o s w o u ld e x p re s s p u b l i c i n d i g n a t i o n a t t h e m a s s a r r e s t s o f g a n g m e m b e r s a n d S a n d o v a l ’s p r o ­ p o s e d n e w la w t a r g e t in g g a n g v io le n c e , b u t s o m e m e m b e r s w a n t e d th e o r g a ­ n i z a t i o n t o la y l o w a n d t o a v o id p r e s s c o v e r a g e . T h e y d i d n o t w a n t t o c o m e o u t in t h e p r e s s a n d t h u s b e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e c u r r e n t e v e n t s . S t i ll o t h e r s w e r e c o n c e r n e d a s m u c h a b o u t th e r e a c tio n o f th e g a n g s a s th e y w e r e a b o u t th o s e o f th e p u b lic a n d th e p o lic e .

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H o m ie s U n id o s h a d lo n g b e e n th e p la c e w h e r e jo u r n a lis t s — S a lv a d o r a n a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l — w e n t t o s e t u p i n t e r v i e w s w i t h a c t i v e g a n g m e m b e r s in t h e f i e ld . B u t r e c e n t l y t h i s w a s c a u s i n g r e p e r c u s s i o n s f o r t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n . G a n g m e m b e r s , o f t e n q u i t e w i l l i n g t o p e r f o r m t h e i r g a n g s t e r i d e n t i t i e s in fr o n t o f th e c a m e ra , w e r e b e c o m in g m o r e c a m e r a s h y a s th e m e d ia a n d p o lic e m o u n t e d c a m p a ig n s a g a in s t th e m a n d H o m ie s U n id o s w a s s t r u g g lin g w it h it s m e d i a t i n g r o l e . “ W e m u s t a s k i n a d v a n c e a n d g e t t h e p e r m i s s i o n o f t h e c li k a . P le a s e H o m i e s , l e t ’s r e s p e c t t h e l a w o f t h e s t r e e t .” B u t t h e p r o b l e m h a d a lr e a d y g o n e b e y o n d t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s c o n t r o l . A p p a r e n t ly , j o u r n a l i s t s f r o m o n e o f th e m a jo r n a tio n a l n e w s p a p e r s h a d s ta r te d g o in g in t o g a n g te r r ito r y u s in g th e n a m e o f H o m ie s U n id o s to s e c u r e in te r v ie w s w it h th e g a n g m e m ­ b e r s . A s a r e s u l t , s o m e o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s b r i d g e s w i t h t h e g a n g s h a d b e e n d a m a g e d i f n o t b r o k e n . T h e o u tr e a c h c o o r d in a to r s w e r e b e c o m in g m o r e r e ­ lu c t a n t to ta k e p e o p le o u t in t o th e fie ld o r e v e n to g o th e m s e lv e s . H o m ie s U n i d o s ’s f i e l d o f o p e r a t i o n — t h e b a r r i o s o n t h e o u t s k i r t s o f S a n S a l v a d o r — w e r e b e c o m in g in c r e a s in g ly te n s e a n d d iffic u lt to e n te r. T h e g a n g s w e r e s u s ­ p ic io u s , a n d th e p o lic e p r e s e n c e w a s d a u n tin g . W o r d w a s th a t th e y w e r e p ic k in g u p a n y o n e o n th e s tr e e ts u n d e r th e v a g u e a n d a ll- e n c o m p a s s in g in ­ f r a c t i o n o f asociaciones ilícitas. D u r in g th is tim e I w a s g o n e fo r a w e e k , a n d I r e tu r n e d to S a n S a lv a d o r o n l y t o le a r n t h a t H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s n e w e s t o f f i c e h a d b e e n b r o k e n i n t o . A l l o f th e e q u ip m e n t h a d b e e n s to le n : t v s , c o m p u t e r s , a n d v id e o s . T h e w o r d w a s th a t it w a s a n “ in s id e ” jo b ; p e r h a p s b y d is g r u n tle d p r o g r a m p a r tic ip a n ts . R e g a r d le s s , t h e s t a f f f e l t t h a t t h e y c o u l d n ’ t r e t u r n . T h e y r e c o v e r e d w h a t t h e y c o u ld a n d a b a n d o n e d th e lo c a t io n . It h a d b e e n o n ly fo u r m o n t h s s in c e th e y fe lt c o m p e lle d to m o v e fr o m th e la s t lo c a t io n to s ta r t a n e w , a n d n e e d le s s to s a y t h e m o o d w a s h e a v y a n d s p i r i t s v e r y lo w . “ I m a g i n e , ” H u e r a e x c la im e d , “ t h a t t h i s w o u l d h a p p e n t o us. W e w h o u s e d t o d o s u c h t h i n g s o u r s e l v e s ! ” S h u t o u t o f th e b a r r io s — th e g r o u n d o f th e fie ld o p e r a tio n s o f th e o r g a n iz a t io n — b y th e c o m b in e d h e a t o f g a n g p o litic s a n d th e h e a v y p o lic e p r e s e n c e , H o m i e s U n i d o s w a s n o w a l s o w i t h o u t a n o f f i c e . T h is o r g a n i z a t i o n , f i r s t c o n ­ c e iv e d o f a s p r o v i d i n g a n a lt e r n a t i v e s p a c e o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f o r g a n g a f f i l i ­ a te d y o u th a n d y o u n g a d u lts a n d a s a fe a n d n e u tr a l s p a c e fo r th o s e w illin g t o t r y t o g i v e u p la v i d a l o c a , h a d t u r n e d f i r s t i n t o a n i m p o s s i b l e s p a c e a n d n o w i n t o a n o n s p a c e . O n e m o n t h la t e r , t h e r u l i n g r i g h t - w i n g p a r t y A l i a n z a R e p u l i c a n a N a c i o n a l i s t a ( a r e n a ) , in c o n c e r t w i t h t h e p n c , u n l e a s h e d it s z e r o - t o l e r a n c e s t r a t e g y , E l P la n M a n o D u r a .

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El Plan M ano Dura In July 2003, just one year after the forum on youth violence, then-President Francisco Flores declared a state o f emergency and unveiled the police cam­ paign named El Plan Mano Dura, along with an accompanying legislative proposal, La Ley Anti-M ara (the Anti-Gang Law). Both became central to the ruling right-wing’s political platform in the ensuing presidential elections, and together they represented a victory for the post-human rights agenda o f the Right. The Left came out against the plan. In the aftermath o f the Peace Accords, however, the that o f a r

f m l n ’s

e n a

in 1998, the

.

position on crime was not markedly different from

Just days after the Foro’s presidential debate on migration

f m l n

candidate Guardado made “crime” his key campaign

issue with his La Tarjeta Roja (the Red Card) proposal. La Tarjeta Roja prom­ ised to reduce violent crime by putting repeat offenders behind bars for life. This indistinction between the Left and the Right in regard to crime was not peculiar to El Salvador. With the exception o f Brazil, in the aftermath o f their military dictatorships and dirty wars, the Latin American Left in general did not extend its human rights agenda for political prisoners to the domain of common criminals or to prisoners’ rights in general.24 As the Salvadoran re­ searcher Mauricio Chavez elaborated in a presentation given at the Univer­ sity o f California, Northridge, in 1999, the anti-crime discourses and legisla­ tion in El Salvador elided the complex historical relationship that El Salvador bears to violence: namely, a class system based on the outright coercive force o f power; the absence o f postwar reconciliation efforts as a result o f the sup­ pression o f the human rights record and the generalized amnesty for violent offenders (on the Right and the Left); and, o f course, its relationship with the U.S. government. “One would expect,” he said, “given that they were a

revolutionary party, that the

f m l n

would have a different understanding of

these issues. But it’s not there. They have entered into a competition with a r e n a

over who’s tougher on violence.”

Interestingly, this post-human rights agenda drew upon the analysis o f a former military commander o f the

f m l n

,

Joaquin Villalobos (albeit

who subsequently was persona non grata with the

f m l n

).

Villalobos, who

turned to advising the Salvadoran government on security issues in the post­ war period, argued that the human rights agenda had spawned legislation in post-civil war El Salvador that was more appropriate for European countries such as Switzerland, where crime is low and its citizens have long been eduG A NG PE AC E A C T i V i S T

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cated in the responsibilities that accrue to citizens in a democracy. Human rights as enshrined in the Penal Code o f 1988 were thus leyes para los sui­ zos (laws for the Swiss), not for Salvadorans.^ El Salvador, however, was in need o f a firmer hand until its population had been disciplined (in the Foucauldian sense) as governable democratic citizens. While Villalobos as well as the

f m l n

spoke out against Mano Dura when it was unleashed in 2003,

in the postwar years the Left alongside the Right deplored the ways in which human rights had come to serve as “privileges for bandits” — to use Teresa Caldeira’s phrase for a similar twist in Brazilian culture and political life.26 The reforms o f the reforms deemed more suitable to this “weak” and “immature” democracy were derived from the laws that had purportedly worked for the gringos (the United States). El Plan Mano Dura represented the successful transnationalization o f United States zero-tolerance strate­ gies in El Salvador, or los leyes para los gringos. This is not to say that the United States and its policing models did not already have considerable influence over the

p n c

.

But that influence— technical assistance and funding— was

structured, at least initially, around the implementation o f the Peace Accords rather than post-civil war violent crime.27 During this period, the primary task o f the United States turned from aiding the Salvadoran military in its fight against the leftist guerrilla forces to aiding in the construction o f a new National Civil Police in collaboration with other countries such as Spain and France. This process, overseen by the United Nations, involved disbanding the existing public security system that had been composed o f the National Police and the Hacienda (Plantation) Police

( p n ),

(p h ),

the National Guard

(g n ),

all o f which were part o f the

Salvadoran Armed Forces and, as such, operated under the Ministry o f De­ fense. In addition, paramilitary organizations functioned as militias under local military commanders and provided a network o f political intelligence throughout the country. The primary function o f these combined forces was to maintain internal order and to control the population^8 In their place, a new civilian police force was to be established that would be entirely inde­ pendent from the military, free o f all partisan activity, function as a service provided by the State to its citizens, and dedicated to defending the human rights o f all citizens.29 Given the role o f the United States in training the Salvadoran military in counterinsurgency strategies and the troubling record o f human rights violations by Salvadoran officers trained at the School o f the Americas,30 the 170

f m l n

was understandably suspicious o f the involvement o f the United

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S t a t e s in t h i s r e c o n s t r u c t i o n e f f o r t . W h i l e t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s m a i n t a i n e d a n o f f i c e in t h e p n c h e a d q u a r t e r s , it s r o l e in t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e p n c w a s , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e t e r m s o f t h e P e a c e A c c o r d s , t o b e li m i t e d t o t e c h n i c a l t r a i n ­ i n g i n t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f c r i m e s . T h is t e c h n i c a l a s s i s t a n c e w a s p r o v i d e d t h r o u g h t h e U .S . D e p a r t m e n t o f J u s t i c e ’s I n t e r n a t i o n a l C r i m i n a l I n v e s t i g a ­ t i o n T e c h n i c a l A s s i s t a n c e P r o g r a m ( i c i t a p ) .31 T h e n e w r e c r u i t s , a s w e l l a s t h e S a l v a d o r a n s w a t a n d t h e a n t i - r i o t p o l i c e ( g o p e ), w e r e t r a i n e d b y t h e S p a n i s h a n d t h e F r e n c h r e s p e c t iv e ly . A t t h e s a m e t im e , t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ’s r o l e i n c r e a s e d in t h e a r e a o f t h e d r u g w a r t h r o u g h c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h e S a l ­ v a d o r a n a t t o r n e y g e n e r a l ’s o f f i c e , a n d t h r o u g h t r a i n i n g s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s w ith th e f b i a n d th e d e a . S t ill, u n d e r t h e s p o n s o r s h i p o f t h e U .S . e m b a s s y , m o s t s e n i o r p o l i c e o f f i ­ c e r s h a d a lr e a d y b e e n i n t r o d u c e d t o z e r o - t o l e r a n c e m o d e l s t h r o u g h t h e i r v i s i t s t o p o l i c e d e p a r t m e n t s in N e w Y o r k , B o s t o n , C h i c a g o , L o s A n g e l e s , H o u s t o n , a n d e l s e w h e r e . T h e w a l l s o f t h e i r o f f i c e s w e r e i n v a r ia b ly l i n e d w i t h c e r t i f i c a t e s f r o m t h e U .S . J u s t ic e D e p a r t m e n t t o c o m m e m o r a t e t h e s e t r a i n ­ in g s a n d e x c h a n g e s . M o re o v e r, a n u m b e r o f c r im e p r e v e n tio n m o d e ls fr o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , i n c l u d i n g 9 1 1 , d a r e , B r a t t o n ’s C o m p S t a t c r i m e - m a p p i n g c o m p u t e r s y s te m s , th e F ie ld I n t e r v ie w C a rd , a n d th e S a n Jo se v e r s io n o f c o m m u n i t y p o l i c i n g in t h e f o r m o f C o m m u n i t y P o l i c e I n t e r v e n t i o n P a t r o ls ( p i p c o m ), h a d b e e n i n t r o d u c e d i n t o E l S a l v a d o r d i r e c t ly b y i c i t a p , w h i c h , a s I m e n t i o n e d , m a i n t a i n e d o f f i c e s in b o t h t h e U .S . e m b a s s y a n d t h e p n c h e a d q u a r te r s . H o w e v e r , u n lik e o th e r c o u n tr ie s s u c h a s M e x ic o , V e n e z u e la , a n d S o u th A fr ic a , th e s e e x c h a n g e s t o o k p la c e b e tw e e n th e U n ite d S ta te s a n d S a lv a d o r a n g o v e r n m e n ts th r o u g h “ in te r n a tio n a l c o o p e r a t io n ” a n d n o t t h r o u g h p r iv a t e c o n s u l t a n c i e s w i t h t h e M a n h a t t a n I n s t i t u t e a n d t h e G i u l i a n i G rou p . E l P la n M a n o D u r a w a s b y n o m e a n s t h e f i r s t a t t e m p t t o i n t r o d u c e z e r o t o l e r a n c e p o l i c i n g s t r a t e g i e s in E l S a lv a d o r . I n d e e d , G u a r d a d o ’s L a T a r je t a R o ja p la n w a s g o v e r n e d b y t h e s a m e p u n i t i v e l o g i c a s t h e i n i t i a t i v e “ T h r e e S t r i k e s a n d Y o u ’ r e O u t ” ( P r o p o s i t i o n 1 8 4 ) i n t r o d u c e d a n d p a s s e d in p o s t - r i o t L o s A n g e l e s . F o l l o w i n g T h r e e S t r i k e s a s i t d o e s b y f o u r y e a r s , L a T a r je t a R o ja r e a d l i k e a n a t t e m p t t o t r a n s l a t e t h e s a m e p r i n c i p l e i n t o S a l v a d o r a n c u lt u r a l t e r m s . T h e r e f e r e n c e in e a c h c a s e w a s d r a w n f r o m s p o r t s — T h r e e S t r ik e s f r o m b a s e b a l l in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d t h e R e d C a r d f r o m s o c c e r i n E l S a l ­ v a d o r. T h e in tim a te r e la tio n s h ip b e t w e e n s p o r ts a n d n a t io n a lis m r e s o n a te d in b o t h U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d S a l v a d o r a n p o l i c y i n i t i a t i v e s . I n E l S a lv a d o r , t h is r e la tio n s h ip b e t w e e n s p o r ts a n d n a t io n a lis m a ls o h a d a p o w e r fu l p r e c e d e n t

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w it h th e in fa m o u s s o c c e r w a r o v e r b o r d e r s k ir m is h e s b e tw e e n th a t c o u n tr y a n d H o n d u r a s . (In d e e d , it w a s th e p o e tic r e s o n a n c e , s o to sp e a k , b e tw e e n T h r e e S t r i k e s a n d L a T a r j e t a R o ja t h a t f i r s t d r e w m e t o l o o k a t t h e t r a v e li n g o f c r im e p r e v e n tio n s tr a te g ie s a s o n e m o r e c o m p o n e n t o f th e d e n s e tr a n s ­ n a t i o n a l n e t w o r k s o f c i r c u l a t i o n b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a lv a d o r .) W h i l e G u a r d a d o ’s a n t i - c r i m e p l a t f o r m d id n o t t a r g e t g a n g m e m b e r s o r d e ­ p o r te e s p e r se , it n o n e th e le s s m ir r o r e d th e c u ltu r a l p o lit ic s o f th e U n ite d S ta te s , th e v e r y s o r t th a t fe d in to th e c r im in a liz a tio n a n d s u b s e q u e n t d e p o r ­ t a t i o n o f a k e y s e c t o r o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s l e a d e r s h i p a n d m e m b e r s h i p s i t t i n g in t h e b a c k r o w o f t h e c o n f e r e n c e r o o m w h e r e G u a r d a d o h a d p r e s e n t e d h is t h e s i s a b o u t m i g r a t i o n a n d c r im e . T h e a r e n a g o v e r n m e n t h a d a lr e a d y e x p l o r e d t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f i n s t i t u t ­ in g a q u a s i- tr a n s n a tio n a l p r o b a t io n s y s te m fo r c r im in a l d e p o r te e s a n d h a d t w i c e i n t r o d u c e d e m e r g e n c y c r i m e l e g i s l a t i o n , in 1 9 9 6 a n d a g a i n in 1 9 9 9 , in t h e f o r m o f t h e S o c i a l D e f e n s e L a w . I f i t h a d p a s s e d , t h a t l a w w o u l d h a v e j a i l e d u p o n t h e i r a r r iv a l S a l v a d o r a n s d e p o r t e d f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s f o r c r i m i n a l o f f e n s e s . U n d e r t h i s p r o p o s a l , t h a t is , a d e p o r t e e w o u l d h a v e r e ­ c e iv e d t r i p l e p u n i s h m e n t f o r h i s o f f e n s e : j a i l t i m e in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , d e ­ p o r t a t i o n t o E l S a lv a d o r , a n d r e i m p r i s o n m e n t in E l S a lv a d o r . A s R e n é D o m i n g u e z , v i c e - m i n i s t e r o f c i t i z e n s e c u r it y , p u t i t w h e n I m e t w i t h h i m in M a y 2 0 0 3 , “ t h e p r o j e c t [ t o i n t r o d u c e a n t i - g a n g l e g i s l a t i o n ] w a s a lr e a d y d e v e l o p e d b u t w a s p u t o n h o l d , b e c a u s e i t d id n o t h a v e t h e n e c e s ­ s a r y r e s o n a n c e i n s o c i e t y .” H e e x p l a i n e d t h i s t o m e a s w e l e a f e d t h r o u g h a b o o k le t o f a n t i- g a n g a b a te m e n t le g is la t io n fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s ( c u rfe w s , in ju n c t io n s , th e fe lo n iz a t io n o f g r a ffiti, th e lim it s o n fr e e a s s o c ia tio n , th e c r im in a liz a t io n o f g a n g m e m b e r s h ip , th e u s e o f c e ll p h o n e s b y a lle g e d g a n g m e m b e r s , a n d s o o n ) c o m p i l e d f r o m t h e N a t i o n a l Y o u t h G a n g C e n t e r ’s W e b s it e f o r t h e m i n i s t r y b y t h e N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o n P u b l i c S e c u r it y . C e r t a in ly , a s a s t u d y c o n d u c t e d b y i u d o p s u g g e s t e d , t h e r e w a s s u f f i c i e n t r e s o n a n c e in s o c i e t y b y 1 9 9 8 .32 P e r h a p s w h a t D o m i n g u e z m e a n t b y “ r e s o ­ n a n c e i n s o c i e t y ” w a s r e s o n a n c e in civil society. I n d e e d , i t w a s t h e h u m a n r i g h t s a g e n d a o f p o s t - c i v i l w a r S a l v a d o r a n c iv il s o c i e t y m o r e t h a n a n y t h i n g e ls e t h a t h a d p u t t h e b r a k e s o n z e r o - t o l e r a n c e s t r a t e g i e s — a p o i n t s t r e s s e d b y S a n d o v a l in h i s a d d r e s s t o t h a t f o r u m o n y o u t h v i o l e n c e . A s M i g u e l C r u z , t h e n d i r e c t o r o f i u d o p , e x p l a i n e d t o m e in 2 0 0 2 : “ W h a t w e h a v e in t h e p o s t ­ c iv il w a r e r a is una ensalada [a s a la d o r m ix t u r e ] o f p r o g r e s s i v e a n d r e g r e s s i v e la w s , a n i n c o h e r e n t , d i s o r d e r e d , a n d c o n t r a d i c t o r y s e t o f l a w s . ” H e n o t e d fu r th e r th a t

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o v e r t h e l a s t t h r e e y e a r s , s i n c e t h e p a s s a g e o f t h e 1 9 9 8 [ p r o g r e s s iv e ] p e n a l r e fo r m s , w e h a v e s e e n a b a c k s lid e in th o s e r e fo r m s w it h v a r io u s a m e n d ­ m e n ts . A ft e r th e w a r th e r e w a s a h u g e e ffo r t to r e fo r m , th e n c a m e th e d i s c o u r s e t h a t b e h i n d t h e l e v e l o f v i o l e n c e is t h e l i b e r t y t h a t c o m e s w i t h h u m a n r i g h t s d i s c o u r s e . S o t h e p r o g r e s s i v e s p i r i t is in d a n g e r . [ T h is b a c k ­ la s h h a d ] n o t y e t a c tu a lly a ffe c t e d y o u th . D e s p ite th e a tte m p ts to r e fo r m th e ju v e n ile o ffe n d e r la w s , th e r e h a s b e e n s t r o n g s u p p o r t fo r it e s p e c ia lly fr o m th e fa m ily tr ib u n a ls , e v e n th o u g h th e r e h a s b e e n p r e s s u r e to c r im i­ n a l i z e a ll s o r t s o f a c t i v i t i e s . T h is c o u l d c h a n g e , o f c o u r s e . T h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f E l P la n M a n o D u r a d id p r e c i s e l y t h a t . I t c h a n g e d ju v e n i le o ffe n d e r la w s to c r im in a liz e a w h o le c a te g o r y o f y o u th b e tw e e n th e a g e s o f t w e lv e a n d e i g h t e e n . M a n o D u r a a n d t h e a n t i - g a n g la w s d r e w f r o m m o d e l s l i k e t h e C a l i f o r ­ n ia S tr e e t T e r r o r is m E n fo r c e m e n t P r e v e n tio n A c t (s t e p ) a n d a n t i- lo it e r in g l a w s . 33 A s w i t h t h e a n t i - g a n g l e g i s l a t i o n in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , E l P la n M a n o D u r a w o r k e d a c t i v e ly in t h e n a m e o f p r e v e n t i o n t o b u i l d a r e c o r d a g a i n s t a n d c r im in a liz e y o u th th r o u g h p e tty in fr a c tio n s a n d h e n c e c h a n n e l y o u n g p e o p le in to th e c r im in a l ju s t ic e s y s te m b e fo r e s e r io u s c r im e s c o u ld b e c o m m itte d . T h e g o a l w a s to g e t y o u n g p e o p le in to th e s y s te m b y g iv in g la w e n fo r c e m e n t p r o b a b l e c a u s e t o a r r e s t t h e m . W h i l e m a n y o f t h e s e p r a c t i c e s w e r e a lr e a d y in e ffe c t u n d e r th e c a tc h - a ll c a te g o r y o f “ illic it a s s o c ia tio n ,” th e s u p p o r t­ in g le g is la t io n in c r e a s e d fin e s a n d p r is o n s e n te n c e f o r m in o r s , a s w e ll a s m a d e i l l i c i t a r a n g e o f a d d i t i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s p r e v i o u s l y l e g a l . T h e p la n m a d e g a n g m e m b e r s h ip i t s e lf ille g a l a n d a ls o p r o h ib it e d th e a s s o c ia tio n o f t w o o r m o r e g a n g m e m b e r s . A s w i t h t h e c a l g a n g l i s t in L o s A n g e l e s , t h e S a l v a ­ d o ra n la w h a d a v e r y b r o a d in te r p r e ta tio n o f w h a t c o n s titu te d g a n g a ffilia ­ t i o n a n d t h u s p r o b a b l e c a u s e f o r d e t a i n i n g a l l e g e d g a n g m e m b e r s . S ilv ia B e lt r á n , t h e n - d i r e c t o r o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in L o s A n g e l e s , a r g u e d t h a t E l P la n M a n o D u r a “ p r a c t ic a lly m a k e s b e in g y o u n g a n d p o o r a c r im e . . . T h e p o lic e a n d a r m y a r e t a r g e t i n g y o u t h w h o c o n g r e g a t e in p o o r c o m m u n i t i e s . ” 3 4

A Dream Deferred T h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n in 2 0 0 3 o f E l P la n M a n o D u r a w a s t h e l a s t s t r a w f o r H o m i e s U n i d o s S a n S a lv a d o r . I f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n h a d b e e n w e a k e n e d b e f o r e F l o r e s ’s a n n o u n c e m e n t , i t s t a t t o o e d p e a c e w o r k e r s w e r e c o m p l e t e l y i m m o ­ b i l i z e d a n d t h e i r a lr e a d y f r a u g h t a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h a n d o u t r e a c h t o t h e i r c o n -

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s t i t u e n c y — g a n g a n d p o o r y o u t h — w a s n o w “ i l l i c i t . ” I n d e e d , l i k e it s c o u n t e r ­ p a r t in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , u n d e r E l P la n M a n o D u r a p o l i c e o f f i c e r s m a d e n o d is t in c t io n b e tw e e n g a n g p e a c e a c tiv is ts a n d n o n a c tiv e a n d a c tiv e g a n g m e m b e r s . M o re o v e r, u n d e r c h a n g in g c o n d itio n s , in c lu d in g th e in c r e a s in g r a d ic a liz a tio n o f th e g a n g s a s a r e s u lt o f th e a ll- o u t a s s a u lt a g a in s t th e m b y t h e s t a t e , i n d i v i d u a ls w i t h i n H o m i e s U n i d o s in E l S a l v a d o r f o u n d i t i n ­ c r e a s i n g l y d i f f i c u l t t o d r a w t h a t a lr e a d y f u z z y li n e b e t w e e n t h e n g o a n d t h e g a n g . A s E l P la n M a n o D u r a p u t t h e s c r e w s o n t h e g a n g s , t h e o r g a n i z a ­ tio n c a m e u n d e r in c r e a s in g ly in te n s e p r e s s u r e fr o m th e b a r r io p o lit ic s o f th e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g , w h i c h o n l y s e r v e d t o f u r t h e r m a r g i n a l i z e t h e m f r o m c iv il s o c i e t y . B e i n g f r o m a s m a ll e r , l e s s e r - k n o w n g a n g , W e a s e l w a s p a r t i c u l a r l y v u l n e r a b le ; o n e o f t h e s t a f f m e m b e r s t h e r e t o l d m e t h a t h e h a d a lr e a d y h a d t o in t e r v e n e m o r e t h a n o n c e t o s a v e W e a s e l ’s li f e . N o t l o n g a f t e r t h e i m p l e ­ m e n t a t i o n o f E l P la n M a n o D u r a , W e a s e l t r ie d t o r e e n t e r t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s w i t h t h e h e lp o f a c o y o t e . H e w a s t u r n e d b a c k t w i c e in M e x i c o b e f o r e m a k i n g it a c r o s s th e U .S .- M e x ic o b o rd e r, b u t h e w a s q u ic k ly a p p r e h e n d e d b y th e b o r d e r p a t r o l o n t h e o t h e r s id e . W h e n h e t u r n e d u p i n t h e S a n D i e g o C o u n t y J a il in J a n u a r y 2 0 0 4 I w a s n o t e x a c t ly e x p e c t i n g h i m , b u t I w a s n o t s u r p r i s e d t h a t h e h a d t r i e d t o m a k e a r u n f o r it . W h a t e ls e c o u l d h e b e e x p e c t e d t o d o i f h e f e l t t h a t d e a t h w a s c h a s i n g h im ? I n d e e d , e v e n I w a s w a r n e d t o s t a y a w a y f r o m t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d E l S a l v a d o r in s u m m e r 2 0 0 5 w h e n I i n t e n d e d t o d o f o l l o w - u p r e s e a r c h o n E l P la n M a n o D u r a . P e o p l e in L o s A n g e l e s f e l t t h a t th e y c o u ld n o lo n g e r v o u c h fo r th e ir h o m ie s d o w n th e r e b e c a u s e th in g s h a d s p u n c o m p le t e ly o u t o f t h e ir c o n tr o l. T h e la s t tim e I h a d s e e n W e a s e l in th e U n ite d S ta te s w a s b e h in d a P le x i­ g l a s p a r t i t i o n in t h e C a l i f o r n i a C i t y C o r r e c t i o n s F a c i li t y ( o n e o f m a n y f a c i l i ­ t ie s o w n e d b y t h e g o v e r n m e n t b u t o p e r a t e d b y p r iv a t e s e c u r i t y c o m p a n i e s a n d o c c u p ie d , a c c o r d in g to W e a s e l, e x c lu s iv e ly b y “ c r im in a l d e p o r t e e s ” n o w d o i n g t i m e f o r “ i l l e g a l r e e n t r y ” ). W e a s e l h a d c o m p l e t e d h i s f o u r t e e n m o n t h s in f e d e r a l p r i s o n a n d w a s w a i t i n g t o b e t r a n s f e r r e d t o a n i n s d e t e n ­ t i o n f a c ilit y , w h e r e h e w o u l d b e p r o c e s s e d f o r d e p o r t a t i o n . ^ D e s p i t e o u r u r g ­ in g h e h a d d e c id e d n o t to fig h t h is im m ig r a t io n c a s e , b e c a u s e h e w a n t e d to b e r e u n i t e d w i t h h i s w i f e a n d w i t h h is d a u g h t e r , w h o w a s b o r n j u s t m o n t h s b e f o r e h e l e f t f o r t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , r a t h e r t h a n l a n g u i s h in a d e t e n t i o n c e n ­ te r w a itin g fo r h is c a s e to b e h e a rd . M e a n w h ile , th e L o s A n g e le s - b a s e d d ir e c to r s h ip o f H o m ie s U n id o s h a d c u t its in s t it u t io n a l tie s w it h its E l S a lv a d o r o p e r a tio n s . T h e S a lv a d o r a n b a s e d o f f i c e c h a n g e d i t s n a m e t o H o m b r e s y M u je r e s I n s e r c i ó n S o c i a l d e E l

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S a l v a d o r ( S o c ia l I n s e r t i o n f o r M e n a n d W o m e n o f E l S a lv a d o r , o r h o m i e s ) a n d fo u n d a fis c a l a g e n t th r o u g h w h ic h th e y w e r e a b le to c h a n n e l s u p p o r t in c o r t a i d (a D u t c h n g o ) . W h e n l a s t I m e t w i t h L u is E r n e s t o R o m e r o in S e p te m b e r 2 0 0 9 to r e v ie w w it h h im th e c o n t e n t s o f th e S a lv a d o r a n c h a p te r s o f t h i s b o o k , h e w a s e x p e c t i n g t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s a p p l i c a t i o n f o r n o n p r o f i t s ta tu s to c o m e th r o u g h a n y d ay. h o m i e s h a d m o v e d in t o s p a c io u s o ffic e s in a la r g e c o n d o m in iu m c o m p le x w ith a s e c u r ity g u a r d . T h e b u ild in g w a s l o c a t e d r i g h t a c r o s s f r o m a p n c s t a t i o n a n d in t h e h e a r t o f a c o m m e r c i a l d i s t r i c t . A t t h e t im e , t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n h a d s e v e n p a i d s t a f f m e m b e r s o n it s b ooks. N o n e t h e l e s s , t h e u t o p i a n p r o j e c t b e g u n a d e c a d e e a r li e r b y b r i n g i n g t o g e th e r d e p o r te d m e m b e r s o f b o th m s a n d 1 8 th S tr e e t g a n g s to s to p th e v i o l e n c e h a d a ll b u t c o m e t o a h a lt . T h e d r e a m o f a t r a n s n a t i o n a l o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n b e t w e e n L o s A n g e l e s a n d S a n S a l v a d o r c r e a t e d b y, f o r , a n d o n b e h a l f o f g a n g m e m b e r s s e e k i n g a n a lt e r n a t i v e p a t h t o v i o l e n c e a n d g l o b a l i z a t i o n h a d b e e n c r u s h e d o n m u l t i p l e f r o n t s : b y t h e s t a t e , c iv il s o c ie t y , t h e g a n g s , a n d t h e e n d u r i n g i n e q u i t i e s in c a p i t a l a n d p o w e r b e t w e e n N o r t h a n d S o u t h .

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I n E l S a l v a d o r t h r e e y e a r s a f t e r t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f E l P la n M a n o D u r a , t h e p i c t u r e w a s b l e a k . T h e h o m i c i d e r a t e in 2 0 0 6 h a d , a c c o r d i n g t o a v a i l ­ a b le s t a tis t ic s , in c r e a s e d b y 4 5 p e r c e n t s in c e th e im p le m e n t a t io n o f z e r o t o l e r a n c e p o l i c i e s in 2 0 0 3 . E v e r y o n e I c a m e i n t o c o n t a c t w i t h f e l t s t r o n g l y t h a t manodurista p o l i c i e s o r manodurismo h a d m a d e t h e i r c o m m u n i t y - b a s e d w o r k i m p o s s i b l e a n d h a d o n ly s e r v e d t o r a d i c a l i z e t h e g a n g s b y t u r n i n g t h e m i n t o m u c h m o r e s o p h i s t i c a t e d a n d n o w c l a n d e s t i n e o p e r a t i o n s . 1 T h e v i o le n c e w a s s o c r u s h i n g l y c l o s e . A s S ilv ia G u i l l e n , t h e d i r e c t o r o f F u n d a c i ó n d e E s ­ t u d i o s p a r a la A p l i c a c i ó n d e l D e r e c h o ( o r f e s p a d , a n n g o f o c u s i n g o n t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f c o n s t i t u t i o n a l la w ) , d e s c r i b e d i t t o m e — “ t h e v i o l e n c e i s in o u r f a c e e v e r y d a y n o w .” T h e r e w a s s o l i t t l e r o o m t o m a n e u v e r , a n d t h e p o l i t i c a l s p a c e s e e m e d t o b e s h u t t i n g d o w n in e v e r y d i r e c t i o n . T h e p h e n o m e n o l o g i ­ c a l e ffe c ts o f th e v io le n c e o n m y lo n g - t im e S a lv a d o r a n in fo r m a n t s , fr ie n d s , a n d c o l l e a g u e s w e r e p a lp a b le . T h e p r e s s u r e w a s r e a c h i n g u n b e a r a b l e le v e l s ,

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e v e n w i t h i n t h e r e la t i v e ly s h e l t e r e d u r b a n , p r o f e s s i o n a l m i d d l e c la s s . H y s ­ t e r ia a b o u t p o s t - c i v i l w a r v i o l e n c e w a s n o t n e w in E l S a lv a d o r , b u t t h e d i s ­ c o u r s e s e e m e d t o h a v e s h i f t e d f r o m “ i t ’s w o r s e t h a n w a r ” 2 t o “ i t l o o k s li k e t h e p r e c u r s o r t o a n o t h e r c iv il w a r ” o r “ a n o t h e r C o l o m b i a . ” B y a l l a c c o u n t s a r e n a ’s

m a n o d u r i s t a p o l i c i e s w e r e a fracaso ( d i s a s t e r ) .3

I f t h e P e a c e A c c o r d s h a d s u c c e e d e d in d e l i n k i n g t h e m i l i t a r y a n d t h e p o lic e , m a n o d u r is t a p o lic ie s e n a b le d th e ir r e c o n n e c t io n th r o u g h th e fig u r e o f t h e s o l d i e r - c o p . T h e g r e e n u n i f o r m s o f t h e a r m y a n d t h e b lu e u n i f o r m s o f t h e p o l i c e b e g a n t o b l u r i n t o s o m e t h i n g n o t u n l i k e c a m o u f l a g e . T h e s o ld i e r c o p c o n f i g u r a t i o n h a r k e n s b a c k t o a n e a r ly m o m e n t in S a l v a d o r a n h i s t o r y w h e n th e p o lic e w e r e a d iv is io n o f th e S a lv a d o r a n A r m e d F o r c e s . I n d e e d , th e p l a n ’s i n t r o d u c t i o n o f j o i n t p a t r o l s o f p o l i c e o f f i c e r s a n d o f s o l d i e r s t h r e a t ­ e n e d to b r in g th e m ilita r y b a c k in to p o litic s a n d th u s s tr e n g th e n th e h a n d o f los señores de la guerra ( t h e w a r l o r d s ) , 4 w h o s e p o w e r h a d d i m i n i s h e d c o n s i d e r ­ a b l y s i n c e t h e s i g n i n g o f t h e P e a c e A c c o r d s i n 1 9 9 2 .5 T h e f i e l d w o r k t h a t I h a d c o n d u c t e d t h r e e y e a r s e a r lie r , a s w e l l a s p r i o r t o t h a t in t h e 1 9 9 0 s , w a s n o l o n g e r f e a s i b l e . G o i n g i n t o t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d s a n d t h e p r i s o n s h a d o n ly b e c o m e i n c r e a s i n g l y d i f f i c u l t a n d d a n g e r o u s a n d r e q u ir e d c le a r a n c e n o t o n ly fr o m th e g a n g s (w h o w e r e m o r e a n d m o r e r e t i­ c e n t t o g i v e it) b u t n o w a l s o f r o m t h e p o l i c e , w h o w e r e n o t o n l y c o n s i d e r ­ a b l y m o r e m i l i t a r i z e d in t h e i r o w n t a c t i c s b u t n o w h a d t h e b a c k i n g o f t h e m ilit a r y . A f t e r m a s s i v e p r i s o n r i o t s in 2 0 0 5 , a l l n g o s h a d b e e n b a r r e d f r o m e n t e r i n g t h e p r i s o n s ( w it h a f e w e x c e p t i o n s f o r r e l i g i o u s o r g a n i z a t i o n s ) . B y 2 0 0 6 th e n g o s w e r e o n ly ju s t tr y in g to r e g a in p e r m is s io n fr o m th e p r is o n w a r d e n s and t h e g a n g s t o r e i n i t i a t e t h e i r p r o g r a m s in t h e p r i s o n s . G iv e n t h e c o n d i t i o n s i n E l S a l v a d o r a n d t h e r e t r e a t o f H o m i e s U n i d o s , I d e c i d e d t o t a k e a m o r e c a u t i o u s ( t h a t is , i n s t i t u t i o n a l l y b a c k e d ) p a t h i n t o t h e n e ig h b o r h o o d s . S o I t a g g e d a lo n g w it h th e v io le n c e p r e v e n tio n w o r k e r s a t­ ta c h e d to th e c o n s te lla tio n o f o r g a n iz a tio n s n o w fo c u s e d o n g a n g a n d c r im i­ n a l j u s t i c e i s s u e s . S e v e r a l o f t h e s e g r o u p s a n d i n d i v i d u a ls h a d w o r k e d in c o l ­ l a b o r a t i o n w i t h H o m i e s U n i d o s in t h e m id - 1 9 9 0 s , in t h o s e h e a d y d a y s w h e n h u m a n r ig h ts w e re h ig h o n th e a g e n d a a n d w h e n th e re w a s an u n p r e c e ­ d e n te d d e g r e e o f o p e n p o lit ic a l s p a c e fo r s u c h in itia tiv e s . B y 2 0 0 6 , th e s p a c e f o r s u c h in i t i a t i v e s h a d d i m i n i s h e d c o n s i d e r a b l y — a l t h o u g h P r e s i d e n t S a c a ’s r e n e w a l o f F l o r e s ’s E l P la n M a n o D u r a in t h e f o r m o f E l P la n S ú p e r M a n o D u r a i n c l u d e d t w o c o n c e s s i o n s t o c iv il s o c i e t y ’s c r i t i q u e o f t h e f o r m e r ’s s o l e f o c u s o n r e p r e s s i o n . E l P la n S ú p e r M a n o D u r a , s o m e w h a t i r o n i c a l l y

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g i v e n i t s n a m e , n o w i n c l u d e d a p la n f o r v i o l e n c e p r e v e n t i o n , M a n o A m i g a ( F r ie n d ly H a n d ) , a n d a p la n f o r g a n g r e h a b i l i t a t i o n , M a n o E x t e n d i d a ( E x ­ t e n d e d H a n d ) , a n d t h e c r e a t i o n o f L a S e c r e t a r í a d e J u v e n t u d ( S e c r e t a r ia t o f Y o u th ) to o v e r s e e th e c o o r d in a t io n o f s u c h in itia tiv e s . It w a s th e s e s o r ts o f in itia tiv e s th a t th e y o u th b e h in d L a L e y d e J u v e n tu d a n d t h e n - p r e s id e n t o f th e N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l f o r P u b l i c S e c u r i t y ( c n s p ), S a l v a d o r S a m a y o a , h a d c a l l e d f o r a t t h e c o n f e r e n c e o n y o u t h v i o l e n c e in 2 0 0 2 d i s c u s s e d in c h a p t e r 5 . G iv e n th e v a s tly u n e q u a l d is t r ib u t io n o f fu n d s a n d th e n u m b e r o f y o u th im p a c te d , th e la tte r t w o p r o g r a m s a p p e a r e d a s m e r e w in d o w d r e s s in g . I n ­ d e e d , th e S e c r e ta r ia t o f Y o u th h a d n o a u to n o m y fr o m th e p r e s id e n t, a n d it w a s f o c u s e d o n ly o n v io le n c e p r e v e n tio n r a th e r th a n o n in te r v e n tio n . M o r e ­ o v er, d e s p ite th e a d d it io n o f M a n o E x te n d id a it w a s e v id e n t th a t th e r e w a s s t ill m u c h m o r e e ffo r t a n d m o n e y b e in g d e v o te d to re p r e s s iv e m e a s u r e s . W h e r e a s o v e r t h e f i r s t t w o y e a r s o f it s i m p l e m e t a t i o n M a n o E x t e n d i d a h a d r e a c h e d a b o u t th ir ty -fiv e g a n g m e m b e r s , b e t w e e n M a n o D u r a a n d M a n o S ú p e r D u r a th ir ty t h o u s a n d y o u th a c c u s e d o f b e in g g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e a r ­ r e s t e d b e t w e e n J u ly 2 0 0 3 a n d J u ly 2 0 0 5 .6 T h e o r g a n iz a t io n s c h a r g e d w it h th e im p le m e n t a t io n o f th e s e p r o g r a m s s p o k e a s i f t h e y w e r e u n d e r s i e g e in m u c h t h e s a m e w a y t h a t H o m i e s U n i d o s h a d b e e n t h r e e y e a r s e a r lie r . I n f a c t , I w a s i m m e d i a t e l y s t r u c k w i t h h o w t h e s e o r g a n i z a t i o n s w e r e n o w n a v i g a t i n g t h e s a m e t h o r n y t e r r a in a s h a d H o m i e s U n i d o s , a n d i n s o m e c a s e s c r o s s i n g t h e s a m e b lu r r e d b o u n d a r i e s a s t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n h a d p r e v io u s ly . B e a r in m i n d t h a t a ll o f t h e s e g r o u p s h a d s t a r t e d t o d i s t a n c e t h e m s e lv e s f r o m H o m i e s U n i d o s p r e c i s e l y b e c a u s e o f t h is s a m e d i f f i c u l t y in d r a w i n g t h e l i n e b e t w e e n t h e i r p r o g r a m a c t i v i t i e s a n d t h e a c tiv itie s o f th e g a n g . Y e t d e s p ite th e ir s ta tu s a s g o v e r n m e n t - a n d c h u r c h s p o n s o r e d p r o g r a m s , th e s e g r o u p s n o w fo u n d th e m s e lv e s , lik e H o m ie s U n id o s , s q u e e z e d b e tw e e n th e p o lic e a n d th e g a n g s . T h e e x p e r i e n c e o f P r o - J ó v e n e s is a c a s e in p o i n t . P r o - J ó v e n e s w a s a t e m p o ­ r a r y p r o je c t o f th e E u r o p e a n U n io n w it h a m a n d a te to s tr e n g th e n a n d to p r o ­ v id e t e c h n i c a l s u p p o r t t o t h e p r o g r a m s o f S a l v a d o r a n g o v e r n m e n t e n t i t i e s s u c h a s th e c n s p a n d th e S e c r e ta r ia t o f Y o u th . W h e n I e x p la in e d to L is e tte M ir a n d a , th e n d ir e c t o r o f P ro -J ó v e n e s, th a t I w a n t e d to s e e th e im p a c t o f m a n o d u r is ta p o lic ie s o n th e g r o u n d , s h e s u g g e s te d I f o llo w h e r r e h a b ilita ­ t i o n t e a m i n t o t h e f i e ld , s t a r t i n g w i t h t h e i r p r o j e c t s in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d a n d h o u s in g p r o je c ts o f L a i v u ( In s titu to d e V iv ie n d a U r b a n a ), w h e r e th e r e w a s a v e r y s t r o n g c l i k a o f t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g . A s M i r a n d a e x p la i n e d :

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W e ’ r e t h e r e w i t h t h e S e c r e t a r i a t o f Y o u t h e x p e r i m e n t i n g w i t h a s m a ll b u s i ­ n e s s p r o j e c t . . . t h a t c a n p r o v i d e a n [ a lt e r n a t iv e ] e v e r y d a y s p a c e f o r t h e g u y s . S o w e ’re n o w w o r k in g w it h t w e n t y - t w o y o u th fr o m 1 8 th S tr e e t in a b a k e r y . T h e y ’ v e b e e n t h r o u g h f o u r m o n t h s o f t r a i n i n g in b r e a d m a k i n g , a n d n o w th e y ’re e n te r in g th e p r o fit- m a k in g p h a s e . T h is w o r k w i t h t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t c l i q u e in L a i v u is a l l o w i n g u s t o d o w o r k i n s i d e t h e s c h o o l s . L a s t y e a r t h e r e w a s a 2 5 p e r c e n t r e d u c t i o n in s tu d e n t e n r o llm e n t [an d ] . . . th e s c h o o l w a s th e ir r e c r u itm e n t c e n te r. S o a l a r g e p a r t o f t h e s c h o o l p o p u l a t i o n w e n t o v e r t o t h e o t h e r s id e [ t h e g a n g ] . W h a t w e ’ r e t r y i n g t o d o n o w is t o e n s u r e t h a t t h e c h i l d r e n w h o a r e in k i n d e r g a r t e n p a s s i n t o t h e n e x t p h a s e o f e d u c a t i o n , a n d t h o s e in s ix t h g r a d e p a s s o n to s e v e n th g r a d e , e t c e te r a . . . S o w e ’re in v e s t in g c o n s id e r ­ a b l y in i n f r a s t r u c t u r e . W e ’v e r e c u p e r a t e d a l l t h e s p o r t s a r e a s . . . a n d w e ’ re in v o lv e d in c o m m u n i t y w o r k a ll a r o u n d , b u t i t ’s a l s o b e c a u s e t h e g a n g is le ttin g u s. T h e in t e n t io n b e h in d th e r e h a b ilit a t io n p r o je c t w a s n o t s im p ly to k e e p g a n g m e m b e r s o c c u p i e d w i t h a l t e r n a t i v e i n c o m e - g e n e r a t i n g p r o j e c t s b u t a ls o , M i r a n d a e x p la i n e d , “ t o e x p lo r e h o w t h e y m i g h t a l l o w u s t o d o o u r p r e v e n ­ t i o n p r o g r a m s in p r i m a r y s c h o o l s , t h a t is , [ w e h a v e to ] n e g o t i a t e [ w it h t h e g a n g to g e t in t o th e c o m m u n it ie s ] .” S o I m a d e p la n s to v is it L a i v u w it h D e n o r a , a fo r m e r g a n g m e m b e r w h o a f t e r g o i n g t h r o u g h a r e h a b i l i t a t i o n p r o g r a m h e r s e l f in 1 9 9 6 h a d b e e n w o r k ­ in g e v e r s in c e fo r r e h a b ilita tio n p r o g r a m s o f o n e s o r t o r a n o th e r. D e n o r a j o i n e d h e r g a n g in t h e e a r ly 1 9 9 0 s w h e n t h r e e d e p o r t e e s f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s f o r m e d a c li q u e in h e r b a r r io . A s s h e e x p la i n s , a ll t h r e e o f t h e d e p o r ­ t e e s a r e n o w d e a d . I n f a c t , o f a l l t h e k i d s w h o h a d j u m p e d in w h e n s h e w a s in i t i a t e d , s h e t e lls m e , “ e v e r y s i n g l e o n e o f t h e m ” is n o w d e a d . “ T h e r e ’s n o t o n e le f t , e x c e p t m e a n d o n e [ g u y ] w h o w a s s e n t e n c e d t o p r i s o n f o r t h i r t y y e a r s . O f s ix t y , o n l y t w o o f u s a r e s t i l l l i v i n g . ” I h a d b e e n to L a i v u s e v e r a l tim e s w it h a c o m m u n it y o r g a n iz e r fr o m c n s p in 2 0 0 3 w h e n t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n w a s j u s t s t a r t i n g t o w o r k w i t h t h a t c o m m u ­ n it y . M y m o s t v iv id m e m o r i e s o f t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d w e r e o f t h e b a s k e t b a l l c o u r t th a t a ls o s e rv e d a s a s o c c e r fie ld a n d o f th e g la r e o f th e s p o tlig h ts th a t d r e n c h e d t h e f i e l d a t n i g h t . A t t h a t t im e , t h e c o m m u n i t y c o u n c i l w a s h a v i n g d iffic u lty m e e t in g th e c o s t s o f th e r e s u lt in g e le c t r ic b ills . T h e s e s p o r ts a re n a s h a d b e c o m e t h e t r a d e m a r k a n d t h e p r o u d c e n t e r p i e c e s o f c n s p ’s v i o l e n c e p r e v e n t i o n p r o j e c t s . T h e ir s t a f f w o u l d g i v e t o u r s f o r d e l e g a t i o n s o f d i g n i -

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ta r ie s a n d fu n d e r s fr o m th e E u r o p e a n U n io n to s e e th e s e je w e ls , a n d th e v i s i t o r s w o u l d e x c la i m , “ E v e n E u r o p e d o e s n ’ t h a v e c o u r t s l i k e t h i s ! ” W h e n D e n o r a a n d I p u l l e d u p t o t h a t m u c h - t o u t e d c n s p s p o r t s f i e l d in m y r e n t a l c a r , t h e r e w a s a j o i n t p a t r o l o f a r m e d s o l d i e r s in g r e e n a n d p o l i c e in b lu e w a l k i n g a w a y f r o m t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d . I h a d n o t s e e n t h e m i l i t a r y i n t h e s t r e e t s o f S a n S a l v a d o r s i n c e m y f i r s t t r ip t o t h e c o u n t r y d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r . M y s h o c k o f r e c o g n it io n — th is w a s w h a t th e r e m ilit a r iz a t io n o f th e la n d ­ s c a p e l o o k e d l i k e d — w a s m e t w i t h D e n o r a ’s s h r u g g i n g i t o f f a s a v i s u a l i c o n o f e v e r y d a y l i f e n o w t a k e n f o r g r a n t e d in n e i g h b o r h o o d s s u c h a s L a i v u .

The Soldier Cop D e n o r a a n d I p a s s e d th e s t a lls o f s t r e e t v e n d o r s a n d c r o s s e d th e s t r e e t to c lim b u p a s te e p fli g h t o f c e m e n t s ta ir s to th e to p o f a s h o r t h ill. T h e s te p s e m p tie d o u t in t o a p a s s a g e w a y le a d in g to a s e r ie s o f t w o - s to r y c e m e n t a p a r t ­ m e n t c o m p le x e s . W e w e r e h e a d e d f o r th e b a k e ry . B e fo r e w e r e a c h e d th e a p a r tm e n t w h e r e th e b a k e r y w a s h o u s e d , w e w e r e s to p p e d a n d c a lle d to o n e s id e b y t h e b a k e r , S o n ia , w h o w a s t h e p r o j e c t c o o r d i n a t o r . S h e h a d d e c id e d n o t to o p e n th e b a k e r y th a t m o r n in g b e c a u s e th e p o lic e a n d th e m ilita r y ( m o s t lik e ly th e s a m e g r o u p w e h a d ju s t s e e n le a v in g th e b a r r io o n th e s tr e e t b e lo w ) h a d c o m e u p i n t o t h e a p a r t m e n t c o m p l e x h o u s i n g t h e b a k e r y l o o k ­ i n g f o r “ g a n g m e m b e r s .” A p p a r e n t ly , o v e r t h e l a s t w e e k t h e p o l i c e b a c k e d b y t h e m i l i t a r y h a d b e e n s t e p p i n g u p s u r v e i l l a n c e in t h i s c o m p l e x b y d e t a i n i n g th e p r o g r a m p a r tic ip a n ts a s th e y c a m e a n d w e n t fr o m th e b a k e r y t o w a s h th e p a n s o r t o le a v e t h e m o u t t o d r y . I n t a l k i n g w i t h m e a b o u t t o d a y ’s i n c i d e n t , S o n i a e x p la i n e d : S : T o d a y in t h e m o r n i n g , I w a s w a i t i n g f o r t h e g u y s , a n d t h e y n e v e r a p ­ p e a r e d . . . I r e a liz e d th e y [th e p o lic e ] w e r e h e r e . . . th r e e s ta tio n e d th e re , a n d tw o h e re . T h e o th e r s , I d id n ’t se e , b u t a fte r w a r d s th e g u y s to ld m e th a t th e y w e r e p o s te d a ll a r o u n d h e re . E : B e f o r e y o u w e r e d i s t i n g u i s h i n g b e t w e e n t h o s e in b lu e [ p o li c e ] a n d t h o s e in g r e e n [ s o ld ie r s ] . . . [ S h e o n l y s a w “ t h o s e in b l u e ” t h i s t im e , w h o k e p t c o m i n g in a n d o u t o f h id in g .] S : L o o k , t h e y [ t h e p o l i c e a n d s o ld i e r s ] a r e o f t e n a r o u n d h e r e , b u t t h is w a s v e r y s t r a n g e b e c a u s e i t w a s n ’ t a n o r m a l p a t r o l, r a t h e r t h e y w e r e m o n i t o r i n g t h e b a k e r y . A n d s o s h e [ p o i n t i n g t o a n o t h e r w o m a n ] s a id ,

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“ L e t ’s g o s e e w h a t t h e y ’ r e g o i n g t o d o .” S o w e w e n t o v e r t h e r e , a n d a w o m a n t o l d u s , “ T h e y ’v e g o n e . ” “ O h t h e y ’ v e g o n e ? ” “ Y e s , b u t li s t e n , t h o s e in g r e e n [ t h e s o l d i e r s ] , ” s h e s a id t o m e , “ h a d b e e n s t a t i o n e d h e r e a n d w e r e w a lk in g a r o u n d h e re , a n d it w a s n ’t ju s t th re e , it w a s m u c h m o r e ,” s h e s a i d t o m e . A n d w h e n t h e y l e f t [ w e n t d o w n t h e s t a ir s ] s h e s a i d t h a t t h e y s a id t o t h e o t h e r s , “ L e t ’s g o ! ” I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e y w e r e n ’ t p a t r o l l i n g , r a t h e r th e y h a d c o m e f o r th e m [th e p r o g r a m p a r tic ip a n ts ] . A n d b e c a u s e o f t h i s , b e f o r e a n y t h i n g e ls e c o u l d h a p p e n , I d e c i d e d “ b e t t e r n o t t o m a k e b r e a d t o d a y ,” a n d s o I c l o s e d t h e b a k e r y . . . W h y w o u l d I o p e n t h e b a k ­ e r y i f t h e y ’re [th e p o lic e are] g o in g to h id e th e re ? D e n o r a s u g g e s t s th a t n o w th a t th e p o lic e h a v e le ft I s h o u ld s e e th e b a k ­ e ry . O n t h e w a y w e p a s s a y o u n g m a n , A r t u r o , w h o h a d j u s t c o m e o u t f r o m h i d i n g . H e w a s a p a r t i c i p a n t in t h e b a k e r y p r o j e c t . A r t u r o h a d b e e n d e p o r t e d fr o m T e x a s a b o u t a y e a r a g o . H e h a d a lr e a d y s u ffe r e d fr o m m u lt ip le g u n w o u n d s , s p e n t t i m e in t h e bartolinas ( “ l i k e c o u n t y j a i l s o v e r t h e r e [ in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ] ” ) f o r i l l i c i t a s s o c i a t i o n , a n d w a s l y i n g l o w in L a i v u d e s p it e t h e f a c t t h a t h i s f a m i l y w a s f r o m a n o t h e r b a r r io . H e s a id t h a t t h e b a k e r y p r o je c t “ k e p t h im o f f th e s tr e e t,” b u t h e s a w it a s a h o b b y , n o t a s a n e c o n o m ic o p t io n .7 H e w a s a im in g f o r jo b s th a t c o u ld m a k e u s e o f h is b ilin g u a l a b ili­ t ie s . H e l i s t e d t h e l i t a n y o f t r a n s n a t i o n a l e n t e r p r i s e s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h g l o b a l ­ i z a t i o n in E l S a lv a d o r : D e l l c o m p u t e r , F e d e r a l E x p r e s s , c a l l c e n t e r s , a n d s o o n .8 H e s e e m e d o p t im is t ic , s a y in g th a t D e ll ju s t n e e d e d a c o p y o f h is c r im i­ n a l b a c k g r o u n d . I d id n ’ t s a y it o u t lo u d , b u t I t h o u g h t to m y s e lf th a t s u c h d o c u m e n t a t i o n w a s m o r e l i k e l y t o u n d o t h e d e a l t h a n t o c l o s e it . I f i g u r e d h e k n e w a s m u c h , s i n c e h e h a d n ’ t f o l l o w e d u p w i t h t h e p a p e r w o r k . B u t r e a lly , h e s a id , h e p l a n n e d t o g o b a c k t o t h e S t a t e s “ n o m a t t e r w h a t h a p p e n s .” D e n o r a a n d I g o w it h S o n ia to s e e th e b a k e ry . A s S o n ia s p e a k s a b o u t h e r p e d a g o g i c a l a p p r o a c h t o M a n o E x t e n d id a , a n o t h e r o n e o f t h e p r o g r a m p a r t i c i p a n t s , P e p e , s h o w s u p . B e a r i n g a ll t h e “ p h e n o t y p i c a l ” a n d e x p r e s s iv e c h a r a c t e r is t ic s o f a “g a n g m e m b e r ” a s p r o s c r ib e d b y M a n o D u r a (ta tto o s , s h a v e d h e a d , a n d b a g g y p a n t s f a l l i n g b e l o w h i s b o x e r s ) , P e p e is c l e a r l y a p r im e ta r g e t fo r th e p o lic e . P: T o d a y w e w o n ’ t b e m a k i n g b r e a d , r i g h t ? T h a t ’s r o u g h , m a n ! T h e y ’ r e a lw a y s r o b b i n g u s o f o u r t r a n q u ilit y . W e c a n ’ t w i n e i t h e r w a y . E: Y e a h , w e c a m e h e r e t o o b s e r v e t h e b a k e r y in o p e r a t i o n .

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p : O n l y G o d k n o w s i f i t ’s g o i n g t o b e l i k e t h is , t h e w a y w e p l a n n e d t o d a y o r to m o rro w . . . E: W h a t w e r e y o u g o in g to d o to d a y ? P: T o d a y w e w e r e g o i n g m a k e a f r u i t t a r t . . . W h a t a p it y ! T h e y s t a r t t o t a l k o n c e a g a i n a b o u t h o w t h e g u y s p a r t i c i p a t i n g in t h e p r o ­ g r a m a r e a lw a y s d e a l i n g w i t h b e i n g d e t a i n e d b y t h e p n c . W h a t f o l l o w s is a r e c o u n t i n g o f i n c i d e n t a f t e r i n c i d e n t o f b e i n g d e t a in e d , a r r e s t e d , h a r a s s e d , a n d s o o n . T h e t w o w o m e n c h i m e in , r e m i n d i n g h i m o f s t i l l m o r e i n c i d e n t s . B: A n d o n t h a t d a y , t h e y c a p t u r e d y o u a g a i n . p : T h e f o l l o w i n g d a y I w e n t o u t , t h e y c a p t u r e d m e a g a in . B : H e w a s h a v in g lu n c h . . . D : A n d th e o t h e r o n e to o , th e y w e r e g o in g to ta k e h im a w a y fr o m h is o w n b u s in e s s . H e w a s c o o k in g , p e e lin g v e g e ta b le s to m a k e a s o u p . p : . . . m e w it h a c h o c o la t e m ilk a n d t w o b r e a d r o lls . A n d t h e y c a m e u p to m e a s i f I w a s r o b b i n g a c a r . . . “ C o m e h e r e r i g h t n o w ,” h e s a i d t o m e . H e t o o k m e u p th e s ta ir s . . . ju s t fo r b e in g th e re . B : T h e y h e ld y o u fo r h o w m a n y d ay s? P: A b o u t f o u r d a y s . P o r la agrupación [ i l l i c i t g a t h e r i n g ] t h e y s a id . B: B u t t h e y t a k e , l e t ’s sa y , t h e y t a k e o n e f r o m h e r e a n d a n o t h e r f r o m th e r e , a n d th e y c ite th e m f o r illic it a s s o c ia tio n . E: O h , so th e y w e re n ’ t to g e th e r w h e n th e y w e re ca p tu re d ? B : N o . H e w a s d r i n k i n g h i s c h o c o l a t e m i l k [ l a u g h i n g a t t h e a b s u r d it y ] t h e r e , a n d t h e o t h e r o n e w a s [ w o r k i n g ] in h i s b u s i n e s s . p : T h e o t h e r o n e w a s ta k in g c a r e o f h is b u s in e s s , p e e lin g v e g e ta b le s . T h e s e d is r u p tio n s b y th e p o lic e w e r e p a r tic u la r ly d is c o n c e r t in g g iv e n th a t P r o - J ó v e n e s h a d a lr e a d y r e a c h e d a n a c c o r d w i t h t h e p o l i c e t o i m p l e m e n t t h e b a k e r y p r o j e c t . T h e p o l i c e h a d a g r e e d t o h e lp w i t h t h e p r o j e c t , a n d t o g i v e t h e i r o w n v i o l e n c e p r e v e n t i o n w o r k s h o p o n c e a w e e k . D e n o r a a n d S o n ia b e g a n to r e c o u n t a n o t h e r in c id e n t w it h th e p o lic e , th is tim e a t a w a k e o f “ a

compañero ( fr ie n d ) o f t h e g u y s f r o m a n o t h e r b a r r i o b u t a l s o f r o m t h e [ s a m e ] g a n g .” O n th e m o r n in g b e fo r e th e w a k e , th e p o lic e h a d a tte n d e d a n e ig h b o r ­ h o o d m e e t i n g f o r t h e f i r s t t im e . W h e n t h e m e e t i n g w a s o v e r , o n e o f t h e g u y s s p o k e t o t h e d e p u t y in s p e c t o r , a s k i n g i f t h e p o l i c e c o u l d a c c o m p a n y t h e m t o th e z o n e w h e r e th e w a k e w o u ld b e h e ld s o th a t th e y w o u ld n o t b e s t o p p e d b y p o l i c e o n t h e w a y . A p p a r e n t ly , t h e p n c d e p u t y i n s p e c t o r a g r e e d t o p r o v id e th e y o u th w ith p o lic e p r o te c tio n e n ro u te .

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S: T h e y [a sk e d ] m e : “ S e ñ o ra , d o y o u th in k w e c o u ld m a k e m o r e b re a d q u i c k l y t o t a k e t o t h e w a k e . . .” T h e d e p u t y i n s p e c t o r [ h a d ] s a i d o k a y , y e s t h e y c o u l d g o . “ T e ll u s t h e n u m b e r o f y o u th g o in g , th e m ic r o b u s th a t y o u ’re g o in g to g o in ,” h e s a id . “ G iv e u s t h e l i c e n s e p la t e n u m b e r a n d t h e a d d r e s s o f w h e r e y o u ’ r e g o i n g t o b e , a n d g o in p e a c e / c a lm ly .” D e n o ra ta k e s o v e r r e c o u n tin g th e sto ry : D: F r o m t h e r e t h e y l e f t f o r t h e w a k e . . . a t t h e b e g i n n i n g w h e n t h e y a r ­ r iv e d t h e y e x p l a i n e d [ w h a t t h e y w e r e d o i n g t h e r e ] a n d t h e y [ t h e p o l ic e ] d id n ’ t s a y a n y t h in g , a s I u n d e r s ta n d it a c c o r d in g to t h e m . . . T h e y [th e p o l i c e ] s a i d t h a t t h e y m i g h t c o m e , b u t t h e y w e r e o n ly g o i n g t o m o n i t o r t h e m . . . [ a n d ] t h e y w o u l d . . . le a v e t h e m i n p e a c e . S o t h e y a r r iv e d a t th e w a k e c o n te n t, w it h th e u n d e r s ta n d in g th a t th e y h a d a u th o r iz a tio n [ t o b e t h e r e ] . . . a n d a l s o a c c e p t i n g t h e b a c k i n g o f t h e [ p o li c e ] . . . B: T h e o t h e r [ t h in g ] is , t h e s e k i n d s o f t h i n g s g o o n l a t e i n t o t h e n i g h t . . . D: A r o u n d t e n o r e le v e n a t n i g h t , t h e p o l i c e f r o m t h e a n t i - r i o t d iv is io n c a m e a n d s ta r te d m is t r e a t in g e v e r y o n e . . . T h e y w e r e h e ld f o r fo u r h o u r s in t h e s t r e e t , e v e r y o n e , t h e y e v e n t o o k o u t t h e c o r p s e a n d r e g ­ i s t e r e d it , o u t o f t h e c o f f i n t h e y t o o k h i m , y e s , t h e d e a d m a n . . . T h e y t h r e w o u t th e flo w e r s , th e y m is t r e a t e d c h ild r e n w h o w e r e th e r e [a n d th e ] w o m e n . . . w h o w e r e t h e r e s h a r i n g t h e g r i e f o f t h e f a m i l y o f t h e y o u n g m a n . T h e y h a d p a s s e d fo u r h o u r s h e ld lik e th a t . . . in th e s tre e t. T h ey b e a t th e m . o k , s o o n e c a m e b a c k w ith sc ra p e s e v e ry w h e re , a n d w i t h s w e l l i n g a n d b r u i s e s , a n d o n e w a s b e a t e n w i t h a r if le . . . a n d a n o t h e r o n e o f t h e k i d s , a s i x t e e n y e a r o ld , h a d p e p p e r g a s s p r a y e d i n t o h i s f a c e , a ll o v e r h i s f a c e . . . A f t e r b e a t i n g t h e m u p l i k e t h i s t h e y t o o k th e m in t o th e p n c s t a tio n [a n d ] th e y w e r e th e r e f o r th r e e d a y s: W e d n e s d a y u n til S a tu rd a y. I f th e d ir e c t o r o f th e S e c r e ta r ia t o f Y o u th h a d n ’ t in te r v e n e d a n d a s k e d fo r a s p e c ia l h e a r in g th e y w o u ld h a v e r e m a in e d th e r e u n til M o n ­ d ay. A n d th e y [th e p o lic e ] t o o k th e ir e a r r in g s , n e c k la c e s , c e ll p h o n e s , d o c u m e n t s , a n d t h e i r b a k e r y i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s ( w h ic h g i v e s t h e m o f f i c i a l p e r m i s s i o n t o b e p a r t i c i p a t i n g in t h e p r o g r a m — b u t t h e p n c d o e s n ’ t r e s p e c t t h is ) . p : Y e a h . . . a ll o f u s w e r e t o g e t h e r l o o k i n g a t t h e c o r p s e o f o u r f r i e n d th a t th e o t h e r g a n g k ille d . A n d s o , th e y t o o k e v e r y o n e o u t, “ G e t o u t

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e v e r y o n e ! H u r r y ! ” a n d s o w e a ll w e n t o u t s i d e . . . “ T h is o n e ’s a lr e a d y g o n e t o t h e d e v il,” t h e y [ t h e p o l i c e s a id ] s a id p o i n t i n g t o t h e d e c e a s e d . T h e n th e y h a n d c u f fe d e v e r y o n e , w it h o u r le g s lik e th is . . . B u t w e ’re n o t d o in g a n y th in g . W e ’re a t a w a k e . W h y w o u ld w e m a k e tr o u b le a t a w a k e , e s p e c ia lly a t o n e o f a fr ie n d fr o m th e s a m e g a n g ? H o w a re w e g o i n g t o m e s s w i t h t h e w a k e o f s o m e o n e w h o is b e i n g h o n o r e d , l i k e a fr ie n d , lik e s o m e o n e fr o m th e fa m ily . . . o n e c o u ld say? N o , m a n . T h is is n o t j u s t , i f y o u u n d e r s t a n d m e . . . T h e y s h o u l d t a k e m e in f o r w h a t I h a v e d o n e , n o t f o r s o m e t h i n g s o m e o n e e ls e h a s d o n e [ t h a t i s , t h e o t h e r g a n g in t h e c a s e ] . B u t t h i s is h o w t h e p o l i c e h e r e [a r e ] . . . T h e y a r e p o l i c e li k e , h o w c a n I s a y it? T h e y ’ r e c o r r u p t p o l i c e . . . A ll h u m a n b e in g s d e s e r v e a n o t h e r o p p o r tu n ity . . . n o m a tte r w h o t h e y a r e , b e c a u s e e l S e ñ o r J e s u s C r i s t o . . . c a m e t o d ie h e r e s o t h a t w e c o u l d a l l liv e . Y o u u n d e r s t a n d ? S o , w e a l s o a r e h u m a n b e i n g s . W e a ls o h a v e th e r ig h t to a n o p p o r tu n ity th a t h e g a v e u s. D o n ’ t y o u th in k so? T h e d i f f e r e n c e is t h a t w e g o a r o u n d w i t h t a t t o o s . B u t t h i s is o u r t h i n g . I t ’s n o t h i n g . I t d o e s n ’ t h u r t a n y o n e , n o r is i t o f f e n s i v e . T h is n o t i n t e n d e d t o o f f e n d . I t ’s s o m e t h i n g t h a t i s . . . y o u u n d e r s t a n d . . . s o m e th in g o f o u r s , p a r t ic u la r to u s . H o w a m I g o i n g to te ll y o u [h e s a y s , p o i n t i n g t o m y j e a n s ] n o t t o w e a r p a n t s ? I t ’s y o u r t h i n g . I f y o u fe e l g o o d th is w a y , I c a n ’ t d e m a n d th a t y o u c h a n g e th is w a y o f b e in g . M a y b e th is is s o m e th in g e l S e ñ o r c a n d e m a n d , b e c a u s e h e m a d e y o u . H e cre a ted you . N o t e v e n o u r m o t h e r s t e ll u s t h i n g s l i k e t h e s e “ d e e p ly e s t e e m e d ” p o lic e . N o t e v e n o u r m o th e r s c a re [a b o u t h o w w e d re s s ]. E: S o y o u c a n ’ t g o o u t ? P: N o , I c a n ’ t g o o u t s a f e l y f r o m

h e r e to th e r e (h e p o in ts d o w n th e

h u n d r e d -y a r d p a s s a g e le a d in g to th e s tr e e t). E: S o w h a t c a n y o u d o ? P: N o t h i n g , e x c e p t g o a r o u n d w i t h g r e a t h u m ilit y , r e s p e c t i n g , n o t t h e m , b e c a u s e i f w e h a d g u n s w e ’ d h a v e k i l l e d t h e m a lr e a d y . W e ’ r e n o t s c a r e d o f t h e m . T h e y ’ r e h u m a n s t o o , w h o c a n h a v e t h e i r l iv e s t a k e n a w a y . T h e d i f f e r e n c e is t h e r e s p e c t t h a t [ a c c r u e s to ] t h e u n i f o r m t h e y w e a r , n o t th e p e o p le . N o w a y , m a n ! R e s p e c t in g th e u n ifo r m [ o f th o s e w h o are] s u p p o s e d ly , o r s o t h e y sa y , g u a r d i n g t h e p e o p l e ’s s e c u r i t y a n d s o c i a l o r d e r . T h is is s o m e t h i n g y o u c a n r e s p e c t . I t ’s g o o d t o g u a r d t h e s e c u ­ r i t y o f a p e r s o n , t h e p e o p l e , l i k e t h e k i n d o f p e o p l e w h o liv e h e r e . . . S o

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w e r e s p e c t th e u n ifo r m , rig h t? F o r its w o r k . B u t w h e n th e p o lic e c o m e a n d s ta rt to b e a t s o m e o n e . . . W h a t r ig h t d o e s h e h a v e to b e a t s o m e ­ o n e ? S i m p l y b e c a u s e h e ’s a n a u t h o r it y ? E : S o h o w d o y o u m a n a g e t o liv e h e r e ? P: W e liv e h e r e b e c a u s e G o d is g r e a t , I w o u l d s a y . I f w e d i d n ’ t h a v e f a i t h a n d c o n f i d e n c e in t h e L o r d J e s u s C h r i s t . . . E : S o i t ’s l i k e b e i n g i m p r i s o n e d in y o u r h o u s e ? p : Y e s . B u t i t ’s d i f f e r e n t h e r e . T h e r e ’ r e w o m e n h e r e [ t h e w o m e n l a u g h u p ­ r o a r io u s ly ] . . . w o m e n ! ! ! ! I n p r i s o n t h e r e ’ r e o n ly m e n , a n d t o w a k e u p o n l y t o l o o k a t t h e f a c e s o f m e n . . . n o ! T h a t ’s t h e d if f e r e n c e ! T h e n P e p e b e g in s to r e m in is c e a b o u t th e o ld d a y s, b o a s tin g o f h is c o n q u e s t s — t h e f t , s t a b b i n g s , a n d s o o n . H is p o s t u r i n g d id n o t s u r p r i s e m e , b u t I w a s t a k e n a b a c k w h e n b o t h w o m e n l a u g h e d in c o n c e r t w i t h h i m . D i d t h e y t r u ly f i n d t h i s f u n n y ? D i d t h e y f e e l p r e s s u r e d t o p l a y a l o n g w i t h h im ? W e r e t h e y a f r a i d t o s h o w d is a p p r o v a l ? F in a lly , D e n o r a r e t u r n e d t o t a l k i n g a b o u t th e p r o g r a m . D: W e c o n v e n e d a n o t h e r m e e t i n g a f t e r t h i s i n c i d e n t a n d t h e p o l i c e d i d n ’ t s h o w u p . W e m e e t e v e r y fift e e n d a y s w it h a ll th e c o m m u n it y a c to r s . . . th e r e w a s a r e p r e s e n ta tiv e o f th e g a n g th e r e w h o h e a r d e v e r y t h in g t h a t t h e y [ t h e p o l i c e ] s a i d t h e y w e r e g o i n g t o o f f e r , a n d in t h e e n d i t d i d n ’ t t u r n o u t t o b e t h e w a y t h e y s a i d i t w a s g o i n g t o b e in t h i s m e e t ­ i n g . A n d s o w h a t w e [ S e c r e t a r í a d e la J u v e n t u d a n d P r o - J ó v e n e s ] a r e d o i n g is s e n d i n g a l e t t e r t o t h e s u b c o m m i s s i o n e r w h o g a v e t h e w o r k ­ s h o p , w h o a p p r o a c h e d u s , w h o e x p la in e d w h a t w a s th e p r o c e s s . . . T h e i d e a o f t h e p r o j e c t is t o le a v e t h e m w i t h a s m a l l b u s i n e s s in t h e c o m m u n ity . S : L o o k , f o r e x a m p le , t h e $ 1 4 0 w h i c h w e h a d , t h a t w e h a d c o l l e c t e d in t h e s e s e v e n d a y s . . . w a s [in t h e e n d u s e d ] t o m a i n t a i n t h e g u y s a n d t o g i v e t h e m f o o d t h e t h r e e d a y s t h a t t h e y w e r e t h e r e , in t h e c o u n t y ja il! A c c o r d i n g t o S o n i a a n d D e n o r a , t h e a u t h o r i t i e s d o n o t p r o v i d e f o o d in t h e s e h o l d i n g f a c i l i t i e s . F a m i li e s a n d f r i e n d s a r e e x p e c t e d t o b r i n g f o o d t o th e in m a te s . “ S o w h a t th e y h a d m a n a g e d to sa v e w a s u s e d to m a in ta in t h e m ­ s e lv e s w h i l e i m p r i s o n e d . T h e l e t t e r [ t h a t w a s s e n t o f f t h i s m o r n i n g ] a s k s . . . W e a re a s k in g p le a s e a s k th e p e o p le [th e p o lic e ] w h o a re p a t r o llin g th e n e i g h b o r h o o d , p l e a s e d o n ’ t i n t e r r u p t t h i s p r o c e s s . T h e p n c , t h e y w o n ’ t le t th e m s u c c e e d , o r u s to d e v e lo p a s in g le p r o g r a m .”

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A s w e w e r e le a v in g , P e p e a s k e d D e n o r a i f sh e c o u ld g iv e h im a d o lla r a n d a c c o m p a n y h im d o w n th e s ta ir s to th e s tr e e t, s o h e c o u ld e a t lu n c h a t o n e o f t h e s t a n d s w i t h o u r “ p r o t e c t i o n . ” W e w e r e a ll r e l i e v e d t o s e e t h a t t h e r e w a s n o s i g n o f t h e p o l i c e a n d s o l d i e r s w e h a d s e e n u p o n o u r a r r iv a l. I h a d a s k e d t o s e e t h e i m p a c t o f E l P la n M a n o D u r a , a n d h e r e i t w a s a l ­ m o s t t o o p l a i n l y l a i d o u t in t h e s a m e b e l l i g e r e n t t a c t i c s t h a t I h a d s e e n in L o s A n g e l e s w i t h H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s w e e k l y a r t s p r o g r a m d u r i n g t h e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l . W h i l e I h a d a lr e a d y s e e n t h i s h a p p e n i n g t o t h e H o m i e s U n i d o s S a n S a l v a d o r p r o g r a m in 2 0 0 3 , n o w i t a p p e a r e d t h a t t h e p o l i c e d i d n ’ t e v e n t r u s t t h e p r o j e c t s f u n d e d a n d r u n b y a n d in c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e g o v e r n m e n t , t h e v e r y p r o g r a m s — f e w a s th e y w e r e — th a t c o m p r is e d th e n e w M a n o A m ig a a n d M a n o E x t e n d i d a e l e m e n t o f E l P la n S ú p e r M a n o D u r a i n t r o d u c e d b y P r e s i ­ d e n t S a c a . D u r i n g t h e c o u r s e o f m y w o r k I w a s t o h e a r o v e r a n d o v e r t h is s t o r y o f s a b o ta g e fr o m o n e n g o a n d c h u r c h g r o u p a fte r a n o th e r.

Spaces of Encounter E v e r y o n e , it s e e m e d , w a s s u s p e c te d o f p r o v id in g a fr o n t fo r th e g a n g s — w it t in g ly o r u n w ittin g ly . A n d it w a s n ’ t ju s t th e r ig h t - w in g g o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e p o l i c e w h o f e a r e d a s m u c h . T h e i n d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n g o o d a n d e v il, v io le n c e a n d p e a c e , w a s p r o v in g d iffic u lt f o r th o s e p ilo t in g th e r e h a b ilit a ­ t io n p r o g r a m s , f e w a n d fa r b e t w e e n t h o u g h th e y w e r e . M ir a n d a h e r s e lf h a d a c k n o w le d g e d th a t w h ile th e g a n g m a y h a v e a llo w e d th e m in to th e c o m m u ­ n i t y t o w o r k w i t h t h e y o u t h in t h e s c h o o l s , t h e y h a d n ’ t s t o p p e d r e c r u i t i n g . F o r e x a m p le , “ A t f o u r in t h e a f t e r n o o n w h e n t h e b r e a d is r e a d y t h e y m e e t , r i g h t , t o e a t t h e b r e a d o r t o t a k e i t t o s e l l . . . A n d y o u ’ ll s e e t h a t t h e r e a r e lit t le h o m ie s , r e a lly y o u n g , w h o h a v e n ’ t y e t t a t t o o e d th e m s e lv e s a n d th a t d o n ’ t d r e s s lik e th a t . . . a n d a ft e r s p e a k in g to th e m w e r e a liz e th a t th e y a re p a r t o f th e g r o u p , n o t ju s t a s p ir a n ts b u t th e y a re in th e g r o u p .” K n o w in g th a t M i r a n d a h a d w o r k e d in c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h e s t a f f o f H o m i e s U n i d o s in it s e a r ly d a y s a n d t h u s w a s m o r e t h a n f a m i l i a r w i t h t h e g r o u p ’s h is t o r y , I b e g a n to ta lk a b o u t th e s im ila r itie s I h a d n o te d . I to ld h e r h o w in t e r e s t in g it w a s to h e a r h e r s p e a k th is w a y a b o u t th e t r a d e - o ffs th e y h a d to m a k e w it h a c tiv e g a n g m e m b e r s . It w a s s o r e m in is c e n t o f th e v e r y th in g th a t p r o v e d p r o b le m ­ a tic f o r H o m ie s U n id o s . A s I e x p r e s s e d it to h e r: W h a t I w a n t t o a s k i s t h is : H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s w o r k r e q u i r e d t h a t t h e y w o r k e d w it h a c tiv e g a n g m e m b e r s , b u t th e lin e b e tw e e n w h a t w a s th e

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w o r k fo r th e p r e v e n tio n o f s o c ia l v io le n c e a n d w h a t w a s th e w o r k fo r v i o l e n c e w a s n o t a lw a y s e a s y t o d e t e r m i n e . T h e i d e a w a s a lw a y s t h a t t h e y o u t h t h e m s e l v e s w e r e g o i n g t o w o r k w i t h t h e i r o w n c o m m u n i t i e s o r, in th is c a s e , n e ig h b o r h o o d s a n d g a n g s , b e c a u s e o b v io u s ly th e y h a d a ll b e e n g a n g m e m b e r s . S o g iv e n th a t y o u h a v e to c o n v in c e th e g a n g s to le t y o u in to th e ir n e ig h b o r h o o d s , h o w a re y o u a v o id in g c o n fu s in g y o u r w o r k to p r o v id e o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o y o u t h w h o c l e a r l y a r e in n e e d b u t w h o a r e a l s o in v o lv e d i n g a n g s ? S h e n o d s k n o w in g ly . Y es, I k n o w w h a t y o u m e a n , b e c a u s e it h a p p e n s , th e y c a n u s e y o u . F o r e x ­ a m p l e , o n t h e t o p i c o f p o l i c e , in o r d e r t o d o t h e s e k i n d s o f t h i n g s , li k e fo r in s t a n c e th e b a k e r y . . . w e a ls o h a v e to c o o r d in a te w it h th e p o lic e , a n d t o l e t t h e m k n o w t h a t t h i s i s w o r k t h a t w e a r e d o i n g . N o w w h a t ’s th e r is k th a t w e ta k e o n ? T h e s p a c e th a t w e a re r e c u p e r a tin g c a n se rv e o t h e r e n d s . S im ila r ly , h o w w i l l t h e y u s e w h a t t h e y e a r n f r o m t h e b a k e r y ? W h o c a n g u a r a n te e th a t th e y a r e n ’t b u y in g u p a n a rs e n a l w ith w h a t th e y a re e a r n in g fr o m th e b a k e r y ? O r th a t th e s p a c e o f th e b a k e r y is b e in g u s e d t o o r g a n i z e b e c a u s e t h e p o l i c e d o n o t a l l o w t h e m t o m e e t f o r m a lly ? [T ] h e o n ly w a y th a t w e c a n c o n t r o l o r d im in is h th e m a r g in s [ o f e rro r ], l e t ’s sa y , w i t h w h i c h w e w i l l n e v e r h a v e a b s o l u t e g u a r a n t e e s , a n d I t h i n k t h a t i n t h i s w o r k t h e r e is a lw a y s t h i s m u t u a l a d v a n t a g e . W h a t d o e s M i r a n d a p o i n t t o a s t h e o n ly w a y o f c o n t r o l l i n g o r d i m i n i s h i n g t h e m a r g i n s ? F o llo w - u p ? B y w h o m ? S h e r e p l i e s , “ W h a t I c a n s a y t o y o u . . . is t h r o u g h f o l l o w - u p . F o r e x a m p le , t h e g u y w h o is w o r k i n g w i t h t h e m f o r t h e S e c r e t a r i a t o f Y o u t h , w h o w e a r e a c c o m p a n y i n g in h i s e f f o r t s , is a n e x ­ g a n g m e m b e r , b u t w e c a n ’ t j u s t le a v e i t w i t h h i m , a n d t h i s is s o m e t h i n g w e le a r n e d f r o m H o m i e s . I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e f o l l o w - u p c a n n o t b e l e f t t o j u s t h i m . H e is n o t t h e o n ly o n e r e s p o n s i b l e . R a t h e r , a técnico [a t r a i n e d p r o g r a m e v a lu a t o r ] g o e s t h e r e w i t h h i m . ” 9 T h is is n o t t h e by, f o r , a n d o f m o d e l o f s e l f ­ e m p o w e r m e n t o r c o n s c i o u s n e s s - r a i s i n g o f H o m i e s U n i d o s . A n d o n w h a t is t h e t é c n i c o g o i n g t o b a s e h is o r h e r e v a lu a t io n ? L o o k , i t ’s r e a l l y d i f f i c u l t . W h i l e t h e y ’ r e m a k i n g t h e b r e a d t h e y ’ r e l i s t e n ­ in g to th e ir m u s ic . . . th e m u s ic o f th e g a n g . . . a n d th e fir s t tim e th is le ft m e s h o c k e d b e c a u s e it w a s th e fir s t tim e th a t I h a d h e a r d [ th a t k in d o f m u s i c ] . S o I t e ll t h e m , “ Y o u a r e t a k i n g a r is k . I f a n y o n e h e a r s t h i s [ m u s ic ] ,

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they’ll say, ‘No one else but the gang could be playing this . . .’ So choose the music, but choose something else.” We call them by their names [not their gang names], but for us this is really difficult. Between them it’s not like that. For example they came to me on Monday saying, “Look, after we made the bread on Sunday we stopped o ff at a café to drink some sodas. The police came and took four o f us.” What were they doing? Why did they take the four? “No, nothing, we were just standing there and they took four o f us!” Do you think they were doing nothing? I don’t. It’s possible that they weren’t doing any­ thing, but the margin that they were doing something is fifty-fifty. I can’t say that they weren’t doing anything. True, I think to myself, but then again, what would they have to have done in order to be arrested under manodurista policies? Be tattooed? Be hanging out with other members o f the neighborhood? In other words, given these new criminal categories, the margin that they were doing something “ille­ gal” is 100 percent, not fifty-fifty as Miranda suggests. Nonetheless, Miranda cannot simply ignore the requests that her reha­ bilitation team brings to her from the field. Switching into the role o f her field assistants, she describes her dilemma this way: “Miranda, speak to the subdirector o f public security,” Señor Landaverde, who had helped us a lot, “to see what’s happening.” Why did they take them? Look [the police] are generating a feeling o f disappointment in the youth . . . there were twenty-two, now only two are coming [to the bak­ ery] because they’re frightened to go out . . . But they could be toying with you too. We don’t know. Really, in this world we are not going to enter. You can see, for example, how they move among one another, taking turns. One week comes one, the next week another, because they’re out on missions. They have different roles, and one role in the gang is this, to be in [the bakery] . . . Some o f them have good intentions with the bakery. A few, maybe three out o f the twenty-two. I could say to you, this one, this one, and this one. The rest o f them, no. The rest are just passing time . . . tomorrow they’ll find something else. And this is during the day. At night to illustrate in some way . . . they don’t live for that [the bakery], they live for this [the gang].

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B u t w e a r e f r i e n d s , w e ’ r e f in e , w e u n d e r s t a n d e a c h o t h e r , a n d w e k n o w t h a t in t h e b u i l d i n g t h e y c o n t r o l u s , t h a t t h e y k n o w w h e n w e c o m e a n d w h e n w e g o , a n d ju s t a s w e d is tr u s t th e m , th e y d is tr u s t u s b e c a u s e th e y a s s o c ia te u s w it h th e g o v e r n m e n t a n d a ls o w it h th e p o lic e . W e k n o w th a t w e h a v e th is r e la t io n s h ip o f “ g o o d fr ie n d s .” A m o n g t h e m e a s u r e s t h e y a r e t a k i n g is s t r e n g t h e n i n g t i e s w i t h h u m a n r i g h t s a s s o c i a t i o n s o r p r o g r a m s l i k e o u r s . W e k n o w t h a t t h i s is p o s s i b l e . B u t t h e t h i n g is t h a t w e have t o d o i t b e c a u s e w e h a v e t o t h i n k in t e r m s o f c o s t s a n d b e n e f i t s . H o w m u c h t o in v e s t i n t h is ? W h a t d o e s i t i m p l y t o w o r k w i t h [ t h e m ] ? O f c o u r s e , w e d o n ’ t s o d o w i t h o u r e y e s c lo s e d . S o b o t h s id e s ( a n d I w o u l d v e n t u r e t o s a y , t h e p o l i c e t o o ) p la y o f f e a c h o t h e r , c o m e a t e a c h o t h e r fr o m th is m u tu a l a d v a n ta g e : “ G o o d fr ie n d s ” b u t n o t a llie s , u s in g o n e a n o th e r, s tr a n g e ly e n o u g h to s e e m in g ly th e s a m e e n d : s p a c e to m a n e u v e r; a b a s e o f o p e r a tio n in s id e th e n o w m ilit a r iz e d s p a c e o f th e b a r ­ r io s . M ir a n d a c o n tin u e s : In L a i v u , th e n e ig h b o r h o o d a s s o c ia tio n d o e s n ’ t h a v e m u c h to le r a n c e f o r t h e g a n g , w h i c h is v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g c o n s i d e r i n g t h a t i t s p e o p l e h a v e g r o w n u p th e re , a n d th e g u y s w h o b e lo n g to th e g a n g a re g u y s w h o h a v e g r o w n u p t h e r e , a n d m o r e t h a n t h a t , t h a t h a v e b e e n f r i e n d s a l l t h e i r liv e s , t h e y ’ r e a l l f r i e n d s , f a m i l y r e a lly , a n d a l s o n e i g h b o r s — t h i s o n e ’s t h e s o n o f fu lan o [ “ s o a n d s o ” ], a n d t h i s o n e o f [ s o m e o n e e ls e ] . . . a n d y e t t h e r e ’s v e r y l i t t l e t o l e r a n c e f o r t h e g a n g . S o w h a t a r e w e d o i n g , f o r e x a m p le , w i t h t h e [ p la y i n g ] f i e l d . . . w e ’ v e a r r a n g e d i t s o t h a t t h e g a n g u s e s i t a t a p a r ­ t i c u l a r t im e . T h e y t a k e t u r n s . B u t w e a r e a l s o s u c c e e d i n g in g e t t i n g t h e c o m m u n it y to o p e n u p a fo r m a l s p a c e , s y s te m a tic s p a c e to th e g a n g to o , w h i c h c a n b e c o m e a s p a c e o f e n c o u n t e r . I t ’s a v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g s p a c e o f e n ­ c o u n t e r . B u t t h i s is f o r m a l m o r e t h a n a n y t h i n g , n o o n e ’s g o i n g t o c h a n g e t h e i r w a y o f l i f e f r o m t h is . O n e c o u ld s a y th a t th e s e p r o je c ts w e r e a b o u t o p e n in g u p s p a c e s o f e n ­ c o u n te r , s p a c e s fo r th e g a n g in s id e th e c o m m u n ity , s p a c e s f o r P ro -J ó v e n e s i n s i d e t h e s c h o o l s , a n d s p a c e f o r y o u t h in g e n e r a l . B u t o n e m i g h t a l s o t h i n k o f th e s e p r o je c ts — th e b a k e r y a n d th e b a s k e tb a ll c o u r t a n d s o c c e r f i e ld — as e x to r tio n m o n e y , th e p r ic e th a t th e c n s p , P ro -J ó v e n e s, a n d th e S e c r e ta r ia t o f Y o u t h h a d t o p a y t h e g a n g t o e n t e r t h e c o m m u n i t y . T h is p r o g r a m o f “ r e ­ i n s e r t i o n ” w a s c l e a r l y t w o p r o n g e d : n o t o n ly t o “ i n s e r t ” t h e g a n g i n t o s o c i e t y b u t a ls o to “ in s e r t ” P ro -J ó v e n e s in t o th e c o m m u n ity .

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B u t e v e n th e lin e s b e t w e e n “ th e g a n g s ” a n d “ th e c o m m u n it y ” s e e m e d b lu r r e d . A s in L o s A n g e l e s , t h e l a n g u a g e o f “ c o m m u n i t y ” in E l S a l v a d o r is u n s t a b l e a n d c o n t e s t e d . S t u d ie s o f g a n g s in b o t h p l a c e s i n v a r ia b ly h o l d t h a t g a n g s f i l l in f o r t h e a b s e n c e o f a s e n s e o f b e l o n g i n g t o a c o m m u n i t y a n d fu n c t io n a s a fic tiv e k in s h ip n e t w o r k . M ir a n d a w e n t s o fa r a s to s u g g e s t th a t th e g a n g h a s s u r p a s s e d b e in g a n e tw o r k o f y o u n g m e n a n d w o m e n . N o w , sh e a r g u e d , th e fa m ily w a s a fu n d a m e n ta l p a r t o f th a t n e tw o r k . In o th e r w o r d s , t h e g a n g is n o l o n g e r a su b stitu te f o r t h e f a m i l y b u t h a s subsumed it . A s s h e p u t it: E v e r y o n e a lw a y s s a y s t h a t t h e p r o b l e m o f t h e g a n g s i s “la fa m ilia , la fa m ilia ,

la fa m ilia [ t h e fa m il y , t h e fa m il y , t h e f a m i l y ] ! ” B u t i t ’s t h e s a m e f a m i l y t h a t e n a b le s t h e s e t h i n g s . R e a lly , y o u c a n s e e t h e s e k i d s in t h e c o m m u n i t i e s w it h th e ir fa m ilie s in ta c t, a n d h o w th e fa m ily h a s b e e n c o n v e r te d in to a sp a c e , o n e c a n ’t sa y o f s tim u lu s b u t o f s u p p o r t fo r th e s a m e gu y, n o ? . . . A l l o f t h o s e w h o le a v e t h e p r i s o n s [ a f t e r v i s i t i n g t h e i r s o n s , h u s b a n d s , b ro th e rs ] . . . th e s a m e fa m ily se rv e s to c a rry m e s s a g e s fr o m o n e to a n ­ o t h e r [ g a n g m e m b e r ] . T h e y a re th e o n e s w h o a re fa c ilit a t in g th e ir p a s s a g e f r o m o n e s p a c e t o t h e n e x t . I t ’s l i k e a m a f ia . F o r m e th e th e m e o f g a n g s h a s s u r p a s s e d b e in g a fo r m o f s o c ia liz a ­ t i o n , w e c o u l d sa y , t o h a v e a u t i l i t a r i a n c h a r a c t e r . T h e y liv e f r o m t h i s a n d t h e f a m i l y is p a r t [ o f it] . . . T h e y a l s o liv e f r o m t h i s [viv irse ]. Y o u c a n s e e , f o r e x a m p le , w h e n t h e p e r s o n r e s p o n s i b l e f o r c o l l e c t i n g e x t o r t i o n s i s l o c k e d u p , w h o g o e s t o c o l l e c t t h e r e n t in t h e i r p la c e ? T h e g i r l f r i e n d o r w i f e , b e c a u s e s h e , i n r e a lit y , a l s o h a s t o r e s p o n d t o t h e d e m a n d s o f t h e c l i k a o r t h e g a n g . A n d s o , i t ’s a f o r m o f l i f e b y w h i c h t h e y m a i n t a i n t h e m ­ s e lv e s . I t ’s l o n g p a s t h a v i n g a m o r e s u b j e c t i v e c h a r a c t e r , [ b e i n g ] m o r e a b o u t i d e n t i t y t h e w a y i t w a s in t h e b e g i n n i n g , t h e t h i n g t h a t w a s s o a t ­ t r a c t iv e a b o u t it . I t h i n k i t a l s o h a s s o m e t h i n g t o d o w i t h a ll t h e d o o r s t h a t h a v e b e e n s h u t , a ll t h e o m i s s i o n s o r a ll t h e d e c i s i o n s t h a t w e r e n ’ t t a k e n in t im e . S o m e t h i n g t h a t s h o u l d h a v e b e e n . . . h o w c a n I s a y it ? S o m e t h i n g t r a n ­ s i t i o n a l . W e h a v e a l l b e e n y o u n g , a n d a ll o f u s h a v e p a s s e d t h r o u g h [ t h a t d i f f i c u l t p h a s e o f i d e n t i t y c o n s t r u c t i o n ] , b u t t h e n i t ’s o v e r a n d w e t a k e l i f e s e r i o u s l y . . . [ B u t] t h e d o o r s a r e a l l s o c l o s e d , a n d t h e y h a v e a ll b e e n l e f t b e h i n d , s o t h a t it s b e e n t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o a w h o l e w a y o f li f e . A n d a ll o f . . . th e in t e r io r d y n a m ic h a s b e e n tr a n s fo r m e d . B e fo r e , fo r e x a m p le , t o h a v e a n e w le a d e r w a s m u c h m o r e d i f f i c u l t , y o u h a d t o p a s s

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I don’t know how many tests. Now, one gets taken in to prison, immedi­ ately in five minutes you have the replacement. The one who is going to assume command and be in communication with [the now-imprisoned leader] inside. The dynamic has changed. Remember that gang members consider themselves to be “soldiers” in battle. In the aftermath o f manodurismo yet another line had been blurred. The distinction between the “soldiers” in the gangs and the “civilians” in the neighborhoods had become increasingly murky. In an interview with me, the Salvadoran researcher Marlon Carranza pointed to the ways in which manodurista policies had also transformed what he termed la fam osa renta (the infamous rent) imposed by gangs as a countervailing system o f local taxation. As he put it: “ [Súper] Mano Dura has radically altered the terms and stakes o f la famosa renta— for example, the “tax” that gangs would impose on bus drivers for using routes through their neighborhoods. Once a quarter or a dollar, these extortions are now in the hundreds and thousands o f dollars. Gangs are responsible for the up­ keep o f their incarcerated members as well as their families. The burden of providing economic assistance to the network has increased enormously with the mass incarceration o f young men.” It was, he argued, most ironi­ cally the need to support all the “homies” inside and their families outside that had turned the prison leadership inside into something more akin to and enabled links with organized crime. According to Carranza the gangs used to have a certain level o f respect for institutions such as the church, the school, and the police. He suggested that since Súper Mano Dura the incidence o f gang attacks on the police had in­ creased notably. Even the schools were no longer o ff limits. While I was in El Salvador, gangs had started to impose extortions o f up to five thousand dol­ lars on school principals, threatening to go after students if their demands were not met. In one incident in San Marcos, a school principal who did not cooperate was assassinated.

From Deportation to Extortion One morning during this visit I receive a call from Weasel, who says he needs to ask for my help with something. He wants to know if we can meet some­ where, and I invite him to breakfast. Sitting at the table, he starts to recount his “story” to me, or as he translates it, with a more than wary laugh, “I’ve

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g o t t h e s c o o p ! ” T h e c u l t u r a l c a f e a n d b a r w h e r e h e is w o r k i n g a s a t a t t o o a r t i s t , h e t e l l s m e , h a s b e e n “ t a x e d .” S o t h e w a v e o f g a n g e x t o r t i o n s h a d r e a c h e d h i m . T h e o w n e r o f t h e b a r “ g o t a c a l l f r o m i n s i d e a n d t h e y t o l d h im , ‘ I ’ m s u c h a n d s u c h p e r s o n , a n d s o m e b o d y ’s g o i n g t o c o m e o n t h i s d a y t o p ic k it u p .’ ” T h e y h a d a lr e a d y m a d e t h e ir fir s t m o n t h ly p a y m e n t. “ It a ffe c t s m e a l o t b e c a u s e . . . I ’m t h e r e a l l t h e t i m e . . . a l o n e s o m e t i m e s . . . b e c a u s e I ’m th e m o s t r e s p o n s ib le o n e . T h e o t h e r g u y s a re y o u n g e r . . . I d o n ’ t d o it b e c a u s e i t ’s l i k e a h o b b y . I d o i t b e c a u s e I gotta d o i t b e c a u s e o f m y k i d s . . . a n d t h e y ’ r e n o t e v e n a t s c h o o l [ y e t] y ’ k n o w . A n d I c a n ’ t a f f o r d t o h a v e t h e p e o p le a t th e b a r lik e s c a r e d y o u k n o w , to o p e n th e p la c e u p , b e c a u s e it a f ­ f e c t s m e y o u k n o w .” T h e w e e k b e fo r e th is m e e t in g , I h a d m e t u p w it h W e a s e l a t h is r o o ft o p s t u d i o a b o v e t h e b a r . I h a d b e e n a n x io u s t o c a t c h u p w i t h h i m t o s e e h o w h e w a s fa r in g s in c e h is s e c o n d d e p o r t a t io n fr o m th e U n it e d S ta te s b a c k to E l S a l v a d o r n i n e m o n t h s e a r lie r . W h i l e w e t a l k e d o n t h e r o o f t o p p a t i o h e s e e m e d f a i r l y a t e a s e , e v e n t h o u g h h i s g a z e w a s , a s a lw a y s , d a r t i n g b a c k a n d fo r th . W o n d e r in g i f h e w a s c o n c e r n e d fo r h is s a fe ty h e re , I a s k e d h im i f h e w a n t e d to s it fa c in g th e s ta ir s w h ile w e w e r e ta lk in g . “ N a , I k n o w e v e r y b o d y h e r e . I t ’s c o o l . ” H e w a s e x c i t e d a t t h e p r o s p e c t o f c o n t r i b u t i n g t o t h e e x p a n ­ s i o n o f t h e c u l t u r a l c a f e e n d o f t h e b a r . T h e o w n e r w a s r e a l l y i n t o it , a n d h e w a s lo o k in g fo r w a r d to m a y b e b e in g a b le to g o in t o s o m e s o r t o f p a r tn e r s h ip i f i t w o r k e d o u t . I w a s r e li e v e d . P e r h a p s h e h a d b e e n r i g h t in n o t g o i n g t o a t h i r d c o u n t r y , s a y C o s t a R i c a o r S p a in , u p o n h i s r e t u r n . H e h a d b e e n u r g e d t o d o s o b y m a n y p e o p l e , m y s e l f i n c l u d e d . W e w e r e a ll d e e p ly w o r r i e d a b o u t h i s s a f e t y u p o n h is r e t u r n t o E l S a lv a d o r . B u t j u s t a w e e k a f t e r o u r r e u n i o n , h is t o n e h a d c h a n g e d d r a m a t ic a lly . T h e i m p o s i t i o n o f a m o n t h l y “ r e n t ” o f t w o h u n d r e d d o lla r s o n t h e b a r h a s h i m w o r r i e d . I s i t b e c a u s e he is w o r k i n g t h e r e ? I s i t h i s f a u lt ? H e is a l s o s c a r e d f o r h i s s a fe t y , a n d f o r h i s w i f e a n d k i d s ( h is w i f e h a s a l i t t l e b o y f r o m a f o r m e r u n i o n ) . T h e y k n o w w h e r e h e liv e s . I t r y t o c o m f o r t h i m , s a y i n g t h a t i t h a d j u s t b e e n a m a t t e r o f t im e : t h e t a x a t i o n o n t h e b u s i n e s s w a s l i k e l y t o h a v e h a p p e n e d w i t h o u t h is p r e s e n c e . “ Y e a h . I t [ t h e e x t o r t i o n r a c k e t ] is g o i n g o n e v e r y w h e r e . . . I t ’s r e a l l y v i o l e n t h e r e . S illy t o sa y , b u t m a n , p e o p l e a r e a c t i n g l i k e i t ’s m e d i e v a l d a y s , o r e v e n in t h e c a v e m a n d a y s , w h e r e f o r c e is w h a t m a t ­ t e r s , a n d p o w e r a n d v i o l e n c e . . . I t ’s j u s t h o w t h i s c o u n t r y is , m a n , i f p e o p l e k n o w t h a t t h e y c a n p u s h y o u a r o u n d , t h e y ’ r e g o i n g t o d o it . B u t w i t h a li t t le r e s i s t a n c e , t h e y t h i n k t w i c e a b o u t it , y o u k n o w .” W e a s e l b e c o m e s i n t r o s p e c -

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tive. He is worried that he will be drawn back into this cycle o f violence de­ spite all his efforts over the last few years to live by a creed o f nonviolence. Man, Elana, I tell you that’s one o f the worst battles that I have, like, is myself. Being the person that I am, the knowledge that I’ve acquired in prison and . . .’cause you can acquire principles and values in prison, you know. Respect. Talking the truth when you have to. Being faithful. Cer­ tain things like that. And then finding God in prison you know, and really kinda like, not dedicating myself fully, fully, because I try to, but as much as I try to 100 percent, I couldn’t, you know. And then getting out and having to sort o f like gain respect from everybody else again, establish my status o f respect again, ’cause I’ve heard a lot o f people say like “man, you’ve changed, man, like you’re not the same person anymore. W hat’s wrong with you man. How you gonna let that go by? Why you gonna let that pass?” And I’m just thinking, “Fuck, man, you don’t know what it’s like to be in jail, ’ey.” . . . Man, I don’t want nobody dying because o f me. I don’t want nobody to get hurt because o f me . . . But it’s like the more you try to avoid this, the more you get sunk into it . . . There’s a saying in Spanish, and it’s funny and it kind o f makes sense, you know. I’m going to tell it to you in Spanish: “Dijo, ‘Al perro más seco, se le pegan las pulgas.’ ” The skinniest dog, the fleas stick to him the most. In other words, they were trying to say, even though you’re not doing anything, like you’re the new skinny dog in town, you know. But if people start mentioning your name, shit starts falling on you . . . They want to keep you down, or they want you to be responsible for this, you know . . . I’d hate to be the one they’re going to make an example of, you know, because I’m the one that everybody knows . . . They know where I live . . . so that’s why I’m going to reconnect with people I know [in Guatemala] . . . to make some room for me . . . till I find some means to bring my kids. Weasel’s mood was very reminiscent o f that difficult period in 2002 and 2003 right before he decided to try to make it back to the United States. Now two years later Weasel is back in El Salvador, speaking o f taking a bus to Guatemala to see if he might set him self up as a tattoo artist in a tourist town up there, and then come back to get his family. My heart sinks again that he has decided not to fight his immigration case so as to petition for Withhold­ ing from Removal under the Convention Against Torture Act while in deten­ tion in the United States. Like Alex Sanchez, Weasel would have had much expert testimony and many letters o f reference and support to draw upon. 194

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S o m a n y o th e r s fig h t th e ir c a s e s w it h lit t le o r n o r e s o u r c e s . A ft e r s e r v in g m o r e t h a n s ix m o n t h s in I N S d e t e n t i o n a n d f o u r t e e n m o n t h s in a f e d e r a l p r i s o n f o r a l i e n s c o n v i c t e d f o r “ i l l e g a l r e e n t r y ” ( r u n b y t h e p r iv a t e s e c u r i t y c o m p a n y C o r r e c t i o n s C o r p o r a t i o n o f A m e r i c a ) , W e a s e l is c o n s i d e r i n g f l e e ­ i n g o n c e a g a i n , b u t t h i s t i m e t o G u a t e m a l a . T h is t i m e h e d o e s n o t w a n t t o r i s k r e i m p r i s o n m e n t in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . I w o r r y f o r h i m . D e a t h d o e s s e e m s o c l o s e . H e r e h e is , c a u g h t b e t w e e n d e p o r t a t i o n a n d e x t o r t i o n . E: I w a s w o r r ie d th is w a s g o in g to h a p p e n t o y o u i f y o u w e r e r e t u r n e d to E l S a lv a d o r . T h a t ’s w h y I w a n t e d y o u t o f i g h t y o u r c a s e . w : Y e a h , b u t t h e r e ’s g o t t o b e a n o t h e r w a y t o g o a b o u t i t t h a n j u s t b e i n g l o c k e d u p [ in i n s d e t e n t i o n w h i l e t h e c a s e is p e n d i n g ] . . . M a n , t h e r e ’s g o t t o b e a n o t h e r w a y o f , o f g o i n g a b o u t i t t h a n j u s t b e i n g l o c k e d u p . 10 I d o n ’ t k n o w w h a t ’s t h e s o l u t i o n t o a ll o f t h i s [ t h e s i t u a t i o n o f t h e g a n gs]. E : D o y o u t h i n k i t ’s r e a l j o b s , t h a t t h a t w o u l d b e t h e s o l u t i o n ? T h a t ’s w h a t p e o p le a re s a y in g n o w . w : I t h i n k i t ’s w e l f a r e . T h e y s h o u l d h a v e l i k e a w e l f a r e s y s t e m h e r e . S o W e a s e l s e e s la f a m o s a r e n t a a s s u b s t i t u t i n g f o r t h e l a c k o f s t a t e s u p p o r t . H i s a n a ly s i s r e s o n a t e s w i t h M i r a n d a ’s e a r li e r c la i m t h a t t h e g a n g a n d it s e c o n o m i c o p e r a t i o n s h a d b e c o m e a w a y o f l i f e a n d m e a n s o f s u r v iv a l, n o t s im p ly fo r th e fic tiv e k in o f th e g a n g b u t a ls o fo r th e b io lo g ic a l a n d th e le g a l f a m il y . L i k e r e m i t t a n c e s , e x t o r t i o n s w e r e f u n d a m e n t a l t o s u r v iv a l w i t h i n E l S a l v a d o r ’s p o s t w a r n e o l i b e r a l p o l i t i c a l e c o n o m y w h e r e t h e s t a t e w a s n o l o n g e r a c t i v e ly e n g a g e d , h o w e v e r m o d e s t ly , w i t h t h e s o c i a l r e p r o d u c t i o n o f its p o p u la tio n . M a s s i n c a r c e r a t i o n , i t s e e m s , h a d o n ly i n c r e a s e d t h e s t a k e s o f t h e s e i n f o r ­ m a l - l i c i t a n d illi c it - e c o n o m ic n e tw o rk s . I w a n te d to k n o w w h a t W easel t h o u g h t o f C a r r a n z a ’s t h e s i s . D i d h e t h i n k t h a t t h e p o l i c y o f S ú p e r M a n o D u r a h a d b r o u g h t la f a m o s a r e n t a t o t h i s n e x t le v e l? E x a c t ly , p l u s I s a id t h i s , I s a i d t h i s , I ’ m n o t ly i n g , m a n , I f o r e s a w t h e f u t u r e , I s a id : “ T h is g u y [ F lo r e s ] is f u l l o f a h . . . c r a p , b e c a u s e w h a t ’s g o n n a h a p p e n is b e c a u s e m a n , I ’ v e liv e d it . I n L o s A n g e l e s c r a s h w a s h i t t i n g o n u s e v e r y d a y , b a m , t a k i n g u s t o j a i l , a n d w h a t d id w e s t a r t ? W e s ta r te d m e e t in g in o t h e r p la c e s a n d in s t e a d o f ju s t h a n g in g o u t in th e n e i g h b o r h o o d a n d , y o u k n o w , w a l k i n g a r o u n d , d o i n g w h a t w e d id , y o u k n o w . W e s t a r t e d h a n g i n g o u t in p e o p l e ’s h o u s e s , o t h e r h o m i e s . W e s a t

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d o w n s a y i n g [ h e w h i s p e r s ] , “ O h , m a n , w e ’v e g o t t o m a k e s o m e m o n e y m a n .” Y o u c a n i m a g i n e . T h e y c r e a t e d t h e i r o w n m o n s t e r , y o u k n o w . A s w it h th e d e p o r ta tio n o f S a lv a d o r a n im m ig r a n t g a n g - a ffilia t e d y o u th b a s e d i n L o s A n g e l e s , t h e a d o p t i o n in E l S a l v a d o r o f t h e z e r o - t o l e r a n c e g a n g a b a te m e n t s t r a t e g ie s o f th e U n ite d S ta te s h a d a ls o r e in s c r ib e d th e la n d s c a p e o f t h e b a r r i o s p o p u l a r e s . T h e m i c r o p h y s i c s o f t h e g a n g i n j u n c t i o n a n d it s l o g i c o f e n c l o s u r e a n d e x c l u s i o n in L o s A n g e l e s h a d o n c e a g a i n r e c o n f i g u r e d t h e p o l i t i c a l g e o g r a p h y o f S a n S a l v a d o r ’s b a r r i o s — a l b e i t i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h t h e p a r t i c u l a r c o n d i t i o n s i n E l S a lv a d o r . G r a n t e d , u n l i k e t h e g a n g in j u n c t i o n , M a n o D u r a is n o t l o c a l i z e d w i t h i n a p r o s c r i b e d t e r r it o r y . T h e w h o l e n a t i o n ( s m a ll a s i t m a y b e ) is u p f o r g r a b s — a t l e a s t i t s p o o r n e i g h b o r h o o d s . N e i t h e r d o e s m a n o d u r is m o r e q u ir e a c o u r t in ju n c t io n s p e c ify in g th e b o r d e r s o f th e t e r r i t o r y t o b e p o l i c e d a n d t h e p a r t i c u l a r i n d i v i d u a ls w h o w o u l d b e p l a c e d o n t h e i n j u n c t i o n . R a t h e r , a l l m a r g i n a l b a r r i o s a n d a ll y o u t h a n d y o u n g a d u lt s a r e s u b j e c t t o t h e s e r e s t r i c t i o n s o n t h e i r p r e s e n c e in t h e b a r r i o a n d t h e i r fr e e d o m to a s s o c ia te . T h ey a re a ls o s u b je c t to th e p o lic e s ta g in g th e ir “ illic it a s s o c ia t io n ,” a s w e ll a s b e in g e x te n s iv e ly d o c u m e n t e d b y th e p o lic e . E v e n c o r p s e s a s t h e y l ie i n c o f f i n s a t c o m m u n i t y w a k e s a r e p h o t o g r a p h e d a n d r e g ­ is t e r e d .

Tht Fashion PoMu O n e c o u ld a r g u e , a n d m a n y d o , th a t w it h g a n g y o u th th is g e n e r a liz e d s u s ­ p ic io n h a s s o m e g r o u n d . H o w e v e r , lik e r a c ia l p r o filin g in th e U n ite d S ta te s , m a n o d u r is ta p o lic ie s a re e x te n d e d to o th e r y o u th w h o h a v e n o a s s o c ia tio n t o g a n g s . T a k e , f o r e x a m p le , t h e t e s t i m o n y o f o n e y o u n g m a n , L u is A l o n s o A r g u e t a . H is c a s e s p e a k s b o t h t o t h e h e i g h t s o f a b s u r d i t y t h a t p r o f i l i n g b a s e d o n f a s h i o n o r s t y le c a n g o a n d t o t h e w a y s in w h i c h z e r o - t o l e r a n c e s t r a t e ­ g i e s c a n le a d t o t h e a b u s e o f y o u t h in g e n e r a l . A r g u e t a w a s a h i g h s c h o o l s t u d e n t w h o w o r k e d in a g r i c u l t u r e a n d w a s a p a r t i c i p a n t in t h e C o m m i t t e e a g a i n s t a i d s in t h e c o m m u n i t y o f S a n t a M a r t a in t h e s t a t e o f C a b a ñ a s . O n S e p te m b e r 9, 2 0 0 6 , A r g u e ta w e n t to th e to w n S e s u n te p e q u e , th e c a p ita l o f C a b a ñ a s , t o t u r n in s o m e d o c u m e n t a t i o n t o A s o c i a c i ó n d e D e s a r r o l l o E c o n ó ­ m i c o S o c i a l (a d e s , o r A s s o c i a t i o n f o r E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a l D e v e l o p m e n t ) , a n n g o w ith w h ic h h e h a d d o n e s o m e w o r k . H e th e n w e n t to a b a n k to c a s h a c h e c k , b u t w a s d e ta in e d b y th e p o lic e a s h e le ft th e b a n k . T h e y a s k e d to s e e h is d o c u m e n ts , a n d th e y a ls o a s k e d h im i f h e w a s a m e m b e r o f a g a n g .

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H e s a id n o , a s h e w a s n o t . B u t a s h e la t e r w r o t e o n S e p t e m b e r 2 0 , 2 0 0 6 , in a m a s s e -m a il m e s s a g e : T h e y t o l d m e t h a t I w a s a marero b e c a u s e I w a s d r e s s e d in t h a t s t y le . I a n ­ s w e r e d th a t it w a s th e fa s h io n , a n d a n y w a y I w a s w e a r in g b a g g y p a n ts a n d a s h ir t , t h e k i n d w i t h b u t t o n s . 11 I w a s n ’ t d ir t y o r d r u n k . I h a d b a t h e d t h a t d a y a n d w a s e n g a g e d in m y w o r k .T h e n I a s k e d , “ W h a t ’s t h e p r o b l e m i f I d r e s s i n t h i s m a n n e r i f i t ’s o u r s y s t e m t h a t m a k e s t h e s e [ t h e c l o t h e s h e w a s w e a r i n g ] .” T h e y to ld m e to p u t m y b e lt th r o u g h th e lo o p s o f th e p a n t s , w h i c h I d id . T h e re w e r e th r e e p o lic e o ffic e r s , o n e o f th e m to ld th e o th e r , “ C u t th a t b e l t ! ” A t t h a t m o m e n t , h e t o o k o u t a k n i f e a n d w i t h i t in h i s h a n d h e s a id t h e s a m e t h i n g , a n d t h e n t h r e a t e n e d m e . “ P u t t h a t b e l t o n p r o p e r ly , i f n o t , I ’m g o in g u s e th e k n if e ,” a n d h e m a d e a g e s t u r e a s i f h e w e r e g o in g to p u t t h e k n i f e in m y s t o m a c h . T h e n t h e y s a id t o m e : “ Y o u t h i n k y o u ’ r e s o b a d t h a t y o u c a n i n t i m i ­ d a t e u s . . . w e ’ r e g o i n g t o m a k e y o u s h i t [in y o u r p a n t s ] , s o n o f a b i t c h , ” a n d t h e y o r d e r e d m e t o t h e l e f t s id e o f t h e B a n c o A g r i c o l a [a S a l v a d o r a n b a n k ] t o r e g i s t e r m e . I d id w h a t t h e y t o l d m e . O n t o p o f a l l o f t h is , t h e y h a d ta k e n m y b a g a n d m y d o c u m e n ts fr o m m e . W h ile th e y w e r e s e a r c h ­ in g m e , o n e o f th e m w a s in s u ltin g m e . H e g a v e m e tw o k ic k s a n d w a n te d m e to a d m it th a t I b e lo n g e d to a g a n g . W h e n I a n s w e re d , lo o k in g a t th e m , t h a t I d i d n ’ t b e l o n g t o a n y g a n g , t h e y t o l d m e n o t t o l o o k t h e m in t h e f a c e . A s th e y w e r e fin is h in g s e a r c h in g m e a n d o r d e r in g m e to g o , o n e o f th e m k ic k e d m e a s I tu r n e d a r o u n d . S o I s a id to th e m : “ Y o u m o r e th a n a n y o n e k n o w t h e r i g h t s o f p e o p l e , a n d y o u k n o w w h a t y o u a r e d o i n g is a n i n j u s t i c e . ” A s a c i t i z e n t h a t p a y s m y t a x e s s o t h a t t h e y c a n h a v e a s a la r y , I h a v e t h e r i g h t t o a s k t h e m f o r t h e i r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n n u m b e r s , a n d I d i d t h is . I t o o k o u t a n o t e b o o k th a t I h a d o n m e a n d I s ta r te d to w r ite d o w n th e n u m b e r o f th e lic e n s e p la te o f th e ir ca r. In th a t in s t a n c e . . . th e y h a n d ­ c u ffe d m e a n d th e y to o k m y th in g s fr o m m e o n c e a g a in a n d m y id e n tifi­ c a tio n . T h e y t o o k m e a n d b e a t m e a ll th e w a y to th e p n c s t a tio n , a n d th e n t h r e w m e in las bartolinas [ t h e l o c a l j a i l h o u s e ] . T h e s t o r y o f a b u s e c o n t i n u e d w h e n A r g u e t a ’s c o w o r k e r s a n d h i s m o t h e r c a m e to in q u ir e a b o u t h im a n d a s k th e r e a s o n fo r h is d e te n tio n . In r e s p o n s e to th e ir in q u ir ie s th e y w e r e v e r b a lly a b u s e d a n d th r e a te n e d w it h im p r is o n ­ m e n t b y t h e c h i e f o f t h e p n c s t a t i o n . H is m o t h e r w a s a c c u s e d o f b e i n g ir -

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r e s p o n s i b l e . A r g u e t a ’s a i m in w r i t i n g t h e m e s s a g e , h e s a y s , is “ f o r a ll t h o s e w h o h a v e b e e n b e a te n a n d h a v e n ’t h a d th e c o u r a g e to w r ite a b o u t it a n d m a k e i t k n o w n , a n d f o r a ll t h o s e w h o b e li e v e t h a t t h e s e p r o b l e m s c a n b e c h a n g e d .” H o w is it , h e a s k s , “ t h a t o u r s y s t e m , t h a t s p e a k s s o m u c h a b o u t l i b e r t i e s , r e p r i m a n d s u s f o r t h e w a y w e d r e s s , in w a y s t h a t t h e s a m e s y s t e m p r o m o t e s in i t s p u b l i c i t y a n d a d v e r t i s i n g ? ” I n d e e d , S a l v a d o r a n y o u t h w e r e b e in g fe d a s te a d y d ie t o f h ip h o p fa s h io n a n d ra p m u s ic a s th e y w a n d e r e d t h r o u g h E l S a l v a d o r ’s n e w m e g a s h o p p i n g m a l l s . 12 T h is w a s t h e o t h e r f a c e o f th e “ A m e r ic a n iz a tio n ” o f th e S a lv a d o r a n la n d s c a p e , a c c o m p a n ie d a s it w a s b y th e p r o life r a t io n o f g a t e d c o m m u n it ie s o n th e e d g e s o f th e m e t r o p o lit a n a r e a s .1 3 T h e p o l i c e w e r e o f t e n b a r e l y l i t e r a t e i n t h e s e m i o t i c s o f y o u t h c u lt u r e . T a k e , f o r e x a m p le , W e a s e l ’s f i r s t a t t e m p t t o c r o s s b a c k i n t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a t t h e e n d o f 2 0 0 3 w h e n h e w a s t u r n e d b a c k in M e x i c o b e c a u s e o f h i s c l o t h ­ i n g . H e r e a d t h is e v e n t t h r o u g h p o s t m o d e r n e y e s . W e l a u g h e d u p r o a r i o u s l y w h e n h e to ld m e w h y h e w a s th e o n e p ic k e d o u t o f e v e r y o n e o n th e b u s a s a n u n d o c u m e n t e d C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n im m ig r a n t p a s s in g t h r o u g h M e x ic o . W h e n h e a s k e d t h e federate ( o ffic e r ) w h o a p p r e h e n d e d h i m , “ W h y m e ? ” t h e m a n e x p la in e d th a t it w a s b e c a u s e h e w a s w e a r in g o ld - fa s h io n e d c lo th e s th a t n o M e x i c a n w o r e a n y m o r e . W e a s e l w a s w e a r i n g , a s h e p u t it , “ a v e r y s t y l i s h [ 1 9 7 0 s s t y le ] r e t r o s h i r t ,” a n d a s s u c h h e w a s d r e s s e d in t h e h e i g h t o f u r b a n y o u th fa s h io n . A n d , in f a c t , in t h e t i m e s i n c e W e a s e l ’s s e c o n d d e p o r t a t i o n h e h a d o n ly b e c o m e t r e n d i e r . S t y le w a s a lw a y s f o r e m o s t t o W e a s e l , a n d h e w a s o b v i ­ o u s l y r e l i e v e d t o b e o u t o f h i s p r i s o n s w e a t s a n d t o b e a b l e t o s h a v e h is h e a d a g a in . W h ile g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e r e m o v in g th e ir ta t t o o s w it h th e c o n s e n t o f th e g a n g , a n d n e w g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e p r o h ib ite d fr o m g e ttin g ta tto o s , W e a s e l ’s c o l o r f u l t a t t o o s h a d c r e p t u p o v e r h i s c o l l a r a n d a c r o s s h i s n e c k . A n e x t e n s i o n (a c i r c u l a r e a r r in g ) l i n e d t h e i n s i d e o f t h e e n l a r g e d h o l e in h is e a r lo b e . I a s k e d h i m i f t h e c o p s s t o p p e d h i m f o r h i s t a t t o o s . “ Y e a h , t h e y a r e a lw a y s s t o p p i n g m e a t M e t r o C e n t r o ,” t h e s h o p p i n g m a l l h e l i k e s t o f r e q u e n t , a n d t h e o n e w h e r e h e u s e d t o w o r k a s a t a t t o o a r t i s t in a s u r f e r ’s s h o p b e f o r e h e le ft f o r th e U n ite d S ta te s . B u t w h e n th e c o p s s t o p p e d h im th e y d id n ’ t ta k e h i m in . A f t e r t h r e e y e a r s o f p i c k i n g u p t e n s o f t h o u s a n d s o f y o u t h f o r h a n g ­ in g o u t w it h e a c h o th e r a n d fo r b e a r in g t a t t o o s , th e p o lic e w e r e fin a lly a b le to d is c e r n th e c la s s - s p e c ific g a n g a n d p r is o n ta t t o o s fr o m th e s o r t th a t W e a s e l n o w b o re . O r a t le a s t W e a s e l m a d e s u re th e y k n e w th e d iffe r e n c e . B e fo r e th e a n n o u n c e m e n t o f M a n o D u r a h e h a d a lr e a d y s t a r t e d t o g e t c o l o r t a t t o o s in -

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s te a d o f th e b la c k - a n d - g r e y p r is o n ta tto o s . H e h a d d o n e s o b o th to h id e th e p r i s o n o r i g i n s o f h is t a t t o o s a n d b e c a u s e h is s e n s e o f s t y le w a s c h a n g i n g . A ft e r h a n g in g o u t w it h m id d le - c la s s y o u th (n a m e ly th e c r o w d w h o h u n g o u t a t L a L u n a , t h e c a f e d i s c u s s e d in c h a p t e r 4 ) , W e a s e l w a s i n c r e a s i n g l y d r a w n t o t h e c o l o r f u l i c o n o g r a p h y o f h is M a y a n o r i g i n s a s t h e y m i x e d w i t h e le m e n t s o f r e g g a e , “ t r i b a l ,” a n d a n a r c h i s t v i s u a l c u lt u r e . H is t a t t o o s h a d w a r p e d i n t o y e t a n o t h e r a lt e r n a t i v e p o l i t i c s o f f a s h i o n . B e fo r e W e a s e l fle d b a c k to th e U n ite d S ta te s a t th e e n d o f 2 0 0 3 , h e w a s d i r e c t o r o f H o m i e s U n i d o s ’s a r t s p r o g r a m in S a n S a lv a d o r . H e w a s w o r k i n g w it h a c o lle a g u e o f m in e to im p le m e n t a p r o je c t, fu n d e d b y a S w is s p r o g r a m , w h i c h h e h a d e n t i t l e d “ A r t S h i e l d .” T h e t i m i n g o f t h e p r o g r a m c o u l d n o t h a v e b e e n m o r e i r o n i c a n d y e t p r e s c i e n t in t e r m s o f t h e d a n g e r s in c r i m i n a l i z ­ i n g t h e e x p r e s s i v e p r a c t i c e s o f h ip h o p y o u t h c u lt u r e . T h e id e a b e h i n d i t h a d b e e n t o u s e t h e e x p r e s s iv e c u l t u r e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h g a n g s a s a w a y t o s o f t e n th e s o c ia l s tig m a a tta c h e d to g a n g y o u th a n d th e p r e ju d ic e to w a r d th e m . W e a s e l a n d m y c o lle a g u e h a d th e ta s k o f p u t t in g th is p r o g r a m in t o e ffe c t a t t h e h e i g h t o f M a n o D u r a ’s w a r a g a i n s t t h e g a n g s t h r o u g h t h e i r e x p r e s s iv e p r a c tic e s . N o t o n l y d id M a n o D u r a o u t l a w a n d c r i m i n a l i z e t h e w e a r i n g o f t a t t o o s th a t d e s ig n a t e g a n g o r c r im in a l a ffilia t io n b u t th e in it ia l p r o p o s a l fo r th e p la n in c lu d e d a p r o v is io n r e q u ir in g ta t t o o a r tis ts to k e e p a r e g is tr y o f e a c h o f th e ta tto o s th e y m a d e , in c lu d in g a d e s c r ip tio n o f th e ta tto o a n d th e n a m e , a d d r e s s , a g e , a n d s ig n a tu r e o f th e c lie n t r e c e iv in g th e ta tto o . T h e s e t a tto o r e g i s t r i e s w e r e t o b e s u b j e c t t o i n s p e c t i o n b y t h e M i n i s t r y o f H e a l t h . I t w a s in th is c o n t e x t th a t W e a s e l fle d E l S a lv a d o r a t th e e n d o f 2 0 0 3 , a b a n d o n in g A r t S h i e ld t o a f r i e n d w h o h a d b e e n in v o lv e d w i t h t a g g i n g g r o u p s in t h e U n i t e d S ta te s a n d w h o w a s n o t a ffilia te d w it h H o m ie s U n id o s . N o w h e w a s b a c k , t h i s t i m e s t r u g g l i n g t o k e e p a l o w p r o f i l e f r o m t h e f i a s c o o f E l P la n S ú p e r M a n o D u r a a n d t h e m o n s t e r s u n l e a s h e d b y it . I f t r a n s n a t i o n a l y o u t h g a n g s h a v e t h e i r o r i g i n s in t h e r e s u l t o f f a i l e d c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e p o l i c i e s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , w h y d id t h o s e p o l i c i e s b e c o m e a m o d e l f o r c o u n t r i e s l i k e E l S a lv a d o r ? I f M a n o D u r a l e d t o a n in c r e a s e in v io le n c e , w h y w a s it e x te n d e d th r o u g h S ú p e r M a n o D u ra ? In e a c h c a s e , r e ­ p r e s s io n h a d b e e n p r o d u c tiv e o f th e v e r y v io le n c e it p u r p o r te d ly a im e d to d i­ m in is h .

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The Return o f the W arlords W h i l e m o s t a r g u e t h a t m a n o d u r i s t a p o l i c i e s h a v e b e e n a c o m p l e t e f a ilu r e , o th e r s a r g u e q u ite th e o p p o s ite . I n d e e d , z e r o - to le r a n c e p o lic ie s h a v e p r o v e d h i g h l y p r o d u c t i v e in t h e F o u c a u l d i a n s e n s e . A c c o r d i n g t o s o m e , r a t h e r t h a n b e in g a fia s c o S ú p e r M a n o D u r a w a s a s u c c e s s p r e c is e ly b e c a u s e it in c r e a s e d t h e le v e l o f v i o l e n c e i n E l S a lv a d o r , t h e r e b y j u s t i f y i n g t h e n e e d n o t o n l y f o r z e r o - t o l e r a n c e p o l i c i e s b u t a l s o t h e r e m i l i t a r i z a t i o n o f s o c ie t y , a n d w i t h it th e r e tu r n o f th e w a r lo r d s . O n e S p a n is h C a t h o lic p r ie s t, P a d r e A n t o n io R o d r íg u e z , o r T o ñ o ( w h o a t o n e p o in t h a d to fle e th e c o u n tr y a ft e r g iv in g a c o n t r o v e r s i a l s e r m o n ) , p u t i t in t h e s e s t a r k , a l b e i t c o n s p i r a t o r i a l , t e r m s : M a n o D u ra h a s b e e n v e r y s u c c e s s fu l fo r th e p u r p o s e it w a s c re a te d . M a n o D u r a w a s n o t c r e a te d to r e s o lv e th e p r o b le m o f y o u th g a n g v io le n c e . It w a s c r e a t e d t o g e n e r a t e a p h a n t a s m in t h e p o p u l a t i o n o f fe a r , o r t e r r o r , th a t w o u ld b e c o n v e r te d in to tw o d re a m s: T h e fir s t to in c r e a s e m ig r a tio n . . . to p u s h p e o p le o u t [ o f th e c o u n ­ t r y ] . . . . S e c o n d , . . . t o in c r e a s e t h e w a v e o f v i o l e n c e in t h e p o p u l a t i o n . . . to ju s t ify th e m ilita r iz a tio n o f th e c o u n tr y a n d th e [p a s s a g e o f ] th e a n t i - t e r r o r i s t la w . . . . T h e y m i l i t a r i z e d t h e a i r p o r t . . . t h e y p l a c e d t h e m [ t h e m ilit a r y ] in t h e c o m m u n i t i e s , t h e r e [ h e s a y s g e s t u r i n g t o t h e w i n d o w a n d t o t h e s t r e e t o u t s id e ] y o u w i l l s e e s o l d i e r s w a l k i n g a b o u t . . . t h e y c o m e o u t o n t h i s s t r e e t . T h e p e o p l e a r e f r i g h t e n e d . . . T h e y [a r e n a ] a c h i e v e d a ll t h e o b je c tiv e s o f M a n o D u ra . F o r P a d re T o ñ o , th e r e fo r e , S ú p e r M a n o D u r a n o t o n ly p r o d u c e d a c a r c e r a l a n d s u r v e illa n c e s ta te b u t a ls o m a r k e d th e r e tu r n to E l S a lv a d o r o f th e lo w in t e n s it y w a r fa r e o f th e 19 8 0 s a n d w it h it th e m ilit a r y s ta te . “ T h e g o v e r n m e n t w a n t e d u s t o t h i n k t h a t w e h a d o n e p r o b l e m . T h e ir d i s c o u r s e — t h a t w e h a d o n ly o n e p r o b le m — p e n e tr a te d th e p o p u la tio n . T h a t w a s th e p r o b le m o f v io ­ l e n c e . . . V i o l e n c e i s p r o d u c t i v e f o r t h e p o w e r o f t h e e x e c u t iv e , a t t h e e x p e n s e o f t h e j u d i c i a r y a n d t h e l e g i s l a t u r e . T h e g r e a t e s t a c h i e v e m e n t o f f r e e t r a d e is th e e x p o r ta tio n o f p e o p le . W h a t a re S a lv a d o r a n s g o in g to e x p o rt? P u p u s a s ? N o t e v e n P o l l o C a m p e r o . . .” 14 P a d r e T o ñ o w a s n o t im m u n e to th e p r o d u c tiv e p o w e r o f th is p h a n ta s m o f f e a r . H is t o n e w a s d e s p e r a t e . H e f e a r e d h i s d a y s i n E l S a l v a d o r w e r e n u m ­ b e re d . H e w a s fr ig h te n e d a n d e m o tio n a lly e x h a u s te d . H e h a d n ’ t fe lt s a fe a t

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n i g h t in t h e b a r r i o s i n c e 2 0 0 3 a n d b e f o r e M a n o D u r a w a s la u n c h e d . H e n o l o n g e r w o r k e d in h i s o f f i c e l a t e a t n i g h t a n d o r w a l k e d b a c k t o h is h o u s e a f t e r d a r k . H e w a s w a i t i n g t o s e e i f h e w o u l d b e g r a n t e d a y e a r ’s s a b b a t i c a l t o r e s t , b u t h e f e a r e d “ w h a t w a s g o i n g t o c o m e o u t a t t h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l l e v e l .” I ’v e s e e n s o m a n y d e a d b o d ie s in th r e e y e a r s . M a n y . H e re , o u ts id e , I s a w s o m e o n e w h o h a d b e e n s t a b b e d . . . P s y c h o l o g i c a l l y s p e a k i n g i t ’s r e a lly t o u g h , r e a lly t o u g h . I r e c e i v e d a d e a t h t h r e a t . T h e S p a n is h e m b a s s y g o t m e o u t in s ix h o u r s . I t w a s f o r s o m e t h i n g I s a id in m y s e r m o n . . . . I w a s in a m e e tin g w ith th e 2 3 rd S tre e t G a n g , a fte r w h ic h I r e tu rn e d to m y h o u s e . A t m id n ig h t th e y k ille d t w o o f th e k id s w it h w h o m I h a d b e e n m e e t in g . In a b u s , a b u lle t h e re a n d a n o t h e r th e r e ( p o in t in g to h is b o d y ) . I b u r i e d t h e m . . . . T h e v i o l e n c e h a s r e a l l y i n c r e a s e d . T h e o t h e r d ay, t h e y k i l l e d a l i t t l e b o y . I h a v e h is p h o t o h e r e . H e w a s a k i d w h o I h e l p e d b u i l d a h o u s e w i t h h i s m o t h e r . T w o d a y s la t e r , t h e y k i l l e d a m o t h e r w i t h h e r s o n o f t w e n t y - t w o y e a r s in a tortillera [a p l a c e w h e r e t o r t i l l a s a r e m a d e a n d s o ld ] . J u st fif t e e n d a y s a g o . Y e ste rd a y , th e y k ille d a n o t h e r h e r e . Y e s te r ­ d a y , a b o y o f t w e n t y , w h o liv e d h e r e . I w a s a t h is w a k e l a s t n i g h t . T h e o t h e r d a y — t h e s i s t e r o f a k i d in o u r y o u t h p a r i s h , n i n e t e e n y e a r s o ld . T h e y k i d ­ n a p p e d h e r . T h e y a s k e d f o r fiv e h u n d r e d d o lla r s a n d b e c a u s e t h e f a m i l y d i d n ’ t h a v e it , t h e n e x t d a y t h e r e w a s a w a k e in t h e i r h o u s e , t h e g i r l d e a d . T h e v i o l e n c e h e r e is r e a lly g r a v e . . . I t ’s a c o m p l e t e d is a s t e r , a d i s a s t e r f o r us [ n o t t h e g o v e r n m e n t ] . It w a s n ’ t th e o b je c tiv e to e lim in a te v io le n c e . A c o u n tr y lik e th is o n e , w it h a g o v e r n m e n t lik e th is o n e , n e e d s th is [k in d o f ] p o p u la t io n , a n d n e e d s to g e n e r a te a v io le n t p o p u la tio n . I f n o t, th e s y s te m c a n ’ t b e m a in ­ t a in e d . T h e s y s t e m w o n ’ t b e m a i n t a i n e d [ o t h e r w i s e ] . T h e s y s t e m i s m a i n ­ t a i n e d w i t h t h i s [ v io l e n c e ] , u n f o r t u n a t e ly , r ig h t ? M a n o D u r a w a s a s u c c e s s . I t d id w h a t i t i n t e n d e d t o d o . . . T h e y m a n ­ a g e d to c o n v in c e th e s o c ie ty th a t th e y h a d o n e p r o b le m a n d th a t w a s th e g a n g s . . . t h is b o i l i n g p o t h a s it s e s c a p e s a n d it s p h a n t a s m s . D o e s t h i s r e t u r n o f t h e m i l i t a r y t o p o l i c i n g f u n c t i o n s in E l S a l v a d o r s u g ­ g e s t a s i m p l e r e t u r n t o t h e p a s t a n d t h e c o l l u s i o n b e t w e e n t h e m ilit a r y , t h e p o l i c e , a n d t h e r u l i n g e lit e ? I n a c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h m e i n S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6 R o b e r to B u r g o s , a c o n s t it u t io n a l a tto r n e y a t th e U n iv e r s ity o f C e n tr a l A m e r i c a ’s I n s t i t u t e f o r H u m a n R i g h t s ( i d h u c a ) , p o n d e r e d t h e q u e s t i o n th is w a y :

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I h a v e m y o p i n i o n a n d i t ’s t h i s . T h e a r m e d f o r c e s a n d t h e p o l i c e n e v e r r e a lly s e p a r a te d . . . T h e a r m y n e v e r r e a lly w it h d r e w fr o m th e p u b lic s e c u ­ r i t y f u n c t i o n s . ^ S o f o r m e , i t ’s a li t t l e d i f f i c u l t t o s a y t o y o u t h a t w e a r e r e t u r n i n g t o t h e p a s t . I t ’s t h a t w e n e v e r l e f t o r g o t r i d o f a ll o f it . S o it m a k e s i t i m p o s s i b l e f o r m e t o s a y w h e t h e r i t ’s a n e w m o d e l , b e c a u s e in p r a c t i c e , w e ’v e n e v e r h a d a t o t a l l y n e w m o d e l . N o r c a n I l i e in s a y i n g t h a t th e s e c u r ity fo r c e s a re th e s a m e a s th e p a s t. T h e y h a v e c h a n g e d a n d th e r e h a v e b e e n s o m e a d v a n c e s . . . . T h e p r o b l e m is t h a t t h e s e s m a l l g a i n s a r e n o w s e e n a s a n o b s t a c l e t o f i g h t i n g d e l in q u e n c y . B u t t h e r e a l i t y i s t h a t t h e a r m e d f o r c e s n e v e r a b a n d o n e d i t s p u b l i c s e r v ic e w o r k . E v e n s o , B u r g o s w o r r i e d t h a t P la n S ú p e r M a n o D u r a w a s d i s t o r t i n g t h e r o l e o f t h e m i l i t a r y in c o n t e m p o r a r y E l S a lv a d o r . T h e m i l i t a r y n o w sa y , “ L o o k , n o w w e h a v e d e p l o y m e n t s . . . [s o ] w e n e e d a la r g e r b u d g e t . W e n e e d t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s t o s e n d n e w t r a n s p o r t v e h i c l e s , w e n e e d n e w a r m s , w e n e e d m o r e a id , m o r e u n i f o r m s b e c a u s e w e ’ r e in a m ilit a r y c a m p a ig n a g a in s t th e g a n g s o r th e th ie v e s . A n d i f th is m o u n ts u p — I k n o w p e r h a p s [ t h a t t h is ] d o e s n ’ t p e r t a i n [ d ir e c tly ] t o y o u r q u e s t i o n — t h e f a c t t h a t t h e a r m e d f o r c e s a r e p a r t i c i p a t i n g in t h e c a m p a i g n in I r a q , i t d i s t o r t s n o t o n ly t h e r o l e o f t h e p o l i c e t h a t n e e d s a g u a r d t o p r o ­ t e c t t h e m s o t h a t h e c a n p r o t e c t m e , b u t a l s o t h e r o l e o f t h e m ilit a r y . T h e m i l i t a r y r e g a i n s t h e i r p r o f ile . W e h a v e a m i n i s t e r o f d e f e n s e w h o o p i n e s o v e r t h e d e a t h p e n a lt y , w h o o ffe r s h is o p in io n a b o u t p u b lic s e c u r ity . . . th e e n v ir o n m e n t . . . T h e m i l i t a r y le a d e r s t h a t w e h a d , l o s S e ñ o r e s d e la G u e r r a , a s w e c a l l e d t h e m in t h e c o n f l i c t in t h e e i g h t i e s , f e e l o n c e a g a i n [ t h a t t h e y h a v e a p o l i t i c a l v o ic e ] . . . T h e u m o , t h e s e a n t i - r i o t u n i t s t h a t w e r e f o r m e d b y F r a n c e , la t e l y h a v e s t a r t e d t o b e t r a i n e d [ u s in g ] t h e h e l i c o p t e r s o f t h e a i r f o r c e . . . in s i m u ­ l a t i n g r e s c u e s . . . B u t w h o ’s g o i n g t o g u a r a n t e e m e t h a t t h i s a n t i - r i o t u n i t w i l l n o t u s e t h e a ir t r a n s p o r t t r a i n i n g t o r e p r e s s a p r o t e s t r a lly ? I h a v e t h e r ig h t to w o r r y b e c a u s e o f th e h is to r y o f m y c o u n tr y . . . T h e U n ite d S ta te s , o f c o u r s e , h a d p la y e d a c e n tr a l r o le in th a t h is to r y . A n d th e r e w a s c o n s id e r a b le c o n c e r n th a t its n e w ly o p e n e d I n te r n a tio n a l L a w E n ­ f o r c e m e n t A c a d e m y f o r L a t i n A m e r i c a ( i l e a ) in S a n S a l v a d o r m i g h t r e p e a t th a t h is to r y . T h e s e lf- p r o c la im e d m is s io n o f th e p r o g r a m w a s to c o m b a t i n t e r n a t i o n a l c r i m e s , s u c h a s d r u g t r a f f i c k i n g , o r g a n i z e d c r i m e , a n d te r -

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r o r is m , b y p r o v id in g h ig h - q u a lity tr a in in g to m e m b e r s o f la w e n fo r c e m e n t a g e n c i e s t h r o u g h o u t t h e w o r l d . O r i g i n a l l y e s t a b l i s h e d u n d e r B ill C l i n t o n in 1 9 9 5 , i l e a h a s a d d i t i o n a l t r a i n i n g f a c i l i t i e s in H u n g a r y , B o t s w a n a , a n d t h e U n ite d S ta te s . T h e U n ite d S ta te s a n d th e S a lv a d o r a n g o v e r n m e n t h a d s ig n e d a b ila te r a l a g r e e m e n t to e s ta b lis h i l e a S a n S a lv a d o r o n S e p te m b e r 2 1, 2 0 0 5 . M o s t S a lv a d o r a n h u m a n r ig h t s o r g a n iz a t io n s o p p o s e d th e a g r e e m e n t , s a y ­ in g th a t s a y i l e a w a s th e n e w S c h o o l o f th e A m e r ic a s , w h ic h w a s th e tr a in ­ i n g g r o u n d fo r m a n y o f th e S a lv a d o r a n m ilit a r y o ffic e r s a c c u s e d o f g r o s s h u m a n r i g h t s v i o l a t i o n s d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r . 16 I n f a c t , t h e p r i m a r y r e a s o n I h a d m e t w i t h B u r g o s w a s t o d i s c u s s h i s o r g a n i z a t i o n ’s c o n t r o v e r s i a l c o l ­ la b o r a t io n w it h i l e a . H e re th e r o le o f i d h u c a w a s p a r t ic u la r ly d e lic a te g i v e n t h e h i s t o r y o f t h i s J e s u it u n i v e r s i t y n o t o n l y a s a r d e n t d e f e n d e r o f h u m a n r i g h t s d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r b u t a l s o b e c a u s e o f t h e t h e n s t i l l u n r e ­ s o l v e d c a s e o f t h e m u r d e r o f s ix J e s u it s p r i e s t s a n d t h e i r h o u s e k e e p e r o n t h e u ca

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fo r 2 0 0 9 ) p o in te d to th e n e e d fo r b e tte r te c h n ic a l tr a in in g fo r th e p o lic e . B u r g o s w a s a d a m a n t th a t b a d m a n a g e m e n t o f c r im e s c e n e s , th e in a b ility t o b r i n g t e c h n i c a l p r o o f t o c o u r t h e a r i n g s , a n d p o o r e x p e r t i s e in b a l l i s t i c s a n d fo r e n s ic m e d ic in e a n d th e lik e “g e n e r a te s m o r e im p u n ity a n d m o r e s u f ­ fe r in g .” B u r g o s c o n c l u d e d : “ W h a t is o u r o p t i o n ? D o w e p e r m i t t h e a r m e d f o r c e s t o t r a in t h e p o l i c e . . . o r d o w e g e t b e h i n d a n i n i t i a t i v e t h a t r e a l l y w o u l d g i v e u s a p r o f e s s i o n a l c iv il p o l i c e ? B e s id e s , w e a s k e d f o r g u a r a n t e e s t h a t t h e y w i l l n o t t r a in a n y o n e f r o m t h e m i l i t a r y s e c t i o n . . . a n d t h a t t h e h i s t o r y o f t h e s t u ­ d e n ts fr o m th e r e g io n b e im p e c c a b le .” T h e fe a r o f p a r t ic ip a t io n b y th e U n ite d S ta te s w a s , o f c o u r s e , n o t u n ­ fo u n d e d . B u r g o s a c k n o w le d g e d th a t m a n y o f th e w o r s t v io la to r s o f h u m a n r i g h t s in E l S a l v a d o r h a d p a s s e d t h r o u g h t h e S c h o o l o f t h e A m e r i c a s , w e r e t r a i n e d b y t h e f b i , a n d w e r e s t a t i o n e d a t F o r t B e n n i n g in G e o r g i a a n d F o r t B r a g g in N o r t h C a r o l i n a f o r t r a i n i n g in t h e i n f a n t r y o r m i l i t a r y i n t e l l i g e n c e . A s B u r g o s p u t it:

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ta n c e P r o g ra m ] fo ld e r , e v e n t h o u g h th e y d id n ’ t k n o w w h a t it w a s , b u t w e r e in r e a l i t y v e r y p r o u d o f it! B u t g i v e n t h e r o l e o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s in tr a in in g o u r m ilit a r y a n d s e c u r ity fo r c e s d u r in g th e w a r . . . it s e e m s v e r y l o g i c a l t o m e w i t h t h e P e a c e A c c o r d s t h e f i r s t a t t e m p t w a s . . . t o sa y , o k a y , w e ’ r e g o i n g t o t r y t o d i s t a n c e o u r s e lv e s a b it f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s in t h e tr a in in g o f th e n e w u n its . . . A f t e r t h e P e a c e A c c o r d s t h e r e w a s a c l e a r i n t e n t t o t r a in t h e p o l i c e b a s e d in p a r a m e te r s o f th e E u r o p e a n U n io n , in c lu d in g , y o u k n o w , th e u n i f o r m s o f t h e p o l i c e , t h e f o r m in w h i c h t h e y m a r c h . . . I i n t e r j e c t , “ B u t t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s h a s n o w r e t u r n e d a s t h e d o m i n a n t m o d e l? ” T o w h i c h B u r g o s r e s p o n d s , “ T h e y ’v e r e t u r n e d , c le a r ly .”

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c h a p t e r

s ix

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PART III

A D i S T U R B A N C E iN T i M E AN D S P A C E

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THE G A N G - C R I M E - T E R R O R I S M CONT INUUM

SEVEN

In th e fr a m e o f m y c a m e ra , a m e m b e r o f th e y o u th g r o u p o f th e F a ra b u n d o M a r t i N a t i o n a l L i b e r a t i o n F r o n t ( f m l n ) is p a i n t i n g a r e d s t a r , t h e i n s i g n i a o f t h e f m l n , o n t h e c h e e k o f P á ja r o , a d e p o r t e d S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t a n d L a M a r a S a lv a tr u c h a ( m s ) g a n g m e m b e r fr o m L o s A n g e le s . T h e c a m p a ig n s l o g a n “ J u n t o s s o m o s e l c a m b i o ” ( T o g e t h e r w e a r e t h e c h a n g e ) is e m b l a ­ z o n e d o n t h e b a c k o f t h e f m l n y o u t h ’s T - s h i r t . T h is s n a p s h o t , t a k e n i n 1 9 9 6 d u r i n g t h e m u n i c i p a l c a m p a i g n s in a s m a l l t o w n in e a s t e r n E l S a lv a d o r , j o i n s th e s e t w o d is p a r a te f ig u r e s o f r e s is t a n c e : th e tr a n s n a tio n a l s tr e e t y o u th g a n g a n d th e le f t is t g u e r r illa g r o u p tu r n e d p o lit ic a l o p p o s it io n p a rty . I h a v e a n o t h e r p h o t o g r a p h o f P á ja r o t a k e n t h e d a y b e f o r e . I n i t h e a n d h i s h o m e b o y s P e r o l , a l s o f r o m m s in L o s A n g e l e s , a n d M a r c u s , f r o m t h e T o o n e r y o u t h g a n g (a l e s s e r - k n o w n C h i c a n o g a n g in G l e n d a l e , C a l i f o r ­ n ia ) , a r e p o s i n g s h o w i n g o f f t h e i r t a t t o o s a n d g e s t i c u l a t i n g in g a n g s i g n s . A ll th r e e h a v e h a d th e ir e n c o u n te r s w it h th e c r im in a l ju s t ic e s y s te m in th e

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U n ite d S ta te s . A lt h o u g h P e r o l a n d M a r c o s h a v e ta k e n o f f th e ir s h ir ts to s h o w o f f t h e i r t a t t o o s , P á ja r o k e e p s h i s l o n g - s l e e v e d o v e r s i z e d a t h l e t i c s h i r t o n . S h o r t ly a f t e r h i s d e p o r t a t i o n , h e w a s a t t a c k e d a n d s t a b b e d i n t h e c h e s t s e v e n ­ t e e n t im e s . H e ’ d r a t h e r n o t e x p o s e h i s w o u n d s t o t h e c a m e r a , h e e x p la i n s . I t ’s n o t c l e a r w h e t h e r t h e s e a r e t h e s i g n i f y i n g s c a r s o f g a n g o r d e a t h s q u a d v io le n c e — o f r e t r ib u t io n o r s o c ia l c le a n s in g . A t t h e t i m e t h e p h o t o s w e r e t a k e n P á ja r o w a s t w e n t y - f o u r y e a r s o ld . B o r n in E l S a lv a d o r , h e h a d liv e d t h e b e t t e r p a r t o f h i s y o u n g li f e , n i n e t e e n y e a r s , in L o s A n g e l e s . H e r e t u r n e d t o h is h o m e t o w n o f S a n t a E le n a a f t e r s e r v i n g a p r i s o n t e r m a t t h e C a l i f o r n i a S t a t e P e n i t e n t i a r y f o r h i s in v o l v e m e n t in a n a r m e d r o b b e r y . H e c l a i m s h e l e f t t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s v o lu n t a r ily , b u t h e i s in fa c t a d e p o r te e w h o c o n s e n te d to s ig n a “ v o lu n ta r y ” d e p a r tu re fo r m . F ro m t h e t i m e h e w a s t e n y e a r s o ld , P á ja r o w a s i n v o lv e d w i t h m s . I c a l l t h i s d i a l e c t i c a l i m a g e o f P á ja r o in l e f t i s t p o l i t i c a l d r a g “ L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a in f m l n f m l n

fa c e .” B u t c o u ld n ’ t it b e th e o t h e r w a y a r o u n d : th e

in t h e f a c e o f t h e g a n g — t h e l e g a c y a n d t h e h i s t o r y o f it ? W h a t a r e w e

t o m a k e o f t h i s d i a l e c t i c a l i m a g e o f t h e g a n g (m s o r 1 8 t h S t r e e t ) w i t h t h e g u e r r illa ( f m l n ) a n d th e t r a n s fe r e n c e o f th e r e d sta r, th e s ta in o f th e f m l n , o n t o P á j a r o ’s c h e e k , w h o s e b o d y b e a r s t h e s t a i n o f h i s g a n g ’s i n s i g n i a in b l a c k in k ? I s “ L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a i n f m l n f a c e ” a n i m a g e o f a n i n c i p i e n t s o lid a r ity b o r n e o f a y o u t h fu l im p u ls e to fin d c o r r e s p o n d e n c e s w it h , a n d s o r e c o g n i z e t h e m s e l v e s in , t h e r e v o l u t i o n a r y c o n s c i o u s n e s s o f t h e p r e v i o u s g e n e r a t io n a n d th e ir u to p ia n p r o je c t? T h e p h o t o g r a p h c e r ta in ly a p p e a r s to o ffe r a v is io n o f in c lu s iv e n e s s : J u n to s s o m o s e l c a m b io . B u t m e r e ly fu s in g th e s e e le m e n ts , m s a n d th e f m l n , in to a h a r m o n io u s p e r s p e c tiv e w o u ld b e to w o r k a g a in s t th e p r in c ip le s o f th e d ia le c t ic a l im a g e . S u c h a s t r a ig h t fo r ­ w a r d id e n t ific a t io n b e tw e e n th e s e e le m e n ts e ra s e s th e g a p b e tw e e n th e s ig n a n d r e f e r e n t b y f u s i n g t h e m i n t o a d e c e p t i v e t o t a l it y . T h e d i a l e c t i c a l i m a g e , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , in t e r r u p t s t h e c o n t e x t i n t o w h i c h i t is in s e r t e d , t h e r e b y l e a v i n g t h e i m a g e ’s i d e a t i o n a l e l e m e n t s in p r o d u c t i v e s u s p e n s i o n a n d s e t t i n g it s s e m i o t i c c o n t e n t i n t o q u e s t i o n . 1

Doble cara ( t w o - f a c e d ) , t h e S a l v a d o r a n t r o p e f o r t h i s f r a g m e n t e d g a z e , is a t p l a y in a n u m b e r o f d i a l e c t i c a l f i g u r e s t h r o u g h o u t t h e b o o k , n a m e ly : h o m e b o y s d e p o r te d fr o m th e im m ig r a n t b a r r io s o f L o s A n g e le s c la im in g th e s tr e e ts o f S a lv a d o r a n c itie s a n d to w n s ; d e p o r te d g a n g m e m b e r s tu rn e d t r a n s ­ n a tio n a l p e a c e a c tiv is ts ; c o p s tu r n e d c r im in a ls , im m ig r a t io n a g e n t s a n d s o l­ d ie r s . T h is c h a p t e r o p e n s w i t h y e t a n o t h e r i m a g e , t h e g a n g s t e r a s g u e r r i l l a , a n d it e n d s w it h th e g a n g s t e r a s te r r o r is t. E n d in g th is v o lu m e w it h th e s e p a r-

2 08

CHAPTER SEVEN

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t i c u l a r f i g u r e s e n a b le s u s t o c o n s i d e r t h e h i s t o r y o b s c u r e d in t h e c o n t e m p o ­ ra ry o b s e s s io n w ith tr a n s n a tio n a l y o u th g a n g s — a h is to r y th a t ta k e s u s b a c k to th e b e g in n in g o f th e b o o k a n d to th e w a n e o f th e c o ld w a r a n d th e e n d o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n c iv il w a r . U p t o t h i s p o i n t , t h e c h a p t e r s o f t h i s v o l u m e h a v e a p p e a r e d in a f a i r l y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d c h r o n o l o g y f r o m 1 9 9 2 t h r o u g h 2 0 0 6 . I n t h i s c h a p t e r , h o w e v e r , I s u s p e n d t h a t c h r o n o l o g y , i r o n i c a l l y e n o u g h , in o r d e r to b r in g tim e b a c k in t o th e p r o d u c t io n o f t r a n s n a tio n a l s p a c e . B u t I u s e a v e r y p a r tic u la r n o t io n o f tim e th a t fo c u s e s o n “ s p e c t r a l” o r “ s p ir it u a l” m o m e n t s th a t a re n o t d o c ile to e ith e r tim e o r s p a c e . T h e e t h n o g r a p h ic e v e n ts in th is c h a p t e r d is jo in “ th e liv in g p r e s e n t fr o m th e in s t it u t e d o r d e r o f th e c a l e n d a r ,” 2 a n d f r o m i t s i m m e d i a t e a n d li t e r a l U n i t e d S t a t e s o r S a l v a d o r a n geograp h y. W h a t f o l l o w s is a m o n t a g e o f i n t e r l o c k i n g i m a g e s a n d i m a g i n a r i e s , w h i c h d w e l l in a n d b e y o n d t h e f r a m e o f a p a r t i c u l a r c r i m i n a l t y p e — b e i t c o m m u ­ n is t, g a n g s te r , o r t e r r o r is t — a n d a p a r tic u la r m o m e n t o r w a r. T h e s e im a g e s b e a r m a r k s o f t h e f u t u r e a n d o f t h e p a s t in a p r e s e n t m o m e n t t h a t is n o t q u i t e e it h e r , b u t y e t is u n c a n n i l y f a m i l i a r . T o g e t h e r t h e y p o i n t t o t h e p r o ­ d u c t i v i t y o f t h a t w h i c h is r e p r e s s e d i n U .S .- S a l v a d o r a n s e c u r i t y r e l a t i o n s , a n d it s c o n t i n u a l r e t u r n : t h e r e p r o d u c t i o n o f t h e t e r r o r i s t , a n d w i t h i t t h e r e fu g e e w h o h a s , fifte e n y e a r s a ft e r th e s ig n in g o f th e S a lv a d o r a n P e a c e A c ­ c o r d s , r e a p p e a r e d a s a r e p e t i t i v e t y p e in U .S . i m m i g r a t i o n c o u r t s . T h is b o o k c lo s e s , th e n , w it h a c o n s id e r a tio n o f h o w th e s e c u r ity s c a p e s r e s u lt in g fr o m th e g lo b a liz a tio n o f g a n g s a n d g a n g -a b a te m e n t s tr a te g ie s h a v e b e e n g r a fte d o n t o th e W a r o n T e rro r. In th is lig h t , th e W a r o n T e r r o r a p p e a r s a s a d is t u r b ­ i n g c o n t i n u a t i o n o f t h e p a s t in t h e p r e s e n t m a d e v i s i b l e in h a u n t i n g l y f a m i l ­ ia r f o r m s , a n d E l S a l v a d o r a n d t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s e m e r g e a s a d e n s e h a l l o f m ir r o r s , a n e n d le s s ly r e fr a c t e d a n d w a r p e d tim e a n d s p a c e o f c o n n e c tio n a n d c o n ta c t.

From Political to Social Violence A s d e s c r i b e d in c h a p t e r 6 , d e s p i t e p o s t - c i v i l w a r r e f o r m s E l S a l v a d o r w a s t r o u b le d b y th e s p e c t e r o f o ld a n d n e w fo r m s o f v io le n c e . E ffo r ts s p o n s o r e d b y t h e s t a t e a n d n g o s t o i d e n t i f y t h e s o u r c e , d i r e c t i o n , a n d s u b j e c t o f t h is v io le n c e d is t in g u is h e d th e p o lit ic a l fr o m th e s o c ia l, a n d c o n s t r u c t e d th e la t t e r a s p o s t p o l i t i c a l . T h e “ p o l i t i c a l ” v i o l e n c e o f E l S a l v a d o r ’s a u t h o r i t a r i a n a n d r e v o lu t io n a r y p a s t h a d ( a c c o r d in g t o th e lo c a l d is c o u r s e ) g iv e n w a y to “ s o c i a l ” v i o l e n c e . T h e r e w a s e v e n a s t r a n g e n o s t a l g i a f o r t h e m a n a g e d v io -

G A N G - C R i ME - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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2 09

l e n c e o f t h e w a r — i t s p r e d i c t a b i l i t y a n d p o l i t i c a l l o g i c . T h is w a s “ a w a r w i t h ­ o u t s e n s e , ” “ w i t h o u t b a r r a c k s .” A n d a s v i o l e n c e w i t h o u t a d i s c e r n i b l e l o g i c o r fo r m , th e c o u n tr y w a s c o n s u m e d w it h a n x ie tie s o v e r it .3 B u t E l S a l v a d o r w a s , i n f a c t , a v e r i t a b l e h a l l o f m ir r o r s w h e r e t h e “ r e a l o f v i o l e n c e ” w a s o p e n t o i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . 4 T h e “ C a s e o f R o s a N .,” w h i c h e r u p t e d i n t h e S a l v a d o r a n m e d i a in D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 , w a s a c a s e in p o i n t . A s n o t e d in c h a p te r 5, th e h e a d o f a n u n k n o w n y o u n g w o m a n b e tw e e n th e a g e s o f fifte e n a n d s e v e n t e e n w a s d i s c o v e r e d in a b l a c k b a c k p a c k in P a r q u e L i b e r t a d , a p a r k in t h e c e n t e r o f S a n S a lv a d o r . W i t h i n h o u r s , a t h i g h w a s f o u n d a t a b u s t e r m i ­ n a l, a n d la te r th a t s a m e w e e k p a r t o f a h u m a n to r s o w a s d is c o v e r e d flo a t in g in a r iv e r . A l l o f t h e s e p a r t s b e l o n g e d t o t h e s a m e u n i d e n t i f i e d c o r p s e , w h o s e f o r e h e a d w a s t a t t o o e d w i t h t h e n u m b e r “ 1 8 .” T h a t c a s e w a s j u s t o n e in a s e r i e s o f m a c a b r e m u t i l a t i o n s a n d d e c a p i t a ­ tio n s o f y o u n g w o m e n a ttr ib u te d to m e m b e r s o f th e 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g . In r e ­ s p o n s e t o t h e R o s a N . c a s e , t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e N a t i o n a l C i v i l P o l i c e ( p n c ), M a u r i c i o S a n d o v a l, l a u n c h e d a m a j o r m e d i a c a m p a i g n a r o u n d t h e s e d e c a p i ­ ta tio n s a n d m u tila tio n s , c o n d u c te d m a s s a r r e s ts o f g a n g m e m b e r s , a n d c a l l e d f o r t h e p a s s a g e o f s p e c i a l a n t i - g a n g l a w s m o d e l e d o n U .S . l e g i s l a t i o n . M o s t o f t h e g a n g m e m b e r s o r i g i n a l l y a c c u s e d o f t h e s e b e h e a d i n g s w e r e , it s e e m s , p ic k e d u p fo r “ illic it a s s o c ia tio n s ” — a v a g u e a n d a ll- e n c o m p a s s in g i n f r a c t i o n b a s e d o n p u b l i c n u i s a n c e a n d v a g r a n c y l a w s — a n d n o t f o r a n y d i­ r e c t e v id e n tia l lin k s to th e c r im e s . T h e a lle g e d r in g le a d e r s o f th e R o s a N . c a s e w e r e r e l e a s e d a f t e r d o c u m e n t a t i o n w a s p r o d u c e d t o c o r r o b o r a t e t h e i r c la i m s t h a t t h e y h a d b e e n in p n c c u s t o d y d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d in w h i c h t h e c r i m e w a s s a id t o h a v e t a k e n p l a c e . H o w e v e r , E l V i e j o L i n , a m e m b e r o f t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g a n d d e p o r te e fr o m L o s A n g e le s w h o w a s th e p u r p o r t e d in t e lle c t u a l a u t h o r o f t h e s e c r i m e s , r e m a i n e d in c u s t o d y o n o t h e r c h a r g e s . M e a n w h i l e , n e w c a s e s o f d e c a p ita tio n s a n d m u tila tio n s c o n tin u e d to s u r fa c e a n d m o r e g a n g m e m b e r s w e r e a r r e s t e d b y t h e p o l i c e . T h e n a t i o n a l n e w s p a p e r El D iario

de H o y b e g a n t o c a l l

m s

“ L a M a r a S a t á n ic a ” (th e S a ta n ic G a n g ) a n d to s u g ­

g e s t t h a t t h e n u m b e r “ 1 8 ” t a t t o o s t o o d f o r 6 6 6 , t h e s i g n o f t h e d e v il. M e d ia c o v e r a g e o f th e s e m o n s tr o u s e v e n ts w a s in fu s e d n o t o n ly w it h t a l k a b o u t s a t a n i c c u lt s a n d t h e k i l l i n g s a s s a c r i f i c i a l r i t u a ls t o b u i l d g r o u p s o li d a r it y , b u t a l s o w i t h c o n s p i r a c y t h e o r i e s a n d t h e r e e m e r g e n c e o f d e a t h s q u a d s o f th e 1 9 8 0 s a n d o f L a S o m b r a N e g r a (th e B la c k S h a d o w ) o f th e 199 0 s. T he p n c u n co v e re d a sto re o f g re n a d e s, a n d C h ie f S an d o v al p o se d in f r o n t o f t h e c a c h e a c c u s i n g E l V i e j o L i n o f p l o t t i n g t o a s s a s s i n a t e h im . A p a r t f r o m h i s a l l e g e d s t a t u s a s t h e n a t i o n a l le a d e r o f t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g

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i n E l S a lv a d o r , E l V i e j o L i n w a s n o w a l s o s a id t o h a v e b e e n a n f m l n g u e r ­ r i l l a c o m b a t a n t d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r . E l V i e j o L i n i n t u r n a c c u s e d S a n d o v a l o f u s in g h im a s a s c a p e g o a t to g a in p o p u la r it y f o r h is b id a s p r e s id e n tia l c a n ­ d id a te fo r a r e n a in th e 2 0 0 4 e le c tio n s . A n d b e c a u s e o f th e c o in c id e n c e o f t h e d e c a p i t a t i o n s w i t h m a y o r a l a n d n a t i o n a l l e g i s l a t i v e e le c t o r a l c a m p a i g n s , c o n s p i r a c y t h e o r i e s a b o u n d e d a b o u t t h e r o l e o f p o l i c e a n d t h e r i g h t w i n g in t h e m u r d e r s . “ I n t i m i d a t i o n t a c t i c s , ” a s o n e f o r m e r f m l n c o m b a t a n t p u t it: “ W h a t t h e y w a n t i s a t i m i d s o c i e t y .” A n d a s L o n ly , o n e o f t h e g a n g m e m b e r s a c c u s e d in t h e R o s a N . c a s e b u t l a t e r r e le a s e d , p r o c l a i m e d : “ I t ’s a c l a n d e s t i n e g r o u p p r e t e n d i n g t o b e g a n g m e m b e r s .” In d e e d , th e s e a c c u s a tio n s b e c a m e fu s e d w ith a r e s u r g e n c e o f k illin g s o f p o lit ic a l c a n d id a te s a n d a c tiv is ts a r o u n d th e tim e o f th e e le c tio n s . T h e h e a d o f th e f m l n , S h a fik H a n d a l, h e ld a p r e s s c o n fe r e n c e d e c r y in g w h a t h e s a w a s th e re tu r n o f th e d e a th s q u a d s . In th e p a p e r s th e r e w a s a b iz a r r e c o n v e r ­ g e n c e b e tw e e n th e c o u n t e r p o s e d , p u r p o r te d ly u n r e la te d o p p o s it e s o f s o c ia l a n d p o l i t i c a l v i o l e n c e . G a n g m e m b e r s , s a id t o b e p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i s t s f o r t h e R i g h t o r t h e L e f t , w e r e n o w p i c k e d u p a s s u s p e c t s in t h e m u r d e r s o f p o l i t i ­ c a l c a n d id a te s a n d a c tiv is ts . T h e p n c a ttr ib u te d th e s e c r im e s to “ p e r s o n a l v e n d e t t a s ” ( a g a in , s o c i a l n o t p o l i t i c a l v i o l e n c e ) a n d t h e e l e c t i o n c a m p a i g n s p la y e d o n — b u t n o t w it h o u t m o r e b iz a r r e c o n v e r g e n c e s . I n S a n S a lv a d o r , m s y o u t h j o i n e d a m a r c h in t h e f m l n ’ s c a m p a i g n ­ c lo s in g c e r e m o n ie s . A c a m e r a m a n t o o k p ic tu r e s o f th e m , s h o u t in g th a t th e ir p r e s e n c e w a s p r o o f th a t th e r e w a s n o d iffe r e n c e b e tw e e n g a n g s te r s a n d g u e r r illa s . In r e s p o n s e th e g a n g m e m b e r s t a c k le d h im a n d c o n fis c a t e d h is film , a n d w e r e s u b s e q u e n t ly c h a r g e d w it h a s s a u lt. In S o y a p a n g o , a c a d re o f 1 8 th S tr e e t G a n g m e m b e r s s p o r t in g a r e n a T - s h ir ts w a s s ig h t e d a t th e p a r t y ’s c a m p a i g n - c l o s i n g c e r e m o n i e s . A n a r e n a a s s e m b l y m a n a c c u s e d t h e f m l n

o f s e n d in g th e g a n g m e m b e r s to d is c r e d it th e R ig h t. A ft e r a g a n g

m e m b e r , E l C r a z y , e s c a p e d f r o m p r i s o n w i t h t h e h e lp o f a p n c o f f ic e r , a c c u ­ s a t i o n s s p r e a d t h a t t h e p o l i c e w e r e w o r k i n g in c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h e g a n g s . S o m e o f th e p o lic e , it w a s r u m o r e d , w e r e ta t t o o e d w it h s y m b o ls o f th e 18 th S tre e t G a n g . In a m o v e r e m in is c e n t o f th e S a lv a d o r a n in t e llig e n c e a g e n c y e ffo r ts to u n ­ c o v e r t h e g u e r r i l l a ’s c l a n d e s t i n e o p e r a t i o n s d u r i n g t h e c iv il w a r , t h e p n c r e ­ le a s e d m a p s o f t h e s u p p o s e d c o m m a n d a n d c e l l s t r u c t u r e o f t h e g a n g s . T h e s e m a p s t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e g a n g m e m b e r s ’ placas o r n o m s d e g u e r r e — Z o r r o , C r a z y , L o n ly , B a b y , S k y n y , S la y e r , P a t o , V a m p i, a n d D r i m e r — w e r e p r i n t e d a lo n g s id e th e ir b ir th n a m e s in n a t io n a l n e w s p a p e r s a s a k in d o f a p u b lic

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outing o f El Salvador’s most wanted. What kind o f unveiling was this? In a country where newspapers once published death threats against the politi­ cal opposition, would such intelligence incite further violence, be it gang or vigilante? In this dizzying dramatization o f doble cara, representations o f gang violence are constantly disrupted by the return o f the repressed— political violence in forms that are familiar and yet strange. The Left and the gangs suspect the government and police o f organizing the killings (be they muti­ lations o f women or the murder o f political candidates) to look like gang killings. Yet both mutilations and murders also look like something else. They are strangely reminiscent o f another production o f violence, namely the elimination o f the opposition through the macabre extrajudicial-style killings that took place during the war years. Are the death squads copying a fantasy o f gang rape? Could it be the gangs acting out a fantasy by copying the death squad-style killings o f the civil war period ?5 This disorganized mimesis generates surplus meaning that eludes repre­ sentation and demands that we rethink the connection between represen­ tation and what is represented.6 Both state and nonstate actors are simi­ larly caught up in a recurrent, mirroring dynamic o f suspicion and fantasy, which flourishes by means o f rumor woven finely into webs o f magical real­ ism.7 Moreover, while gang violence is presented as a new post-civil war (and therefore postpolitical) phenomenon, the stories surrounding it are haunted by cultural formations o f meaning and modes o f feeling attached to that war.

The Production of a Culprit El Viejo Lin, the poster boy for Sandoval’s campaign against gangs, offered me his take on what he invokes as “reality” and his version o f what had been repressed by his representation as a most-savage other. Lin begins his testimony, which he offers to me as “the truth, and nothing but the truth,” by situating him self in history— a short and fantastic history o f El Salva­ dor’s recent past imbricated as it is with the United States.8 His narrative is filled with political intrigue, ghostly plots, and conspiratorial twists, which might, to quote Lin, “seem unimaginable to you but not to me.” Set as it is between El Salvador and Los Angeles from the late 1970s to the present, Lin’s narrative is embedded in a transnational geography peopled by a theater o f

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g h o s t s .9 I w a n t h e r e to c o n s id e r h o w L in d ir e c ts o u r g a z e th r o u g h th e lo o k ­ in g g la s s , o r th e m ir r o r o f d o b le c a ra . L i n l e v e r a g e s t h e w e l l - w o r n p l o t o f t h e L e f t ’s p o l i t i c a l i m a g i n a r y w h e r e t h e s t a t e is t h e o b s c u r e h a n d b e h i n d t h e s e k i l l i n g s . H e d o e s s o in o r d e r t o d e ­ c o n s t r u c t h is “ p r o d u c t i o n a s c u l p r i t .” 10 A c c o r d i n g t o L i n , t h e n e w s t r u c t u r e o f t h e p o s t w a r f o r m a t i o n , t h e N a t i o n a l C i v i l P o l i c e , is g o v e r n e d b y t h e s a m e fo r c e s b e h in d th e p r e - P e a c e A c c o r d s s tr u c tu r e a n d b y th e s a m e in te llig e n c e a p p a r a t u s o f E l S a l v a d o r ’s d ir t y w a r .u H is c a s e h a s , in h i s w o r d s , b e e n “ s i m u ­ l a t e d ” o r m a n u f a c t u r e d b y d e c c o , t h e E lit e D i v i s i o n t o C o m b a t O r g a n i z e d C r i m e . H e h a s b e e n i s o l a t e d f r o m t h o s e w h o c o u l d h e lp h i m , h is b r o t h e r , h i s o n l y a li b i , w a s a s s a s s i n a t e d , a n d h is w i f e a r r e s t e d . H e l i k e n s h i m s e l f t o O s w a l d i n t h e K e n n e d y a s s a s s i n a t i o n c a s e . H e is a s c a p e g o a t f o r t h e l a r g e r s t a t e a f f a i r s o f S a n d o v a l ’s b id f o r p r e s i d e n c y a n d t h e n e e d t o d e f l e c t i n t e r n a ­ tio n a l a tte n tio n a w a y fr o m a c o n t e n t io u s a n d v io le n t s tr ik e o v e r th e p r iv a ti­ z a t io n o f h e a lth c a r e . T h e n L i n t u r n s d o b l e c a r a u p o n h i m s e l f . H e g r e w u p in P i c o U n i o n in L o s A n g e l e s , w h e r e h e j o i n e d t h e 1 8 t h S t r e e t G a n g . H is s is t e r , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , f o l l o w e d in t h e f o o t s t e p s o f t h e i r a c t i v i s t p a r e n t s ( b o t h m e m b e r s o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n t e a c h e r s u n i o n , a n d e s 2 1 d e J u n io ) a n d b e c a m e i n v o lv e d w i t h r e f u g e e a s s i s t a n c e o r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d t h e s o l i d a r i t y m o v e m e n t ^ 2 L in s a y s h e c a m e b a c k t o E l S a l v a d o r d u r i n g t h e w a r w i t h h i s s i s t e r ’s h u s b a n d , a j o u r n a l i s t , t o f i l m d o c u m e n t a r i e s in t h e m o u n t a i n s o f G u a z a p a a n d o n o t h e r g u e r r illa fr o n t s a c r o s s th e c o u n try . T h e se d o c u m e n ta r ie s , o f a “ c u ltu r a l p o ­ l i t i c a l c h a r a c t e r ,” w e r e t o b e s h o w n t o s o l i d a r i t y c o m m i t t e e s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . W h i l e in G u a z a p a , h o w e v e r , L i n j o i n e d t h e g u e r r i l l a s : I s t a y e d f o r a y e a r in t h e m o u n t a i n s . . . t o o k u p m y w e a p o n [ g u n ] a n d w a s c a u g h t w i t h a c a s s e t t e , a v i d e o c a s s e t t e t h a t w e h a d f i l m e d in t h e g u e r r i l l a c a m p s th e re . I w a s a p o litic a l p r is o n e r fo r tw o y e a rs, y o u u n d e r s ta n d . . . A ft e r th a t I r e tu r n e d fr o m w h e r e I h a d c o m e [L o s A n g e le s a n d th e 18 th S tre e t G a n g ] . . . I a m a n ex p o litic a l p r is o n e r . . . W h a te v e r y o u m a y m a k e o f m y a p p e a r ­ a n c e . . . [ g e s tu r in g to w a r d h is fa c ia l ta tto o s a n d s h a v e d h e a d ]. D o n ’t b e ­ lie v e th a t t h in g s a re a s th e y s e e m . I p r e s s h i m o n t h is . H o w is i t h e w a s g a n g m e m b e r a n d g u e r r i l l a , c r i m i n a l a n d p o lit ic a l p r is o n e r ? H e lo o k s a t m e : “ O n e a s s u m e s p e r h a p s , p e o p le o f p r i n c i p l e [ t h a t i s ] , t h a t o n e t h i n g c a n ’ t c o m b i n e w i t h a n o t h e r . . . b u t t h is

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is how it is.” Lin’s challenge to me, a so-called person o f principle, takes me full circle to that

f m l n

m itin (political rally) where I first saw, and cap­

tured on film, an assimilation o f those contraries— gang and gu e rrilla -in Pájaro’s face. Only here, El Viejo Lin refashions him self as “18th Street Gang in f m

l n

face.” Or, once again, is it the other way around? Is it the f m

l n

,

its

history, its legacy, in the face o f the gang?

Gangster in Guerrilla Face Let’s return to the

f m l n

mitin. With a red star on his cheek and a red ban­

dana around his head Pájaro has joined the crowd gathered by the stage. He nods to me from a crowd o f people adorned with red face paint clapping and swaying to the classics o f la nueva canción (the new song)— the quintessential musical form o f the Latin American revolutionary struggles o f the 1970s and 1980s. The lyrics mix strangely with the memories in my head o f the sounds o f hardcore rappers from South Central Los Angeles alongside heavy metal o f the 1970s, the usual background music to my meetings with Pájaro. I am surprised to see Pájaro here at the mitin. He has never expressed any formal political leanings to me or any memory o f the Salvadoran civil war. Rather, when speaking o f history he tells o f the history o f

m s

,

and

when speaking o f politics he refers to gang politics inside U.S. prisons. Does Pájaro know o f the brutal massacre o f university students and teachers for their presumed association with the guerrillas, which took place in this very square? Does he discern the historical continuities and discontinuities be­ tween the present and the past, particularly as it resonated with youth? Don Orlando, a teacher at the local high school, did not think today’s youth had any real concept o f the political struggle o f the past. Several days before the mitin I stopped by his house to speak with him about the effects o f migration on the attitudes among youth in Santa Elena, but he preferred to explain those attitudes in relationship to revolutionary struggle. An old recording o f the now iconic “Poema de Amor” (Love Poem) by the Salva­ doran revolutionary poet Roque Dalton played in the background. The cul­ prit for youth delinquency was, as far as Don Orlando was concerned, some­ thing other than migration. “The difference with the youth today is that they have no social memory o f the war, and no political conscience. There is no collective political project,” he lamented. After speaking to Don Orlando, I set o ff to join Amanda, a local high school student, at an evening concert sponsored by the 214

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t i o n o f t h e r a l l y t h e n e x t d a y . L i k e P á ja r o , A m a n d a h a d a l s o b e e n m a r k e d a n d b ra n d e d b y h e r m ig r a tio n to W a s h in g to n , D .C .— a lb e it w ith a g e n d e r e d d iffe r e n c e . A ft e r s h e b e c a m e p r e g n a n t, h e r m o th e r h a d s e n t h e r b a c k to E l S a l v a d o r t o liv e w i t h h e r f a t h e r a n d h i s n e w w i f e . A m a n d a a n d I s a t t o g e t h e r l i s t e n i n g t o E l S a l v a d o r ’s b e s t k n o w n la n u e v a c a n c i ó n b a n d p l a y i n g t h e i r r e n d i t i o n s o f S ilv io R o d r í g u e z , M e r c e d e s S o s a , a n d t h e l i k e . F o r m a n y o f m y c o m p a ñ e r o s in L o s A n g e l e s a n d in S a n S a lv a d o r , w h o h a d g i v e n t h e b e t t e r p a r t o f th e ir y o u t h fu l e n e r g ie s to th e f m l n , th is m u s ic h a d b e c o m e a s s o ­ c i a t e d w i t h a p a i n f u l n o s t a l g i a o f t h e f a i l e d p r o m i s e o f la nueva patria ( t h e n e w c o u n t r y ) — t h e e lu s iv e p r o m i s e d la n d o f t h e r e v o l u t i o n . S o m e o f t h e m h a d w ith d r a w n fr o m th e f m l n a fte r th e p a rty a g r e e d to s ig n a n a m n e s ty r a th e r th a n d e m a n d a fu ll a c c o u n t in g o f th e h u m a n r ig h ts a b u s e s o f th e w a r a n d th e p r o s e c u tio n o f th o s e r e s p o n s ib le fo r th e m . O th e rs h a d fe lt b e tra y e d b y th e c o n c e s s io n s m a d e b y th e f m l n to th e n e o lib e r a l r e fo r m s o f th e a r e n a g o v e r n m e n t. I w a s ta k e n a b a c k b y th e h u g e r e s p o n s e th a t th e m u s ic e v o k e d in t h e c r o w d s i n g i n g a l o n g . I s a y t h a t I w a s t a k e n a b a c k b e c a u s e a t t h e t im e , b y a ll a c c o u n t s c o m i n g t o m e o u t o f E l S a lv a d o r , a c o u n t r y t o w h i c h I h a d n o t b e e n t o in t h e t h r e e y e a r s s i n c e t h e 1 9 9 4 e l e c t i o n , t h e f m l n w a s n o t a p o l i t i ­ c a l fo r c e w it h w h ic h to b e r e c k o n e d . M o re o v e r, b y a ll t h e o r e tic a l a c c o u n t s d u r i n g t h e s a m e p e r i o d , t h e r e w a s n o v ia b le a l t e r n a t i v e p l a t f o r m t o n e o l i b ­ e r a lis m b e in g e x p r e s s e d , a t le a s t in t r a d itio n a l le f t is t fo r m a t io n s s u c h a s th e FM LN. A m a n d a , w h o w a s s i n g i n g a l o n g w i t h y o u t h f u l e m o t i o n , d id n o t k n o w t h a t I a l r e a d y k n e w t h e s e s o n g s , a n d s o s t a r t e d t o t r a n s l a t e t h e ly r i c s f o r m e . “ I t ’s i m p o r t a n t t h a t y o u u n d e r s t a n d t h e s e l y r i c s , ” s h e e x p l a i n e d e a r n e s t l y . “ T h e s e s o n g s , t h e y s p e a k a l o t o f t r u t h . ” A m a n d a w a s o n l y t w e lv e w h e n t h e w a r e n d e d , a n d s h e h a d le ft f o r th e U n ite d S ta te s s h o r tly b e fo r e . In 19 9 6 , m o s t m id d le - c la s s y o u th w e r e lis t e n in g to th e B e a tle s , w h o w e r e m a k in g a b i g c o m e b a c k in L a t i n A m e r i c a . Y e t i t w o u l d a p p e a r t h a t , a t l e a s t t h r o u g h t h e p o e t i c s o f la n u e v a c a n c i ó n , t h e m e m o r y o f t h e r e v o l u t i o n a r y p r o j e c t c o n t in u e d to r e s id e w it h in A m a n d a , a s w e ll a s in th e c r o w d s u r r o u n d in g h e r . 13 P á ja r o h a d n o t a tt e n d e d th e c o n c e r t b u t h e w a s a t th e m itin th e n e x t d ay, n o d d in g to m e fr o m th e c r o w d o f p e o p le a d o r n e d w it h r e d fa c e p a in t a n d c l a p p i n g a n d s w a y i n g t o t h e c l a s s i c s o f l a n u e v a c a n c i ó n . T h e w e l l - w o r n ly r i c s b l u r i n t o e a c h o t h e r : “ T o d o , t o d o c a m b i a [ E v e r y t h in g , e v e r y t h i n g c h a n g e s ] . . . p u e d o i m a g i n a r u n a c u l t u r a d i f e r e n t e [I c a n i m a g i n e a d i f f e r e n t c u lt u r e ] . . . S i n o c r e y e r a e n l a l o c u r a [ I f I d i d n ’ t b e li e v e i n t h e m a d n e s s ] ” a n d t h e n ,

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“ E l p u e b lo u n id o ja m á s s e r á v e n c id o [T h e p e o p le u n it e d w ill n e v e r b e d e ­ fe a t e d ] .” O n s ta g e , D o n F r a n c is c o , a r e tu rn m ig r a n t fr o m L o s A n g e le s a n d V ir ­ g i n i a , s p o k e in h i s c a p a c i t y a s a m e m b e r o f t h e l o c a l f m l n ’ s c a n d i d a t e a d v i ­ s o r y c o u n c i l . H e w a s p a r t o f t h e r e a s o n I w a s i n S a n t a E le n a c o n d u c t i n g a s tu d y o n y o u th . U p u n til th e s ta r t o f th e c a m p a ig n , F r a n c is c o h a d b e e n th e p r e s id e n t o f th e lo c a l b r a n c h o f c a s e , th e E l S a lv a d o r -b a s e d c o u n te r p a r t t o a n e t w o r k o f f o u r U n i t e d S t a t e s - b a s e d c o m m i t t e e s o f T a b u d o s ( t h e s e lf d e s i g n a t e d t e r m f o r p e o p l e f r o m S a n t a E le n a ) l i v i n g in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s (L o s A n g e le s , S a n F r a n c is c o , W a s h in g to n - V ir g in ia , a n d H o u s to n ). F o u n d e d in C a l i f o r n i a f o u r y e a r s e a r lie r , c a s e is b y it s o w n d e f i n i t i o n a n o n p a r t i s a n c o m m u n i t y s e r v ic e o r g a n i z a t i o n , a l t h o u g h w i t h i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e o n m i g r a ­ tio n c a s e w o u ld b e d e s c r ib e d a s a n im m ig r a n t h o m e t o w n a s s o c ia tio n , o r h t a

.14 O n c e t h e c a m p a i g n w a s in f u l l s w i n g t h o u g h , F r a n c i s c o w i t h d r e w

f r o m t h e p r e s i d e n c y in o r d e r t o r u n a s a c o u n c i l m e m b e r o n t h e l o c a l f m l n m a y o r a l c a n d i d a t e ’s t i c k e t . F r a n c i s c o w a s f l a n k e d b y S h a f i k H a n d a l ( w h o is n o w d e c e a s e d b u t t h e n w a s th e n a t io n a l p a r ty c h a ir o f th e f m l n ) a s w e ll a s b y th e c a n d id a te fo r s ta te le g is la t u r e a n d b y T o n y , th e lo c a l f m l n m a y o r a l c a n d id a te . F r a n c is c o a n s w e r s a tta c k s m a d e b y th e in c u m b e n t m a y o r, N e ls o n F u n e s , w h o w a s fr o m th e r u lin g r ig h t - w in g p a rty , a r e n a . N e ls o n F u n e s , w h o h a d p r e v i­ o u s ly la b e le d c a s e a s a n f m l n

fr o n t g r o u p , h a d r e c e n tly a c c u s e d c a s e

o f fu n d in g th e f m l n c a m p a ig n . In a n e ffo r t to d e b u n k th e s e a c c u s a tio n s , F r a n c is c o re a d a le t t e r fr o m L o s A n g e le s : “ L o s A n g e le s , 8 th o f M a r c h , 1 9 9 2 . T h e r e a r e m a n y m i l e s t h a t s e p a r a t e u s f r o m o n e a n o t h e r . Y e t t h e lo v e o f o u r r o o t s , o u r p e o p l e a n d o u r t o w n o b l i g e s u s t o a lw a y s b e c l o s e t o y o u . . . T h e s o l u t i o n [ f o r S a n t a E le n a ] is n o t t h e e x o d u s o f h e r p e o p l e , b u t t h e i n s t a l l a ­ t i o n o f t h e f m l n in S a n t a E le n a . . . .” T h e l e t t e r w a s s i g n e d b y “ a g r o u p o f T a b u d o s in a f o r e i g n l a n d ,” a l l o f t h e m m e m b e r s o f t h e “ f m l n I n t e r n a t i o n a l D i p l o m a t i c C o m m i s s i o n o f S a n t a E le n a .” F r a n c i s c o e x p l a i n e d t h a t i t w a s n o t case

b u t r a t h e r t h i s c o m m i s s i o n o f T a b u d o s l i v i n g in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s t h a t

h a d u n d e r w r itte n 90 p e r c e n t o f th e lo c a l f m l n c a m p a ig n e x p e n s e s . A t t h e e n d o f t h e r a lly , I t u r n e d a n d s a i d g o o d - b y e t o P á ja r o b e f o r e a p ­ p r o a c h in g th e s ta g e to a s k F r a n c is c o a b o u t th e le tte r a n d th e c o m m is s io n . F r a n c i s c o g a v e m e t h e c o n t a c t i n f o r m a t i o n f o r A d a n , t h e a u t h o r o f t h e le t t e r . L a te r I w o u ld m e e t u p w it h A d a n in L o s A n g e le s , w h e r e h e w o r k e d a s r o o m s e r v ic e c a p t a i n in a h o t e l d o w n t o w n . A d a n , I w o u l d d is c o v e r , w a s a s t u d e n t a c t i v i s t d u r i n g t h e w a r . H is p a r e n t s h a d s e n t h i m o u t o f t h e c o u n t r y s h o r t ly

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after the massacre that had taken place in this very town square, although he would not be recognized by the United States as a refugee.

The Reproduction of a Refugee La Mara Salvatrucha in

f m l n

face, the dialectical image with which I began

this chapter, suggests a transference between m s

m s

and the f m

l n

gang member, employs the red star iconography o f the

.

Pájaro, the

f m l n

,

but as

what? Is it a tribute to the historical heroics o f political resistance? Does he see there something akin to his own status as “soldier” for the gang, or his own alienation as refugee turned deportee? I am not here making any claims about Pájaro’s participation in the

f m l n

mitin. Indeed, as a deported gang

member himself, Pájaro appears as a packed and displaced sign that refuses easy representation. Just as he won’t show his scars and can’t or won’t say what they represent, he could not or would not articulate the reasons for his presence at the rally. He is no Viejo Lin, who (whether or not he might be the national leader o f the 18th Street Gang and a former

f m l n

combatant) is a

translator between these generations and these projects. Rather than illuminating the relationship between these rebellious projects, the dialectical image o f La Mara Salvatrucha in

f m l n

face, re­

worked through doble cara, asks us to pose another question: What makes these things appear different and discrete so that they seem to be copying each other and feeding o ff o f each other’s correspondence? Whatever claims are made in contemporary El Salvador for drawing clear analytic distinctions between political and criminal violence, derived as they are from the peri­ odization o f the civil war (before, during, and after), that war refuses his­ torical boundaries and functions as a past ever present. By the early 2000s, as if to demand a fuller accounting o f the past as it in­ flects the present, the Salvadoran civil war refugee o f the 1980s made a some­ what ironic comeback as the refugee escaping the gang war. The gang war refugee, another dialectical image, has become a curious social formation and legal subject in U.S. immigration courts. I am not invoking this term as an established legal category or in reference to a homogenous class o f refu­ gee. Rather, I am using the term to refer to two broad categories o f appli­ cants. The first group includes undocumented Salvadoran immigrant youth and young adults without a criminal record who claim to have fled forced recruitment into gangs and to have a well-founded fear o f becoming targets o f gang violence in El Salvador. The second group includes documented and G A N G - C R i M E - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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217

u n d o c u m e n t e d im m ig r a n t g a n g m e m b e r s w it h c r im in a l h is to r ie s , in c lu d in g a r r e s ts f o r th e ir ille g a l r e e n tr ie s in t o th e U n ite d S ta te s a ft e r b e in g d e p o r te d b a c k to C e n tr a l A m e r ic a , w h o a re s e e k in g “ w it h h o ld in g o f r e m o v a l, o n th e g r o u n d s th a t th e y w ill b e ta r g e ts o f th e g a n g s a n d d e a th s q u a d s a n d th a t th e g o v e r n m e n t is u n a b l e o r u n w i l l i n g t o p r o t e c t t h e m u p o n t h e i r r e t u r n t o E l S a lv a d o r . B o t h g r o u p s a r g u e t h a t d e p o r t a t i o n b a c k t o E l S a l v a d o r is t a n t a ­ m o u n t to a d e a th s e n te n c e . B y 2 0 0 3 , H o m i e s U n i d o s in L o s A n g e l e s w a s i n u n d a t e d w i t h r e q u e s t s f r o m a t t o r n e y s a n d f a m i l i e s t o p r o v i d e i n f o r m a t i o n o n c o u n t r y c o n d i t i o n s in E l S a l v a d o r a n d t o i d e n t i f y e x p e r t w i t n e s s e s — s o m u c h s o , t h a t t h e y la u n c h e d a h u m a n r i g h t s p r o j e c t c a l l e d L i b e r t a d C o n D i g n i d a d ( L ib e r t y w i t h D i g n i t y ) . I n 2 0 0 8 , t h e W a s h i n g t o n O f f i c e o n L a t in A m e r i c a la u n c h e d it s G a n g R e la t e d A s y lu m P r o je c t, a n d th e N a t io n a l I m m ig r a t io n P r o je c t id e n t if ie d g a n g s a s a f o c u s a r e a o f it s i m m i g r a t i o n e n f o r c e m e n t a n d r a i d s p r o g r a m , f o r w h i c h i t e s t a b l i s h e d a W e b s i t e w i t h l e g a l d e c i s i o n s r e l a t e d t o t h e s e a s y lu m c a s e s . In l i g h t o f t h e i n c r e a s i n g n u m b e r o f t h e s e a s y lu m c l a i m s , t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s H ig h C o m m is s io n e r f o r R e fu g e e s ( u n h c r ) r e le a s e d a g u id a n c e n o t e c la r i­ fy in g th e c ir c u m s t a n c e s u n d e r w h ic h v ic tim s o f c r im in a l g a n g s o r a c tiv itie s w a r r a n t in te r n a tio n a l p r o te c tio n u n d e r th e 1 9 5 1 C o n v e n tio n r e la tin g to th e S t a t u s o f R e f u g e e s a n d it s 1 9 6 7 P r o t o c o l . ^ W h i l e u n h c r ’ s g u i d e l i n e s d o r e c o g n iz e a g e , g e n d e r , a n d s o c ia l s ta tu s a s in n a te a n d im m u t a b le c h a r a c ­ t e r i s t i c s o f i n d i v i d u a ls w h o r e s i s t f o r c e d r e c r u i t m e n t i n t o g a n g s o r o p p o s e g a n g p r a c t i c e s , t h e s u c c e s s r a t e o f t h e s e c a s e s in U .S . i m m i g r a t i o n c o u r t s t h u s f a r h a s b e e n l e s s t h a n 1 p e r c e n t . A s o f 2 0 0 8 , o n l y fiv e p e t i t i o n e r s h a d b e e n g r a n t e d t h e a s y lu m f o r w h i c h t h e y p e t i t i o n e d , o n e o f w h o m w a s A le x S a n c h e z . A n o t h e r o n e o f th e s u c c e s s fu l c a s e s w a s d e n ie d u p o n a p p e a l b y th e g o v e r n m e n t to th e F e d e ra l B o a r d o f I m m ig r a t io n A p p e a ls . T w o fu r t h e r d e c i­ s i o n s in v o lv e d a b r o t h e r a n d a s i s t e r i n t h e s a m e c a s e . T h e b r o t h e r e x p r e s s e d a n t i - g a n g s e n t i m e n t in E l S a l v a d o r a n d o p e n l y c o n f r o n t e d t h e g a n g f o r s e x u ­ a lly a s s a u l t i n g h is s is t e r . B o t h h e a n d h i s s i s t e r r e c e i v e d a s y lu m in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . O n e o t h e r c a s e w a s g r a n t e d in 2 0 0 4 . A l l o f t h e s u c c e s s f u l c a s e s w e r e u n p u b lis h e d o p in io n s a n d th e r e fo r e c o u ld n o t b e u s e d a s p r e c e d e n t fo r s u b ­ s e q u e n t c a s e s . M o re o v e r, th e o n ly p u b lis h e d p r e c e d e n t c a s e s w e r e b o th d e ­ n i e d o n a p p e a l t o t h e F e d e r a l B o a r d o f I m m i g r a t i o n A p p e a l s . 16 I n b o t h c a s e s , t h e c o u r t d e n i e d t h e a p p l i c a n t s ’ c la i m t o m e m b e r s h i p in a “ p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l g r o u p ” th a t m a d e th e m v u ln e r a b le to p e r s e c u t io n b y g a n g s . In a n o t h e r m o r e r e c e n t c a s e , a lth o u g h th e p e titio n e r w a s g r a n te d w ith h o ld in g fr o m re m o v a l h e w a s n o t r e le a s e d b u t r a th e r a s s ig n e d in d e fin it e d e te n tio n . A t th e s a m e

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time, in the wake o f the regional turn to manodurista policies and with the increase in extortions and homicides in El Salvador, the number o f Central American political asylum claims in the United States almost doubled from 7,000 in 2004 to 13,999 in 2007. In 2005, only 700 claims were granted.17 Thus once again, not unlike during the civil war in the 1980s when only 2 to 3 percent o f U.S. political asylum cases were granted to Salvadorans and Guatemalans, it is almost impossible to win asylum as a “gang war refugee.” To grant asylum to these petitioners would be to acknowledge the failure of U.S. immigration and law enforcement policy, not to mention the failure or lack o f will on the part o f the Salvadoran state to protect Salvadoran citizens. This ironic twist at work in the emergence o f deported gang members along­ side unaffiliated youth as a new, albeit unlikely, class o f refugee brings us back full circle to the 1980s and to the return o f the repressed in more than one way: the ongoing participation o f the United States in the production and reproduction o f violence in El Salvador.

The Reproduction of a Terrorist While in the post-9/11 political climate it was almost impossible to meet the standards o f proof required for asylum and for withholding o f removal, it was considerably easier to inadvertently pass for something else— namely a terrorist. Indeed, as attorneys and immigrant and youth rights groups began advocating on behalf o f “the gang war refugee,” yet another criminal type was surfacing, “ the gangster as terrorist.” Salvadoran youth and young adults, already caught between the intersection o f immigration and crimi­ nal law, were to become vulnerable to anti-terrorist law — both in the United States and in El Salvador. In the United States, the intersection between crime and terrorism was at first made only obliquely. The California Street Terrorism Enforcement Protection Act

(s t e p )

o f 1986 translated gang-related activities into the lan­

guage o f terrorism. After the 9/11 attacks, William Bratton, former police chief o f the New York Police Department and a key figure in the globaliza­ tion o f Broken Windows and Zero Tolerance, played up this linguistic reso­ nance further. When Bratton assumed the post o f chief o f the Los Angeles Police Department in 2002, he began his term by conflating the language of

ste p

with that o f the War on Terror. He called for “an all-out assault”

against “street terrorists,”

s t e p ’s

preferred name for gang members, and

against “homeland terrorism,” his preferred term for gang activity. Bratton G A N G - C R i M E - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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21 9

had launched his campaign against gangs by drawing implicit links between crime and terrorism. As a result,

la pd

was able to tap into Homeland Secu­

rity money. Interestingly, like the intersection between criminal and immigration law, this contemporary link between crime and terrorism also has its origins in 1996 with the passage o f the Anti-Terrorist and Effective Death Penalty Act

( a e d p a ) — and

cause

a e d pa

as such, well before 9/11 and Bush’s War on Terror. Be­

explicitly links crime and terrorism, the current War on Ter­

ror’s “state o f exception” derives considerable force from this earlier m o­ ment in legislative history.18 Many legal scholars argue that legislators took advantage o f the fears sur­ rounding the World Trade Center bombing o f 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing o f 1994 to use

a e d pa

to gut legal protections for prisoners. In so

doing they point to the fact that those implicated in the bombings were tried and convicted successfully prior to the passage o f a e d contended that a e d

pa

p a

P9 Indeed, critics

had more to do with preventing state prisoners from

exercising their constitutional rights to due process than with preventing terrorism.20 Previous legislation had already limited legal protections for those facing trial: the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, otherwise known as the Crime Bill or “The Beast,” had allowed the use o f evidence acquired through illegal search and seizures to be included in criminal proceedings. It sanctioned these warrantless searches under the “good faith” rule that is used in cases in which the police think they could have obtained a warrant in drug-related crimes. In so doing, it severely lim­ ited civil remedies for illegal searches.21 In addition,

a e d pa

further under­

cut due process and habeas corpus by mandating the number o f times a prisoner on death row could appeal his or her death sentence. Given that habeas corpus has direct links to the history o f racial and ethnic disadvan­ tage before the law,22 it should come as no surprise that a e d

p a ’s

gutting of

habeas corpus was just as rooted in attacks against the racially marked poor and immigrants through the War on Crime. Only after 9/11, however, did explicit links between gangs and terror­ ists begin to circulate in the media, on the Internet, in policy circles, and in the courts.23 The case o f José Padilla was the first. Padilla, at one point a member o f the Chicago-based gang the Maniac Chicago Disciples, had converted to Islam and was accused o f collaborating with terrorists. Then, starting in November 2004, a spate o f articles published on the Internet and in newspapers such as in the Boston Herald, Los Angeles Times, and Washington 220

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P o st i n s i n u a t e d l i n k s b e t w e e n L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a a n d A l Q a e d a . T a k e , f o r in s ta n c e , th e la n g u a g e o f th is I n te r n e t in t e llig e n c e n e w s s o u r c e a r tic le e n ­ t i t l e d “ C r i m i n a l s , J ih a d is t s T h r e a t e n U .S . B o r d e r : U n h o l y A l l i a n c e o f T e r ­ r o r i s t s , G a n g s , R e v o l u t i o n a r i e s P o s e N e w S e c u r i t y t h r e a t .” T h e a r t i c l e b e ­ g in s a s fo llo w s : “ W h a t w o u ld h a p p e n i f c r im in a l g a n g s t e r s , r e v o lu tio n a r ie s a n d I s l a m i c t e r r o r i s t s a l l g o t t o g e t h e r in a c o m m o n g o a l o f o v e r t h r o w i n g g o v e r n m e n t s o f A m e r i c a ’s n e i g h b o r s a n d s m u g g l i n g o p e r a t i v e s i n t o a n d o u t o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ? S o m e s e n i o r p o l i c e a n d i n t e l l i g e n c e s o u r c e s [sa y ] . . . t h a t is j u s t w h a t is h a p p e n i n g in C e n t r a l A m e r i c a t o d a y .” 24 A Boston H er­

ald a r t i c l e c l a i m e d t h a t U .S . i n t e l l i g e n c e h a d i n f o r m e d t h e m t h a t t h e y h a d l o c a t e d m e m b e r s o f A l Q a e d a in m s in E l S a lv a d o r , a n d t h e Washington P ost p u b lis h e d in fo r m a tio n th a t a m e m b e r o f A l Q a e d a , A d n a n G . e l S h u k r iju m a h h a d m e t w i t h l e a d e r s o f t h e g a n g i n H o n d u r a s .25 P o l i c e a n d i n t e l l i g e n c e o f f i ­ c ia ls h e r e a n d t h e r e s u b s e q u e n t l y d e n ie d a n y e v i d e n c e o f s u c h l i n k s , b u t t h e im p lic it w a s m a d e e x p lic it, i f o n ly t h r o u g h r u m o r a n d in n u e n d o . T h e o ffic ia l n e g a t i o n o f t h e s e r u m o r s d id n o t s t o p N e w t G i n g r i c h f r o m h o s t i n g a n h o u r lo n g s p e c ia l o n F o x N e w s c h a n n e ls d e v o te d to e x p lo r in g th e s e h y p o t h e t ic a l lin k s , w h e r e h e p la c e d g a n g - a b a t e m e n t s tr a te g ie s a t th e c e n t e r o f th e W a r o n T e r r o r .2 6 A i r e d in J u n e 2 0 0 5 , t h e d o c u m e n t a r y , e n t i t l e d “A m e r i c a n G a n g s : T i e s t o T e r r o r ? ” w a s p u b lic iz e d a s fo llo w s : T h e o n e - h o u r s p e c ia l r e p o r t w ill fo c u s o n h o w in te r n a tio n a l g a n g s s u c h a s M a ra S a lv a tru c h a — o r m s 1 3 — p o s e n o t ju s t a r is k to o u r p e rs o n a l s e c u ­ r it y , b u t o u r n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y a s w e l l . “ F u e le d b y t h e g l o b a l n a t u r e o f t h e d r u g t r a d e , g a n g s a r e i n c r e a s i n g l y in t e r n a t io n a l o p e r a t io n s ,” s a id S p e a k e r G in g r ic h . “ W ith th e in fr a s t r u c ­ t u r e in p l a c e t o m o v e a n d d i s t r i b u t e d r u g s a c r o s s t h e b o r d e r , t h e d a n g e r e x is ts th a t th e y w ill u s e th e ir n e t w o r k to , fo r th e r ig h t p r ic e , tr a ffic te r ­ r o r i s t s a n d w e a p o n s i n t o t h e c o u n t r y .” “A f t e r a ll, w h y w o u l d n ’ t t w o g r o u p s — o n e d r iv e n b y g r e e d a n d t h e o t h e r b y h a t r e d — c o l l a b o r a t e t o f u r t h e r t h e i r g o a l s , ” G i n g r i c h a d d e d .2 7 T h e d o c u m e n ta r y , w h ic h fo llo w e d o n th e h e e ls o f th e F o x N e w s h o u r a n d c o v e r a g e o f I r a q , A l Q a e d a , A f g h a n i s t a n , a n d t h e T a li b a n , o p e n s w i t h f o o t ­ a g e f r o m t h e a t t a c k s o n t h e T w i n T o w e r s a n d w i t h G i n g r i c h ’s o p e n i n g lin e s : “ S e p te m b e r 11, 2 0 0 1, b r o u g h t n e w te r r o r to o u r la n d . . . b u t h a v e w e m is s e d a d a n g e r o u s th r e a t in s id e o u r b o r d e r s , in s id e o u r to w n s ? . . . E x p e rts w a r n t h e s e g a n g s c o u l d a l s o h a v e t ie s t o f o r e i g n t e r r o r i s t g r o u p s . . . w i t h t h e i r

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e n t e r p r is in g a n tic s o f d r u g t r a ffic k in g [an d ] s m u g g lin g p e o p le a n d p o s s ib ly w e a p o n s o f m a s s d e s tr u c tio n a c r o s s o u r b o rd e rs . G o v e r n m e n t o ffic ia ls a t H o m e la n d S e c u r ity s a y d r a s tic m e a s u r e s a re n e e d e d to s tr ik e d o w n th e s e g a n g n e t w o r k s . ” W h i l e t h e l a n g u a g e t h r o u g h o u t is t e n t a t i v e , t h e i m a g e r y is n o t . A s e x p e r t s a r e b r o u g h t in t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h e s t r u c t u r a l a n a l o g i e s b e tw e e n g a n g s a n d t e r r o r is ts a n d th e ir p o t e n t ia l m u tu a lly c o n v e n ie n t a n d p r o f i t a b l e a r r a n g e m e n t s , G i n g r i c h ’s p r o d u c t i o n t e a m m a k e s t h e s e h y p o ­ th e t ic a l c o n n e c tio n s v is ib le to u s b y s p lic in g th e s c r e e n in h a lf w it h jih a d is ts a i m i n g r i f le s o n o n e s id e a n d t a t t o o e d y o u t h u s i n g s p r a y p a i n t c a n s o n t h e o t h e r . T h e d o c u m e n t a r y li t e r a l l y s p l i c e s f o o t a g e f r o m b o t h w o r l d s t o g e t h e r in a m o n t a g e o f i m a g e s . I n a s t y l e r e m i n i s c e n t o f m t v m u s i c v i d e o s , t h e s c r e e n s h ifts b a c k a n d fo r th fr e n e tic a lly b e tw e e n fo o t a g e o f tu rb a n e d jih a d ­ i s t s a n d t a t t o o e d g a n g m e m b e r s — b o t h h e a v i ly a r m e d a n d w i t h m a c h i n e g u n s a im e d . T h e s e i m a g e s a r e i n t e r s p e r s e d w i t h t h o s e o f p e o p l e s c r a m b l i n g t h r o u g h t h e g u l l i e s o f t h e U .S .- M e x i c o b o r d e r o r c l i m b i n g t h e w a l l s t h a t n o w r u n b e t w e e n th e t w o c o u n tr ie s ; p a g e s o f A r a b ic s c r ip t ( p o s s ib ly fr o m th e K o r a n ); v io le n t g a n g in it ia t io n s ; a n d y o u th g e s t ic u la t in g w ild ly w it h b a n ­ d a n a s c o v e r in g th e ir fa c e s a n d p o in t in g g u n s to th e ir o w n h e a d s . G a n g s t e r a n d t e r r o r i s t a r e b r o u g h t t o g e t h e r in n i g h t m a r e o f f r e e a s s o c i a t i o n . G in g r ic h c o n c lu d e s h is d o c u m e n t a r y b y a r g u in g th a t th e s e p o s s ib le lin k s b e t w e e n im m ig r a t io n , g a n g s , a n d te r r o r is m c le a r ly s u p p o r t fir s t b r in g in g la w e n fo r c e m e n t a n d im m ig r a tio n a g e n c ie s to g e th e r , a n d s e c o n d b r in g in g n a tio n a l s e c u r ity a n d la w e n fo r c e m e n t in t o o n e u n ifie d e f f o r t — “ fo r i f n o t, o u r v e r y c iv iliz a t io n m a y b e a t r is k .” It c o m e s a s n o s u r p r is e , p e r h a p s , th a t F o x N e w s a n d G in g r ic h w o u ld b e th e c o n d u it f o r p o p u la r iz in g lin k s b e tw e e n g a n g s a n d t e r r o r is ts a n d fe e d in g o u r im a g in a t io n s w it h a la r m is t r e p o r ta g e . B u t th is “ g a n g - c r im e - t e r r o r is m

c o n tin u u m ” a n d th e ju s tific a tio n o f th e

U n ite d S ta te s a s a s e c u r ity s ta te a ls o b e c a m e a le g it im a t e t o p ic o f d e b a te a m o n g m i l i t a r y s t r a t e g i s t s . 28 I n a s p e c i a l r e p o r t t o t h e W e b s i t e f o r D e f e n s e a n d N a t i o n a l I n t e r e s t , G a r y W i l s o n a n d J o h n S u lliv a n a d v o c a t e d a p p l y i n g “ th ir d g e n e r a t io n s tr e e t g a n g s (3 G 2 ), n e tw a r , a n d fo u r t h g e n e r a t io n w a r ­ fa r e (4 G W ) . . . to in v e s t ig a t e t y p o lo g ie s a n d r e la t io n s h ip s o f th ir d g e n e r a ­ t i o n s t r e e t g a n g s a n d t e r r o r i s t g r o u p s . ” 29 T h e y t o o a r g u e d t h a t t h e d iv is io n b e t w e e n g a n g s a s a la w e n fo r c e m e n t c o n c e r n a n d t e r r o r is ts a s a m ilit a r y c o n c e r n c o u ld n o lo n g e r b e m a in ta in e d w h e r e d is tin c tio n s b e tw e e n w a r a n d c r i m e a r e b e c o m i n g i n c r e a s i n g l y b l u r r e d .30 T h e ir p u b l i c a t i o n f o l l o w e d o n p r e v io u s w o r k s th a t a r g u e d th a t g a n g s , a s a m u t a t e d fo r m o f “ u r b a n in s u r ­ g e n c y ,” p o s e d a s e r i o u s c h a l l e n g e t o s t a t e s o v e r e i g n t y . A s s u c h , g a n g s w e r e

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b o t h p o l i t i c a l a n d c r i m i n a l in n a t u r e a n d t h u s r e q u i r e d p o l i c e a n d m i l i t a r y f o r c e s t o p r o v id e c o l l e c t i v e s e c u r i t y a n d s t a b i l i t y .31 M o r e o v e r , t h e u s e o f t e r r o r i s m d i s c o u r s e e n t e r e d c r i m i n a l p r o c e e d i n g s in s ta te c o u r ts . A ft e r th e S e p te m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 0 1, t e r r o r is t a tta c k s , th ir ty -s ix s ta te s a d d e d t e r r o r i s m - r e l a t e d la w s t o t h e i r c r i m i n a l c o d e s , u s i n g t h e m t o e n h a n c e s e n t e n c e s t h a t , in s o m e c a s e s , n o w i n c l u d e t h e d e a t h p e n a l t y . I n a W ashing­

ton P ost a r t i c l e , t h e j o u r n a l i s t M i c h e l l e G a r c í a e x p l o r e d h o w t h e s e n e w la w s h a v e p r o v id e d p r o s e c u to r s w it h n e w o p p o r tu n itie s , a n d s h e n o te d s o m e w h a t w r y l y t h a t in 2 0 0 5 “ t h e n e w e s t f a c e o f a n a l l e g e d t e r r o r i s t w e a r s a g o a t e e , s t a n d s a b o u t f iv e f e e t t a l l, d r e s s e s in b a g g y c l o t h e s a n d r e s i d e s in t h e B r o n x .” I r o n ic a l ly , t h e g a n g m e m b e r E d g a r M o r a l e s , a k a “ P u e b la ,” w a s a m o n g t h e f i r s t p e o p l e e v e r c h a r g e d u n d e r N e w Y o r k ’s s t a t e t e r r o r i s m l a w s . G r e g o r y M a rk , a fo r m e r p r o s e c u to r w h o b e c a m e a le g a l h is to r ia n a t R u tg e rs , c o m ­ m e n t e d o n t h i s e v e r - e x p a n d i n g d e f i n i t i o n o f t h e t e r m “ t e r r o r i s m ” in t h e c o n ­ t e x t o f t h e M o r a l e s c a s e , “ L a n g u a g e is p l a s t i c . . . A s n e w s i t u a t i o n s a r is e a n d t h e i m a g i n a t i o n o f p r o s e c u t o r s i s s t i m u l a t e d , t h e s t a t u t e s w h i c h w e r e c le a r ly i n t e n d e d f o r o n e p u r p o s e a r e e x p a n d e d .” 3 2 “ T e r r o r i s m ” w a s c l e a r l y o p e r a t i n g h e r e a s a “ f r e e - f l o a t i n g s i g n i f i e r ” a n d w i t h i n t h e r e a l m o f t h e i m a g i n a t i o n .33 W i l s o n a n d S u lliv a n , t h e a u t h o r s w h o t h e o r i z e d t h e “ g a n g - c r i m e - t e r r o r ­ is m c o n t in u u m ,” a r g u e d th e p o in t th a t G in g r ic h a c k n o w le d g e d t h r o u g h o u t h i s b r o a d c a s t , n a m e l y t h a t “ d e s p i t e l a w e n f o r c e m e n t ’s v i g i l a n c e in l o o k i n g f o r in t e r a c t io n b e tw e e n tr a n s n a tio n a l c r im in a l o r g a n iz a t io n o r g a n g s ( tr a n s ­ n a tio n a l o r o th e r w is e ) a n d in te r n a tio n a l t e r r o r is t g r o u p s w it h in th e U n ite d S t a t e s f e w i n v e s t i g a t o r s h a v e i d e n t i f i e d a n y t a n g i b l e d i r e c t a s s o c i a t i o n in o p e n s o u r c e s . T h o s e w h o h a v e , d e s c r ib e d th e c o n n e c tio n s a s s p e c u la t io n s u p p o r t e d b y l i t t l e e v i d e n c e .’^ 4 H o w e v e r , t h e i n v e s t i g a t o r s c o n c l u d e d t h a t th e fa ilu r e to m a k e th e s e lin k s w a s “ n o t a n in t e llig e n c e fa ilu r e b u t a fa ilu r e o f i m a g i n a t i o n . ’^

T h e r e w a s c e r t a i n l y n o l a c k o f i m a g i n a t i o n in G i n g r i c h ’s

g r a p h ic r e n d e r in g o f h is s p e c u la tiv e th e s is . A s R ic h a r d H o fs t e a d e r n o te s , “ W h a t d i s t i n g u i s h e s t h e p a r a n o i d s t y le is n o t t h e a b s e n c e o f v e r i f i a b l e f a c t b u t r a t h e r a c u r i o u s le a p in i m a g i n a t i o n . ” 36 E v e n i f h y p o t h e t i c a l , t e r r o r a n d it s d e t e r r e n c e e v o k e i n t e n s e fe a r . T h e m a n i p u l a t i o n o f f r a m e s f o r p u r p o s e s o f c r e a t i n g c o l l e c t i v e t e r r o r h a s t o b e d i r e c t e d t o t h e i m a g i n a t i o n . T h e r e is n o s e n s e o f t h e “ u n t r u e ” o r “ u n r e a l ,” s a y Z u l a i k a a n d D o u g l a s s , “ w h e n o n e is s u b m e r g e d in d r e a m o r f a n t a s y .” 3 7 O n e g a n g i n p a r t i c u l a r c a p t u r e d t h e m e d i a ’s i m a g i n a t i o n l i k e n o o t h e r i n t h e p o s t - 9 / 1 1 c l i m a t e . W i t h G i n g r i c h ’s v e r s i o n o f t h i s “ g a n g - c r i m e t e r r o r i s m c o n t i n u u m ” t h e s i s v iv id ly in p l a c e , h e t u r n s h is f o c u s t o L a M a r a

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Salvatrucha— MS 13.

m s

,

we are told, is “known for its extreme violence,”

and has become the target o f a national effort between law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(i c e )

o f Homeland Security. That

effort went under the name o f Operation Community Shield. The operation was launched on March 14, 2005, in seven cities across the country with the arrest o f 103 purported members o f a photograph o f an

m s

m s

.38

In the documentary we see

gang member who has made the

ic e

Most Wanted

list. Law enforcement’s biggest fear is, according to Gingrich, that

“m s

13

has already begun working with international terrorists.” National Geographic Channel picked up on this focus on m s 13 in a docu­ mentary, World's Most Dangerous Gang, which first aired in February 2006. In the film the correspondent Lisa Ling explains that m

s

“rules over four miles

o f Los Angeles, but that’s just the beginning.” We are told that m

s

is a “huge

multinational, deeply organized crime group” and has spread “like a virus” across the country, invading thirty-three states and six countries from El Salvador to Canada, and from Alaska to Spain. With ten thousand footsoldiers, the gang “crosses the border at will.” In fact “the gang started to grow so fast that a federal task force was created to deal specifically with m s

.”

Ling is referring to the aforementioned Operation Community Shield

campaign. The National Geographic documentary begins and ends with the murder o f sixteen-year-old Brenda Paz, an

m s

member turned

fbi

informant. After

divulging considerable information about MS— recorded footage that is included— Ling tells us that Paz was drawn “back into the gang, and that the news she was a rat leaked out.” Paz, who was pregnant, was stabbed twelve times. The location, suburban Virginia, and the murder weapon, a machete, provoked considerable anxiety. Paz’s body was found in the wooded out­ skirts o f Virginia, in an area not previously associated with gang violence. This signals that the suburbs are no longer lily white or middle class, and that

m s

may appear in a “neighborhood near you.” A similar message had

also been circulating on Internet blogs. An article from Police

e m a g

,

fea­

tured on a private blog called somewhat misleadingly the Homeland Secu­ rity National Terror Alert^9 refers to a case in suburban Nassau County, New York, where two murders were attributed to

m s

.

The message is that

m s

has “moved into the upper middle-class enclaves o f [Long] Island, into the kinds o f communities where the locals assume that crime is somebody else’s problem.” 40 Interestingly, the machete that was used to kill Paz was interpreted by 224

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the media as a sign o f the particular savagery o f m

s

.

In commenting on the

documentary, Kevin Pranis o f the Justice Policy Institute notes: “While I’d consider a machete a far less lethal weapon than a gun, the coverage has suggested that somehow machetes are an even more savage sort o f weapon than any weapon previously conceived and that machete-wielding gangsters should cause more fear than 15-year olds with machine guns.” 41 The irony here is that this is a reversal o f the anxieties o f the 1980s attached to the re­ placement o f knives by guns. Perhaps the image o f the machete resonated with the gruesome videos in circulation at the time o f hostages being be­ headed by Islamic jihadists. At the same moment, the figure o f the machete-wielding Salvadoran gangster came to be featured in the popular

fx

television series The Shield. A

Salvadoran gang, “Salvas,” made its debut in the show’s sixth season through the mass killing o f rival gang members. The killers, another rival Mexican gang, were “instructed to do it jungle style” so it looked like the doings of the Salvadoran gangs. The show is filled with gruesome scenes o f hacked up and bloody body parts, and the grenade alongside the machete become the distinguishing features o f Salvadoran criminality. As the journalist Bob Garfield notes in the opening to his radio inter­ view with Pranis, the terror surrounding

m s

is linked to a larger set o f anti­

immigrant politics: I f you’re a politician seeking to demonize illegal immigrants, there’s nothing to make you feel righteous quite like MS-13. The Salvadoran gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, has grown from its Los Angeles roots in the ’70s to infiltrate and terrify a growing number o f U.S. communities, where heavily tattooed gang-bangers have engaged in crimes as petty as vandalism and as gruesome as machete dismemberments and murder. The largest part o f the terror, however, has lived in the headlines as the press fixates on the Latin menace . . . Various politicians have come into Newark, New Jersey, to decry the murders o f three young students there by perpetrators allegedly including two illegal immigrants, who may or may not have had gang connections, and have not only connected them to

m s

13 but to Muslim terrorists and

God knows who all. In responding to Garfield’s suggestion that m s 13 really stands for the politi­ cal demonization o f Latino immigrants in general, Pranis concurs that

ms

has been conflated with national security issues: G A N G - C R i M E - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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A b s o lu t e ly , a n d t h a t ’s w h y t h e m u r d e r o f — w h i c h w a s a g r u e s o m e m u r d e r — o f B r e n d a P a z n e a r W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . , is s o i m p o r t a n t , b e c a u s e it h a p p e n e d s o c l o s e t o t h e C a p i t o l . I t h i n k t h a t w a s e i t h e r m s 1 3 ’s g r e a t e s t s u c c e s s o r g r e a te s t m is ta k e , d e p e n d in g o n w h e th e r y o u w a n t th e g a n g to g ro w . T h e y g o t th e a tte n tio n o f fe d e r a l la w m a k e r s . T h a t g o t th e a tt e n t io n o f t h e n a t i o n a l m e d ia . A n d s o m s 13 h a s b e c o m e t h e p o s t e r c h i l d f o r t h e d a n ­ g e r s o f im m ig r a tio n , i f y o u lis te n to th e a n ti- im m ig r a n t a d v o c a te s . . . B u t u n f o r t u n a t e l y o u r o b s e s s i o n w i t h m s 13 a s t h e p e r i l f r o m s o u t h o f t h e b o r d e r , c o m i n g w i e l d i n g m a c h e t e s a n d w i t h t h e ir , y o u k n o w , i n c r e d ­ i b l y t i g h t - k n i t p o l i t i c a l a n d c r i m i n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n , is r e a l l y u n f o r t u n a t e l y d i s t o r t i n g t h e d e b a t e .42 P r a n i s ’s J u s t ic e P o l i c y I n s t i t u t e w a s p a r t o f a c o a l i t i o n o f U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n o r g a n i z a t i o n s s e e k i n g t o in t e r v e n e in t h a t d e b a t e a n d t o a d v o c a t e f o r a lt e r n a t i v e s t o r e p r e s s i v e z e r o - t o l e r a n c e s t r a t e g i e s . T h e n a t i o n a l p o l i c e c a m p a i g n O p e r a t i o n C o m m u n i t y S h i e ld h a s s i n c e e x ­ t e n d e d i t s f o c u s o n m s t o in c l u d e a l l g a n g s 43 b u t m s 1 3 s e r v e d a s a p o w e r ­ fu l h ie r o g ly p h f o r th e p r o d u c t io n o f th e g a n g s t e r a s t e r r o r is t — a n d a s y e t a n o t h e r t h r e a t t o o u r n a t i o n a l s e c u r it y . T h e u n s u b s t a n t i a t e d s i g h t i n g s o f m s w it h A l Q a e d a , r e c o g n iz e d a s h y p o th e tic a l, a re n o n e th e le s s p o r tr a y e d a s in ­ e v ita b le i f w e d o n o t m a k e th e n e c e s s a r y c o n c e p t u a l le a p s to r e c o g n iz e th e i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p o f t h e w a r s a g a i n s t c r i m i n a l s , i m m i g r a n t s , a n d t e r r o r is t s . W e s e e o n c e a g a i n t h e e x t r a o r d i n a r y p r o d u c t i v i t y o f m e d i a a n d t h e l a w in t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f a c u lp r it , a n d o f t h e f i c t i o n a l e c o n o m y o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n ^ A s n e w s r e p o r ta g e , th e d o c u m e n ta r ie s b y F o x a n d N a tio n a l G e o g r a p h ic d e ­ p lo y th e g e n e r ic tr a d itio n s o f f ic t io n : th e h o r r o r m o v ie a n d th e m e lo d r a m a th a t to g e th e r w a r n o f th e m o n s te r s a m o n g u s a n d th a t d e p ic t a s o c ie ty o n t h e b r i n k o f c h a o s a n d d i s s o l u t i o n . G i n g r i c h ’s p o e t i c t e c h n i q u e s o f s p l i c ­ in g fo o t a g e o f g a n g s a n d t e r r o r is ts t o g e t h e r n o t o n ly h e ig h t e n s th e im p a c t o f h is m e s s a g e , b u t th e p la y - lik e fr a m e s a llo w h im to f o r g o a ll p r e te n s e o f d is t in g u is h in g fa c t fr o m fa b r ic a t io n . A n d th e s e a re o n ly tw o o f a n e x p lo s io n o f d o c u m e n ta r y film s o n C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n g a n g s . E ve n th e s tr in g o f in d e ­ p e n d e n t p r o d u c t io n s c a n ’ t s e e m to r e lin q u is h th e e x c ite d a n d th e fr e n e tic p a c e o f c r im e c in e m a , o r to r e s is t th e g e n e r ic s e e p a g e b e t w e e n p r o g r e s s iv e d o c u m e n ta r y a n d a c tio n m o v ie — lu r e d b y th e s a m e g la m o u r a s th e y o u th fu l r e c r u i t s t h a t c r o w d in f r o n t o f t h e i r c a m e r a s . M y p o i n t h e r e is n o t t h a t g a n g s a n d t e r r o r i s t s a r e m e r e f i g m e n t s o f o u r

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i m a g i n a t i o n o r t h a t t h e v i o l e n c e t h a t t h e y i n f l i c t is n o t o f g r a v e c o n c e r n . R a th e r, I a m tr o u b le d b y th e e n a b lin g c a p a c it ie s o f th e s e fic t io n a l r e a litie s a b o u t g a n g s a n d t e r r o r is ts , n o t s im p ly b e c a u s e th e y u n le a s h th e c o e r c iv e a p p a r a t u s o f t h e s e c u r i t y s t a t e b u t a l s o b e c a u s e t h e y e n a b le a n d r e p r o d u c e t h e v e r y e n e m y t h e y s e e k t o e r a d ic a t e . S o m e w o u l d a r g u e t h a t t h a n k s t o t h e m e d i a h y p e a r o u n d t h e g a n g , m s 13 b e c a m e a r g u a b l y m o r e o f a b r a n d t h a n a n o r g a n i z a t i o n . C e r t a in ly , t h e p r o l i f ­ e ra tio n o f m o v ie - lik e c o v e ra g e m a d e it “ th e m o s t e x c itin g g a n g to b e a p a rt o f . ” P r a n is , w h o a r g u e s t h a t t h e g a n g h a d b e e n p u b l i c i z e d t o o m u c h , w o r r i e s o v e r th e s e e n a b lin g fic t io n s : “ I t a lk e d to s o m e o n e w h o ’d g o n e to E l S a lv a d o r a n d m e t a b u n c h o f m s 1 3 m e m b e r s w h o ’ d b a s i c a l l y r e c r u i t e d t h e m s e lv e s fr o m m e d ia c o v e r a g e ” r a th e r th a n th r o u g h a n e x is t in g c liq u e .^

The Changing Fact of the Gang T h e S a l v a d o r a n m e d i a is c e r t a i n l y n o l e s s c o m p l i c i t t h a n t h e U .S . m e d i a in le v e r a g in g g a n g y o u th o b s e s s e d w ith “ r e p r e s e n tin g ” th e ir n e ig h b o r h o o d s f o r th e c a m e r a . G a n g y o u th h a v e e a g e r ly s o u g h t o u t th e lim e lig h t o f th e c a m e ra , ju s t a s th e c a m e r a h a s c o u r te d th e m . C o n s e q u e n tly , th e ir p e r fo r ­ m a n c e - p o s i n g , p o s tu r in g , th r o w in g s ig n s , a n d b a r in g t a t t o o s - h a d b e e n a r e g u l a r f e a t u r e o f S a l v a d o r a n m e d i a c o v e r a g e s i n c e t h e m id - 1 9 9 0 s , w h e n t h e w a r a g a i n s t t h e “ c o m m u n i s t s ” s h i f t e d t o a w a r a g a i n s t “ c r i m i n a l s . ” 46 B u t i n 2 0 0 7 , s o m e t h i n g s t r a n g e a p p e a r e d t o b e h a p p e n i n g in t h e r e a l m o f r e p r e s e n t a t i o n in E l S a lv a d o r : t h e t a t t o o e d g a n g s t e r , t h a t u b i q u i t o u s p o s t ­ c iv il w a r c r i m i n a l t y p e , w a s n o l o n g e r a t t h e f r o n t a n d c e n t e r o f S a l v a d o r a n h e a d lin e n e w s . T h is r e c e n t d i s a p p e a r a n c e o f g a n g s f r o m t h e n e w s p a p e r s a n d t e l e v i s i o n n e w s m i g h t s u g g e s t t h a t M a n o D u r a a n d it s s e q u e l S ú p e r M a n o D u r a w e r e s u c c e s s f u l in r e d u c i n g v i o l e n c e . B u t w e h a v e a l r e a d y s e e n t h a t t h e y f a i l e d m i s e r a b l y o n t h a t c o u n t . W h a t , t h e n , a c c o u n t s f o r t h i s d i s t u r b a n c e in r e p r e ­ s e n ta tio n ? W a s it e m b a r r a s s m e n t o n th e p a r t o f th e s ta te , c o n t r it io n o n th e p a r t o f t h e m e d i a f o r i t s a c t i v e c o p r o d u c t i o n o f t h e s p e c t a c l e ^ 7 o r t h e g a n g ’s g r o w in g r e s is ta n c e to r e p r e s e n ta tio n ? I w o u ld s u g g e s t th a t it w a s a r e s u lt o f a l l t h e s e t h i n g s , b u t f o r n o w I w a n t t o e x p lo r e t h e r o l e o f t h e g a n g i t s e l f . In p r e v i o u s c h a p t e r s , I d e s c r i b e d t h e w a y s in w h i c h t h e c r i m i n a l i z a t i o n o f g a n g e x p r e s s i v e p r a c t i c e s a n d v i s u a l c u l t u r e is a t t h e c o r e o f m a n o d u r i s t a p o l i c i e s . T h e ta tto o b e c a m e , in a n d o f its e lf, g r o u n d s fo r a rre st.

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A s I d i s c u s s e d in c h a p t e r 6 , t h r e e y e a r s a f t e r t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f m a n o d u r is m o I r e tu r n e d to E l S a lv a d o r to tr a c k its e ffe c ts . S e e k in g v a r io u s w a y s b a c k i n t o t h e n o w m i l i t a r i z e d a n d r a d i c a l i z e d b a r r i o s , a n d u p o n t h e a d v ic e o f a S a lv a d o r a n c o lle a g u e , I s o u g h t o u t a n e v a n g e lic a l p a s to r . W h e n I r e a c h e d h i m o n h i s c e l l p h o n e , h e s u g g e s t e d w e m e e t a t M r . D o n u t (a S a l v a d o r a n c h a i n r e s t a u r a n t ) in a s h o p p i n g c e n t e r i n a m i d d l e - c l a s s n e i g h b o r h o o d in S a n S a lv a d o r , a n d t h u s o n r e la t i v e ly n e u t r a l g r o u n d . T h e p a s t o r w a s m u c h y o u n g e r th a n I e x p e c te d , b u t h e w o r e th e u n ifo r m w e ll: b la c k s la c k s , w h ite l o n g - s l e e v e s h i r t t u c k e d in , c l e a n - c u t h a ir , b l a c k l e a t h e r b r i e f c a s e , a n d , o f c o u r s e , a B ib le . W e h a d n o t b e e n s p e a k i n g f o r v e r y l o n g , h o w e v e r , w h e n t h e p a s t o r b e g a n t o m o r p h i n t o s o m e t h i n g e ls e . T h e r e w a s a t r a c e o f s o m e t h i n g u n d e r h is s k i n in t h e c o r n e r o f h is e y e — t h e t r a c e o f t e a r s , t a t t o o e d t e a r s . T h e m a r k o f a g a n g s te r ? P e rh a p s th e p a s to r n o tic e d m y p u z z le d g a z e c h a n g e to o n e o f r e c o g n it io n , b e c a u s e h e tu r n e d h is c o n v e r s a tio n a b o u t h is m is s io n ­ a r y w o r k w i t h y o u t h in t h e b a r r i o s a s e v a n g e l i c a l p a s t o r t o h i s f o r m e r w o r k r e c r u i t i n g y o u t h f r o m t h o s e b a r r i o s a s a f o u n d i n g m e m b e r o f o n e o f t h e 1 8 th S t r e e t c l i q u e s in S a n S a lv a d o r . H e h a d b e e n d e p o r t e d , h e e x p la i n e d , f r o m L o s A n g e l e s in t h e 1 9 9 0 s . T h e p a s t o r ’s c o s t u m e c o u l d n o t h i d e t h e b a r e l y v is ib le , y e t s t a r tlin g , tra c e o f te a rs , o n c e ta t t o o e d a n d n o w r e m o v e d . It w a s n o t s o m u c h a r e m o v a l a s a fa d in g o r a s h a d in g , b u t a s h a d in g in t o w h a t? E a r ly t h e n e x t m o r n i n g , t h e p a s t o r w a s d r a g g e d f r o m h is h o u s e a n d s h o t . H e b le d t o d e a t h b e f o r e r e a c h i n g t h e h o s p i t a l . I c a n n o t s p e a k f o r t h e p a s ­ t o r ’s s t a t u s a s r e f o r m e d g a n g m e m b e r . W a s h e “ p l a y i n g w i t h G o d ’s w o r d , ” s o m e t h i n g t h a t is n o t t r e a t e d l i g h t l y b y g a n g m e m b e r s ? O r h a d h i s d e a t h b e e n s t a g e d to lo o k lik e a g a n g k illin g a t th e h a n d o f d e a th s q u a d s ? T h e p a s ­ t o r k n e w , h e h a d s a id , t h a t h e c o u l d o n l y d o t h i s w o r k “ b y t h e g r a c e o f G o d , ” a n d t h a t h e w o u l d liv e o n l y “ a s l o n g a s [ h is ] w o r k w a s G o d ’s w i l l . ” I c o u l d n o t k n o w i f r a t h e r t h a n u n m a s k i n g , t h e t r a c e u n d e r n e a t h h i s s k in w a s y e t a n o t h e r f o r m o f m a s k i n g . 48 T h e c h a n g i n g f a c e o f t h e g a n g a n d i t s m o r p h i n g i n t o s o m e t h i n g e ls e e m e r g e d a s a t h e m e in t h e f o l l o w i n g w e e k s . G a n g l e a d e r s , i t s e e m e d , w e r e d is c o u r a g in g a n y m o r e ta tto o s a n d w e r e te llin g th e ir m e m b e r s to s to p d r e s s ­ i n g l i k e g a n g m e m b e r s s o t h a t t h e y c o u l d p a s s f o r ciuiles ( c iv ilia n s ) a n d g o u n d e r c o v e r , s o t o s p e a k , a s fu lan o zoutano (futano del t a l; “ s o a n d s o ” ). G a n g m e m b e r s w e r e s e e k i n g o u t t a t t o o r e m o v a l p r o g r a m s in g r o w i n g n u m b e r s a n d w i t h t h e c o n s e n t o f t h e i r le a d e r s . M a n y s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h e e x p r e s s iv e c u l ­ tu re o f th e g a n g th a t h a d b e e n s u c h a n a ttr a c tiv e p a r t o f th is y o u th id e n t it y ­ m a k i n g p r o j e c t w a s , in f a c t , o n l y d i s a p p e a r i n g a s a m e a s u r e o f s e l f - d e f e n s e ,

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that is, as a strategic move on the part o f the gang. Indeed, as my Salvadoran colleague Lisette Miranda, who coauthored the first study o f youth gangs in El Salvador when she was working for

u n i c e f

in the early days o f this so-

called phenomenon, exclaimed to me: “In the end, if you look over it, what has been the result o f El Plan Mano Dura and El Plan Súper Mano Dura, La Ley Anti-Mara? . . . The most tangible result has been the transformation of the dynamic o f the gang. Now the gang is much more clandestine.” A doc­ tor working at a tattoo removal clinic found herself inadvertently aiding this move to go underground: “The participation o f the gangs in the

c n s p

tat­

too removal program for example, has to do with this new dynamic.” Some have even told me: “I’m not changing them [erasing my tattoos] to rehabili­ tate myself, I’m changing with the authorization o f the gang . . . as part o f a tactic to be able to continue [with the gang]. It’s incredible!” The researcher Marlon Carranza had a similar analysis. He suggested that the proud public performance o f the gangster identity embodied in the hand gesture and the strut, worn on and bleeding through the skin in the form o f the tattoo, the costume-cum-uniform, and the battle scars ex p o se d -a ll claiming loudly “Soy pandillero!” “This is what I am!” “Here I am!” - h a d become muted be­ cause o f the repression. This provocation, this lust for social recognition that had filled the front pages o f Salvadoran newspapers, the visuals for nightly news, and one foreign documentary project after another, was now, as a re­ sult o f manodurismo, going underground. The rules were changing: “Don’t dress like a gang member. Dress like the rest. Don’t bring attention to your­ self.” As much o f it as I had encountered, I had never really given the gang tat­ too its due in my research. Perhaps it was my concern as an anthropologist with the politics o f the gaze and my reticence to exoticize gangs. Certainly, my ambivalence had much to do with my ongoing solidarity with Latino im­ migrant rights activists in the United States who felt that the focus on youth culture was “a boutique issue” that distracted from and undermined more far-reaching legalization and citizenship efforts. My methodology involved “hanging out” with gangs and gang peace activists, not asking them to pose or to perform before a camera. If anything, I was interested in observing how gangs and media worked together to produce particular stories, represen­ tations, and effects. Needless to say, gang members would ignore me when there was a photographer o f any sort around. My rarely used point and shoot camera held no allure for them. They had their priorities straig h t-p h o to opportunities to represent their neighborhoods and to build their reputaG A N G - C R i ME - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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t i o n s , t h e i r f a m e , a n d t h e i r “ s t r e e t c r e d ,” w h i c h n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l n e w s o u tle ts w e r e h a r d a t w o r k b r o a d c a s tin g . T h e t a t t o o c l e a r l y c a l l s f o r a d e t a i le d a n a ly s i s o f it s f o r m , t h e b i o g r a p h y a n d g e o g r a p h y o f w h ic h it s p e a k s , a n d th e p r a c tic e s s u r r o u n d in g ta tto o i n g — n o t t h e l e a s t o f w h i c h b e i n g t h e d e e p d e s ir e o f g a n g m e m b e r s t o b e l o o k e d a t a n d d is p la y e d , o r t h e i r “ t o b e l o o k e d - a t - n e s s . ” 49 M a r k B la n c h a r d e x p o u n d s o n t h i s p h e n o m e n o n w e l l w h e n h e s a y s , “ T h e t a t t o o is a b o u t r e ­ v e a lin g , b e in g r e v e a le d a n d g a z i n g u p o n th e r e v e a lin g . T h e ta t t o o e d s u b je c t f o c u s e s t h e p u b l i c g a z e o n h i s o r h e r o w n b o d y o r p a r t o f t h e b o d y w h i l e a ls o d e lig h tin g h im s e lf o r h e r s e lf a s b o th e x h ib itio n is t a n d v o y e u r o f h is o r h e r o w n s p e c t a c l e , in a r i t u a l o f i n t e n s e s p e c u la r i t y .” 5° In th e p o s t - c iv il w a r e ra , th e g a n g t a tto o h a d b e c o m e a c r u c ia l m a r k in th e p r o c e s s o f c r e a t i n g n e w c a t e g o r i e s t h a t r e m a d e d i f f e r e n c e in a p u r p o r t e d l y e t h n i c a n d r a c i a l l y h o m o g e n e o u s E l S a lv a d o r . I n a m o m e n t w h e n i n d i g e n o u s S a l v a d o r a n s , w h o a f t e r t h e m a s s a c r e o f 1 9 3 2 h a d h i d d e n t h e i r t r u e s e lv e s in o rd e r to b e fr e e o f p e r s e c u tio n ^ 1 w e r e m a k in g a n u n e x p e c te d re a p p e a r a n c e , y o u t h w e r e t h e m s e l v e s a c t i v e ly e n g a g e d in c r e a t i n g a f i c t i o n o f e t h n i c s i n ­ g u la r it y . B y m a r k i n g t h e m s e l v e s w i t h t a t t o o s , a p h e n o t y p i c a l m a r k e r , y o u t h fr o m d iffe r e n t n e ig h b o r h o o d s m a d e th e m s e lv e s in t o o th e r s to o n e a n o th e r a n d b e y o n d . In th e a b s e n c e o f d is c e r n ib le d iffe r e n c e s , th e ta t t o o d is t in ­ g u is h e d o n e g r o u p fr o m a n o th e r w it h w h a t A r ju n A p p a d u r a i m ig h t te rm “ d e a d c e r t a in t y .” 5 2 W h a t i n t e r e s t s m e h e r e , h o w e v e r , is t h e t a t t o o in r e v e r s e — t h a t is , it s r e ­ m o v a l. W h a t is t h i s “ t r a c e ” b e n e a t h t h e s k in ? I s t h i s p u r p o r t e d m o r p h i n g in t o s o c ie t y a t la r g e a n u n m a s k in g o r a fu r t h e r m a s k in g , a fo r m o f c a m ­ o u f l a g e ? S u s a n P h i l l i p s in h e r w o r k o n t a t t o o r e m o v a l c li n i c s in E a s t L o s A n g e le s e x a m in e s ta t t o o r e m o v a l a s a r e d e m p tiv e p r o c e s s w h e r e in a n e w s e lf c o u n t e r s a f o r m e r s e lf , a n d w h e r e t h e n e w s e l f r e p e n t s o r h a s a c h a n g e o f h e a r t . T a t t o o r e m o v a l in t h i s c o n t e x t r e l e a s e s p e o p l e f r o m t h e b i n d o f t h e i r p r e v i o u s m a t e r i a l c h o i c e s a n d e n a b le s a “ r e m a t c h i n g o f h e a r t s a n d s k i n s ” s o t h a t t h e s k in n o l o n g e r p o r t r a y s t h e o l d s e l f . P h i l l i p s s e e s t h e a b i l i t y t o e ra s e ta t t o o s a s a n e m p o w e r in g p r o c e s s , a “ s o c ia l a n d b o d ily r e a lig n m e n t ,” t h a t d i r e c t l y c o u n t e r s s o c i a l e x c lu s io n .5 3 B u t is t h i s m o r p h i n g f r o m “ s t r e e t ” t o “ d e c e n t ” a n d b l e n d i n g b a c k i n t o s o c i e t y t h r o u g h t a t t o o r e m o v a l a lw a y s a n a c t o f r e d e m p t i o n , o r c a n i t b e a c l e v e r ly c r a f t e d d i s g u i s e , a r e s i s t a n c e o f th e g a z e ?54 T h e t a tto o , w h ic h m a r k e d w h ic h b a r r io o n e w a s fr o m a n d th u s o n e ’s t e r r i t o r i a l i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , h a d a f t e r a ll b e c o m e a p o w e r f u l i n s t r u m e n t o f s ta te p o w e r.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

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P e r h a p s i t ’s n o t s u r p r i s i n g t h e n t h a t t h e s e d i s t u r b a n c e s in r e p r e s e n t a t i o n c o n v e r g e d w i t h a d i s t u r b a n c e a t a n o t h e r le v e l : n a m e ly , in t h e b o u n d a r y s y s ­ t e m s o f t h e g a n g a n d t h e c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f n e i g h b o r h o o d s . E x p r e s s iv e c u l ­ tu ra l p r a c tic e s a n d u r b a n s p a c e a re t w o in te r r e la te d m e a n s th r o u g h w h ic h s o c i a l i n e q u a l i t y is r e c o n f i g u r e d .55 A s a r e s u l t o f t h e m a s s a r r e s t s o f g a n g m e m b e r s , m a d e in l a r g e p a r t s o l e l y o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e t a t t o o , t h e b o u n d a r y s y s te m o f th e n e ig h b o r h o o d s w a s in flu x o n c e a g a in . I s a y o n c e a g a in b e ­ c a u s e , a s I d i s c u s s e d in c h a p t e r 4 , i n t h e m id - 1 9 9 0 s S a l v a d o r a n g e o g r a p h y h a d b e e n r e w r i t t e n ( o r i t s p o l i t i c a l b o u n d a r i e s r e d i s t r i c t e d ) b y U .S . i n n e r - c i t y p o lit ic s a n d th e d e p o r ta tio n o f g a n g m e m b e r s . T h e te r r ito r ia l id e n t ific a t io n s o f th e s e n e ig h b o r h o o d s h a d b e e n r e s h a p e d a c c o r d in g to d iv is io n s b e tw e e n b a r r i o s in c i t i e s s u c h a s L o s A n g e l e s . N o w , a s a r e s u lt o f M a n o D u ra , th e g a n g s ’ o p e r a tio n s s e e m e d to b e in ­ c r e a s i n g l y i n d e p e n d e n t f r o m a p a r t i c u l a r b a r r io . T h e t e r r i t o r y o f t h e b a r r io h a d b e e n r a d ic a lly t r a n s fo r m e d , a n d th e lo c a l g e o g r a p h y o f th e n e ig h b o r ­ h o o d w a s n o lo n g e r th e c e n tr a l s p a c e o f id e n t ific a t io n o r o p e r a tio n fo r th e g a n g . I n r e s p o n s e t o S ú p e r M a n o D u r a , g a n g s h a d b e c o m e m u c h m o r e f lu id a n d m o b i l e .56 S o , f o r in s t a n c e , it w a s n o t u n c o m m o n to fin d y o u t h f r o m S o y a p a n g o h i d i n g o u t in E l i v u , w h e r e t h e y w o u l d n o t b e r e c o g n i z e d . P a d r e T o ñ o , t h e S p a n i s h p r i e s t m e n t i o n e d in t h e l a s t c h a p t e r w h o h a d h e a d e d t h e l o c a l p a r i s h in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d o f M e j i c a n o s , d e s c r i b e d t h e t r a n s f o r m a ­ t io n to m e th is w a y : “ T h e g a n g w a s m u c h m o r e v is ib le [ b e fo r e M a n o D u ra ]. W e k n e w w h o t h e y w e r e . W e w e r e f r i e n d s w i t h t h e m . [ N o w ] w e ’ v e l o s t a ll c o n t a c t w i t h t h e c l i q u e o f t h e c o m m u n i t y . T h e y ’ r e in p r i s o n o r in h i d i n g . N o w t h e y ’ r e m o v i n g t h e i r p e o p l e a r o u n d t o t a k e c a r e o f t h e i r t e r r it o r y . I t ’s a l m o s t a s i f t h e y ’ r e c h a n g i n g p e r s o n n e l a r o u n d . N o w y o u d o n ’ t k n o w w h o ’s w h o . I t c a u s e s g r e a t i n s e c u r i t y a n d a le v e l o f a n g u i s h t h a t is i n t o l e r a b l e . ” L i k e d e p o r t a t i o n , t h is i n c a r c e r a t i o n o r a r r e s t e d m o b i l i t y h a d i r o n i c a l l y p r o d u c e d n e w m o d e s o f tr a n s g r e s s iv e m o b ilit y a n d w it h it a n e w s e t o f a n x ie tie s . T h u s a n e f f e c t o f t h e s e d i s t u r b a n c e s , b o t h in r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a n d in u r b a n s p a c e , w a s t o t u r n t h e g a n g i n t o a g h o s t l y p r e s e n c e . T h is g r o w i n g i n v i s i ­ b ilit y o f th e g a n g w a s a c c o m p a n ie d b y g r e a t e r s o c ia l in s e c u r ity a n d p r o fo u n d d o u b t s a b o u t w h o e x a c t ly w e r e a m o n g t h e “ w e ” a n d w h o w e r e a m o n g t h e “ t h e y .” D i f f e r e n c e w e n t u n d e r g r o u n d a s g a n g m e m b e r s d o n n e d m a s k s o f e v e r y d a y n e s s . 57 I f M a n o D u r a w a s a s u c c e s s it w a s to b lu r th e v e r y c a te g o r ie s fr o m w h ic h i t h a d d e r iv e d i t s l o g i c — a v i s u a l l o g i c . A f t e r a ll t h e f o r u m s , t h e d o c u m e n ­ ta tio n , th e r e p o r ts , th e d o c u m e n ta r ie s , a n d th e in te llig e n c e g a th e r in g , “ th e

G A N G - C R i M E - T E R R O R i S M CONTi NUUM

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g a n g ” n o w e x c e e d e d a n d e lu d e d s t r a t e g i e s o f i n s t i t u t i o n a l k n o w l e d g e . “ I t is s u p e r , s u p e r d y n a m i c ! ” e x c l a i m e d a n e x a s p e r a t e d S a l v a d o r a n r e s e a r c h e r . W h a t n e w l o g i c w o u l d e m e r g e i n it s p la c e ? O r b e t t e r p u t , w h a t n e w s u b ­ je c t s w o u ld b e h a ile d in t o b e in g b y th a t lo g ic ? In te r e s tin g ly , a s th e g a n g m e m b e r r e t r e a t e d f r o m t h e n e w s h e a d l i n e s in E l S a lv a d o r , s o m e t h i n g e ls e s e e m e d to b e c o m in g in to r e p r e s e n ta tio n (a n d I m ig h t e v e n a rg u e , b a c k in to r e p r e s e n t a t i o n ) . T h e t r a c e o n t h e e v a n g e l i c a l p a s t o r ’s f a c e t h a t o s t e n s i b l y m a r k e d h is c o n v e r s io n fr o m o n e d o c tr in a l c e r ta in ty to a n o th e r , lik e a D e rr i d e a n s t a in , m a r k s “ t h e f u t u r e a n d t h e p a s t in a p r e s e n t m o m e n t w h i c h is n e i t h e r .’^ 8 T h e s a m e m o n t h t h a t t h e p a s t o r w a s k i l l e d , E l S a l v a d o r p a s s e d it s a n t i - t e r r o r i s t la w , w h i c h c a p i t a l i z e d o n t h i s m o m e n t o f e p i s t e m i c m u r k to la b e l b o th g a n g s t e r s a lo n g s id e a c tiv is ts a g a in s t n e o lib e r a l p o lic ie s a lik e a s te r r o r is ts . T h e g a n g m e m b e r h a d fille d a s lo t fo r th e s ta te , b u t th e r u lin g r i g h t - w i n g in E l S a l v a d o r h a d n e v e r r e l i n q u i s h e d t h a t s l o t ’s p r e m i e r e o c c u ­ p a n t , t h e c o m m u n i s t , w h o i s a t t i m e s a l s o a n I n d ia n a n d a l s o a g a n g s t e r , b u t a lw a y s a c o m m u n i s t ^ 9

2 3 2

C H A P T E R

S E V E N

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HALL OF MIRRORS

CONCLUSiON

A c o n f r o n t a t i o n o n J u ly 5 , 2 0 0 6 , b e t w e e n u n i v e r s i t y s t u d e n t s a n d t h e S a l v a ­ d o r a n N a tio n a l P o lic e a r g u a b ly m a r k e d th e p a s s a g e fr o m s o c ia l to p o lit ic a l v i o l e n c e . T w o p o l i c e o f f i c e r s in t h e p n c ’ s a n t i - r i o t u n i t w e r e k i l l e d o u t s i d e th e N a tio n a l U n iv e r s ity o f E l S a lv a d o r d u r in g a p r o te s t a g a in s t in c r e a s e d b u s f a r e s . C e r t a i n l y a r e n a l a t c h e d o n t o t h e k i l l i n g s a s s i g n s o f t h e r e r a d i c a li z a t i o n o f t h e L e f t ; m u c h w a s m a d e o f t h e f a c t t h a t t h e a l l e g e d k i lle r , M a r i o B e l l o s o , w a s a l o w - l e v e l m e m b e r o f t h e f m l n . T h is i n c i d e n t , t o g e t h e r w i t h a n o v e r a ll i n c r e a s e in v i o l e n c e , e n s u r e d t h e p a s s a g e o f t h e A n t i - T e r r o r i s t L a w la t e r t h a t y e a r . F o r m a n y S a lv a d o r a n s , th e in t r o d u c tio n o f th e A n ti- T e r r o r is t L a w , e v e n t h o u g h i t w a s b a s e d o n a s i m i l a r l a w in C u b a , h a r k e n e d b a c k t o t h e r e p r e s ­ s iv e h i s t o r y o f E l S a l v a d o r .1 R o b e r t o B u r g o s , t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l l a w y e r w h o I h a d c o n s u l t e d a b o u t t h e U .S .- r u n I n t e r n a t i o n a l L a w E n f o r c e m e n t A c a d e m y , e x p r e s s e d h is fe a r s o f th e p o t e n t ia l c o n s e q u e n c e s o f th e n e w la w th is w a y :

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“ T h e p r o b l e m w i t h t h i s n e w c o n c e p t o f s e c u r i t y t h a t is b e i n g a p p l i e d i n L a t in A m e r i c a a f t e r 9 / 11 [is t h a t ] w e a r e h e a r i n g t h i n g s o n c e a g a i n t h a t a r e n ’ t n e w . L o o k , I v e r y m u c h r e s p e c t t h a t 9 / 11 c h a n g e d t h e liv e s o f p e o p l e in t h e U .S . a n d t h e y s t a r t e d t o s e e t e r r o r i s m a s a d a i ly p r o b l e m , b u t t o s p e a k o f t e r r o r ­ i s m a n d t h e m e a s u r e s t o c o u n t e r t e r r o r i s m h e r e in C e n t r a l A m e r i c a , w e d o n ’ t h e a r th is a s s o m e th in g g o o d . It w a s th e e x c u s e to r e p r e s s w h a t e v e r p o lit ic a l o p p o s it io n , a n d s o it s e e m s v e r y n a tu r a l to m e th a t p e o p le a re r e s is ta n t .” A n d e v e n t s w e r e t o p r o v e B u r g o s r i g h t . A y e a r l a t e r o n J u ly 3 , 2 0 0 7 , t h e l a w w a s le v e r a g e d to a r r e s t s ix ty p r o te s t o r s w h o h a d b lo c k e d th e r o a d s in t o th e to w n S u c h i t o t o in a r a l l y a g a i n s t t h e p r i v a t i z a t i o n o f w a t e r . P r e s i d e n t S a c a w a s s c h e d u l e d t o g i v e a s p e e c h t h a t d a y , b u t t h e p r o t e s t o r s s u c c e e d e d in p r e v e n t ­ in g h im fr o m e n te r in g th e to w n . In th e e n d , th e y w e r e a r r e s te d a n d c h a r g e d a s “ t e r r o r i s t s .” A f t e r c o n s i d e r a b l e d o m e s t i c a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l p r e s s u r e t o f r e e t h e p r o t e s t o r s , t h e c h a r g e s a g a i n s t t h e m w e r e e v e n t u a ll y d r o p p e d . H o w ­ e v e r, th e c o n n e c tio n b e tw e e n t e r r o r is m a n d s o c ia l m o v e m e n ts p r o te s t in g n e o lib e r a l p o lic ie s h a d b e e n m a d e e x p lic it b y a r e n a , w h ic h in d ic a t e d th a t t h e p r o t e s t o r s w e r e “ a ll f r o m t h e L e f t . ” S a c a e v e n a s s e r t e d t h a t t h e p r o t e s t s in S u c h i t o t o w e r e a l l p a r t o f M a r i o B e l l o s o ’s p la n s . P o is e d a s E l S a lv a d o r n o w w a s b e t w e e n th e th r e a t o f g a n g s a n d s o c ia lis t s , t h e c o u n t r y h a d b e c o m e o n c e a g a i n s t r a t e g i c a l l y p l a c e d w i t h i n U .S . in t e r e s t s — a lb e it th is tim e w it h r e c o u r s e to th e d o m in a n t p a r a d ig m o f th e W a r o n T e rro r. T h e g a n g - c r im e - t e r r o r is m c o n tin u u m h a d se rv e d its p u r p o s e . E ven t h o s e w i l l i n g t o d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n t h e t r a i n i n g a t t h e n e w U .S .- l e d p o l i c e a c a d e m y a n d th e tr a in in g o f m u r d e r o u s s o ld ie r s a t th e S c h o o l o f th e A m e r i­ c a s w o r r ie d o v e r th e d o u b le - e d g e d n a tu r e o f s u p p o r t fr o m th e U n ite d S ta te s . A s B u r g o s p u t it , “ I n t h e e n d i t ’s a lw a y s ‘W h a t i s t h e w o r l d t h a t t h e U .S . w a n t s , a n d w h a t . . . i s c o n v e n i e n t f o r t h e U .S ., g i v e n it s v i s i o n o f it s in t e r n a l s e c u r it y ? .’ . . . T h is i s u n d e n i a b l e . T h e y a r e t h e o n e s p a y i n g f o r t h e p a r t y . I t is t h e y w h o e la b o r a t e th e p r o g r a m .” T h e r u lin g r ig h t - w in g p a rty , a r e n a , w a s e a g e r t o g o a l o n g w i t h t h e p r o g r a m a n d t o t h r o w it s l o t in w i t h t h e B u s h a d ­ m i n i s t r a t i o n ’s w a r in I r a q . W h i l e l a r g e l y a s y m b o l i c p r e s e n c e , a s o f N o v e m ­ b e r 2 0 0 8 E l S a l v a d o r w a s t h e o n l y L a t i n A m e r i c a n c o u n t r y in B u s h ’s C o a l i ­ t i o n o f W i l l i n g , w h i c h h a d d w i n d l e d f r o m f o r t y - f i v e n a t i o n s t o f iv e .2 W h i l e t h e c o u n t r y ’s p a r t i c i p a t i o n h a d l o n g b e e n u n p o p u l a r a m o n g S a l v a d o r a n s , it s n e w s p a p e r s p r o u d l y p u b l i s h e d i m a g e s o f S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t s d r e s s e d in t h e u n i f o r m o f t h e U .S . m i l i t a r y a n d b o u n d f o r I r a q , a n d t h o s e i n s i d e a n d o u t s i d e t h e n a t i o n w h o h a d b e e n k i l l e d w e r e la u d e d a s n a t i o n a l h e r o e s . F o r it s p a r t , t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s g r a t e f u l l y a c k n o w l e d g e d S a l v a d o r a n s u p p o r t . S ix

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S a lv a d o r a n S p e c ia l F o r c e s s o ld ie r s w e r e a w a r d e d th e B r o n z e S ta r fo r th e ir s e r v i c e in I r a q . T h e t i n y i s t h m u s o f E l S a l v a d o r w a s , o n c e a g a i n , a m o n g t h e t o p r e c i p i e n t s o f U .S . m i l i t a r y la r g e s s e . I m m i g r a n t s o l d i e r s f a l l e n in b a t t le w e r e g r a n t e d p o s t h u m o u s U .S . c i t i z e n s h i p t h a t t h e n e x t e n d e d t o t h e i r s u r ­ v iv in g fa m ilie s .3 A n d th e A m e r ic a n d re a m w a s e x te n d e d to Ir a q th r o u g h y e t a n o t h e r S a l v a d o r a n l a b o r m i g r a t i o n f o r j o b s w i t h A m e r i c a n p r iv a t e s e c u ­ r i t y c o m p a n i e s s u c h a s T r i p le C a n o p y a n d B l a c k w a t e r in I r a q .4 O n c e a g a in , E l S a l v a d o r b e c a m e a p l a y e r in t h e U .S . “ p r o t e c t i o n r a c k e t ” a n d it s “ g l o b a l m i l i t a r y - g i f t e c o n o m y ” w i t h a v e n g e a n c e .5 T h e a r e n a g o v e r n m e n t a ls o c a p ita liz e d o n th e s o - c a lle d P in k T i d e — t h e r e n e w a l o f t h e L a t i n A m e r i c a n L e f t in c o u n t r i e s l i k e B o liv ia a n d V e n e z u e l a — to r e a ffir m its c o m m it m e n t to th e n e x t p h a s e o f th e U n ite d S ta te s n e o l i b e r a l e c o n o m i c a g e n d a in E l S a l v a d o r a n d t o t h e D o m i n i c a n R e p u b l i c C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n F re e T r a d e a g r e e m e n t (d r - c a f t a w a s r a tifie d b y th e S a l­ v a d o r a n g o v e r n m e n t in M a r c h 2 0 0 6 ) . M o r e o v e r , a r e n a c o n s i s t e n t l y h e ld t h e p o w e r o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s in t h e r e g i o n o v e r t h e h e a d s o f S a l v a d o r a n v o t e r s . S o in t h e 2 0 0 5 p r e s i d e n t i a l e l e c t i o n , f o r i n s t a n c e , a r e n a a r g u e d t h a t i f S h a fik H a n d a l, th e f m l n c a n d id a te th a t y e a r, w a s e le c te d th e n th e U n ite d S t a t e s w o u l d d i s c o n t i n u e t e m p o r a r y p r o t e c t e d s t a t u s f o r S a l v a d o r a n s li v i n g a b r o a d a n d s o e n d th e flo w o f fa m ily r e m itta n c e s . T h e B u s h a d m in is tr a tio n s u p p o r t e d t h i s s t r a t e g y . I t o b j e c t e d t o H a n d a l ’s l e f t i s t t ie s : h e w a s f o r m e r l y th e h e a d o f th e S a lv a d o r a n C o m m u n is t P a rty a n d w a s a s ta u n c h a n d v o c a l c r i t i q u e o f n e o l i b e r a l i s m . M u c h w a s m a d e o v e r H a n d a l ’s r e l a t i o n s w i t h t h e V e n e z u e l a n p r e s i d e n t H u g o C h a v e z a n d t h e B o liv ia n p r e s i d e n t E v o M o r a l e s . I n v i o l a t i o n o f S a l v a d o r a n s o v e r e ig n t y , t h e U .S . a m b a s s a d o r o p e n l y w a r n e d S a l v a d o r a n s in n e w s p a p e r h e a d l i n e s t h a t t h e e l e c t i o n o f H a n d a l w o u l d h a v e a s e r i o u s a n d n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o n U .S .- S a l v a d o r a n r e l a t i o n s . A n d in 2 0 0 6 , a f t e r a r e n a

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p o s e d $ 13 m i l l i o n in m i l i t a r y a i d t o E l S a lv a d o r . W h i l e p r o b l e m a t i c , i t w a s n o t s u r p r i s i n g t h a t H a n d a l ’s t i e s w o u l d b e c r i t i ­ c i z e d . H o w e v e r , a r e n a p a i n t e d t h e f m l n ’s c e n t e r - l e f t a n d r e f o r m i s t c a n d i ­ d a te M a u r ic io F u n e s , a lo n g t im e te le v is io n jo u r n a lis t c r itic a l o f th e a r e n a g o v e r n m e n t , in m u c h t h e s a m e l i g h t t o it s U n i t e d S t a t e s s u p p o r t e r s . E l S a l ­ v a d o r ’s M i n i s t e r o f F o r e i g n A f f a i r s , M a r i s o l A r g u e t a , s p o k e o n S e p t e m b e r 1 8 , 2 0 0 8 , b e f o r e t h e c o n s e r v a t i v e A m e r i c a n E n t e r p r i s e I n s t i t u t e in W a s h i n g t o n , D .C . H e r s p e e c h i n c l u d e d a d i r e c t a p p e a l f o r t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s t o c o n c e r n i t s e l f w i t h t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f a n f m l n v i c t o r y in t h e u p c o m i n g e l e c t i o n s . In s ta tin g th a t m e m b e rs o f th e f m l n

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tio n s E u s k a d i T a A s k a ta s u n a o r B a s q u e H o m e la n d a n d F r e e d o m ( e t a ) a n d F u e r z a s A r m a d a s R e v o lu c io n a r ia s d e C o lo m b ia — E jé r c ito d e l P u e b lo o r R e v o l u t i o n a r y A r m e d F o r c e s o f C o l o m b i a — P e o p l e ’s A r m y ( f a r c ), M i n i s ­ te r A r g u e t a a r g u e d th a t “ lo s i n g E l S a lv a d o r w ill b e a d a n g e r o u s p r o p o s it io n f o r b o th th e s e c u r ity a n d th e n a tio n a l in te r e s ts fo r b o th E l S a lv a d o r a n d th e U n i t e d S t a t e s .” T h is c o u l d s e n d E l S a l v a d o r b a c k t h i r t y y e a r s t o “ a t i m e o f t u r m o i l .” “ T h e s e c u r i t y o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s i s a t s t a k e in E l S a lv a d o r ,” s h e a d d e d , q u o t i n g R o n a ld R e a g a n . S h e a l s o a s s e r t e d t h a t L a t i n A m e r i c a f a c e s a th r e a t fr o m a w a v e o f n e o s o c ia lis m fr o m g r o u p s th a t ta k e p o w e r th r o u g h d e m o c r a tic e le c tio n s a n d p o p u lis t a p p e a ls . “ I f p o w e r g o e s to th e w r o n g h a n d s , E l S a l v a d o r m a y w e l l b e t h e n e x t p o p u l i s t f a i l u r e in t h e h e m i s p h e r e .” 6 W h i l e i t is c l e a r t h a t t h e i n t e r e s t s o f t h e a r e n a a n d B u s h a d m i n i s t r a ­ t i o n s in b o t h c o u n t r i e s w e r e a l i g n e d , i t a l s o s e e m e d t h a t t h e y w e r e l o c k e d in a d y n a m ic th a t e x c e e d e d th e s t r a t e g ic m a n ip u la t io n o f fo r e ig n p o lic y o r th e r a tio n a l t e c h n o lo g ie s o f p o lic in g s tr a te g ie s . F a n ta s y p r o v e s a u s e fu l h e u r is tic w it h w h ic h to p r o b e th e ir r a tio n a l a n d e x c e s s iv e d im e n s io n s o f th e p o lit i­ c a l h e r e .7 O n e m i g h t s a y t h a t f a n t a s y g l u e s t o g e t h e r t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a l v a d o r p s y c h i c a lly . T a k e , f o r i n s t a n c e , N e w t G i n g r i c h ’s r o l e in h is F o x tv

m e d ia c o n s t r u c t io n o f th e m o r a l p a n ic a r o u n d th e r u m o r o f th e fa n ta s t ic

k in s h ip b e tw e e n S a lv a d o r a n g a n g b a n g e r s a n d I s la m ic jih a d is t s . In b r a n d is h ­ i n g w h a t h e a d m i t s a r e s c a n t l y e v e n f a c t s , G i n g r i c h m a k e s g r e a t le a p s i n t o d i s c u r s i v e f a n t a s y . H e k n o w s w h a t h e is d o i n g b u t h e c a n n o t d o o t h e r w i s e . 8 H e is c o m p e l l e d t o r e p e a t t h e t r a u m a o f U .S . i n t e r v e n t i o n in E l S a l v a d o r in th e n a m e o f th e W a r o n T e rro r. T h e s y m p to m o f s u s p ic io n th u s p e r s is ts a n d r e o r g a n iz e s a r o u n d a n e w s e t o f e n e m ie s . F a n ta s y p r o d u c e s s u b je c ts a n d s u b je c tiv itie s .9 A s P a d r e T o ñ o c o n c lu d e d a b o u t E l S a lv a d o r , “ T h is b o i l i n g p o t h a s it s e s c a p e e s [ é m ig r é s ] a n d it s p h a n ­ ta s m s [ g a n g s ] .” A p o lit ic s o f p a r a n o ia — b e it a b o u t ille g a l a lie n s , g a n g s , o r t e r r o r i s t s — r e li e s o n f i c t i o n a l r e a l i t i e s t o d r iv e d r a c o n i a n a g e n d a s a t t h e s a m e tim e a s it b r in g s th o s e fic t io n s in t o b e in g . It fe e d s in t o th e p r o life r a ­ t i o n o f t h e v e r y m o n s t e r s i t s e e k s t o e l i m i n a t e . T h e g a n g m s is m a r k e t e d a s a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l b r a n d a n d i t s i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e a c h g r o w s . Y o u t h b a s k i n g in t h e lim e lig h t o f th e c a m e r a b e c o m e m o r e s o p h is tic a te d a n d g o u n d e r g r o u n d . T h e y b e c o m e p h a n t a s m a t i c f i g u r e s in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d s t h e y o n c e o p e n ly c la i m e d , a n d y e t t h e v i o l e n c e e x p l o d e s b e y o n d i t s a lr e a d y s h o c k i n g le v e l s . In w r it in g a b o u t 9 /11, B e g o ñ a A r e t x a g a a r g u e d th a t t h o s e a tt a c k s w e r e t h e m a t e r i a l i z a t i o n o f a f i c t i o n a l r e a lit y , a d i s p l a c e m e n t o f t e r r o r i s m f r o m th e s c r e e n s o f m o v ie th e a te r s o n t o th e s c r e e n s o f th e te le v is io n n e w s c a s t .

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W e h a v e , s h e a r g u e d , “ a t t h e l e v e l o f p o l i t i c a l im a g in a r y , [ b e e n ] a i d i n g t h e d i s c u r s i v e a n d m i l i t a r y c o n s t r u c t i o n o f T e r r o r i s m w i t h a c a p i t a l T .” 10 L i k e t e r r o r i s m , in t h e p o s t - 9 / 1 1 e r a , t h e s o - c a l l e d t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g c r i s i s h a s a l s o p r o v e d t o b e a f e r t i l e s i t e f o r p o l i t i c a l , m e d i a , a n d r e s e a r c h im a g i n a r ie s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a a n d b e y o n d . I n 2 0 0 6 , r e p o r t s b e g a n c o m i n g in f r o m n e w a n d u n e x p e c t e d q u a r t e r s . “ L a M a r a S a l v a t r u c h a E x p a n d s I t s R e a c h i n t o S p a i n ,” t h e h e a d l i n e s r e a d . S e e m i n g l y u n a w a r e o f t h e f a c t t h a t t h e s e y o u t h g a n g s w e r e a c t u a l l y o f f s h o o t s o f t h e L a t i n K i n g s in N e w Y o rk a n d w e r e , b y a n d la r g e , e ith e r e t h n ic a lly P u e r to R ic a n o r E c u a d o r ­ ia n , t h e S p a n i s h c a l l e d i n t h e S a l v a d o r a n g a n g e x p e r t s f o r c o n s u l t a t i o n . O n e S a l v a d o r a n r e s e a r c h e r w h o w a s i n v i t e d e x p l a i n e d h o w s h e a r r iv e d o n l y t o fin d “ th e w h o le S a lv a d o r a n m a fia ” th e r e , r e fe r r in g to th e s m a ll g r o u p o f S a l­ v a d o r a n r e s e a r c h e r s , p r o g r a m d ir e c to r s , g o v e r n m e n t o ffic ia ls , a n d s o fo r th w o r k in g o n th e “ t r a n s n a tio n a l g a n g c r is is .” In th e la s t f e w y e a r s , th e p r o d u c t io n o f s tu d ie s , d o c u m e n t a r ie s , a n d a r t i c l e s o n t h e s u b j e c t o f t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g s in t h e r e g i o n h a s b e e n p r o ­ li f i c , t o s a y t h e le a s t . I t i s a s t r u g g l e t o k e e p a p a c e w i t h t h i s v e r i t a b l e i n d u s ­ try . H o w m i g h t w e , t h e a u t h o r s o f t h o s e p u b l i c a t i o n s , h a v e c o n t r i b u t e d t o th e p r o d u c t io n o f th e s e n e o lib e r a l s e c u r ity s c a p e s , w it t in g ly o r u n w ittin g ly , a g g r e s s i v e l y o r r e t ic e n t ly ? A s o n e S a l v a d o r a n r e s e a r c h e r , l o o k i n g b a c k a t h e r d e c a d e - l o n g in v o l v e m e n t w i t h t h e t o p i c o f g a n g s a n d y o u t h v i o l e n c e , r e ­ m a r k e d t o m e r u e f u lly : “ L o o k , a l l o f u s w h o h a v e w o r k e d o n a n d c o n c e p ­ t u a liz e d th e th e m e a re a ls o r e s p o n s ib le [fo r th e c u r r e n t s itu a tio n ] b e c a u s e [ a f t e r a ll] w e a r e t h e o n e s w h o h a v e c o n c e p t u a l i z e d [ t h e is s u e ] a n d g i v e n it s tr u c tu r e a n d fo r m .” E v e n c o m m u n it y a c tiv is ts w h o fie ld re q u e s ts fr o m r e ­ s e a r c h e r s , fu n d e r s , m e d ia p r o d u c e r s , p o lic y m a k e r s , a n d s o fo r th a re n o le s s i m p l i c a t e d in t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f t h i s s p e c t a c l e — a s a r e t h e g a n g m e m b e r s o r “ w a n n a b e s ” w h o s e e k th e lim e lig h t o f th e c a m e r a o r n e ig h b o r h o o d w a lls as b i l l b o a r d s . T h e p la y e r s in t h i s c o m p l e x o f f o r c e s ( p o l i c e , i m m i g r a t i o n o f f i ­ c e r s , t h e m ilit a r y , m e d ia , p o l i c y m a k e r s , a n d i n d e e d a c a d e m i c e x p e r t s , m y ­ s e l f i n c lu d e d ) h a v e e n a b l e d t h e r e p r o d u c t i o n o f t h a t w h i c h t h e y p u r p o r t e d l y s e t o u t t o u n d o — t h e “ t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g c r i s i s .” M o r e o v e r , t h a t c r i s i s f e e d s i n t o t h e la r g e r r e g i o n a l a n d g l o b a l a g e n d a s o f n e o l i b e r a l t r a d e a g r e e m e n t s a n d c o u n te r te r r o r is t s tr a te g ie s . A s I d e s c r i b e in c h a p t e r 7, t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e “ t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g c r is is ” w ith in th e id io m

o f “ te r r o r is m ” c o in c id e d w it h th e r e tu r n o f th e

f i g u r e o f t h e “ c o m m u n i s t , ” o f t e n la b e l e d a “ t e r r o r i s t .” M o r e o v e r , i t s e e m s t h a t t h i s p r o l i f e r a t i o n o f i n t e r l o c k i n g i m a g e s o f t e r r o r i s t s a n d c r i m i n a l s a ls o

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2 3 7

g u i d e s t h e r e p r o d u c t i o n o f U .S .- S a l v a d o r a n r e l a t i o n s a n d t h e r e b y p la y s i n t o t h e a c t u a l p r o d u c t i o n o f t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g s . T h is m i r r o r i n g p a r a n o i d d y ­ n a m ic h a s p r o v e n to b e a fu n d a m e n t a l s tr u c tu r e u n d e r ly in g t r a n s n a tio n a l l i f e b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a lv a d o r . C r i m i n a l d e p o r t e e s r e e m e r g e a s r e f u g e e s , m i l i t a r y a d v i s o r s a s c iv il p o l i c e c o n s u l t a n t s a n d t h e n h o m e l a n d s e c u r ity a d v is o r s , g u e r r illa s a s g a n g s t e r s , c o p s a s c r im in a ls , a n d a c tiv is ts o r a d v o c a te s a s s c h o la r s . D is lo c a t io n s w r o u g h t b y fo r c e d m ig r a tio n in th e 1 9 8 0 s r e c u r t h r o u g h f o r c e d r e p a t r i a t i o n in t h e 1 9 9 0 s , a n d b o t h c o m b i n e in t h e r e t u r n o f y e t a n o t h e r r e p r e s s e d f i g u r e : t h e S a l v a d o r a n r e f u g e e . R e la t io n s b e tw e e n E l S a lv a d o r a n d th e U n ite d S ta te s a re r e fr a c te d t h r o u g h th e s e tr a n s ­ n a t io n a l “ m ir r o r s o f p r o d u c t io n ” — in te n s iv e m im e t ic in t e r a c t io n s a c r o s s f o r m e r b o r d e r s b e t w e e n N o r t h a n d S o u t h . C le a r ly , t h e b o r d e r b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a lv a d o r , a l b e i t s t r u c t u r e d t h r o u g h a n i m p e r i a l i s t i c r a th e r th a n a fo r m a l c o lo n ia l r e la tio n , h a s b e e n “ p u n c tu r e d p o r o u s ” fir s t b y w a r a n d m ig r a tio n a n d n o w b y d e m o c r a t iz a t io n a n d n e o lib e r a l tra d e a n d s e c u r i t y a g r e e m e n t s . 11 T h e T r a n s n a t i o n a l A n t i - G a n g U n i t ( t a g ) a n d t h e f e d ­ e r a l I n t e r a g e n c y T a s k f o r c e o n G a n g s p r o p o s e t h a t t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d it s a llie s lik e E l S a lv a d o r ta k e m u tu a l r e s p o n s ib ilit y fo r th e ir r e g io n a l s e c u r ity a n d s u p p o r t o n e a n o t h e r ’s e f f o r t s t o s u p p r e s s g a n g s t h r o u g h c o o p e r a t i o n a n d c o l l a b o r a t i o n . B o t h e n a b le c r o s s - b o r d e r p o l i c i n g a n d t h e e a s y f l o w o f in t e llig e n c e in fo r m a tio n b e tw e e n c o u n tr ie s . T o g e th e r , th e s e in itia tiv e s f o r ­ m a l i z e t h e in t e r - A m e r i c a n n e o l i b e r a l s e c u r i t y s c a p e s t h a t h a v e b e e n t h e c e n ­ tra l fo c u s o f th is b o o k . T h e d is a p p e a r a n c e o f th e c o m m u n is t c h a lle n g e a n d w it h it th e tr iu m p h o f n e o lib e r a lis m a s th e d o m in a n t o r d e r b e t w e e n th e U n ite d S ta te s a n d E l S a l v a d o r c o i n c i d e d w i t h t h e s i g n i n g o f a n e w s o c i a l c o n t r a c t in E l S a lv a d o r . I n d e e d , t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f t h e g a n g m e m b e r a s a “ n e w c r i m i n a l t y p e ” in t h e im m e d ia te p o s t - c iv il w a r p e r io d b e a rs a p a r tic u la r r e la t io n s h ip to th e e m e r ­ g e n c e o f “ d e m o c r a c y ” in E l S a lv a d o r a s th e fo r m a n d d is c o u r s e o f p o lit ic a l l e g i t i m a c y . 12 I n Violence and the Sacred R e n é G i r a r d a r g u e d t h a t t h e l o s s o f d i s ­ t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n f o r m e r e n e m i e s l e a d s t o a “ m i m e t i c c r i s i s . ” T h is s t r u c t u r a l c r is is , h e s a y s , c a n o n ly b e r e s o lv e d th r o u g h a u n a n im o u s a n tip a th y to w a r d a c o m m o n e n e m y . A s c a p e g o a t , t h e n , is a lw a y s n e c e s s a r y t o t h e b e g i n n i n g o f a s y s te m . A c r o s s th e ir e n t w in e d h is t o r ie s , it s e e m s th a t E l S a lv a d o r a n d th e U n ite d S ta te s h a v e b o th n e e d e d a n o t h e r — a “ c o n te m p o r a r y s a v a g e ” i 3 — a g a i n s t w h i c h t o r e d e f i n e t h e m s e lv e s , b e i t t h e f i g u r e o f t h e n a t iv e , t h e c o m ­ m u n i s t , o r in t h i s c a s e , t h e g a n g s t e r . H o w e v e r , z e r o - t o l e r a n c e s t r a t e g i e s , o r w h a t A l l e n F e ld m a n t e r m s “ s e c u r o c r a t i c w a r s o f p u b l i c s a f e t y ,” c a n n o t r e -

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s o lv e t h e c r i s i s p r e c i s e l y b e c a u s e t h e y e m u l a t e t h e s a c r i f i c i a l f o r m i t s e l f a n d a r e t h e r e f o r e s u b j e c t t o “ c o m p u l s i v e r e p e t i t i o n d i s o r d e r .” N o t u n l i k e g a n g w a r f a r e i t s e l f , t h e s e s t a t e w a r s a g a i n s t g a n g s le a d t o r e d u n d a n t v i o l e n c e , a n d to a “ p o lit ic s o n a u t o p ilo t ” th a t fa ils to m o v e s o c ie t y b e y o n d c r is is to “ a n e w h i s t o r i c a l s t a g e . ” 14 C o n t r a r y t o t h e a s s e r t i o n t h a t s e c u r i t y s c a p e s w o r k t o e n ­ t r e n c h t h e s t a t e r a t h e r t h a n t o d e t e r r i t o r i a l i z e i t ,15 t h i s b o o k h a s i l l u s t r a t e d h o w s e c u r ity s c a p e s e ffe c tiv e ly u n d e r m in e th e v e r y s o v e r e ig n t y th e y s e t o u t to d e fe n d a n d th e v e r y p e a c e th e y s e e k to e s ta b lis h . O u r c r im in a l o b s e s s io n s w i t h t r a n s n a t i o n a l g a n g y o u t h m a r k a r i t u a l r e p o s i t o r y p a r e x c e l l e n c e o f t h is v io le n t t r a n s n a tio n a l h is t o r y fr o m th e w a n e o f c o ld w a r to th e r is e o f th e W a r o n T e rro r. W e o n ly b le e d fu r th e r in t o o n e a n o th e r.

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I M P R E S S I O N S FROM A POLITICAL P RE SE NT

EPiLOGUE

Inauguration: 1569, from Fr. inauguration “installation, consecration,” from L. inaugurationem (nom. inauguratio) “consecration, installment under good omens,” from in­ augurare “take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable,” from in- “on, in” + augurare “to act as an augur, predict” (see augur). —Online Etymology Dictionary

O n J a n u a r y 2 1 , 2 0 0 9 , B a r a c k H u s s e i n O b a m a w a s s w o r n in a s t h e f o r t y f o u r t h p r e s i d e n t o f t h e U n it e d S t a t e s o f A m e r i c a , a n d t h e f i r s t A f r i c a n A m e r i ­ c a n p r e s i d e n t , a s a s i g n t h a t , in h i s w o r d s , “ a ll a r e e q u a l, a ll a r e f r e e a n d a ll d e s e r v e a c h a n c e t o p u r s u e t h e i r f u l l m e a s u r e o f h a p p i n e s s , ” a n d t h a t U .S . A m e r ic a n s “ r e je c t a s fa ls e th e c h o ic e b e tw e e n o u r s a fe ty a n d o u r fo u n d in g id e a ls .” 1 F o r th e b r ie fe s t m o m e n t, th e r e w a s a s e n s e th a t th e c o u n t r y h a d b e e n c l e a n s e d o f i t s o r i g i n a l a n d m o s t r e c e n t s in s . I n L o s A n g e l e s , a n g e r g a v e w a y t o a n u n f a m i l i a r c a lm . T h e p o l i t i c s o f r e c o g n i t i o n a t w o r k in w h a t p r o m o t e r s a n d c y n i c s a li k e c a l l e d “ t h e O b a m a B r a n d ” w a s a s t o u n d i n g . O b a m a ’s s u b j e c t f o r m a t i o n w a s u n l i k e t h a t o f a n y o t h e r U .S . p r e s i d e n t . I t s p a n n e d K a n s a s , H a w a ii, K e n y a , a n d I n d o n e s ia ; i t w a s b i r a c i a l b u t n u r t u r e d b y m i d d l e - c l a s s A n g l o A m e r i c a n s ; in la te r y e a r s it w a s m a r r ie d w it h r a d ic a l a n d r e fo r m is t A fr ic a n A m e r ic a n p o -

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litical, religious, and cultural traditions; and it brought together commu­ nity activist, constitutional law professor, and politician. The Republican ex­ Secretary o f State General Colin Powell endorsed Obama over John McCain in recognition that the Democratic candidate had the capacity to cross ethnic, racial, and generational lines, and as such was a “transformational figure” who represented a new generation coming onto the stage o f U.S. and world politics.2 People all over the world watched and celebrated Obama’s inauguration in recognition o f what had been accomplished, and in hopeful anticipation o f the end o f the Bush regime’s global War on Terror. Obama had called for a transformational politics based on hope and gen­ erosity rather than on fear and greed. Certainly, in Latin America Obama’s victory brought widespread expectations o f a dramatic shift in Washington’s approach to the region.3 Obama, speaking during his electoral campaign from Miami, declared that his election would usher in a “new chapter in the story o f the Americas,” as well as signal the end o f U.S. unilateralism in Latin America— a welcome break from the revival o f the cold war-inspired poli­ cies o f the Bush administration.4 On June 1, 2009, in San Salvador, Mauricio Funes, the candidate for the leftist opposition party the

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,

was sworn in as president o f El Salvador.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was in attendance. Her smile radiated the Obama administration’s support o f this affirmation o f the democratic pro­ cess that had brought to power the former guerrilla army considered “terror­ ist” by previous administrations. Clinton’s red dress echoed the sea o f red flags, T-shirts, and caps at

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celebrations across the country and in the

diaspora. The Latin American leftist presidents Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega were all noticeably absent. However, Cuba’s Vice-President Esteban Lazo, the first official Cuban visitor since 1962, received a standing ovation to the roar o f “ Cu-ba, Cu-ba, Cu-ba\” hours before the Funes adminis­ tration “correct[ed] a historic error,” by renewing diplomatic relations be­ tween the two countries.5 Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with whom Funes had taken care to publicly align himself, was also present. Dubbed by many, including Funes himself, as El Salvador’s Obama, the incoming Salvadoran president had come to victory promising a new politics o f the Left and with the support o f a surprising coalition o f forces. Both the right-wing and private sectors could be counted among “friends o f Mauri­ cio Funes.” Not only had the Funes election ended twenty years o f uninter­ rupted rule by a r

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Funes was also the first president from the Left since

the founding o f the modern Salvadoran state. His election was, in his words, 2 4 2

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“ t h e n i g h t o f t h e g r e a t e s t h o p e in E l S a lv a d o r .” F o r a m o m e n t , t h e d i s i l l u ­ s io n m e n t a n d c y n ic is m o f th e p o s tw a r y e a r s h a d s u b s id e d . L i k e O b a m a , F u n e s i n h e r i t e d a d a u n t i n g f i n a n c i a l c r i s i s . H is c r i s i s , h o w ­ e v e r, w a s fu r t h e r e x a c e r b a te d b y th e lo s s o f r e m it ta n c e in c o m e fr o m S a l­ v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t s in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . S a l v a d o r a n s w e r e o u t o f w o r k a t h o m e a n d a b r o a d . In b o th c o u n tr ie s , th e m a g ic o f c a s in o c a p ita lis m a n d it s e m p e r o r s h a d l o s t s o m e o f t h e i n c r e d u l i t y a n d a d u l a t i o n , i f n o t a c t u a l p o w e r , t h a t t h e y h a d e n jo y e d a n d f e d o f f o f o v e r th e p a s t t w o to th r e e d e ­ c a d e s . In th e U n ite d S ta te s , W a ll S tr e e t a n d M a in S tre e t a lik e d e m a n d e d th e r e n e w e d p r e s e n c e a n d fo r c e f u l in te r v e n tio n o f th e s ta te , a lb e it o n d iffe r e n t t e r m s . I n E l S a lv a d o r , F u n e s — i n v o k i n g t h e s l a i n A r c h b i s h o p R o m e r o a s h i s “ te a c h e r a n d th e s p ir itu a l g u id e o f th e n a t io n ” — p r o m is e d th a t a lo n g s id e h is c o n tin u e d c o m m itm e n t to c a f t a a n d d o lla r iz a tio n h is g o v e r n m e n t w o u ld h a v e “ a p r e fe r e n tia l o p t io n f o r th e p o o r , f o r th o s e w h o n e e d a r o b u s t g o v e r n ­ m e n t t o g e t a h e a d a n d t o b e a b l e t o c o m p e t e in t h i s w o r l d o f d i s e q u i l i b r i u m u n d e r f a i r c o n d i t i o n s . ” “ T h e S a l v a d o r a n p e o p l e a r e w a t c h i n g , ” h e d e c la r e d , a n d “A r c h b i s h o p R o m e r o w i l l b e t h e f in a l j u d g e . ” In th e c o n c lu d in g c h a p t e r o f th is b o o k , I a r g u e d th a t th e s o - c a lle d tr a n s ­ n a t i o n a l g a n g c r i s i s b e t w e e n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a l v a d o r r e v e a le d t h a t t h e t w o c o u n t r i e s w e r e l o c k e d in a m i r r o r i n g p a r a n o i d d y n a m i c t h a t s e r v e d to r e p r o d u c e o ld a n d n e w fo r m s o f v io le n c e . W it h th e u n r a v e lin g o f th e R e p u b li c a n - A R E N A a l l i a n c e , i t s e e m e d t h a t t h i s a c c o u n t m i g h t c l o s e m u c h a s i t h a d o p e n e d in 1 9 9 2 w i t h a n o t h e r p o t e n t i a l l y h o p e f u l a n d h e a d y h i s t o r i ­ c a l j u n c t u r e — t h e S a l v a d o r a n P e a c e A c c o r d s a n d t h e e l e c t i o n o f B ill C l i n ­ t o n . W h a t w o u l d t h i s c u r r e n t m o m e n t , t h i s r e e l i n g p r e s e n t — a lw a y s a lr e a d y in t h e p a s t — p o r t e n d f o r t h e i s s u e s o f c o n c e r n in t h i s b o o k ? I n w h a t w a y s m i g h t t h e s e t r a n s n a t i o n a l p o l i t i c s o f h o p e — c o n d e n s e d in t h e d i a l e c t i c a l im a g e o f th e “ O b a m a - F u n e s in a u g u r a tio n ” a n d th e c h a n ts o f “ Y es, w e d id ” i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d “ S í s e p u d o ” in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l S a l v a d o r — r e c o n fig u r e th e w e b o f r e la tio n s a n d fie ld o f fo r c e s th a t u n d e r g ir d th e n e o ­ lib e r a l s e c u r it y s c a p e s m a p p e d o u t in th e fo r e g o in g c h a p te r s ? C o u ld th e s e d e v e l o p m e n t s s i g n a l t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e e n d o f n e o l i b e r a l i s m , o r a t le a s t t h e m o s t v u l g a r a n d p r e d a t o r y e x p r e s s i o n s o f it s lo g i c ? W h e r e w o u l d q u e s ­ t i o n s o f s e c u r i t y p o l i c y — l o c a l , r e g i o n a l , a n d g l o b a l — f a l l in t h i s m o m e n t o f p o t e n t ia l, o f s e e m in g e m e r g e n c e ? 6 W o u ld E l S a lv a d o r a n d th e U n ite d S ta te s r e m a i n l o c k e d in t h e s a m e t e r r i b l e d a n c e w i t h e a c h o t h e r ? O r w o u l d t h e s e “ t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l ” p o l i t i c s u s h e r in , a s O b a m a p r o m i s e d , a n e w c h a p t e r in U .S .- L a t i n A m e r i c a n r e la t i o n s ?

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What presents itself as progress . . . can soon show itself to be the perpetuation of what was presumably overcome . . . [We need to] formulate an idea of progress that is subtle and resilient enough not to let itself be blinded by the mere appearance . . . of emancipation.”7 —Jürgen Habermas

A s in 1 9 9 2 , t h i s p o l i t i c s o f p o s s i b i l i t y w a s q u i c k l y f o r e s t a l l e d . I n t h e m i d s t o f w r i t i n g t h i s e p i l o g u e a s a n a c k n o w l e d g m e n t o f t h e a lw a y s u n f i n i s h e d n a ­ tu re o f e t h n o g r a p h ie s o f th e c o n te m p o r a r y , I r e c e iv e d a n u r g e n t m e s s a g e . A le x S a n c h e z o f H o m ie s U n id o s L o s A n g e le s h a d th a t m o r n in g b e e n a r ­ r e s t e d i n h is h o m e in B e l lf lo w e r , C a l i f o r n i a , in f r o n t o f h i s w i f e a n d t h r e e c h ild r e n b y t w e n t y o r s o a r m e d f b i a g e n ts . T h e a c tiv is t n e t w o r k - f o r m e d a f t e r S a n c h e z ’s f i r s t a r r e s t b y R a m p a r t p o l i c e o f f i c e r s in 2 0 0 0 a n d e x p a n d e d w e l l b e y o n d t h a t o v e r t h e y e a r s t h r o u g h h is w o r k w i t h H o m i e s U n i d o s w a s i m m e d i a t e l y a c t i v a t e d t h r o u g h p h o n e , e - m a i l, F a c e b o o k , a n d T w it t e r . R e s p o n d i n g t o t h e c a l l in t h e m e s s a g e , I s e t t h i s e p i l o g u e a s i d e a n d r u s h e d t o t h e F e d e r a l C o u r t B u i l d i n g in d o w n t o w n L o s A n g e l e s w h e r e A l e x w a s t o b e a r r a i g n e d t h a t a f t e r n o o n . S a n c h e z s t o o d a c c u s e d o f l e a d i n g a d o u b l e li f e , o f w e a r in g t w o fa c e s . T h e w e ll- k n o w n a n d m u c h - lo v e d g a n g in te r v e n tio n w o r k e r w a s a lle g e d ly s t ill a n a c tiv e s h o t c a lle r f o r m s 13 . H e w a s c h a r g e d w it h c o n s p ir a c y to m u r d e r u n d e r th e fe d e r a l R a c k e te e r I n flu e n c e d a n d C o r ­ r u p t O r g a n i z a t i o n s A c t ( r i c o ) .8 S p e c if i c a lly , S a n c h e z w a s c h a r g e d w i t h o r d e r i n g a g a n g m e m b e r , J u a n B o n i l l a ( a .k .a . Z o m b i e ) , t o k i l l W a l t e r L a c i n o s ( a .k .a . C a m a r o n ) in E l S a l v a ­ d o r . L a c i n o s h a d b e e n d e p o r t e d t o E l S a l v a d o r a f t e r i m p r i s o n m e n t , s h o r t ly b e fo r e h is d e a th . B u t th e d e fe n s e a tto r n e y K e rr y B e n s in g e r a r g u e d th a t th e p r o s e c u t i o n h a d , in f a c t , g o t t h e w r o n g Z o m b i e . B e n s i n g e r ’s p r i m a r y a r g u ­ m e n t w a s t h a t l a p d o f f i c e r F lo r e s h a d c o n f u s e d t w o p e o p l e , e a c h o f w h o m w e n t b y t h e m o n i k e r Z o m b i e . S a n c h e z h a d s p o k e n t o a Z o m b i e , b u t his l e g a l n a m e w a s R ic a r d o T e r m in o H e r n a n d e z .9 It tu rn s o u t th a t th e Z o m b ie s w e r e e v e r y w h e r e .10 T h e in d ic tm e n t, w h ic h in c lu d e d t w e n ty - th r e e o th e r a lle g e d ly a c tiv e m e m ­ b e rs o f m s 13 , w a s b a s e d o n a th r e e -y e a r s e c r e t in v e s tig a tio n b y th e f b i a n d t h e l a p d w i t h s u b s t a n t i a l a s s i s t a n c e f r o m t h e U .S . B u r e a u o f P r i s o n s a n d t h e U .S . D e p a r t m e n t o f J u s t ic e C r i m i n a l D i v i s i o n ’s G a n g U n it , a n d t h e c o ­ o p e r a t i o n o f , a m o n g o t h e r s , t h e U .S . I m m i g r a t i o n a n d C u s t o m s E n f o r c e -

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m e n t (i c e ) a n d th e S a lv a d o r a n N a tio n a l P o lic e ( P N C ) - a c o a lit io n o f fo r c e s a r t i c u l a t e d in t h e t r a n s n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y a g r e e m e n t o f 2 0 0 7 t o c r e a t e t h e T r a n s n a t i o n a l A n t i - G a n g U n i t ( t a g ) . 11 S a n c h e z ’s m a n y s u p p o r t e r s a r g u e d t h a t , a t b e s t , t h e a r r e s t w a s p r o o f o f h o w t h e s e o v e r r e a c h i n g l a w s d r a w in t h e i n n o c e n t w i t h t h e g u ilt y , a n d a t w o r s t , a r e t a l i a t i o n f o r A l e x ’s r o l e i n e x p o s ­ in g th e im p a c t o f th e R a m p a rt s c a n d a l o n im m ig r a n ts a n d fo r s u c c e s s fu lly fa c in g o f f d e p o r ta tio n p r o c e e d in g s in 2 0 0 0 . M o re o v e r, A le x h a d b e e n a v o c a l o p p o n e n t o f O p e r a tio n C o m m u n it y S h ie ld a n d th e T r a n s n a tio n a l A n t i- G a n g U n it , a n d h a d s e r v e d a s a n e x p e r t w i t n e s s f o r t h e d e f e n s e in s e v e r a l r i c o c a s e s - t h e la w u n d e r w h ic h h e w a s n o w c h a rg e d . T h e r i c o l a w is t h e m o s t r e c e n t s t a t e o f e x c e p t i o n le v e r a g e d a g a i n s t g a n g m e m b e r s , b e t h e y a c t iv e ly , f o r m e r ly , o r a l l e g e d l y a f f i li a t e d . A s A l e x p u t i t t o m e d u r in g o u r fir s t m e e t in g a ft e r h is r e le a s e , “ r i c o

is t h e n e w g a n g i n ­

j u n c t i o n . I t ’s j u s t a n o t h e r c a s e o f g u i l t b y a s s o c i a t i o n . ” B e i n g b a c k in j a i l r e m in d e d h im th a t th e “ p r is o n s a re ju s t a to o l to c o n tin u e th e e n s la v e m e n t o f o u r y o u n g m e n a n d w o m e n in v i o l e n c e a n d p o v e r t y . . . . T h e r e is n o r e ­ h a b i l i t a t i o n in i n c a r c e r a t i o n . ” U n d e r r i c o , t h e b u r d e n o f p r o o f r e s t s w i t h th e d e fe n s e r a th e r th a n th e p r o s e c u t io n . T h e p r o s e c u t io n n e e d o n ly s h o w a “ p r e p o n d e r a n c e o f e v id e n c e ” r a th e r th a n p r o v e “g u ilt b e y o n d a r e a s o n a b le d o u b t .” i 2 D e fe n d a n ts a re p r e s u m e d to b e g u ilt y u n til p r o v e n in n o c e n t . E ve n i f th e c o n s p ir a c y to m u r d e r c h a r g e w e r e to b e d r o p p e d , A le x S a n c h e z c o u ld s t i l l b e f o u n d g u i l t y o f t h e l e s s e r c h a r g e o f “ c o n s p i r a c y .” H e c o u l d b e f a c i n g a life s e n te n c e o r d e p o r ta tio n a ft e r a le n g t h y in c a r c e r a tio n . C e r t a i n l y S a n c h e z ’s o n g o i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h a c t i v e g a n g m e m b e r s in h is c a p a c i t y a s g a n g p e a c e a c t i v i s t c o n t i n u e d t o m a k e h im v u ln e r a b le to c h a r g e s o f “ c o n s p ir a c y ” w it h a c r im in a l o r g a n iz a t io n d e s p ite th e g r o w in g r e c o g n itio n fo r th a t w o r k b y th e C ity o f L o s A n g e le s , i f n o t th e l a p d , th e f b i , o r i c e . A le x w a s , in fa c t, a m o n g th o s e w h o w r o t e th e la n g u a g e f o r t h e c i t y s p e c i f y i n g t h e r o l e o f t h e “ g a n g i n t e r v e n t i o n w o r k e r ” in a r b it r a t in g a n d d iffu s in g d is p u te s b e tw e e n n e ig h b o r h o o d s . T h e p r o s e c u ­ t io n a r g u e d th a t th e S a n c h e z s u p p o r te r s , w h o p u lle d t o g e t h e r 12 0 c h a r a c te r r e f e r e n c e l e t t e r s a n d t w o m i l l i o n d o l l a r s in b o n d a n d s u r e t i e s , w e r e a l l w e l l ­ m e a n i n g d u p e s u n a w a r e o f A l e x ’s d o u b l e l i f e . F o r T o m H a y d e n , A l e x ’s a r r e s t r e f l e c t e d a “ t h r o w b a c k t o t h e p r e - R a m p a r t m e n t a li t y ,” a n d p r o o f o f l a p d ’ s o n g o i n g “ t w o - t r a c k a p p r o a c h , a v e l v e t g l o v e t o w a r d t h e p u b l i c a n d a n ir o n h a n d t o w a r d t h e u n d e r c l a s s .” 13 O n J u n e 2 7 , 2 0 0 9 , t h r e e d a y s a f t e r A l e x ’s a r r e s t , t h e p r e s i d e n t o f H o n ­ d u r a s , M a n u e l Z e la y a , w a s o u s t e d b y t h e H o n d u r a n m i l i t a r y w h e n t r o o p s

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a r r e s t e d h i m in h i s p a j a m a s a n d s e n t h i m i n t o e x i le in C o s t a R i c a . P r e s id e n t F u n e s p u t h i s t r o o p s o n a l e r t a t t h e S a l v a d o r a n - H o n d u r a n b o r d e r . I n it ia lly , P r e s i d e n t O b a m a j o i n e d t h e r e s t o f t h e w o r l d i n c o n d e m n i n g Z e l a y a ’s o u s t ­ in g a s a n ille g a l c o u p a n d a d is t u r b in g t h r o w b a c k to a p a tte r n c h a r a c te r is tic o f e a r lie r a u t h o r i t a r i a n r e g i m e s in L a t i n A m e r i c a . B u t in t h is f i r s t t e s t c a s e o f O b a m a ’s p r o m i s e f o r a n e w c h a p t e r in U .S . f o r e i g n p o l i c y in L a t i n A m e r i c a , t h e p o s i t i o n o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s w o u l d w a v e r in t h e c o m i n g m o n t h s a n d Z e la y a w o u l d n o t b e r e i n s t a t e d . T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s w o u l d , i n s t e a d , e n d o r s e th e r e s u lts o f a n e le c t io n th a t th e m a jo r ity o f H o n d u r a n s b o y c o tte d a n d th a t l a c k e d , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e U .N S e c r e t a r y G e n e r a l , t h e O r g a n i z a t i o n o f A m e r i ­ c a n S t a t e s , a n d t h e C a r t e r C e n t e r , c o n d i t i o n s f o r a f r e e a n d f a i r e l e c t i o n . 14 B a c k in L o s A n g e l e s , a t t h e a d v ic e o f t h e i n d e p e n d e n t m o n i t o r M i c h a e l C h e r a s k y , U .S . D i s t r i c t C o u r t J u d g e G a r y F e e s l i f t e d t h e F e d e r a l C o n s e n t D e ­ c re e th a t h a d b e e n im p o s e d o n th e l a p d s in c e th e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l. D u r in g t h e s c a n d a l , C h e r a s k y ’s r i s k m a n a g e m e n t c o m p a n y , K r o l l A s s o c i a t e s , w a s a w a r d e d a f i v e - y e a r $ 1 1 m i l l i o n c o n t r a c t t o m o n i t o r r e f o r m s in t h e l a p d .15 S h o r t l y a f t e r F e e s ’s d e c i s i o n , C h e r a s k y f o r m e d A l t e g r i t y I n c . , a n e w h o l d ­ in g c o m p a n y f o r h is e x p a n d in g s e c u r ity b u s in e s s th a t w o u ld p r o v id e “g lo b a l s e c u r ity s o lu t io n s a n d s p e c ia liz e d la w e n fo r c e m e n t t r a in in g ” to its c lie n t s ^ 6 W i t h t h e c o n s e n t d e c r e e l i f t e d , p o l i c e c h i e f W i l l i a m B r a t t o n d e c la r e d h is m i s s i o n t o r e f o r m t h e l a p d a c c o m p l i s h e d . T h r e e w e e k s la t e r , o n A u g u s t 5 , 2 0 0 9 , B r a tto n a n n o u n c e d th a t h e w o u ld b e r e t u r n in g to th e r e a lm o f th e p r i­ v a te s e c u r ity in d u s t r y a s c h a ir m a n o f A lt e g r it y R is k I n te r n a tio n a l, a n e w ly e s t a b l i s h e d s u b s i d i a r y o f C h e r a s k y ’s A l t e g r i t y I n c . T h is w a s n o t t h e f i r s t t im e C h e r a s k y a n d B r a t t o n h a d w o r k e d t o g e t h e r , s o m e m i g h t sa y , a s a c c o m p l i c e s . In th e w a k e o f th e R a m p a r t s c a n d a l, a n d im m e d ia te ly p r e c e d in g h is te n u r e a s l a p d c h ie f, C h e r a s k y h ir e d B r a tto n to s e rv e a s a k e y m e m b e r o f h is te a m m o n it o r in g th e p o lic e d e p a r tm e n t. T o m H a y d e n p o in t e d o u t, d u r in g a n a ir ­ i n g o f k c r w ’s W hich W ay L A o n A u g u s t 5 , 2 0 0 9 , t h e p o t e n t i a l c o n f l i c t o f i n t e r e s t s h e r e : “ T h a t [ B r a tt o n ] w o u l d b e c l o s e p e r s o n a l l y a n d i n s t i t u t i o n a l l y to th e p e r s o n c h o s e n to d o th e m o n ito r in g . . . a n d th e n g o [b a ck ] in to b u s i­ n e s s w i t h t h a t p e r s o n . . . [is] a s t o r y t h a t s h o u l d b e p u r s u e d .” 17 N o n e t h e l e s s , B r a t t o n ’s i m p e n d i n g d e p a r t u r e w a s m e t w i t h g l o w i n g e v a l u a t i o n s o f h i s c o n ­ t r ib u tio n s to r e fo r m in g th e l a p d o n m o s t fr o n t s . L ift in g th e c o n s e n t d e c re e w a s a t a c i t e n d o r s e m e n t o f B r a t t o n ’s e m p h a s i s o n i n c r e a s i n g t h e n u m b e r o f s t o p s , f r i s k s , a n d a r r e s t s f o r m i n o r c r i m e s in i n n e r - c i t y n e i g h b o r h o o d s a n d o f h is a g g r e s s i v e a n t i - g a n g w a r t a c t i c s . M e a n w h i l e i n E l S a lv a d o r , g a n g s , c r i m e , a n d v i o l e n c e w e r e b a c k i n t h e

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headlines. In 2005 and again in 2007, the United Nations Development Pro­ gramme’s project Towards a Society without Violence gathered Salvadoran media outlets to sign a public accord “Medios Unidos por La Paz” (Media United for Peace) in which media agreed to reduce sensationalist coverage o f violence.18 This agreement, however, unraveled after the inauguration of El Salvador’s new president.19 The media frenzy only picked up when on Sep­ tember 2, 2009, the French-Spanish photojournalist and documentary film­ maker Cristian Poveda was killed as he was leaving Tonacatepeque, an 18th Street barrio ten miles outside San Salvador and the neighborhood where he had filmed his recently released documentary La Vida Loca. The film is an intimate portrait o f gang life and death, as well as a scathing attack of a r e n a ’s

zero-tolerance policies. Poveda had just returned to El Salvador

from a European tour o f his documentary, and he was in Tonacatepeque pur­ portedly to make advance arrangements for a French fashion magazine to do a story, perhaps a fashion layout, with the women featured in the documen­ tary. Rumors abounded as to who killed Poveda and why. In the following weeks, a police officer and five members o f the 18th Street Gang were arrested by the

pn c

and charged with killing Poveda. Had

the leadership o f the gang changed? Did the new leadership not approve of the film and the way in which the gang was portrayed? Had Poveda broken an agreement not to screen or sell the film in El Salvador? Did they think that he had profited from them with his tour o f international film festivals or his dis­ tribution agreements? How had pirated copies o f La Vida Loca found their way to the black market in the streets o f San Salvador? Had rumors been spread insinuating that Poveda was collaborating with the

p n c

?

Had he interfered

or inadvertently impacted personal relationships or gender politics in the gang? Or were these gang members the hired gunmen o f other forces? Had Poveda’s strong leftist critique o f a r e n

a ’s

Súper Mano Dura made him a

target o f the right wing? Was this an attempt by a r e n

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to destabilize the

Funes administration? Had the macho bravado o f this photojournalist, who had covered the Salvadoran civil war and many other wars, finally pushed him too far? Regardless o f these questions, El Salvador was once again in the international news headlines with stories o f gangs and violence. I had arrived in El Salvador just two days before Poveda’s murder. I was there not to conduct new research but to meet with the various people cited in this book to confirm in person before sending the manuscript o ff for publication that they were comfortable with my analysis and with the use o f their names. Regardless o f the actual reason for Poveda’s murder, many i M P R E S S i O N S F ROM A P O L i T i C A L P R E S E N T

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o f t h e r e s e a r c h e r s , a d v o c a t e s , a n d a c t i v i s t s c i t e d in t h i s b o o k w e r e s t u n n e d a n d th r o w n in to d o u b t a s to w h a t th e im p lic a tio n s m ig h t b e fo r th e fu tu re o f th e ir w o r k . In r e s p o n s e to th e m o u n t in g c r itiq u e fr o m th e R ig h t th a t v io le n c e h a d o n l y i n c r e a s e d in t h e f i r s t f e w m o n t h s o f h i s p r e s id e n c y , F u n e s w a s n o w c a l l ­ i n g f o r t h e c o n t i n u e d a n d e x p a n d e d r o l e o f t h e S a l v a d o r a n m i l i t a r y in c iv il p o l i c i n g . U n d e r m a n o d u r i s m o , t h e m i l i t a r y h a d b e e n li m i t e d t o p a t r o l s w i t h t h e p o l i c e . F u n e s s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h e r e m a y b e a n e e d t o c h a n g e s o m e la w s t o e n a b le t h e m i l i t a r y t o m a k e a r r e s t s a n d t o p u r s u e c r i m i n a ls . T h e m i l i t a r y a n s w e r e d th a t it w a s r e a d y a n d w illin g to ta k e o n th e n e w ro le . M o re th a n 4 0 p e r c e n t o f th e e n tir e a r m y w a s p u t o n s ta n d b y a w a it in g o rd e rs fr o m th e p r e s i d e n t . A s E l S a l v a d o r ’s d e f e n s e m i n i s t e r , G e n e r a l D a v i d M u n g u i a P a y e s , s a i d in m i d - O c t o b e r : “ W e ’ r e p r e p a r e d t o o p e r a t e a n y w h e r e in t h e c o u n t r y . I f t h e p r e s i d e n t d e c i d e s t o in v o lv e t h e a r m e d f o r c e s in t h e f i g h t a g a i n s t c r im e , h e c a n g i v e u s c e r t a i n p o w e r s t h a t w e d o n ’ t h a v e a t t h i s m o m e n t t o b e a b le t o a c t a s p o l i c e . ” 20 C le a r ly , t h e m i l i t a r y ’s p o l i t i c a l p r o f i l e h a d n o t w e a k e n e d u n d e r th e n e w f m l n a d m in is tr a tio n . S t r a n g e r s t i l l , in C a l i f o r n i a G o v e r n o r A r n o l d S c h w a r z e n e g g e r , s e e m i n g to in v o k e th e la n g u a g e o f a c tiv is ts a g a in s t th e p r is o n in d u s t r ia l c o m p le x lo n g d is r e g a r d e d b y R e p u b lic a n s a n d D e m o c r a ts a lik e , p r o m is e d to s u b ­ m it a c o n s titu tio n a l a m e n d m e n t to e n s u re th a t “ n e v e r a g a in d o w e s p e n d a g r e a t e r p e r c e n t a g e o f o u r m o n e y o n p r i s o n s t h a n o n h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n . ’^ 1 H is s o l u t i o n , h o w e v e r , w a s n o t t o r e f o r m s e n t e n c i n g l a w s o r d e c r i m i n a l i z e o r d e fe lo n iz e n o n v io le n t c r im e s , d e s p ite th e r u lin g in F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 b y th re e fe d e r a l ju d g e s th a t th e C a lifo r n ia p r is o n s y s te m m u s t r e d u c e o v e r c r o w d in g b y a s m a n y a s 5 5 ,0 0 0 i n m a t e s w i t h i n t h r e e y e a rs.2 2 I n s t e a d , S c h w a r z e n e g g e r p r o p o s e d a c c e l e r a t i n g t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f p r iv a t e l y o w n e d a n d r u n p r i s o n s , o r b e t t e r y e t , b u i l d i n g a n d o p e r a t i n g p r i s o n s in M e x i c o t o h o u s e u n d o c u ­ m e n te d fe lo n s w h o w e r e c u r r e n tly im p r is o n e d in C a lifo r n ia a s a c o s t - s a v in g m e a s u r e to g e n e r a te m o r e r e v e n u e fo r e d u c a tio n . P r is o n r e fo r m , it s e e m e d , w o u ld n o t m e a n fe w e r p r is o n s o r p r is o n e r s . T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s d e p o r t e d a r e c o r d n u m b e r o f 2 0 ,4 0 6 S a l v a d o r a n s in 2 0 0 9 . In r e s p o n d in g to th e c r itic is m s o f im m ig r a tio n a d v o c a te s o f th e c o n d i­ t i o n s u n d e r w h i c h o v e r 3 2 0 ,0 0 0 d e t a i n e e s w e r e b e i n g h e l d 23 O b a m a p r o m ­ is e d a n o v e r h a u l o f th e d e te n tio n s y s te m a n d to tr a n s fo r m it fr o m a c r im in a l t o a “ t r u ly c iv il d e t e n t i o n s y s t e m .” 24 T h e c h a n g e s c a l l e d f o r w e r e e x t e n s iv e , in c lu d in g h o ld in g th e g o v e r n m e n t a c c o u n ta b le to its o w n d e te n tio n s ta n ­ d a rd s a n d fu n d a m e n t a l h u m a n r ig h t s . W h ile i c e w a s s till d r a ft in g th e n e w

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s ta n d a r d s , C o r r e c tio n s C o r p o r a tio n o f A m e r ic a o ffe r e d to “ s o fte n th e lo o k ” o f o n e o f th e ir fa c ilit ie s w it h h a n g in g p la n ts , flo w e r b a s k e ts , n e w p a in t c o lo r s , a n d d iffe r e n t b e d d in g a n d fu r n itu r e fr e e o f c h a r g e . P r e s i d e n t O b a m a ’s p la n s f o r C o m p r e h e n s i v e I m m i g r a t i o n R e f o r m , p o s t ­ p o n e d u n t i l 2 0 1 0 , m e t f i e r c e o p p o s i t i o n in A r i z o n a w i t h t h e p a s s a g e o f S B 10 7 0 . T h e s ta te la w e m p o w e r e d p o lic e to s to p a n d q u e s tio n p e o p le a b o u t th e ir im m ig r a t io n s ta tu s a n d to d e ta in th o s e u n a b le to p r o d u c e le g a l d o c u ­ m e n t a t i o n . W h i l e O b a m a o p p o s e d t h e la w , h e a l s o a n n o u n c e d t h a t h e w o u l d s e n d a n a d d it io n a l tw e lv e h u n d r e d N a t io n a l G u a r d tr o o p s to th e b o rd e r, b o a s tin g th a t th e r e w e r e “ m o r e b o o ts o n th e g r o u n d n e a r th e S o u th w e s t B o r d e r t h a n a t a n y t i m e i n o u r h i s t o r y .” 25 T h e b e l i e f t h a t t h e m o s t h e i n o u s a s p e c t s o f t h e B u s h a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’s a n t it e r r o r is m t a c t ic s w o u ld d is a p p e a r w it h th e e le c t io n o f O b a m a p r o v e d to b e a “ fa c ile illu s io n .” R a th e r, th o s e t a c t ic s w e r e in s t it u t io n a liz e d a s a “ n e w s p e c i e s o f s e c u r i t y s t a t e f o r m a t i o n . ’^ 6 W h i l e U .S . t r o o p s w e r e w i t h d r a w n fr o m Ira q , a c tio n s h e a te d u p o n th e P a k is ta n i a n d A fg h a n i fr o n ts . Iran r e ­ m a i n e d a p o t e n t i a l n e x t t a r g e t in t h e p u r s u i t o f e lu s iv e w e a p o n s o f m a s s d e ­ s tr u c tio n . G u a n t a n a m o h a d n o t b e e n c lo s e d . R a th e r, m u c h w o r k w e n t in to e s t a b lis h in g a le g a l b a s is fo r c o n t in u in g in d e fin ite d e te n tio n s .

Optimism and hope are different. Optimism tends to be based on the notion that there's enough evidence to allow us to think things are going to be better. . . . Whereas hope looks at the evidence and says it doesn't look good at all, but we're going to go beyond the evidence to create new possibilities.27 —Cornel West

A s t h i s b o o k w a s g o i n g t o p u b l i c a t i o n , t h e p o l i t i c a l l a n d s c a p e in a n d b e ­ tw e e n th e U n ite d S ta te s a n d E l S a lv a d o r s h ifte d , o r s o it se e m e d . T h e u n ­ r e le n t in g w e ig h t o f p o lit ic a l d e p r e s s io n lif te d fo r th e L e ft a n d p r o g r e s s iv e l i b e r a l s in b o t h c o u n t r i e s , i f o n l y f o r a m o m e n t . T h e d i a l e c t i c a l i m a g e o f t h e O b a m a a n d F u n e s i n a u g u r a t i o n s r e v e a le d , in a l i g h t n i n g f l a s h o f h is t o r y , a lt e r n a t i v e f u t u r e s r o o t e d in p a s t l i b e r a t i o n s t r u g g l e s — A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n a n d A f r i c a n a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a n . A s y e t , h o w e v e r , t h e r e is v e r y l i t t l e e v id e n c e th a t o u r p o lit ic a l p r e s e n t w ill r e d e e m th o s e p a s t c o m m it m e n t s to b u ild a m o r e e q u ita b le a n d ju s t fu tu re . I n t h e i m m e d i a t e a f t e r g l o w o f r e g i m e c h a n g e in t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d E l

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S a lv a d o r th e s e c u r ity s c a p e h a s o n ly t h ic k e n e d , th e p o lit ic s o f s im u lta n e ity s p e e d e d u p , a n d t h e f a r c i c a l t r a g e d y s t i l l p la y s t o c a p t i v e a u d i e n c e s o n t h e t r a n s n a t i o n a l s t a g e . B o t h c o u n t r i e s r e m a i n in a “ p e r m a n e n t s t a t e o f e x c e p ­ t io n ,” a n d n e o lib e r a l lo g i c s s t ill d o m in a te d e s p ite o f a n d in d e e d th r o u g h th e d i s c o u r s e s o f f i n a n c i a l c r i s i s a n d d i s a s t e r a n d t h e i r a f f e c t i v e i n s e c u r i t i e s . 28 O b a m a a n d F u n e s, o f c o u rs e , c a m e to p o w e r a s fig u r e h e a d s o f fr a g ile r e g i m e s a n d u n s t a b l e c o n f i g u r a t i o n s o f f o r c e s .2 9 N o t s u r p r is in g ly , t h e p o l i ­ t ic s o f h o p e th a t s o m a n y d a r e d r e a d in t o th o s e p o lit ic a l e v e n ts m u s t b e p l a y e d o u t in t h e i n t e r s t i c e s o f t h e s e p r e c a r i o u s c o a l i t i o n s a n d a l l i a n c e s . W h e r e a s th e d e s t a b iliz in g p o t e n t ia l o f th e d ia le c t ic a l im a g e o f th e O b a m a a n d F u n e s in a u g u r a t io n s s e e m s to h a v e b e e n q u ic k ly r e a b s o r b e d in t o f a m il­ i a r p l o t s o f c r im in a li t y , t e r r o r i s m , a n d s c a r c it y , w e m u s t c o n t i n u e t o a t t e n d t o a r e a s w h e r e i d e a t i o n a l e l e m e n t s r e m a i n in p r o d u c t i v e t e n s i o n , o r r a t h e r i n s i s t t h a t t h e y r e m a i n s o . T h e c o n t e m p o r a r y m o m e n t is , a f t e r a ll, a lw a y s a c o n s t e l l a t i o n o f d i f f e r e n t t e m p o r a l i t i e s — d o m i n a n t , r e s i d u a l, a n d e m e r ­ g e n t . 30 A l l t h r e e a r e “ a lw a y s c o n s t i t u t i v e o f t h e p r e s e n t a s a d y n a m i c p h e ­ n o m e n o n . ’^ 1 It s e e m s a p p r o p r ia te to s ig n a l th e p r e s e n c e o f o n g o in g , r e e m e r g in g , a n d n e w c o u n te r p u b lic s h e re , m o s t p a r tic u la r ly w it h in a n e w g e n e r a t io n o f s c h o la r s fr o m E l S a lv a d o r a n d a m o n g th e c h ild r e n o f C e n tr a l A m e r ic a n im ­ m i g r a n t s w h o a r e t h e c o u n t e r p a r t t o O b a m a ’s J o s h u a G e n e r a t i o n ( t h e i n ­ h e r i t o r s o f t h e M o s e s G e n e r a t i o n ) , in t h i s c a s e t h e i n h e r i t o r s o f t h e S a l v a ­ d o r a n l i b e r a t i o n , s o li d a r it y , a n d s a n c t u a r y m o v e m e n t s .32 T h e c o n s t i t u e n c i e s o f s u p p o r t a r o u n d t h e A l e x S a n c h e z c a s e , f o r e x a m p le , e v i d e n c e t h e l a r g e r n a t i o n a l a n d t r a n s n a t i o n a l s o c i a l m o v e m e n t s o f w h i c h H o m i e s U n i d o s is n o w a n in t e g r a l p a r t. T h e fo r m a t io n o f th e U n io n S a lv a d o r e ñ a d e E s tu d ia n ­ t e s U n i v e r s i t a r i o s ( u s e u ) b e t w e e n s t u d e n t s i n E l S a l v a d o r a n d t h e c h i ld r e n o f S a l v a d o r a n i m m i g r a n t s i n U .S . c o l l e g e s a n d u n i v e r s i t i e s is a n o t h e r g e n ­ e r a t i v e s p a c e .33 G r a s s r o o t s a c t i v i s m a g a i n s t P a c i f i c R i m M i n i n g C o r p o r a ­ t i o n ’s E l D o r a d o p r o j e c t i n C a n b a ñ a s , E l S a l v a d o r ^ 4 a n d t h e V e n e z u e l a n - a n d C u b a n - i n i t i a t e d A l i a n z a B o li v a r i a n a p a r a l o s P u e b l o s d e N u e s t r a A m é r i c a ( B o liv a r i a n A l l i a n c e f o r t h e P e o p l e s o f O u r A m e r i c a , o r a l b a ) r e p r e s e n t o n ­ g o i n g p r o j e c t s a g a i n s t n e o l i b e r a l i s m f r o m b e l o w a n d a b o v e r e s p e c t iv e ly . T h is e p i l o g u e is n o t , h o w e v e r , t h e p l a c e t o s e t u p t h e i m p o s s i b l e n a r r a t iv e o f w h a t c o m e s n e x t, o r e v e n to b e g in to tr a c k th e e ffe c ts o f c o n te m p o r a r y r e s t r u c t u r i n g s . T h e p r e s e n t — n o t t o b e m i s t a k e n f o r p r o g r e s s — r e e ls o n . A l ­ t h o u g h t h i n g s d o n o t l o o k g o o d , i t is f a r f r o m o b v i o u s w h e r e w e a r e g o i n g .35

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The long list o f people I wish to thank far outweighs the scope o f this b o o k ambitious as its transnational reach may be. I only hope that the pages of this volume are worthy o f so much kindness and generosity. Special thanks must go to the many remarkable people I met through Homies Unidos in San Salvador and in Los Angeles without whom this book would and could not have been written. I owe more than I can say to Magdaleno Rose-Ávila, Alex Sanchez, Silvia Beltrán, José William Huezo Soriano, Luis Ernesto Romero, Rocio Santacruz, Mirna Solozono, Claudia Hernan­ dez, Edgar Ramirez, and to those Homies who are no longer with us: Marvin Novoa Escobar, Gato, Sigfredo Rivas, and to so many others for their deep insights into the underside o f neoliberal globalization. Thank you all for the opportunity to write and to act in solidarity with you in your difficult and dangerous work to build peace in the streets o f Los Angeles and San Salva­ dor. To the Sanchez family— Señor and Señora Sanchez, Delia, Melly, Oscar, Alvin, Elba, Alex Jr., Marlon, and Melissa— who continue to bear on a daily and most intimate basis the burden o f the neoliberal securityscape discussed in this book, may your son, husband, brother, and father receive a fair trial and be vindicated once and for all. My Salvadoran and “North American” compas, whom I first met in Los Angeles and with whom I had the pleasure and the pain o f working in Los Angeles and in solidarity with El Salvador during that remarkable period be­ tween the Fenastras bombing and f m

l n

offensive in 1989 and the Los Ange­

les riots in 1992, include Sonia Baires, Oscar Andrade, Rosanna Perez, Kay

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Eekhoff Andrade, Susan Kandel, Eduardo Gonzales, Linda Garrett, Sarah Stephens, Yadira Arévalo, Ann Mello, Ceclia Grail, Francisco Rivera, Salvador Sanabria, Mayron Payes, Alba Escobar, Nubia Magaña, and Todd Howland. I thank you all for believing (or at least conceding to others) that I had some­ thing worthwhile to contribute to your struggle for social and economic jus­ tice in the Americas. Needless to say, you all changed my thinking and future path irrevocably. Other Central American Angelenos who offered me their insights include Omar Corleto, Roberto Lovato, Carlos Vaquerano, Carlos Ardon, and Héctor Tobar. My understanding o f immigration and criminal law and the politics o f law enforcement and gangs has been profoundly influenced by Tom Hay­ den, Niels Frenzen, Susan Alva, Greg Simon, Robert Foss, Alan Diamante, Judy London, Tom Parker, Jorge González, Shan Potts, and Sushma Raman. To the Comite de Amigos de Santa Elena

(c a s e )

and the Tabudos —

Matilde Celaya, José Antonio Aparicio, Omar Corleto, Jose Eliazar Cordova, Ricardo and Morena Rodríguez, Beatriz de Lizama, Carmen and Mario Ernesto Zapata, Celina Yamileth Martínez, Marcos Velásquez, and Amalia and Nora Granados— thank you for all that you taught me about Los Ange­ les through the lens o f your querido pueblito. My thanks here also go to the c o r o

Foundation for my first privileged access to the richly contentious

territory o f Southern California, and to Kate McDermott, Marie Unini, and Jesse Lerner for early poetic insights into the cityscapes— material, imag­ ined, local, and global— o f Los Angeles. The Department o f Anthropology at the University o f Texas was a remark­ able space in which to take stock o f my own migration story and politi­ cal commitments, to develop a research agenda grounded in those com­ mitments, to be held to the demands o f rigorous social and cultural theory, and to learn to let ethnography lead theory even as the politics and practice o f the method are themselves subject to interrogation and theorization. I owe so much to my dissertation advisor Kathleen Stewart for blowing my mind open with her wild thinking and for seeing me through difficult times with her unswerving support and encouragement. Ted Gordon and Charlie Hale were important role models for combining scholarship and activism and for grounding theory in the realpolitik o f Central American and U.S. social justice movements. The late Begoña Aretxaga’s strong influence in my postdoctoral work on violence belies the brevity o f our encounter. This surely is the sign o f the truest teacher— an absent but powerful interlocu-

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t o r . M y t h a n k s h e r e t o J a m e s B r o w , P o l ly S t r o n g , J o s e b a Z u la i k a , K a y W a r r e n , a n d Y a e l N a v a r r o - Y a s h in , w h o w o r k e d w i t h g r e a t lo v e a n d r e s p e c t in p u t t i n g t o g e t h e r a m e m o r ia l p a n e l, a jo u r n a l s p e c ia l is s u e , a n d a n e d ite d v o lu m e o f B e g o ñ a A r e tx a g a w o r k s , th e r e b y e n a b lin g m e to e x te n d a n d d e e p e n m y c o n ­ n e c tio n to h e r p o w e r fu l a n d in s ig h tfu l p r o s e . C o n v e r s a t i o n s w i t h J o s é L i m ó n , B a r b a r a H a r lo w , B o b F e r n e a , J a m e s B r o w , D o u g F o le y , a n d M i c h a e l H a n c h a r d a t t h e v e r y e a r l i e s t s t a g e s o f t h i s p r o j e c t h e l p e d m e b e g i n t o la y i m p o r t a n t g r o u n d w o r k f o r t h e s t o r y I w o u l d la t e r t e ll. W a y n e L e s s e r a n d th e la te E liz a b e th F e rn e a w e r e s o k in d to r e m e m b e r m e fr o m m y u n d e rg ra d u a te d ay s w ith th e m a n d to s u p p o rt m y r e tu rn to th e u n i­ v e r s i t y a s a g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t n e a r l y a d e c a d e la t e r . T o m y p a r t n e r s in c r i m e in t h e g r a d u a t e p r o g r a m — L i z L i l l i o t t , C h a n t a l T e t r e a u lt , V a n i a C a r d o s o , S c o t t H e a d , C a r o l C a n n o n , H a l i d e V e l i o g l u , A p e n R u iz , L o u i s e M e i n t j e s , D a v i d S a m u e l s , S u s a n L e p s e lt e r , G u h a S h a n k a r , J o h n B o d i n g e r , M a r k A n d e r s o n , M a r c P e r r y , J u lio C e s a r T a v a r e s , G a l i o G u r d i á n , B e n C h e s l u k , a n d M o i r a K i l l o r a n a m o n g m a n y o t h e r s — t h a n k y o u a l l f o r t h e e s s e n t i a l p l a y o f id e a s a n d t h e s t r o n g s e n s e o f i n t e l l e c t u a l c o m m u n it y . A t th e U n iv e r s ity o f C a lifo r n ia , S a n D ie g o , I h a v e b e e n s o fo r tu n a te to fin d a r i c h i n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y h o m e n o t o n l y in a w o n d e r f u l l y e c c e n t r i c D e p a r t m e n t o f C o m m u n ic a tio n b u t a ls o w ith lik e -m in d e d c o lle a g u e s in a n d a c r o s s m a n y d e p a r tm e n ts a n d c e n te r s . I a m m o s t g r a te fu l fo r th e g e n e ro u s c o u n s e l a n d s u p p o r t o f m y c u r r e n t a n d fo r m e r u c s d c o lle a g u e s , in c lu d in g V in c e R a fa e l, R o b e r t H o r w i t z , V a l H a r t o u n i , D a n H a l li n , M i c h a e l S c h u d s o n , R o b e r t o A l v a ­ r e z , R a m ó n G u t i é r r e z , T e r e s a C a ld e i r a , J im H o l s t o n , C h a r l e s B r i g g s , C l a r a M a n t i n i - B r i g g s , D a v i d P e ll o w , L e s l e y S t e r n , J e ff r e y M i n s o n , L i s a C a r t w r i g h t , G a r y F ie ld s , M i k e C o le , O l g a V á s q u e z , C a r o l P a d d e n , D a v i d S e r lin , J o e l R o b ­ b in s , R ic a r d o D o m in g u e z , N a ta lia M o lin a , C h r is t in e H u n e fe ld t, a n d M is h a K o k o t o v ic h . T o th e s c a tte r e d s e e d s o f th e P o m e g r a n a te s — th e c lo s e s t I ’ve e v e r c o m e to b e lo n g in g to a “g a n g ” — a th o u s a n d th a n k s fo r y o u r c a m a ra ­ d e r ie a n d c o n s o l a t i o n d u r i n g b o o t c a m p a t u c s d : N a n c y P o s t e r o , R o b e r t o T e j a d a , T o m L e P e r e , E s r a O z y ü r e k , M a r c B a e r , K e i t h M c N e a l , J o d y B la n c o , M a r iv i B la n c o , a n d S o f ia B la n c o , N a y a n S h a h , a n d K e n F o s t e r . T h e u n i v e r ­ s ity h a s a ls o p r o v id e d m e w it h im p o r t a n t m a te r ia l a n d in s t it u t io n a l s u p p o r t t h r o u g h t h e C e n t e r f o r G l o b a l C a l i f o r n i a S t u d i e s ( f o r m e r ly t h e C a l i f o r n i a C u l t u r e s in C o m p a r a t i v e P e r s p e c t i v e P r o g r a m ) , t h e C e n t e r f o r t h e S t u d y o f R a c e a n d E t h n i c i t y ’s S u m m e r F a c u lt y F e l l o w s h i p s , t h e F a c u lt y C a r e e r D e v e l ­ o p m e n t G r a n t P r o g r a m , a n d th e H e llm a n F e llo w s h ip .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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I w o u ld lik e to g r a t e fu lly a c k n o w le d g e th e G lo b a l S e c u r ity a n d C o o p e r a ­ tio n P r o je c t o f th e S o c ia l S c ie n c e R e s e a rc h C o u n c il f o r g e n e r o u s ly fu n d in g m y p o s t d o c t o r a l r e s e a r c h in S a n S a l v a d o r t h r o u g h a g r a n t f r o m t h e M a c A r t h u r F o u n d a t i o n . S u b s e q u e n t w o r k s h o p s w i t h v a r i o u s s s r c in i t i a t i v e s a n d c o l l a b o r a t i o n s w e r e a l l e x c e e d i n g l y p r o d u c t i v e v e n u e s in w h i c h t o s t r e t c h m y th in k in g a n d to e n g a g e w ith a w o n d e r fu l g r o u p o f in te r d is c ip lin a r y a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l s c h o l a r s . T h e s e i n c l u d e t h e T r a n s l o c a l F l o w s in t h e A m e r i c a s p r o j e c t a n d t h e c o l l a b o r a t i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s I n s t i t u t o T e c n o l ó g i c o y d e E s t u d io s S u p e r io r e s d e O c c id e n te a n d th e R o c k e fe lle r F o u n d a tio n , th e Y o u th , G lo b a l­ i z a t i o n a n d t h e L a w p r o j e c t , a n d t h e Y o u t h in O r g a n i z e d V i o l e n c e p r o j e c t a n d t h e c o l l a b o r a t i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s I n s t i t u t e f o r S e c u r i t y S t u d ie s in P r e t o r ia , S o u t h A f r i c a , a n d t h e H a r r y F r a n k G u g g e n h e i m F o u n d a t i o n . S p e c ia l t h a n k s h e r e g o t o J o h n T i r m a n , I t t y A b r a m s o n , M a r c i a l G o d o y - A n a t i v i a , R o s s a n a R e g u i ll o , T o m á s I b a r r a F r a u s t o , R o n K a s s i m i r , S u d h i r V e k a t e s h , R a ú l V illa , A l c i n d a H o n w a n a , Jean a n d Joh n C o m a r o ff, S a s h a A b ra m sk y , Joh n H a g e d o rn , R e ­ n a t o R o s a ld o , a n d P h i li p B o u r g o i s . M y w o r k a l s o b e n e f i t e d g r e a t l y f r o m a w o n d e r f u l l y i n s p i r e d w o r k s h o p w i t h a g r o u p f r o m t h e C u l t u r a l A g e n c y in A m e r ic a s p r o je c t a t th e R o c k e fe lle r C e n te r in B e lla g io a n d d is c u s s io n s w ith D o r i s S o m m e r , J u a n F lo r e s , M a r y L o u i s e P r a t t , B e n e d i c t A n d e r s o n , a n d M a r v e tte P é re z. M a n y U . S . - b a s e d s c h o l a r s o f E l S a l v a d o r a n d C e n t r a l A m e r i c a , U .S .b o u n d L a tin A m e r ic a n m ig r a tio n , a n d L a tin o s tu d ie s h a v e p r o v id e d to m e b o th in s p ir a tio n a n d im p o r t a n t s o u r c e s o f fe e d b a c k . N ic k D e G e n o v a , R o g e r R o u s e , L a u r a L o m a s , a n d B r a n d t P e te r s o n w e r e e x tr e m e ly g e n e r o u s w it h t h e i r t i m e in r e a d i n g a n d c o m m e n t i n g o n m y w o r k a t v a r i o u s s t a g e s . I a l s o b e n e f i t e d g r e a t l y f r o m c o n v e r s a t i o n s w i t h C e c i l i a M e n jív a r , E lle n M o o d i e , S a r a h M a h le r , N o r a H a m i l t o n , N o r m a C h i n c h i l l a , C e c i l i a R iv a s , B e t h B a k e r C r i s t a l e s , L u is P la s c e n c i a , D o n n a D e C e s a r e , L u is G u a r n i z o , P a t r i c i a L a n d o l t , H é c t o r P e r la , A l f o n s o G o n z a l e s , E r ic P o p k i n , G a k u T s u d a , D a v i d P e d e r s o n , M a g a l í M u r ia , a n d C e c i l i a R iv a s . I n E l S a lv a d o r , I h a v e b e e n f o r t u n a t e t o w o r k a l o n g s i d e a n d t o e n g a g e w it h a n u m b e r o f r e s e a r c h e r s , a d v o c a te s , a n d a c tiv is ts w h o o p e n e d u p r ic h e t h n o g r a p h ic s p a c e s to m e a n d w e r e im p o r t a n t in t e r lo c u t o r s in a n e x te n d e d t r a n s n a tio n a l d ia lo g u e . I o w e a n e n o r m o u s d e b t to th e g e n e r o s it y a n d in t e l­ le c tu a l c o u r a g e o f th e la te M a r io L u n g o , J o sé M ig u e l C r u z , K a y -A n d r a d e E e k h o f f , S o n i a B a ir e s , J e a n e t t e A g u i l a r , L i s s e t t e M ir a n d a , M a r í a S a n t a c r u z G i r a l t , M a r c e l a S m u t t , M a r l o n C a r r a n z a , R o x a n a M a r t e l, L o r e n a C u e r n o ,

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A m é r i c a R o d r í g u e z , I n g r i d O li v i o , M a r t a G o n z á l e z , G i l m a P é r e z , R o b e r t o B u r g o s , S ilv ia G u i l l e n , M i g u e l L ó p e z , J e s u s A g u i l a r , V i c k i R o d r í g u e z , K r i s t i n R o s e c r a n z , F a t h e r A n t o n i o R o d r í g u e z , J e a n n e R i k k e r s , Y e s e n ia R a m í r e z , a n d C a r l o s R a m o s . T h a n k y o u a ll f o r t h e w o r k t h a t y o u d o a n d f o r t h e i n v a lu a b le in s ig h ts th a t y o u s h a re d w ith m e o v e r th e y e a rs. T h e F o u n d a t i o n f o r N a t i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t in E l S a l v a d o r ( f u n d e ) , t h e D e p a r tm e n t o f A r c h ite c tu r e a n d U r b a n P la n n in g a t th e U n iv e r s ity o f C e n tr a l A m e r i c a , t h e P e r m a n e n t F o r u m o n M i g r a n t s in E l S a lv a d o r , a n d t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s D e v e l o p m e n t P r o j e c t ’s p r o g r a m H a c i a u n a S o c i e d a d s in V i o l e n c i a ( T o w a r d s a S o c i e t y w i t h o u t V i o le n c e ) w e r e a ll i m p o r t a n t i n s t i t u t i o n a l b a s e s in o n e w a y o r a n o t h e r f o r m e a s I c o n d u c t e d f i e l d w o r k in E l S a lv a d o r . S e v e r a l p e o p l e w h o h e l d p o s t s in g o v e r n m e n t a g e n c i e s r e la t e d t o l a w e n ­ fo r c e m e n t a n d s e c u r ity is s u e s w e r e a ls o e x c e e d in g ly g e n e r o u s w it h th e ir t i m e in h e l p i n g m e u n d e r s t a n d i s s u e s f r o m a n i n s t i t u t i o n a l p e r s p e c t i v e . I n ­ c l u d e d h e r e a r e A u g o s t o C o t t o , H u g o R a m ír e z - M e n jív a r , C a r l o s P o n c e , a n d S u b c o m m i s s i o n e r C a s e r e s , a l l o f t h e N a t i o n a l C i v il P o l ic e ; E d u a r d o L i n a r e s , t h e f o r m e r c h i e f o f t h e S a n S a l v a d o r M e t r o p o l i t a n A r e a p o l i c e ; O s c a r B o n illa , t h e f o r m e r d i r e c t o r o f t h e N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l f o r P u b l i c S e c u r it y ; L u is C o b a r r u b i a s , t h e f o r m e r d i r e c t o r o f i c i t a p in S a n S a l v a d o r ; a n d R e n é D o m i n ­ g u e z , t h e f o r m e r v i c e m i n i s t e r o f s e c u r it y . T h is b o o k c o u l d n o t p o s s i b l y h a v e r e a c h e d f r u i t i o n w i t h o u t e n l i v e n i n g c o n ­ v e r s a t i o n s w i t h a n d s t e a d y c o m m e n t a r y f r o m m y d e a r f r i e n d s S o n i a B a ir e s , N a n c y P o s t e r o , a n d R o b e r t o T e ja d a ; d e v e l o p m e n t a l e d i t o r e x t r a o r d i n a i r e L a u r a H e lp e r - F e r r is ; a n d t h e w r i t e r ’s a n t h r o p o l o g i s t - c u m - p s y c h o a n a l y s t , K e n W is s o k e r , e d it o r - in - c h ie f o f D u k e U n iv e r s ity P r e s s . I o w e K e n a n a d d e d d e b t n o t o n ly fo r h is p a t ie n t s u p p o r t o f th is b o o k p r o je c t o v e r th e lo n g u e d u r é e b u t a ls o fo r s e le c t in g t w o o u t s t a n d in g re a d e rs w h o h a v e b o th m a d e t h e m s e l v e s k n o w n t o m e s i n c e t h is b o o k w a s a p p r o v e d f o r p r o d u c t i o n . I c a n ­ n o t th a n k S u s a n C o u tin a n d G e o r g e M a r c u s e n o u g h fo r th e ir d e e p e n g a g e ­ m e n t w it h b o th d r a fts o f m y m a n u s c r ip t a n d fo r th e ir v e r y p r o v o c a tiv e a n d p r o d u c tiv e s u g g e s t io n s . N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g t h e o r d e r h e r e , m y f i r s t t h a n k s w i l l a lw a y s b e t o m y p a r e n t s , w h o m I lo v e a n d r e s p e c t . T o m y l a t e m o t h e r , D o r e n e G o l i n Z i l b e r g , t h a n k y o u f o r a lw a y s h a v i n g m y b a c k . Y o u r m e m o r y liv e s o n s t r o n g . I r e m a in g r a t e fu l to m y fa th e r , B e rn a r d Z ilb e r g , fo r h is c o n tin u e d in te lle c tu a l p a s s io n , h o n e s t y , a n d p r a g m a t i s m . T o m y p a r t n e r M a t t h e w E lg a r t , w h o j o i n e d m e o n t h e l a s t b u t l o n g l e g o f t h i s p r o j e c t , a t h o u s a n d t h a n k s t o y o u f o r y o u r lo v e ,

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c o m p a n y , a n d c o o k in g t h r o u g h th e p le a s u r e a n d p a in o f w r it in g ; fo r a llo w ­ i n g m e t o t r a n s f o r m y o u r p r e c i o u s m u s i c s t u d i o i n t o a w r i t e r ’s s t u d y ; a n d f o r y o u r p a tie n c e a n d fle x ib ilit y w it h m y liv in g b e tw e e n c itie s a n d , a t tim e s , tw o c o u n tr ie s . T o m y l a r g e “ e x t e n d e d f a m i l y ” in E l S a lv a d o r , C a l i f o r n i a , a n d T e x a s , t h a n k y o u a l l f o r s h o w i n g m e t h e w a r m t h o f c o m m u n i t y in m y v a r i o u s s o j o u r n s : L a f a m i l i a B a ir e s — t h e l a t e a n d m u c h l o v e d D o ñ a A l i c i a , p h i l o s o p h e r a n d s t o r y ­ t e l l e r D o n B e t o , a n d t h e i r m a r a b u n t a (“ la s n i ñ a s ” L a u r a , G l o r i a , S o n ia , a n d G l a d y s , a n d l o s m u c h a c h o s T a t i, T i t o , a n d B e n j i ) — f o r b e i n g m y g u a r d i a n a n g e l s a n d r e g u l a r i n t e r l o c u t o r s in E l S a l v a d o r ; a d o p t e d s i s t e r s M a r t h a , K a t , a n d L i z H e n r y , a l o n g w i t h R a c h e l F e it , J a n in e B e r g i n , a n d t h e i r g o o d m e n , B ill B r e a u x a n d P a u l W i n t l e , f o r f r i e n d s h i p , s h e lt e r , a n d s u s t e n a n c e a lw a y s a p p r e c i a t e d , n e v e r f o r g o t t e n ; t h e T e x a s la n d sm a n — t h e C a p l a n s , M o r r i s e s , L a c k m a n s , A lt m a n s , a n d C r y s ta ls , fo r g iv in g m e p e a c e o f m in d fr o m a d is ­ t a n c e k n o w i n g t h a t m y f a t h e r w a s in y o u r g o o d c o m p a n y ; a n d t h e n e w e s t b r a n c h o f m y fa m il y , t h e E l g a r t - P a c h t - S e i g e l c o n t i n g e n t , f o r t h e w a r m e s t o f w e l c o m e s a n d f o r a l l y o u r p a t i e n c e , lo v e , a n d s u p p o r t d u r i n g t h e s e v e r y d e ­ m a n d i n g y e a r s . I a m a l s o v e r y g r a t e f u l t o A r l e n e Y o u n g , J u d y R ile y , a n d J e a n P a u l f o r t a k i n g m e in o n t h e S a n D i e g o e n d o f t h e c o n g e s t e d c o m m u t e f r o m L o s A n g e le s .

E a r lie r a n d p a r t i a l v e r s i o n s o f s o m e c h a p t e r s a p p e a r e d in t h e f o l l o w i n g p u b ­ li c a t i o n s : “ I n te r - A m e r ic a n E th n o g r a p h y : T r a c k in g S a lv a d o r a n T r a n s n a tio n a lity a t th e B o r d e r s o f L a t i n o a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a n S t u d i e s ,” in Com panion to Latino Studies, e d . J u a n F lo r e s a n d R e n a t o R o s a ld o . O x f o r d : B l a c k w e l l , 2 0 0 7 . “ R e fu g e e G a n g Y o u th : Z e r o T o le r a n c e a n d th e S e c u r ity S ta te in C o n t e m p o ­ r a r y U S - S a l v a d o r a n R e l a t i o n s ,” in Youth, Law and Globalization, e d . S u d h i r V e n k a t e s h a n d R o n a ld K a s s i m i r . S t a n f o r d : S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 2007. “ G a n g s t e r in G u e r i l l a F a c e : T h e P o l i t i c a l F o l k l o r e o f D o b l e C a r a in P o s t - C i v i l W a r E l S a lv a d o r ,” Anthropological Theory 7 , n o . 1 ( M a r c h 2 0 0 7 ) : 3 7 - 5 7 . “ F o o ls B a n i s h e d f r o m t h e K i n g d o m : R e m a p p i n g G e o g r a p h i e s o f G a n g V i o ­ l e n c e b e t w e e n t h e A m e r i c a s ( L o s A n g e l e s a n d S a n S a l v a d o r ) ,” American

Quarterly 5 6 , n o . 3 ( 2 0 0 4 ) : 7 5 9 - 7 9 .

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“ A T r o u b le d C o r n e r : T h e R u in e d a n d R e b u ilt E n v ir o n m e n t o f a C e n tr a l A m e r i c a n B a r r io in P o s t - R o d n e y K i n g R i o t L o s A n g e l e s , ” C ity and Society 1 4 , n o . 2 (2 0 0 2 ): 3 1 - 5 5 . “ F a llin g D o w n in E l N o r te : A C u ltu r a l P o litic s o f th e R e L a tin iz a tio n o f L o s A n g e l e s , ” W ide Angle 2 0 , n o . 3 ( 1 9 9 9 ) : 1 8 2 - 2 0 9 .

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NOTES

íntroductíon

N eoliberal Securityscapes

1 Robinson, Transnational Conflicts, 88-89. 2 I use the term “youth” to refer to both minors and young adults. I do so because, while gang-affiliated Salvadoran immigrants should only be deported for criminal offenses committed as adults, they are generally brought into the criminal justice system while they are still minors. In addition, although adulthood begins at age eighteen in the United States, the United Nations General Assembly has defined “youth” as those persons falling between the ages of 15 and 24 years, inclusively. Within the category of “youth” they distinguish between teenagers (13-19) and young adults (20-24). Individual countries use slightly different variations of this age range. For instance, in El Salvador the planning group for the Youth Law (dis­ cussed in chapter 5) was age 30. 3 Menjívar and Rodríguez, W hen States Kill, 3-27. 4 For a discussion of the first point, see Weldes et al., Cultures oj Insecurity. For an ex­ ploration of militarism, see Gusterson, People oj the Bom b, xxi. 5 I use the term “Salvadoran (immigrant) youth” to refer to both those who have and have not immigrated to the United States. My use of the word “friction” alludes to Anna Tsing’s work in Friction: A n Ethnography oj Global Connection. 6 See Pratt, “Why the Virgin of Zapopan Went to Los Angeles.” Globalization and transnationalism are still both highly contentious terms and concepts. Anna Tsing in her essay “The Global Situation” offered one of the most cogent early cri­ tiques of this turn to the global and the seduction o f what she terms “global futur­ ism.” She rightly argued that we should not accept globalization as a definitional characteristic of an era without examining and locating these global dreams and projects ethnographically (342). Exasperated with the quickness by anthropolo­ gists to adopt David Harvey’s teleology of capitalism and its contemporary cul-

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tural logic through, among others, the metaphor of time-space compression and its attendant imagery of flows, circulation, and interconnection (Harvey, The C ondition oj Postm odernity), she asked us to examine critically “how . . . we know the shape of time and space” (341). Tsing insisted that if anthropologists want to make the link that Harvey insinuates between political economy and cultural formations, they must locate those links ethnographically. This inter-American ethnography is my effort to locate from the ground the compression of time and space between the United States and Central America. 7 See Van Schendel and Abraham, Illicit Flows and Crim inal Things, for a discussion of how these terms— legal and illegal, licit and illicit-better theorize the state­ centric term “criminal.” For a similar critique, see Nordstrom, Global O utlaw s. 8 For a discussion of deportation and state sovereignty see De Genova and Peutz, The D eportation Regim e. See Mbembe, “Necropolitics,” for a discussion of dispos­ able subjects (27). For a discussion of immobilized subjects see Zilberg, “Fools Banished from the Kingdom” and Peutz, “Embarking on an Anthropology of Re­ moval.” 9 While the term “neoliberalism” was generally used to describe Latin America be­ fore it was used for the United States, in this volume, I insist on looking at neo­ liberal structural adjustments as processes taking place simultaneously in El Sal­ vador and the United States, and even suggest that, while the term itself may not have been invoked, the neoliberal economic and social policies were initiated in the United States before they were in El Salvador (see chapter 2 for a more detailed discussion o f the effects of neoliberalism in Los Angeles during the 1980s and the early 1990s). My own periodization differs from these latter studies in so far as I see the effects of neoliberal structural adjustments occurring in El Salvador and the U.S. simultaneously, and in some cases, in the U.S. earlier. 10 I am grateful to Nancy Postero for her excellent summary of neoliberalism and the various contemporary positions on it in her essay “Revolution and New Social Imaginaries in Postneoliberal Latin America.” Part of this summary is revisited in her article, “The Struggle to Create a Radical Democracy in Bolivia.” 11 As a political philosophy, neoliberalism originates with Freidrich Hayek’s critique of the then dominant common sense that the Great Depression and Second World War were the result of insufficient regulation of the market. He argued instead that it was central planning by the state that led to the rise of the authoritarian regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. For Hayek the system of private property was the most important guarantee of freedom because it reduced the amount of power the state could exercise over individuals (Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom” ). His ideas were echoed by the economist Milton Friedman, who trained a whole generation of economists at the University of Chicago. Nonetheless, it was Key-

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nesian economics that dominated the post-New Deal and postwar period up until the economic crisis of the 1970s. Although neoliberalism was first introduced by the United States in Chile under Pinochet, it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s under the neoconservative regimes of first Thatcher and then Reagan that neoliberalism—as we currently understand it, market democracy-emerged as the dominant economic and political model. That said, as Nikolas Rose ar­ gues, neoliberalism as a new rationality o f government, characterized by privati­ zation, marketization, individual autonomy, and self-governance, “is not merely the vicissitudes of a single political ideology—that of neoliberal conservatism” but “underpins mentalities of government from all parts of the political spec­ trum precisely because it was the Right, rather than the Left, that . . . managed to articulate a rationality of government consonant with this new regime of the self” (Nikolas Rose, “Governing ‘Advanced’ Liberal Societies,” 60). Thus it was in the absence of an alternative political rationality from the Left that both the Democratic Party in the United States and the Labor party in the United Kingdom came to power in the 1990s having embraced the philosophy, political project, and rationality of neoliberalism (ibid.). David Harvey argues that neoliberalism was a political project “to re-establish the conditions for capital accumulation and to restore the power of the economic elite” after the crisis in capitalism at the end of the 1960s, as the industrialized world faced inflation, the oil embargo, fiscal crises, and high unemployment (A Brief History o/Neoliberalism, 19). 12 See, for example, Mandel, Late C ap italism ; Lash and Urry, The End of Organized Capi­ talism ; and Harvey, The C ondition of Postm odernity. 13 Omi and Winant, Racial Form ation in the U nited States, 14. 14 Or what was then referred to as “devolution” of the welfare state. 15 Welfare reform also found its way into the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Re­ sponsibility Act of 1996, which also targeted immigrant access to social services and welfare, regardless of legal status or age. 16 For a discussion of the ways in which the contemporary Western and indeed now the global financial system has come to resemble a vast casino where players place bets on the future with high-risk stakes, see Strange, Casino Capitalism ; Comaroff and Comaroff, “Millennial Capitalism” ; and Klima, Funeral Casino. 17 Robinson, Transnational Conficts, 87-101. 18 See Lungo, M igración internacional y desarollo; and Funkhouser, “Remittances from International Migration.” 19 United Nations Development Program, Inform e sobre dessarollo hum ano El Salvador 2005. This abysmal economic situation was not simply an ongoing “third world” condition. Rather, the austerity programs and structural adjustment policies of the 1990s had increased and deepened poverty. While there were, as William Robinson notes, “social compensation funds” attached to those programs “puta-

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tively intended to ‘target’ the poor,” they “isolat[ed] poverty from the process of capital accumulation and economic development” (Transnational Conflicts, 246). In so doing, they treated poverty as an individual pathology rather than as a conse­ quence of the socioeconomic exclusion immanent in the economic system itself. 20 See Comaroff and Comaroff, Law and Disorder in the Postcolony, for a discussion of this phenomenon in South Africa. 21 Foucault, The Birth oj Biopolitics, 256. 22 Walpin, “The New Speed-up in Habeas Corpus Appeals,” n.p. 23 See Ruth Gilmore’s Golden Gulag for a critique of the position that the prisonindustrial complex has become a profitable industry for the private sector. As she states, “With the exception of a few privately managed 500-bed facilities, [Cali­ fornia’s 90 prisons] are wholly public: owned by the state . . . , financed by Public Works Board debt, and operated by the California Department of Corrections” (8). Gilmore’s claims are based on 2005 figures. See Sasha Abramsky’s Am erican Furies for an alternative view of the privatization o f prisons. Privatization, however, is more pronounced in prisons devoted to holding immigrants serving out their sentences for illegal reentry. Regardless, prisons involve the private sector at the level of construction, food, and cleaning contracts. 24 For a discussion of this issue, see Abramsky, Am erican Furies; and Gilmore, Golden Gulag. 25 Corrections Corporation of America, http://www.correctionscorp.com/about. 26 Bernstein, “City of Immigrants Fills Jail Cells with Its Own.” 27 Denis Childs, presentation at Critical Resistance event, University of California, San Diego, January 21, 2010. 28 For more on this notion, see Simon, Governing through Crime. 29 See Abramsky, Am erican Furies. 30 For further examination of these prisons, see Dow, Am erican Gulag. 31 For an examination of the negative structures of feeling, see Cortez, “Estetica del cinismo” ; Moodie, “ ‘It’s Worse than the War’ ” ; Kokotovich, “Neoliberal Noir” ; Zilberg, “Gangster in Guerilla Face” ; and Nelson, Reckoning. An evaluation of El Salvador’s transition to democracy is discussed in Call, “Democratization, War and State-Building,” 829, 848; and in Grandin, Em pire’s Workshop, 198. 32 See Villalobos, De la tortura a la proteccion ciudadana. 33 Call, “Democratisation, War and State-Building: Constructing the Rule of Law,” 842 - 43. 34 On this, see LeFebvre, The Production oj Space, 74; and on power, see Foucault as ex­ amined by Soja in Postm odern Geographies, 16-21. 35 The term “gang intervention worker” is more current and commonly used in Los Angeles (for more on this issue, see the epilogue). 36 LeFebvre, The Production oj Space, 376. 37 Ibid., 36-46. 26 2

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38 De Certeau, The Practice oj Everyday Life, 117-22. 39 See Rouse, “Thinking through Transnationalism,” 1. 40 See Herbert, Policing Space. 41 Blanchard, “Lost in America,” 502. 42 For more on this notion, see Conquergood, “Homeboys and Hoods,” 47; and Phillips, W allbangin’, 117-66. 43 See Zilberg, “Fools Banished from the Kingdom.” 44 Smutt and Miranda, Elfenom eno de las pandillas de El Salvador, 30. 45 Cruz, “Los factores associados a las pandillas juveniles en Centroamérica,” 685­ 86. 46 Ibid., 37. 47 See Cruz and Portillo, Solidarid y violencia en las pandillas del Gran San Salvador, 51-52. 48 Barnes, “Transnational Youth Gangs in Central America, Mexico and the United States,” 8-9. Sponsored by the Center for Inter-American Studies and Programs at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, the Ford Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation, 2007. 49 See Balmaceda, “Maras y pandillas.” 50 For an expansion of this view, see Hagedorn, “Making Sense of Central America Maras.” 51 E. P. Thompson, an important figure in “critical criminology,” notes that studies that emerged from the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies in Britain argued that researchers “cannot simply take over the definitions of those who own prop­ erty, control the state and pass the laws which ‘name’ what shall be crimes” (Whigs and Hunters, 193-94). 52 Caldeira, City oj Walls. See also Marroquin Parducci, “Indiferencias y espantos” ; and Fernández de Castro and Santamaría, “Demystifying the Maras.” 53 On “critical gang studies,” see Mike Davis’s foreword to Hagedorn, A W orld oj Gangs, xv. Gangs are seen variously as the result of “multiple marginality” (Vigil, Barrio Gangs); a channel for economic survival in communities abandoned by the larger society (Venkatesh 2006 and 2008); and a form of political resistance to an established order (Hagedorn, A W orld oj G angs; Gordon, “Cultural Politics of Black Masculinity” ; Davis, City oj Quartz; and Vargas, Catching H ell in the City oj A ngels). Others argue that gangs should be treated from a social-movements perspective (Brotherton and Barrios, The Alm ighty Latin K ing and Queen Nation); or that they fill in for the vacuum left behind by failed social movements and the primacy given to waging military wars rather than investing in communities (Hayden, Street Wars). Also see Conquergood, “Homeboys and Hoods” ; Conquergood and Seigel, The Heart Broken in Half; Vigil, A R ainbow oj Gangs; Phillips, W allbangin’ ; and De Genova, “American Abjections.” 54 See Tilly, “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime,” 169. 55 On structural violence, see Galtung as analyzed in Bourgois, “The Continuum of N O T E S

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Violence in War and Peace,” 246; and on symbolic violence, see Bourdieu as cited by Bourgois in the same volume, 302. 56 The tendency to ignore or footnote questions of gender is common to youth studies in general and gang studies in particular. That said, the focus on male im­ migrant youth and male deportees in this volume is due in part with how “crimi­ nality” is differently gendered. Although girls do join gangs, and the number of women in prison is on the rise, my own ethnographic data suggested that in the United States, girls and young women are criminalized, albeit not incarcerated, for their inappropriate reproduction, and the subsequent burden they are said to pose for the state and the taxpayer. While some of these young women are gang members, and do enter the criminal justice system, they do not go to prison at the same rate as their male counterparts. This is, in many cases, due to the fact that when young women have children they tend to leave the gang or at least cease being active in the gang. As a result, they are not deported to El Salvador at the same rates as their male counterparts. 57 De Genova, “Migrant ‘Illegality’ and Deportability in Everyday Life,” 423. 58 In my usage here I allude to Siegel, A New Crim inal Type in Jakarta. 59 As Stuart Hall et al. note in their study of the figure of the “black mugger” in postcolonial immigrant communities in Britain, every trope or stereotype has a “career” or a prehistory (Policing the Crisis, 3-28). I do not mean to imply that the “looter” chronologically precedes the “hoodlum” and so on. I am rather thinking along the lines of de Certeau and his discussion of how techniques or procedures within a discursive configuration take turns, if you will, hiding out and coming to the fore (The Practice oj Everyday Life, 45-49). 60 See de Certeau, The Practice oj Everyday Life, 118. 61 See Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” 62 For a discussion of the use of the term “riot” as opposed to “uprising” or “rebel­ lion” and so on, see chapter 1. 63 For a discussion of the racialization o f the riot as black, and the relative silence of Latino voices in the media coverage, see Valle and Torres, Latino Metropolis, 45-66. For a discussion of blacks as “event insiders,” see Hunt, Screening the Los Angeles “Riots.” Also see Smith, “Transmitting Race.” For a discussion of the racialization of the riots as a black vs. Korean event, see Abelman and Lie, Blue D ream s; and Cho, “Korean American vs. African American,” 196-211. 64 Barthes, “Myth Today.” 65 On the notion of “moral entrepreneurs,” see Cohen, Folk Devils and M oral Panics. 66 For a discussion of allegorical readings as an act of political poesis, see Stewart, “An Occupied Place,” 143-44; and Agee and Evans, Let Us Now Praise Fam ous Men. 67 Reality, as Begoña Aretxaga (drawing on Lacan) reminds us, is a “play of sur­ faces,” and “the really real is always somewhere else, always eluding us” (“Violent Specters,” 33). Aretxaga urges us not to settle for representations of reality but 26 4

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rather to look for its emergence in “the disturbance of representation, [and in] the eruption of what is repressed by representation” (27). 68 See Benjamin as examined in Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing, 67-77, 219. 69 Indeed, as Joseph Masco argues, the “newness of the War of Terror is an inven­ tion” and we need to “historicize these logics as long-standing American Cold War strategies . . . to demonstrate the foreign and domestic costs of allowing offi­ cials to define the United States [and I would add, its allies] as ‘counterterrorist state[s]’ ” (“Active Measures,” 298). Masco echoes Benjamin’s philosophy o f his­ tory, which debunks the “phantasmagoria o f progress” and constructs a counter­ discourse that exposes progress as the fetishization of modern temporality as an “endless repetition” of the “new” as the “always the same” (Benjamin in BuckMorss, The Dialectics of Seeing, 56). 70 For more on this notion, see Grandin, Em pire’s Workshop. 71 For discussions of the “Salvador Option,” see Grandin, Em pire’s Workshop; and Lomas, “The War Cut Out My Tongue.” 72 See Loxton, “Imperialism or Neglect.” 73 Manwaring, “Street Gangs,” 13. For a more detailed discussion of Manwaring’s thesis, see chapter 7. 74 See Wilson and Sullivan, “On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism.” 75 Alan Klima in The Funeral Casino (7, 13), his ethnography of Thailand’s gift econ­ omy, speaks of the passing of one world order to another in terms of the old global military-gift economy and the new liberal free-market economy. My particular use of the term “protection racket” draws from Charles Tilly, “War Making and State Making as Organised Crime” ; William Stanley, The Protection Racket State; and Mar­ garet Huggins, Political Policing. Whereas Tilly introduced the term to refer to the analogy between organized crime and State-sanctioned wars in general, Stanley deployed the term to describe the particular collusion between elites and the mili­ tary in El Salvador. The 1992 Salvadoran Peace Accords succeeded in breaking this protection racket. As Stanley notes, “ [t]he story of intra-elite politics and state violence in El Salvador is also a story of actively harmful measures by the United States” (6-8). Huggins extends the role of the protection racket to include for­ eign police forces. Support and training of police in Latin American authoritarian regimes put the U.S. at the center of the “protection racket” in so far as they served to buttress U.S. foreign policy and economic interests. While Stanley’s and Hug­ gins’s “protection rackets” are associated with bygone regimes, I suggest that these new market democracies also involve “protection rackets” insofar as U.S. aid and technical assistance is now tied to cooperation in its wars against drugs, gangs, and terrorists. 76 As Begoña Aretxaga notes in conversation with Diane Taylor’s Disappearing Acts, “this mirroring paranoid dynamic often takes the form of powerful identifica­ tions and obsessive fascination as when the state engages in terrorist or criminal N O T E S

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practices in order to appropriate the power it attributes to its enemies, criminals, subversives, or terrorists.” “Maddening States,” 402. 77 The “messy texts” (Marcus and Fischer, Anthropology as Cultural Critique, 8) produced by this “multi-sited research imaginary” (Marcus, “Ethnography in and of the World System”) are made so, Marcus suggests, by their attempts to “fiction alize the effect of simultaneity” (“Imagining the Whole,” 26; my emphasis). The simul­ taneity in my own text is more than a writing strategy or the privileged view o f an anthropologist. 78 Marcus, “Ethnography in and of the World System,” 106-11; de Certeau, The Practice oj Everyday Life, 100. Both de Certeau’s vocabulary o f travel itineraries-spatial tra­ jectory, vectors of direction, geographies of action, and velocity (117-22), and the previously mentioned work o f Henri LeFebvre on microphysics of the social pro­ duction of space-representations of space, spaces of representation, and spa­ tial practices (The Production oj Space, 7 4 )-also proved exceedingly useful to me in constructing my methodology. 79 Indeed, these narratives are strangely reminiscent of recent continental or pan­ American literature that challenges the “limiting set of tacit assumptions that result from perpetual immersion in the study of a single American culture” and demands that we retheorize the very premises upon which the concepts of “Ameri­ can hermeneutics, alterity, history and historiography rests” (Saldivar, The D ia ­ lectics oj Our Am erica, 3-4). Ironically enough, an inter-American ethnography of deported Salvadoran gang youth joins in Marti’s political project to make the Americas whole again. But this project is not merely “the belated expression of out-of-touch Bolivarian desires” but is rather “one of the possible mappings or ar­ ticulations demanded by already existing sociocultural processes” (Poblete, Critical Latin Am erican and Latino Studies, xxii-xxiii). 80 For a discussion of borderlands theory, see, among others, Alvarez, “The Mexi­ can-United States Border” ; Anzaldúa, Borderlands; Heyman and Campbell, “Re­ cent Work on the U.S. Mexico Border” ; Kearney, “Borders and Boundaries of State and Self at the End of Empire” ; Paredes, “W ith a Pistol in His H ands’’; Saldivar, Border Matters; Velez-Ibañez, Border Visions; and Vila, Ethnography at the Border. 81 See Smith’s “Can You Imagine?” and Transnational U rbanism for a discussion of mi­ gration and the politics of simultaneity. 82 Marcus, “Imagining the Whole,” 60. 83 See Haraway, “Situated Knowledges” ; and Foucault, Power/Knowledge. 84 Hale, Engaging Contradictions, 11. 85 Ibid. Also see Gordon, Disparate Diasporas; Vargas, Catching Hell in the City oj Angels; and Gilmore, Golden Gulag, for an example of ethnographic scholarship grounded in direct political engagements. 86 Ibid., 13. 87 Regarding the notion of contamination, Kathleen Stewart distinguishes between 266

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“constructive” social-scientific theorizing that “see[s] its object from a decon­ taminated distance” and “contaminated cultural critique” that “disrupts the dis­ tance between observing subject and the ‘real’ world of objects; it mixes with its object and includes itself as an object of its own analysis. The two are dialectically related in such a way that each mode must interrupt the other in order to consti­ tute itself (“On the Politics of Cultural Theory,” 395). Contaminated cultural cri­ tique is not the same as simply recognizing that the subject is socially constructed. Rather, it considers “notions of the analyst embedded in conventions of academic discourse-such as the practice o f taking distance from one’s ‘object’ of analysis, practices of self-control and transcendence, and particular ways of making judg­ ments and choices which have come to signify . . . intellectual victory over other possible interpretations or finding.” Contaminated critique “put[s] the analyst on a par with her ‘objects’ of analysis.” Modes of knowing and being in the world “out there” and in academe (both postmodern and modernist modes of critique) are all the stuff of cultural politics (Stewart quoted in Molino, Culture, Subject, Psy­ che, 139). My use of the term “complicity” draws from both Renato Rosaldo’s and George Marcus’s critique of the function of “rapport” in the “ideologies of field­ work.” Rosaldo politicizes the complicity form to explore the unequal relations of power between the ethnographer and his or her informants and to situate the knowledge produced from that unequal encounter within the broader colo­ nial context (Rosaldo, “Imperialist Nostalgia,” in Culture and Truth, 68-89). Like Rosaldo’s encounter with the Ilongots of the Philippines, mine with Salvadorans both in the United States and El Salvador was enabled by U.S. imperialism as well as my privileged racial-although not always class-positioning. Marcus extends the notion of complicity to consider how the changing conditions of fieldwork demand a more complex sense of ethnographer-subject relations. Here, the infor­ mant does not simply occupy a subordinate role in relationship to the researcher (and may in fact occupy a position of dominance). Regardless, the informant has his or her own agenda, set o f interests (which include the “outside world” of the researcher), and complex affiliations. Complicity also “goes beyond the sense of ‘partnership in an evil action’ to a sense of being complexly involved through a relationship to a third interest/party/object.” It is a “more generative and more ambiguous morality” than imperialist nostalgia, precisely because it places the researcher in a much more complex and often “disturbing relation” to his or her informant, and considers how the researcher serves knowingly, wittingly, and re­ luctantly as an informant to projects not of his or her own making and design. Complicity provides a way of recognizing how the ethnographer is “always on the verge of activism, of negotiating some kind of involvement beyond the distanced role of the researcher” (Marcus, Ethnography through Thick and Thin, 122-23). 88 Fortun, Advocacy after Bhopal, 23. N O T E S

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89 Ibid. 90 On the notion of strategic duality, see Sjoberg as discussed in Hale, Engaging Contradictions, 11.

c h r o n o l o g y

The D ivided Ends of Peace

1 See William Robinson, Transnational Conflicts, 89. 2 See Alvarez, Dagnino, and Escobar, Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures. Some have described this development in post-conflict societies as an infatuation with civil society (Comaroff and Comaroff, “Millennial Capitalism,” 292). 3 The name La Mara Salvatrucha has many possible meanings. The word mara in El Salvador is used to refer to a group of people. Some argue that it is taken from Caliche, the Salvadoran vernacular Spanish that bears the traces of Colonial Span­ ish and the indigenous language Nahuat. In Caliche, m arabunta refers to colony of a fierce type of ant. Salva is drawn directly from Salvadoran, but like its namesake El Salvador it also shares the word “savior” as its root. Trucha, also Caliche, liter­ ally means trout, a fish that has to swim upstream against the current in order to reproduce. Trucha can also mean “streetwise” or “alert.” Some argue that in the United States, Mara Salvatrucha simply stands for “Salvadoran neighborhood.” 4 For a more detailed account of the gang’s origins, see Hayden, Street Wars, 206-10. 5 For a treatment of the conscription of minors into the Salvadoran army, see the film Voces Inocentes¡Innocent Voices (2004). 6 I also collaborated with w i n d s , an international women’s collective focused on working in solidarity with women’s groups in El Salvador. It was an offshoot of the Washington office for

com adres,

an organization of Salvadoran mothers who

kept records of their disappeared family members and protested for their release. 7 See Perez and Ramos’s Flight to Freedom for personal accounts of Salvadoran politi­ cal exiles. 8 For a discussion of Salvadorans as refugees, see Aguayo, El exodo centroamericano; Coutin, The Culture of Protest; Montes and Vasquez, El Salvador 19 8 7 ; Ward, The Price of Fear; and Zolberg, Suhrke, and Aguayo, Escape fro m Violence. After the war, the scholarship tended to propose a framework that could account for a dialectical relationship between the terms refugee and immigrant (see Hamilton and Chin­ chilla, “Central American Migration” ; and Menjívar, Fragmented Ties). In her critical essay about the framing of the study of displacement, and of the refugee as an epistemological object and a particular kind of object of knowledge, Liisa Malkki quotes Hein in noting that with “minimal conceptual elaboration, immigration constituted an economic form of migration, and refugees a political form.” She added that “mass migrations are frequently employed as foreign policy tools and refugees become instruments of warfare and military strategy” (“Refu­ gees and Exile,” 496, 504-5). This could not be more true than in the Salvadoran 268

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case. The term “calculated kindness” comes from Ong, “Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making,” 742. 9 See Perla, “Si Nicaragua Venció, El Salvador Vencerá,” for a discussion of the de­ fining role that Salvadoran refugees and political activists played in the develop­ ment o f this movement. 10 These individuals include, among others, Jane Fonda, Ed Asner, Richard Gere, Edward James Olmos, Eli Morales, Jackson Brown, and Mike Farrell. 11 The Sanctuary Movement was an ecumenical religious and political movement that actively defied U.S. immigration policy by sheltering Central American refu­ gees from Immigration and Naturalization Service authorities. The Sanctuary Movement was seen by many as a modern-day “underground railroad.” Several of these activists were indicted by the Department of Justice for smuggling aliens, among other charges. The defense claimed that these “ illegal” actions were justi­ fiable to save the lives of people who would otherwise be killed as a result of U.S. military funding. For more detailed discussions of the Sanctuary Movement, see Coutin, The Culture of Protest; and Perla, “Si Nicaragua Venció, El Salvador Vencerá.” 12 This transition was documented in a community survey by the Santa Chirino Amaya Refugee Committee in 1991, and was corroborated that same year by a poll taken by the Los Angeles Times. 13 The belated recognition of Salvadorans as war refugees by the passage of t p s in 1990 was further bolstered by the settlement of the American Baptist Church case that same year. Under the settlement, the State Department and i n s agreed to re­ view 150,000 formerly denied political asylum claims and to reopen the process to thousands more Salvadorans and Guatemalans. Given the temporary nature of the t p s and the uncertain outcomes of political asylum cases, legal service orga­ nizations debated over whether to encourage Central Americans to come out of the shadows and make their presence in the United States known by filing for these programs. Many, however, argued that those who did not file would not be included in any subsequent legalization and citizenship drives. 14 See Funkhouser, “Remittances from International Migration” ; Lungo and Kandel, Transform ando El Salvador; Orozco, “From Family Ties to Transnational Linkages” and “Remittances and Markets” ; Pedersen, “American Value” ; and Katherine Andrade-Eekhoff, “Asociaciones salvadoreñas en Los Angeles y las posibilidades de desarrollo en El Salvador,” 11-44. 15 On the night of March 2, 1991, Rodney King and two passengers in his car were pursed by California Highway Patrol officers. According to those officers, in the subsequent freeway chase King reached speeds of more than one hundred miles per hour (Court t v , The Rodney K ing Case). King refused to pull over because he knew that a d u i would be a violation of the conditions of his parole for an earlier robbery conviction (Cannon, Oficial Negligence, 43). Several

lapd

officers and a

helicopter joined in the pursuit, and finally caught up with King. George Holiday, N O T E S

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a passerby, filmed the subsequent events and the video was taken as proof by most that the

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officers had used excessive force. On April 29, 1992, an all-white

jury in Simi Valley judged officers Koon, Powell, Wind, and Briseno not guilty. In 1993, the investigation was reinstated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Officers Powell and Koon were found guilty; Wind and Briseno were acquitted. The Watts riots broke out in Watts, an African American neighborhood, on August 11, 1965, after a California Highway Patrol officer pulled over and arrested Marquette Frye for drunken driving. When the officer refused to let Frye’s brother drive the car home but insisted on impounding it instead, a crowd gathered and a struggle ensued when the officer decided to take in Frye’s brother and mother too. This incident was the immediate catalyst for the riot, but racial tensions were already rife. 16 This was the Los Angeles of Mike Davis’s City oj Q uartz and Ecology o j Fear (where one would encounter signs of carceral architecture and the effects of the exclusionist and defensive social policies of the “Not In My Backyard!” or NiMBYist movement); of Ruben Martinez’s The Other Side (where you could be South in the North and North in the South at the same time); and of Héctor Tobar’s Tattooed Soldier (where you reencountered on the streets of Los Angeles the enemies you had fled from in Guatemala). 17 See Central American Refugee Center ( c a r e c e n ), “Report on Civil Rights and Human Rights Violations” ; Mike Davis, “Beyond Blade Runner,” 369; and Hayden, Street Wars, 210-11. 18 American Civil Liberties Union, “Civil Liberties in Crisis,” 7. 19 Betancur, Figueredo Planchart, and Buergenthal, “From Madness to Hope.” 20 Popkin, Peace w ithout Justice, 11. 21 Cristiani in May, “Review of From Madness to Hope.” 22 Popkin, Peace w ithout Justice, 10. 23 Omi and Winant, Racial Form ation in the U nited States. 24 See Robinson, Transnational Conflicts. As Robinson notes, U.S. funding was aimed as much at transforming the landed oligarchy (supported as it was by the military) as it was at defeating the popular insurgency. Indeed, the great majority of U.S. funds actually went to stabilizing the Salvadoran economy in the midst of the civil war and to promoting a new elite that would collaborate in instituting neoliberal reforms and integrating El Salvador into the new global economy once that war was won. While 30 percent o f U.S. aid went to the Salvadoran military, increasing its size by 400 percent, Robinson argues that the military was, ultimately, sacri­ ficed in this U.S.-directed regime change (88-89, 99). 25 These post-civil war economic transformations would eventually be formalized with the passage in 2005 of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement ( d r - c a f t a ). 26 The truce was actually negotiated before the riots (Hayden, Street Wars, 93-94). 270

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27 House Bill h

r

666.

28 See Federman, “Who Has the Body?” 29 Coutin, Legalizing Moves, 143-61. 30 Coutin, Nation oj Em igrants, 21. 31 Although my focus here is on gang-affiliated and alleged youth, the law had tre­ mendous consequences for other sectors of the immigrant population. For in­ stance, upon submitting their citizenship applications, some adults with U.S.born families, and who owned businesses and homes in the United States, found themselves in deportation proceedings for minor offenses committed years pre­ viously but deemed felonies retroactively. 32 See Brown, “Legislating Repression.” 33 See DeCesare and Montaigne, “Deporting America’s Gang Culture.” 34 The language “forced out” is derived from a photographic exhibit and book by C. Kismaric entitled Forced O u t: The Agony oj the Refugee in Our Tim e. I use the term with reference to the deportee in order to draw a relationship between the forced depatriation of the refugee and the forced repatriation of the deportee. The linguistic resonance highlights, I hope, the political nature of deportation as against the tendency to read it as the natural result of an individual’s criminal record. 35 Working as I had been with Salvadorans in Los Angeles I was certainly aware of the phenomenon, and I knew of the photojournalist Donna DeCesare, who just started exhibiting her work on Salvadoran gangs in Los Angeles and San Salvador. 36 See Zilberg and Lungo, “Se han vuelto haraganes?” 37 For a discussion of levels ofviolence in El Salvador during this period see Cruz and González, “ M agnitu d de la Violencia en El Salvador,” and Villalobos, De la tortura a la pro­ tection ciudadana. The p

n c

subsequently revised the figures on which this analysis

was based, admitting that the annual homicide rate had been closer to two thou­ sand rather than eight thousand. While this homicide rate was still alarming, the earlier claim that people were being killed at greater rates after than during the civil war was incorrect (Villalobos, 136). The accuracy of statistics on violence in El Salvador are notoriously difficult to verify, and each source uses different crite­ ria by which to measure violence (Cruz, Argüello, and González, El crimen violento en El Salvador, 11-54). Regardless of the actual figures, Salvadorans felt the threat ofviolence acutely. For an early discussion of perceived violence, see Moodie, “It’s Worse than War.” While it is important not to take statistics at face value, or to confuse perception with actual incidences of violence, none of this obviates the inordinate levels ofviolence in El Salvador (see United Nations Development Pro­ gram, “Informe Sobre Desarrollo Humano Para América Central 2009-2010”). 38 For a discussion of La Sombra Negra and death squad activity in the postwar period see United Nations, “Report from the Joint Group for the Investigation of Illegal Armed Groups with Political Motivation in El Salvador,” 568-74, and Am­ nesty International, “The Spectre of Death Squads,” 3. N O T E S

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39 See Nelson, Reckoning, for a discussion of “duping” in the Guatemalan case. For a discussion of postwar disillusionment in El Salvador, see Silber, “Mothers/ Fighters/Citizens” ; Cortez, “Estética del cinismo” ; Kokotovich, “Neoliberal Noir” ; and Zilberg, “Gangster in Guerrilla Face.” 40 See Popkin, Peace w ithout Justice. 41 A year after the new laws went into effect, Minister of Public Security Hugo Barrera describes the new codes as “the principal public security problem, as they give ex­ aggerated protection to criminals,” and he blames the codes for the failure to ade­ quately control common crime. In May 1999, 77.57 percent of El Salvador’s prison population of 7,027 is still awaiting trial, and only 1,576 are actually serving sen­ tences (Popkin, Peace w ithout Justice, 16-17). 42 On April 1, 1991, Mayor Tom Bradley appointed Warren Christopher to investigate the

l a p d . The

commission was created to conduct a full and fair examination of

the structure and operation of the

lapd,

including its recruitment and training

practices, internal disciplinary system, and citizen complaint system. 43 Hayden, Street Wars, 227-28. 44 See Glover and Lait, “Ex-Chief Refuses to Discuss Rampart.” 45 See Poole, “Rampart Scandal.” I say “purportedly” because the investigation was stalled by then l a p d Chief Bernard Parks. 46 Siems, Between the Lines, 71. 47 The U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions that restricted the right o f the U.S. gov­ ernment to order deportation of non-U.S. citizens convicted of felony crimes, and to indefinitely detain aliens who had been ordered to be deported from the United States but who are not accepted by their countries of citizenship. This decision meant that the decision made in 1996 could no longer be applied retroactively to crimes committed before 1996, and it restored the right of judicial review to for­ eigners facing deportation. See Marquis, “Ashcroft Seeks Return of Criminal Im­ migrants” ; Taylor, “ i n s Stuck over What to Do with Detainees” ; Sachs, “Second Thoughts” ; Greenhouse, “Justices Place Limits on Detention in Cases of Deport­ able Immigrants” ; Lane, “Justices Decide Immigrants Have Right to Review” ; and Greenhouse, “Justices Permit Immigrants to Challenge Deportations.” 48 The concept of reducing crime by attending to the smallest of offenses such as broken windows was introduced by George Kelling and James Wilson. Under this law enforcement model, it is as important to police nonviolent and noncrimi­ nal behavior as it is to address violent crime. Police patrol neighborhoods on foot and root out “disorderly . . . disreputable, obstreperous, or unpredictable people: panhandlers, drunks, addicts, rowdy teenagers, prostitutes, loiterers, and the mentally disturbed” (Kelling and Wilson, “Broken Windows,” available at www.theatlantic.com). Under Giuliani, this translated into zero tolerance of all minor infractions in order to achieve what Kelling and Wilson term “order main­ tenance.” 2 7 2

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49 According to its official Web site,

ice

“protects national security and upholds

public safety by targeting criminal networks and terrorist organizations that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system, in our financial networks, along our border, at federal facilities and elsewhere in order to do harm to the United States. The end result is a safer, more secure America” (“About i c e ,” http:// www.ice.gov). 50 See Berrigan and Wingo, “US Military Involvement in Latin America.” 51 See Seper, “Al Qaeda Seeks Tie to Local Gangs.” 52 See Associated Press, “Officials: Al Qaeda, Latin Gangs Not Linked.” 53 See “Investigations: Community Shield,” http://www.ice.gov. 54 For an ethnography of the s o a , see Gill, The School 0/the Am ericas. 55 See Postero, Now W e Are Citizens.

o n e

L a tin o Looter

1 For a discussion of cultural interagency, see Said, Culture and Im perialism ; Berger, A Seventh M a n ; and Papastergiadis, M odernity as Exile. 2 I am grateful to Scott Sterling and Jesse Lerner for access to this footage. 3 Reginald Denny was a truck driver who was nearly beaten to death by a group of black assailants who came to be known as the “L.A. Four.” The attack was cap­ tured by a Los Angeles news service helicopter and the video was broadcast live on U.S. national television. 4 Lucia Artal Ramos, one of hundreds of undocumented immigrants, was stopped by police, told that she was going to get “a free ride back to [her] country,” and handed over to Immigration and Naturalization Services (see Mydans, “Criticism Grows over Aliens Seized during Riots” ). 5 Rosenberg, “King Case Aftermath.” 6 For discussions of the racialization o f the riots as black, see Smith, “Transmitting Race” ; Zilberg, From Riots to R am p art; Hunt, Screening the Los Angeles “Riots”; and Valle and Torres, Latino M etropolis. Valle and Torres argue that “coding the cast black and white according to a socially constructed discourse that preceded the event itself— trapp[ed] the interpretation of the event in a circular racializing logic. . . . The two societies, one black, one white, [a] separate and unequal dichotomy made famous by the Kerner Commission[,] could not contain a multicultural riot in which villains and victims defied racial typecasting” (Latino Metropolis, 45-46, 53). 7 Hunt, Screening the Los Angeles “Riots,” 45. 8 On the post-Fordist programs and globalization, see Valle and Torres, Latino M e ­ tropolis, 47. 9 Valle and Torres, Latino Metropolis, 50, 54. 10 Frenzen and Acosta, Los Angeles Times, “Immigrant’s Roundup Was a Dirty Trick.” 11 I interviewed Tobar in Los Angeles in September 1999. Tobar absorbed his journN O T E S

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alistic coverage of the riots into the last chapter of his 1998 novel The Tattooed Sol­ dier. 12 The first quote is derived from Rand Corporation, “Report on the Los Angeles Riot” ; and the second is from U.S. Attorney General Williams P. Barr, quoted in Brimelow, “Time to Rethink Immigration,” 46. 13 This depiction of the riots, while more inclusive, does not account for the place­ ment of Korean immigrants and Korean Americans in the riots. There is consider­ able overlap in South Central, Pico Union, and Koreatown between African Ameri­ can, Latino, and Korean populations. For discussions of the riots as a Korean event, see, among many others, Abelman and Lie, Blue Dreams; Cho, “Korean American vs. African American” ; and Kim, “Home Is Where the Han Is.” See also the documentary Sa-I-G u, directed by Dai Sil Kim-Gibson and Christine Choy. 14 Miles, “Blacks vs. Browns,” 67. 15 Brimelow, “Time to Rethink Immigration,” 45. 16 Dumm, “The New Enclosures,” 178-95. 17 See Hall et al., Policing the Crisis for a discussion of national moral panics in refer­ ence to the “black mugger.” 18 See chapter 3 for a discussion of i i r a i r a . Proposition 187 was a ballot initia­ tive in 1994 designed to deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education. It was introduced by Assemblyman Dick Mountjoy (Republican from Monrovia, California) as the “Save Our State” initiative. It passed with 58.8 percent of the vote but was overturned by a federal court. 19 I borrow the term “visible, if silenced” from Valle and Torres, Latino Metropolis, 53. See chapters 3 and 4 for an extended discussion of the practices and cultural poli­ tics of incarceration and deportation. 20 Valle and Torres, Latino Metropolis, 55. 21 On “the law o f place,” see de Certeau, The Practice oj Everyday Life, 118. 22 See Valle and Torres, Latino Metropolis, 55. 23 Economist, “Pull Together?” 24 Ruben Navarrette Jr., “Should Latinos Support Curbs on Immigration?” 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 A version of this section of the chapter was previously published in the special issue ofWide Angle titled “City Scapes II,” edited by Clark Arnwine and Jesse Lerner (20, no. 3 [1999]: 182-209). My thanks to journal editor Ruth Bradley and guest editors Clark Arnwine and Jesse Lerner for their invaluable editorial assistance and for allowing me to include the material here in my book. 29 For a discussion of psychic disturbances, see Bergson, M atter and M em ory. For a discussion of space-time-being, see Harvey, The Condition oj Postm odernity, 201-10. 30 Film director Schumacher employs an array of filmic devices to produce an awe274

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some schizophrenic accumulation of energy in his protagonist (and indeed, in his audience) — it is the sort of madness born of late capitalism’s excess. The open­ ing scene described here is a graphic evocation of what Fredric Jameson, drawing upon Lacan’s theorization of the connection between linguistic malfunction and the psyche of the schizophrenic, argues is central to the postmodern condition: “The breakdown o f the signifying chain . . . into a rubble of distinct and unrelated signifiers” (“Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” 71-73). 31 For a discussion of “structures of feeling,” see Williams, M arxism and Literature, 128-34. In relation to the European Economic Community, Nadia Serementakis poses the question, “At what levels are the economic and social transformations of regional integration being felt?” (The Senses Still, 3). 32 For a discussion of “place panic,” see Casey, Rem em bering. For a discussion of “in­ security of territory,” see Virilio, Essai sur I’insecurite du territoire. 33 For a discussion of the way in which the sewer represented the grotesque social body in Victorian Britain, see Stallybrass and White, The Politics and Poetics oj Trans­ gression, 80-124. 34 For a discussion of “spatial apartheid,” see Goldberg, Racist Culture, 185-202. 35 Davis, “Los Angeles Was Just the Beginning,” 14. In this regard, the film counters another post-riot release — Studio City’s newest theme park and mall, City Walk. Unlike the cityscape in Falling D ow n, City Walk is a tame simulation of hetero­ geneous Los Angeles for the tourist industry, endangered by the fallout of bad post-riot press: “The best features of Olvera Street, Hollywood and the West Side synthesized in easy, bite-sized pieces for consumption by tourists and residents who don’t need the excitement of dodging bullets in the Third World country that Los Angeles has become” (Davis, “Los Angeles Was Just the Beginning,” 18). By mounting the concrete barrier that separates the highway from the lived spaces hidden on the other side, D-Fens brings into view precisely those elements that City Walk keeps at bay. In this respect, the film engages precisely those elements that City Walk’s facile celebration and commodification of multiculturalism holds at bay: the Los Angeles landscape as it “socially and physically erodes into the 21st century” (2). 36 See Klein, The History oj Forgetting, 107, for critique of the film’s grasp of “urban reality.” 37 See Bakhtin, Problem s oj Dostoeusky’s Poetics, 122-23, for the critical potential of the carnivalesque in bringing people who are in life separated by impenetrable hierar­ chical barriers into free and familiar contact with each other and the reverse sides of their worlds. Similarly, in their discussion of capitalism and schizophrenia in The A nti-O edipu s, Deleuze and Guattari argue that “the schizophrenic out for a walk is a better model than a neurotic lying on the analyst’s couch.” The “schizo” out for a stroll is an effect of the “awesome . . . accumulation of energy or charge” produced by capitalism. This charge, conceived of as desire, carries with it revoN O T E S

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lutionary potential, and so must continually be repressed by the very forces that induce its unleashing (34). 38 For a discussion of genre as an ideological orienting framework, see Bauman, “ ‘Genre’ and ‘Performance,’ ” 53. 39 The Korean immigrant inner-city convenience store owner was another muchmaligned figure in the Los Angeles riots. This social type was accused of taking advantage of the relative lack of amenities and the lack of market competition in low-income neighborhoods by overpricing its inventory. The fatal shooting of Natasha Harlins, a fifteen-year-old African American customer, by store owner and Korean immigrant Soon Ja Du the previous year served as a powerful political text for this negative characterization of Korean merchants in the inner city. For a compelling counter-narrative see the previously referenced documentary, S a - I - G u . 40 See Soja, P o s t m o d e r n G e o g r a p h i e s , 24. 41 Ibid., 222-48. 42 The critical and parodic elements of film noir and the desolation epic are absorbed into Western adventure, only to be contained within a detective-cop genre and its law-and-order narrative. This generic ordering speaks to ideological and power relations underlying the production and consumption of discourse (Bauman and Briggs, “Genre, Intertextuality and Social Power,” 131-32). 43 Central American Refugee Center, “Report on Civil Rights and Human Rights Vio­ lations during the Post-Los Angeles Riot.” 44 “Normal” conditions in the inner city of Los Angeles are a particularly good ex­ ample of what Walter Benjamin insisted was a chronic “state of emergency” (the “ inner city crisis”) ( I l l u m i n a t i o n s , 275). 45 Davis, “Los Angeles Was Just the Beginning,” 6. 46 On the apartheid urban order, see Goldberg,

R a cist

C u ltu re,

190. The reference to

the sewers that serve as tunnels for smuggling undocumented immigrants into the United States is drawn from the film E l

N orte

(1983).

47 American Civil Liberties Union, “Civil Liberties in Crisis,” 7. 48 Limbaugh, “Falling Down,” 108. 49 Davis, M a g i c a l U r b a n i s m , 156-57.

t w o

Street H o o d lu m

1 By “rebuilt” I do not mean literally rebuilt on the same corner. However, Jack in the Box made quite a display of the fact that they were the first to return to the inner city to invest, and they did, in fact, literally build on the site of a burned facility in South Central Los Angeles. 2 Note that unless otherwise indicated, all Rebuild Los Angeles quotes are drawn from the Rebuild LA Collection, 1992-1997, archive, which is housed in the Re-

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search Center for the Study of Los Angeles Archives and Special Collections, Charles Von der Ahe Library, Loyola Marymount University. 3 Los Angeles Times, “Why Ueberroth and Rebuild Los Angeles Must Not Fail.” A “ne­ glected area” was defined by r l a as a census tract in which 20 percent or more of residents lived below the poverty line. This discussion o f development in the unde­ veloped inner city is reminiscent of James Ferguson’s discussion in The Anti-Politics M achine o f the “less developed country.” In this context, the undeveloped, isolated inner city comes to serve as the focus of intensive care by a host of government task forces, social service agencies, private foundations, and community-based organizations, and, in the aftermath of the riots, private corporations. Indeed, one is tempted to meddle with the order of the discourse a little and refer to the underdeveloped inner city as an i c u (intensive care unit). 4 See Katz, The Undeserving Poor. 5 Ferguson’s discussion in The Anti-Politics M achine of the “law of governmentality” is also a useful analytical construct here, although it operates in reverse. Whereas in the spatial cultural discourse o f “third world” development the “less developed country” is a result of government neglect, in the absence of government plan­ ning in the i c u the problem arises precisely from the counterproductive interfer­ ence of the welfare state. 6 Nikolas Rose, in “Governing ‘Advanced’ Liberal Democracies” (155), critiques Stuart Hall’s argument that the neoconservative political regimes of Thatcher’s government (and by extension the Reagan administration) were underpinned by a coherent and elaborated political rationality that they then sought to implement. He suggests instead that the advanced liberal mentality of government that came to be termed neoliberalism involved a gradual organization of diverse skirmishes. While I agree with Rose, I nonetheless find it useful to juxtapose these two docu­ ments given that they were released after and in response to the Los Angeles riots. 7 The Washington Consensus, as proposed by John Williamson, identified ten re­ forms: fiscal discipline, reordering public expenditure priorities, tax reform, lib­ eralizing interest rates, a competitive exchange rate, trade liberalization, liberal­ ization of foreign investment, privatization, deregulation, and property rights. 8 Without enough support from Democrats to defeat Republican opposition, Clin­ ton had to back off from these programs. 9 The same point that Saskia Sassen notes in “Whose City Is It?” about the continu­ ing and integral role that the state does in fact play in globalization through legis­ lating the terms of capital flows holds true for the role o f the state in privatization. 10 Harvey, The C ondition oj Postm odernity, 122. 11 Los Angeles Times, “Why Ueberroth and Rebuild Los Angeles Must Not Fail.” 12 See Christian Zlolniski, Janitors, Street Vendors and Activists, for a discussion of Justice for Janitors in Silicon Valley.

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13 For a discussion of Walter Benjamin’s treatment o f consumers as a dreaming col­ lective, see “Dream World of Mass Culture” in Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing, 253-86. 14 The Los Angeles historian Mike Davis has accounted for this aspect o f the riots as follows: “The riot arrived like a magic dispensation. People were initially shocked by the violence, then mesmerized by the televised images of bi-racial crowds in South Central LA helping themselves to mountains of desirable goods without interference from the police . . . Thousands immediately interpreted this as a last call to participate in the general redistribution of wealth in progress . . . The loot­ ing crowds were governed by a visible moral economy. As one middle-aged lady explained to me, ‘Stealing is a sin, but this is like a television game show where everyone in the audience gets to win’ ” (“LA Intifada,” 2). 15 This visual access is akin to what Benjamin speaks of as the “perceptual acuity” and “optical unconscious” afforded by new techniques of production (Benjamin in Buck-Morss, Dialectics of Seeing, 267-68). 16 Indeed, the technical reproduction of the riot is a particularly striking example of the human reappropriation of new technology anticipated by Benjamin. Of course, it is not the photograph or radio but rather video and television that rep­ resent the “new nature” here. Benjamin believed that technical reproduction would give back to humanity the capacity for expression that technical produc­ tion threatens to take away (Buck-Morss, Dialectics of Seeing, 268). The response of the “dreaming collective” of the mass television audience in Los Angeles repre­ sented the capacity for the inventive reception based on mimetic improvisation (264), which perhaps went beyond even Benjamin’s wildest imaginings. Whereas there is ground for rescuing the liberatory potential from mass media, with the rise of fascism Benjamin modified his romantic notion of the new technology and mimesis. Indeed, the Rodney King case is, from start to finish, a profound example of the ways in which electronic media is Janus-faced, with its potential for both liberation and repression. Whereas the video of the Rodney King beating captured the victim’s oppressors on tape with a “seeing is believing” clarity, the subsequent Simi Valley verdict demonstrated how even home video’s indexical relationship between sign and signifier can be deconstructed and recon­ structed semiotically to re-present the victim as the oppressor. Video has certainly provided what Benjamin termed a “new schooling for mimetic powers” (267), but not necessarily to liberatory ends. The Reginald Denny beating, which followed the verdict, is itself a perverse mi­ metic improvisation of the video of the Rodney King beating. Taking on the role of l a p d officers, these young men reenact the trauma of the Rodney King beating on the body of Reginald Denny. This incident did not help turn a racially motivated beating into blows against racism but instead only added fuel to the criminaliza­ tion of young black men as well as money to the burgeoning prison industry. The 278

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footage of the looting during the Rodney King riot was used against individuals and their criminal prosecutions and, finally, against Latinos as a group by fueling xenophobia and nationalism. Given these repressive consequences, I would add Foucault’s notion of re­ pression as a positive production and the new nature/video as another means of surveillance to Benjamin’s more utopian conceptions thereof. The liberatory and repressive potential appear in the same medium and can take the same form. 17 In 1957 various avant-garde groups in Europe came together to form the Situationist International ( s i ). Over the next decade the si developed a critique of mod­ ern society. Its methods of agitation were influential in the revolt in France in May 1968. Although the si itself was dissolved in 1972, Situationist theses and tactics have been taken up by radical currents in different parts of the world. 18 Situationist International, “Theory of the Derive,” 155-57. 19 Miles, “Blacks vs. Browns,” 42. 20 Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing, 164, 159-91. 21 Bohanan in Appadurai, The Social Life of Things, 25. 22 Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing, 16, 72. 23 At the time of this campaign, the successful bargaining of unionized janitors for wage increases still paled in comparison to the 1970s wage scale for the equiva­ lent work. In other words, even after its victories, the union had not restored the salaries and benefits of previous contracts, since broken, between labor and the private sector. 24 Mahler, Am erican Dreaming, 83. 25 Cannon, Official Negligence, 359-72. 26 Hayden, Street Wars, 4. 27 Regarding s t e p , see California Penal Code, Section 186.2. For an extremely useful summary of the s t e p Act provisions and the larger context in which it was enacted see Gilmore, Golden Gulag, 107-9. 28 See Dunn, The M ilitarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1 9 7 8 -1 9 9 2 ; and Nevins, Opera­ tion Gatekeeper. 29 Lopez and Connell, “Troubled Corner.” 30 Jean and John Comaroff examine how this sort of appropriation of the licit opera­ tions of the market and the rule o f law and the “recommission of their substance” is part of a more “troubled dialectic . . . of law and dis/order framed by neo-liberal mechanisms of deregulation . . . [It is] the pas de deux in which norm and trans­ gression, regulation and exception, redefine each other” (Introduction to Law and Disorder in the Postcolony, 5). 31 Bohannan in Appadurai, Social Life of Things, 25-27. 32 Dumm, “The New Enclosures,” 276. In his discussion of the representational schema of African American transgressive mobility, Dumm footnotes Brenda Bright’s insightful treatment of Mexican American mobility in her ethnography of N O T E S

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Los Angeles low riders. Referring back to the Rodney King incident, Bright notes that having a car does not necessarily give a man the mobility he desires. Latinos and African Americans have long been subject to strict surveillance and delimited mobility. In exploring the car as a site of domination and resistance, Bright exam­ ines how the cultural practice of low riders allows for the reworking of these limi­ tations of mobility placed on racialized cultures in the United States. This is espe­ cially true for Los Angeles, with its legacy of surveillance and conflicts between racial minorities and the police, and to continual reinforcement of racial bound­ aries as criminal boundaries (“Remappings: Los Angeles Low Riders,” 90-91). The image of the freeway as a sign of free circulation brings us back to chapter 1 and to the sudden flight by the film character D-Fens from the clogged arteries of the Los Angeles freeways that once represented individual freedom and mobility— for the Anglo-American male at least. The discussion of mobility in relationship to a male subject, be he white, black, or brown, is deeply tied to questions of space. 33 Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 195-200. 34 See American Civil Liberties Union (a c l u ), “False Premises, False Promise.” 35 For the border, see Dunn, The M ilitarization 0/ the US-Mexico Border; and for South Africa, see Goldberg, Racist Culture. 36 El vacil, or hanging out in the streets, bears a relationship to the Situationist Inter­ national’s notion of dlrive, or drifting, and Walter Benjamin’sflanerie, or prowling. See chapter 5 for an elaborated discussion of el vacil. 37 Ironically, City Walk became a popular hangout for inner-city youth and gang youth precisely because of its effort to mimic the pedestrianism of a city street. My use of the quoted term in this sentence is from Holston, “The Modernist City and the Death of the Street.” 38 See Sorkin, Variations on a Theme Park. 39 Davis, M agical U rbanism , 51-57. In his impassioned survey of how Latinos in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles are “reinventing] the US big city,” Davis ar­ gues that Latin American immigrants, who are “transforming dead urban spaces into convivial social places” (55), are the most important constituency for the preservation of our urban communities, and that “all of Latin America is now a dynamo turning the lights back on in the dead spaces of North American cities” (57). Similarly, Margaret Crawford’s introduction to the edited volume Everyday U rbanism draws upon LeFebvre’s notion of “spaces of representation” and Soja’s idea of “third space” to argue that in Los Angeles women, immigrants, low-level employees, and teenagers are restructuring urban spaces according to an “alter­ native logic of public space” (28-29). 40 While I would not argue that the injunction is a pure example of Foucault’s panopticism (it is hardly economical or efficient) it does share certain features, in­ cluding spatial partitioning through the penetration into, and regulation of, the smallest details of everyday life. And while the mini-mall at Alvarado and Pico is 280

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not on the postmodern technological order of Mike Davis’s “smart building,” it is an integral figure in the redevelopment of the barrio as “carceral city” (Davis, City of Quartz, 221-64). This reengineering at the street level is further perfected by another key figure (which perhaps is at a formal level truer to Foucault’s notion of panopticism), namely that of the omnipresent helicopter and its night scope, which swoops back and forth along the streets and alleys of the barrio, peering into the windows of the apartment buildings where these gang members are, so to speak, under house arrest. Unlike the newscopter, the policecopter is a purer example of panopticism, since the two-way vision of synopticism enabled by live coverage or reality t v is absent. The blinding light of the policecopter is a vivid metaphor for this one-way visual perception. For a discussion of panopticism versus synopticism, see Andrejevic, Reality t v , 1-17. 41 For a discussion of gang injunctions, see Klein and Maxson, Street Gangs Patterns and Policies, 220. In theory, community policing takes the view that the police and citizens are coproducers of police services and are jointly responsible for reducing crime and improving the quality of life in local neighborhoods. According to the philosophy of community policing, local police should provide citizens with formal access to the department’s decision- and policymaking processes, initiate frequent personal contacts with community members on their beats, and inter­ act in an attentive, friendly, and compassionate manner. Enforcing the law and fighting crime remain important elements of policing, but community policing recognizes that, in reality, most police work is oriented toward non-enforcement tasks such as maintaining order and providing social services (see Eck and Rosen­ baum, “The New Police Order” ). For an analysis of the politics of community policing and the struggle over what it constitutes, see Lyons, The Politics of Com ­ m unity Policing. 42 As Malcolm Klein and Cheryl Maxson note, a study of southern California injunc­ tions found few indicators of direct community participation in the selection of targeted gang members in the development of the evidence for the lawsuit or in its enforcement. The injunction, they argue, is “largely a one-man show, and that man was the police” (Street Gangs Patterns and Policies, 220-21). 43 See O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement.” 44 A coalition of groups, including the Labor Community Strategies Center, agenda,

a South Central organization, and Coalition Against Police Abuse

( c a p a ), led a successful citywide campaign to defeat the federal Weed and Seed

Program by arguing that “Weed and Seed attempted to control social service agen­ cies by placing their funding under the authority of the Justice Department and criminalizing inner-city black and Latino youth through ‘target zones’ that al­ lowed them to be arrested and convicted under even more repressive federal stat­ utes” (Mann, “Building the Anti-Racist, Anti-Imperialist United Front”). N O T E S

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45 See Chesluk, “Visible Signs of a City Out o f Control” and M oney Jungle. 46 Los Angeles Times, “Why Ueberroth and Rebuild Los Angeles Must Not Fail.” 47 O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” 182. 48 Hayden, “Fruits of War,” 5-6. 49 See Rose, “Governing ‘Advanced’ Liberal Democracies.” 50 Ibid., 157. 51 Borrowing from Claude Lefort’s Democracy and Political Theory, Rosalind Deutsche invokes that marvelous image of “the empty space of the social” and the ways in which the “guardians of public space” attempt to occupy, fill up, and take pos­ session of that empty place, which in democratic society is the locus of power— namely, The People (Evictions, 273-79).

t h r e e

C rim in al Cop

1 Cannon, “ l a p d Confidential,” 62. 2 See chapter 5 for a discussion of the founding of Homies Unidos in San Salvador. 3 There was some overlap here with the Wilshire division. 4 For a discussion of the inception of this gang as expounded by Alex Sanchez, see Hayden, “Fruits of War,” 206-9. See also Vigil, A R ainbow oj Gangs, 131-45. 5 A pupuseria is a street-front restaurant named for the Salvadoran national dish the pupusa, which is to El Salvador as the hamburger is to the United States. The pu­ pusa is made up of a thick corn tortilla filled with combinations of pork, beans, a hard white cheese, and a green vegetable called loroco. 6 Reverend James Lawson worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the American civil rights move­ ment. He continues to be involved in training activists in nonviolence. Connie Rice is a prominent civil rights attorney and is co-director and co-founder of the Advancement Project in Los Angeles. Angela Oh is also a well-known civil rights attorney, who became more widely known for her advocacy on behalf of Korean Americans in the aftermath to the riots in 1992 and was later appointed by Presi­ dent Bill Clinton to the President’s Initiative on Race. 7 For a discussion of “dangerous classes” see Simon in O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” 162. 8 The conflict between Left and Right might be construed thus: Who gets to pacify these “dangerous classes” and what does that pacification entail? While I do not locate community-level resistance within this body per se, I do agree with O’Mal­ ley’s contention that the very existence of competing discourses of criminology is indicative of resistance (“Containing Our Excitement,” 164). 9 See O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” for a discussion of this hard side of neoliberalism and its punitive technologies, 172. 10 This was true for the African American gangs, the Bloods, and the Crips, but not 28 2

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so for the Latino immigrant gangs 18th Street and

m s.

In fact, the war between

18th Street and m s began in 1992. 11 Until fairly recently, street vending was an illegal practice in Los Angeles. It is now possible to apply for health-code certification and tax licenses. However, many vendors cannot afford these fees or lack the technical expertise needed to navigate the complex set of laws governing vending. Moreover, vendors must move their trucks every hour. For details on street vending in Los Angeles county, see the Web site for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Street Vending Committee at http://www.chirla.org. Also see Crawford, “Contesting the Public Realm,” 6-7, among others. 12 Hayden, “Fruits of War,” 223-25. 13 For a discussion of the space of the street as a space of cultural resistance, see Bourgois, In Search of Respect, and as a space of community activism, see Gregory, Black Corona, 110-38. For a discussion of the street as a space of contagion, fear, and fascination, and a key site for the formation of the modernist split between the savage and civilized other, see Stallybrass and White, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression. 14 The discussion of “third space” in this particular context is drawn from Chase, Crawford, and Kaliski, Everyday U rbanism , 29. For earlier and additional discus­ sions of “third space,” see Anzaldúa, Borderland/La Frontera; Bhabha, The Location of C ulture; and Soja, Thirdspace. 15 Dumm, “The New Enclosures,” 29. 16 Statement made by Warren Olney during his daily radio talk show This W ay LA, kcrw,

September 9, 1999.

17 See Aretxaga, “A Fictional Reality,” for a discussion o f how the Basque police oper­ ated as both “the law and its transgression” (60). 18 Cannon, “ l a p d Confidential,” 34. 19 The c a l /g a n g list is a database containing a list of 160,000 individuals meeting the so-called gang profile. That profile includes a list of “tell-tale” traits or signs of gang membership. An individual need only exhibit three out of about sixteen traits to give an officer “probable cause” to stop him or her. 20 Cannon, “ l a p d Confidential,” 34. 21 See Rivera, “Scandal Stirs a Grim Specter of Emotions.” 22 See Herbert, Policing Space, for a discussion of how the spatial practices of both the l a p d and gangs draw from the same “adventure/machismo normative order.” Herbert’s ethnography of the l a p d shows that police officers and gang members share many traits such as enjoyment of the thrill o f danger, the rush of adrenaline, and the destructive power of the gun. Indeed, he finds that police officers actu­ ally seek out antagonism from gang members intentionally in order to experience “the excitement of trying to enact territoriality in dangerous and challenging cir­ cumstances” (88-89). N O T E S

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23 Simon quoted in O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” 162. 24 Perez quoted in Cannon, “ l a p d Confidential,” 66. 25 For a theorization of the dialogical or reciprocal nature of violence, see Girard, Violence and the Sacred, 143. 26 Taussig, Mimesis and Alterity, 78. 27 Sullivan, “The Murder of Notorious B.I.G.” 28 See Taussig, Defacem ent for a discussion of “public secrets.” In Begoña Aretxaga’s work, which explores how the state plays at being the savage other, she argues that the interiorization of a fantastic enemy characterizes counterinsurgency and anti-terrorist thinking and is fundamental to the logics of political transgression (Aretxaga, “A Fictional Reality,” 54). See chapter 7 and the conclusion of this book for a discussion of how these same logics operated between the United States and El Salvador in the post-9/11 period. 29 Homies Unidos in San Salvador, on the other hand, was initially founded on the “union” of the two major rival gangs 18th Street and m s . 30 Dwight Conquergood, in his long-term ethnographic work with the Latin Kings in Chicago, describes the gang neighborhood as “a subterranean space of lifesustaining warmth, intimacy and protection” (“Homeboys and Hoods,” 47). 31 Nichols, Blurred Boundaries, 46. 32 Girard argues that when two desires converge on the same object, they are bound to clash, and that mimesis, coupled with desire, leads automatically to conflict (Girard, Violence and the Sacred, 146). 33 O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” 160. 34 See Edmund T. Gordon’s “Cultural Politics ofBlack Masculinity” for an alternative interpretation of black male practice as active politics of accommodation and re­ sistance. In his discussion, Gordon takes issue with the culture of poverty thesis, which pathologizes all nonconformist, non-middle-class behavior. He calls for a more nuanced understanding of the African American male cultural process that, rather than couching the black male “crisis” in psychological terms, rethinks these problems in political terms. In so doing, African American males’ active de­ nial of authority and the legitimacy of the state and its institutions, the deliberate violation of the precepts of capitalist ownership, and the rejection of the social and moral norms of Anglo civil society also speak to their political resistance to an established order. Similarly, Dwight Conquergood argues that the Latin Kings were “keenly aware of class difference in communication style, and are critical of what they take to be the tepid, distant, interpersonal mode of the middle class” (“Homeboys and Hoods,” 47). 35 This is not the actual language used by the organization, but is rather derived from O’Malley, “Containing Our Excitement,” 164. 36 In this sense, the position of Homies Unidos supports David Brotherton and Luis

28 4

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Barrios’s thesis in T h e A l m i g h t y L a t i n K i n g a n d Q u e e n Nation that gangs can be ap­ proached from a social movements perspective. Brotherton and Barrios argue that gangs are political entities that have, through their individual and collective prac­ tices, the potential to resist, transform, or transcend society’s structures. 37 This was the first of two such protests outside the Rampart station not mentioned in the New York Times M a g a z i n e . The second was held in conjunction with the Y2K protests around the Democratic National Convention. See Hayden, Street Wars, for a discussion of both protests. 38 The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González, were at the center of a heated controversy in 2000 involving the Cuban and United States governments, Elián’s father and family in Cuba, and the anti-Castro Cuban American political organizations and the boy’s relatives in Miami. However, after the appeals by the Miami relatives met several rejections by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and a refusal to hear the case by the U.S. Supreme Court, Elián returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González, on June 28, 2000. 39 The Bus Riders Union, a project of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, is a pro­ gressive civil rights and environmental justice membership organization focused on the mass transit and public health needs of transit-dependent communities in Los Angeles (see http://www.busridersunion.org). 40 O’Connor, “ i n s Probes Its Role in Rampart Case.” 41 See chapters 4, 5, and 6 for a detailed discussion of conditions in El Salvador. 42 See chapter 5 and 6 for a discussion of zero-tolerance gang abatement strategies in El Salvador. 43 O’Connor, “Suit Alleges Harassment o f L.A. Gang Peace Group.” 44 Javier Ovando’s immigrant status was not a pressing issue in the Rampart inves­ tigation. The crime for which Ovando was framed would have kept him in prison and thus out of the deportation pipeline for a good twenty-three years.

fo u r

C rim in a l D eportee

1 According to Immigration and Naturalization Services and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistical yearbooks, the average number of individuals de­ ported to El Salvador from 1996 to 2005 was 4,686, which is almost double the average number deported annually between 1980 and 1995. By 2009, the number of deportees climbed to 20,406, a weekly average of 1,700 (Coutin, Nation oj E m i ­ g rants,

24).

2 This quote is excerpted from “Radio Diaries” on This A m e r i c a n Life, National Pub­ lic Radio (May 21, 1999). The show was produced by Joe Richman and narrated by José Huezo Soriano (a.k.a. Weasel). 3 Boyer, “Bad Cops,” 71. However, of the three thousand cases under investigation,

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Garcetti determined that the lowest priority was to be given to people who had been deported as a result of a conviction and may be impossible to find (Wein­ stein, “Rampart Probe May Now Affect Over 3,000 Cases” ). 4 For a discussion of the dialectical tension between the barrio as a community en­ abling and disabling space, see Villa, Barrio-Logos, 1-18. 5 Barrios populares or marginales here refer to working class, poor, and marginal neighborhoods. 6 As noted in the introduction to this book, this is not a linguistic study. However, I have chosen not to “clean up” the transcription of Gato’s English in order to leave the mixture of languages in his speech visible. 7 As I will discuss at length in the next two chapters, in El Salvador the tattoo is taken as a sign of criminality. Those bearing tattoos can be barred from attending school, for example, and the presence of a tattoo has been used as grounds for failing to provide timely medical attention to the wounded in hospital emergency rooms, resulting in unnecessary deaths from bleeding. The discrimination can be so fierce that even the most innocuous tattoos can be misconstrued. For instance, one deportee I knew used to wrap a bandage up the length of his arm before he left for classes in a private college. This, he explained to me, was to avoid conflict with the local gangs and the police and to enable him to enter the college. His tattoo, the source of so much discrimination and danger, was simply the name of his youngest daughter who lived in Los Angeles. He had tattooed her name into his arm so that “she would always be close” to him. 8 Magdaleno Rose-Ávila had just come from Los Angeles, where he was Amnesty International’s West Coast regional director. He’d had significant experience in Central America as a Peace Corps director in Nicaragua and then Guatemala in the 1980s. As a renegade and a would-be Catholic priest, Rose-Ávila began his political activism in the Chicano movement with Teatro Cam pesino (the street the­ ater group formed by playwright and director, Luis Valdez) and working for Cesar Chavez’s Farm Workers Union in the 1970s. As the son of Mexican farm workers himself, he grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he, alongside many of his con­ temporaries, struggled with drugs and violence. 9 Cruz and Peña, Solidarid y violencia en las pandillas del Gran San Salvador. 10 Güera means light-skinned. The alternative spelling of Huera’s name is in and of itself a sign of the Americanization of Salvadoran Spanish as well as the influ­ ence of Spanglish. 11 See Vigil, Barrio G angs; Phillips, W allbangin’; and Villa, Barrio-Logos, among others, for the centrality of space and place in Chicano culture and gangs as a hyper­ intensification of place attachment. 12 The urban planner Kevin Lynch in his oft-cited study of cognitive mapping takes up the problem of spatial alienation wrought by modernization and urbaniza­ tion (Image oj the City). Drawing on Lynch’s work, Fredric Jameson suggests that 286

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“the alienated city is above all a space in which people are unable to map (in their minds) either their own positions or the urban totality in which they find them­ selves” and that “disalienation in the traditional city . . . involves the practical re­ conquest of a sense of place” (“Postmodernism,” 89). The spatial alienation and fettered mobility o f these deported immigrant gang youth, however, result from very different conditions than those affecting the middle-class city dwellers, tour­ ists, and business travelers in Lynch’s and Jameson’s respective works. 13 See Smith’s “Can You Imagine” and Transnational U rbanism for a discussion of mi­ gration and the politics of simultaneity. 14 See Harvey, The C ondition oj Postm odernity. 15 The term coyote is a slang term used in Central America, Mexico, and the United States for someone who helps smuggle migrants across borders. Coyotes are dis­ tinguished from human traffickers because the migrants have actively engaged their services. In describing these cases where people who transformed from re­ cipients of remittances to providers of remittances, I do not want to suggest that the journey involved in that transformation is a hop, skip, and a jump, or that it is not an undertaking o f considerable financial and physical risk. Two months later, this young woman’s youngest sister arrived in Los Angeles, but she had been raped along the way while crossing through Mexico. Moreover, many people lose their money, and never make it across. Doña Leti herself tells the story of her first entry into the United States overland, and how she stood her ground against her coyote, who made the mistake of thinking she would just give in to his advances. 16 Tabudos is the name that people from Santa Elena have coined for themselves. 17 At the time, girls were selected as queen, not based on looks but rather, how much money they could raise for the organization. 18 In the post-9/11 era, joining the military became an increasingly common alter­ native occupation for Latino immigrant youth. For a discussion of the aggres­ sive recruitment of Latinos for the War on Terror, see Amaya, “Dying American” ; Mariscal, “Homeland Security, Militarism, and the Future of Latinos and Latinas in the United States” ; Perez, “Discipline and Citizenship” ; Plascencia, “Citizen­ ship through Veteranship” ; and chapter 7 in this book. 19 For a discussion of this “return migration,” see chapter 6. 20 Williams, M arxism and Literature, 128-35. 21 In Culture and Im perialism , Edward Said sets out to demonstrate how the imperial power and its colonies were produced in relation, or counterpoint, to each other. He argues that the nineteenth-century British novel, the quintessential genre of British cultural production and expression of British identity, is intimately re­ lated to and dependent upon the social space of empire. National identity is thus worked out through the relationship between home and abroad, the metropole and its colonies. Others have discussed how the postcolonial era has been, in turn, marked by a reversal in this cultural production of identity. The “periphery” N O T E S

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emerges at the “center” in the form of the now-well-known trope “the empire strikes back.” See Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies ( c c c s ), The Empire Strikes Back. 22 Grosfoguel, Maldonado-Torres, and Saldívar justify using the term “colonial” for Latino immigrants even though they were never directly colonized by the metro­ politan country to which they migrated. Nonetheless, because they are “racialized” in similar ways to the “colonial/racial subjects of empire” upon arrival in the United States, and because many have actually fled the results of direct U.S. military intervention in their countries of origin, these authors argue that the lack o f a notion of “coloniality” is precisely the dimension lacking in much of the transnational literature (Latin@s in the W orld-System , 6-11). 23 On the notion of “representational ambivalence,” and living life “off the hyphen,” see Arias, “Central American-Americans,” 185 and 171.

f ív e

G a n g Peace A ctiv ist

1 On police reforms, see Call, “Policing the New World Order,” “From Soldiers to Cops,” and “Democratization, War and State-Building” ; Call and Stanley, “Pro­ tecting the People” ; Costa, La Policía Nacional Civil de El Salvador; Stanley, “Protec­ tors or Perpetrators?” ; and Ziegler and Nield, “From Peace to Governance.” On judicial reforms, see Popkin, Peace w ithout Justice. For more on gang-abatement strategies, see Aguilar, “El manodurismo y las ‘politicas’ de seguridad” ; e r i c et al., M ara y pandillas en Centroamérica; Fundación de Estudios Para la Aplicacíon del Derecho (f e s p a d ), Inform e annual sobre la justicia penal ju v en il, El Salvador; Catholic Relief Services, “Gangs in Central America” ; Cruz and Carranza, “Pandillas y politícas públicas” ; u s a i d , “Central American and Mexico Gang Assessment” ; Zilberg, “Refugee Gang Youth” ; Coutin, Nation o f Emigrants; and International Human Rights Clinic, “No Place to Hide.” 2 Indeed, the organization and its members were the realization of Homi Bhabha’s “hybrid” —a hybridization of forms—perhaps beyond even his wildest imagin­ ings (see Nation and Narration). 3 As noted in the introduction, while the female prison population has been on the rise in the United States, it was more common for young Latina women to be policed by what was left of the welfare state, for their reproductive functions. Moreover, Latina youth also tended to leave gang life earlier to care for their chil­ dren. 4 See chapter 4 for a discussion of these Internet cultural practices. 5 Cruz and Peña, Solidaridad y violencia en las pandillas del Gran San Salvador, 207. 6 Ibid., 59. 7 Santacruz and Concha-Eastman, Barrio adentro, 111. 8 On transgressing the line, see Foucault, “A Preface to Transgression.” 288

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Michel de Certeau distinguishes between the “strategies” of so-called more formal politics and the “tactics” of everyday life in the so-called “informal arena” (The Practice o f Everyday Life, xix).

10 In de Certeau’s language, Homies Unidos could be described as sitting on that “borderline,” which its members constantly “manipulate” through the “tactics” of “everyday practices (talking, walking, shopping . . .),” and the “clever tricks of a hunter’s cunning [which can be] poetic as well as warlike” (The Practice of Every­ day Life, xix). 11 Ibid. 12 For a more detailed discussion of doble cara, see Zilberg, “Gangster in GuerrillaFace” and chapter 7 in this book. 13 See Fraser, “Rethinking the Public Sphere,” for a discussion of structurally or­ dained spaces (14). 14 My intention here is not simply to settle with an analysis of these ideologically saturated discourses and their conflation in the contemporary Salvadoran “folk devil” (Cohen, Folk Devils and M oral Panics; Hall et al., Policing the Crisis) of the de­ ported gang member. Above and beyond discourse analysis, I want here to think through Homies Unidos’s silent, visibly uncomfortable, but ubiquitous presence in this Habermasian public sphere and its idealized speech community where for­ merly suspect, banned, and exiled political forces now sit at the table with repre­ sentatives of the right wing. 15 The Foro had a prehistory. It was the latest constellation o f groups that had during the 1980s organized around the forced migration of Salvadorans fleeing the war and political violence. The nature of “the migrant” question had shifted away from its original focus: the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (u n h c r ), the camps for refugees fleeing the civil war in neighboring Honduras, and the sub­ sequent repatriation of those refugees back to El Salvador (see Zolberg, Suhrke, and Aguayo, Escapefro m Violence; Cagan and Cagan, This Prom ised Land; and Silber, “Mothers/Fighters/Citizens” ). The Foro was a mixture of old and reorganized forces, but it had a new focus: no longer the refugee but rather the hermano lejano, the retornado, and the deportado. Moreover, that focus had switched from the United Nation’s role in the Central American region to the Salvadoran state’s role in and with respect to the Salvadoran expatriate in or returning from the United States. 16 See Zilberg and Lungo, “ ‘Se han vuelto haraganes’?” 17 For a discussion of c a r e c e n , see chapters 1 and 3. 18 See chapter 7 for a discussion of political versus social violence. 19 As I discuss in the next chapter, it wasn’t until 2004 that these proposals received some recognition through the establishment of the Secretariat for Youth as a re­ sponse to critiques of El Plan Mano Dura’s sole emphasis on repression. 20 Esseveld and Eyerman in Lucero, “On Feuds, Tumults, and Turns,” 8. 21 Alvarez, Dagnino, and Escobar, Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures, 6. N O T E S

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22 The person was referring to, among others, the three deported gang members who had been arrested in the much-publicized case La Tormenta Toxica (The Toxic Storm). That case revolved around a private beachside rave party that the police at­ tempted to turn into a major drug bust around the time of President George W. Bush’s visit to El Salvador. Fifteen people, mostly middle- and upper-middle-class youth, one the son of a state assembly member, were arrested. All were released ex­ cept for the three deportees, who over a year later were still in prison awaiting trial. 23 See chapter 7 for a further discussion of the case of Rosa N. 24 Caldeira, City of Walls, 341. 25 Villalobos, De la tortura a la protección ciudadana, 184. 26 Caldeira, City ofWalls, 339-42. 27 The exception here being the successful campaign mounted against kidnappings of prominent family members. 28 Costa, La Policía N acional Civil de El Salvador, 27-28. 29 See Betancur et al., From Madness to H ope, chapter 2, “National Civil Police.” 30 See Gill, The School of the Am ericas. 31 The self-described mission of

icitap

is as follows: To “serve as the source of

support for United States criminal justice and foreign policy goals by assisting foreign governments in developing the capacity to provide professional law en­ forcement services based on democratic principles and respect for human rights.” It was created by the Department of Justice in 1986 to respond to a request from the Department of State for assistance in training police forces in Latin America. Since then, i c i t a p ’ s activities have expanded to encompass two principal types of assistance projects: (1) the development of police forces in the context of interna­ tional peacekeeping operations, and (2) the enhancement of capabilities of exist­ ing police forces in emerging democracies. Assistance is based on internationally recognized principles of human rights, rule of law, and modern police practices (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/icitap). For a critical discussion of i c i t a p ’ s his­ tory in Latin America, see Huggins, Political Policing. 32 IUDOP, “Delincuencia y opinion pública.” 33 See California Penal Code Section 186.20-186.23. 34 Quoted in Hidalgo, “Transforming L.A.— El Salvador’s Gang Connection.” 35 Due to all of the people who were willing to write letters on behalf of Weasel, he received a relatively light sentence. At the time, “Illegal Reentry” could result any­ where from a five- to fourteen-year sentence.

six Soldier Cop 1 See Aguilar, “El Manodurismo y las ‘politicas’ de seguridad.” 2 See Moodie, “ ‘It’s Worse than the War.’ ” 3 Even the National Association of Private Enterprise (a n e p ), the Salvadoran Foun290

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dation for Social and Economic Development (f u s a d e s , the conservative think tank set up during the war years by the United States and the new Right in El Sal­ vador), and the newly reinstalled chief of the

pnc,

Rodrigo Ávila, all concurred

with this assessment of manodurismo. Rodrigo Ávila had also served as the first chief of police of the newly created

pnc,

and he would become

a r e n a ’s

presi­

dential candidate in the 2009 elections. 4 My translation of “los señores de la guerra” as “warlords” does not imply the common meaning associated with the latter term. Rather, warlords here refers to the commanders in the official state military. A more literal translation would be “masters of the war.” 5 See Robinson, Transnational Conflicts (87-102), for a discussion of how the Peace Accords involved sacrificing the Salvadoran military alongside the power of those among the landed oligarchy who had not adjusted to the new neoliberal agenda introduced by the United States via the new right in El Salvador, represented then by the new ruling political party, a r e n a , and such U.S.-sponsored think tanks as FUSADES. 6 Cruz and Carranza, “Pandillas y políticas públicas,” 25. 7 The idea of the bakery as a potential cottage industry in El Salvador was fraught with contradiction. With the exception of only the very largest operations, one local bakery after another was closing its facilities as a result of being unable to compete with foreign imports because of the neoliberal restructuring of trade policies. 8 See Rivas, “Imaginaries of Transnationalism,” for a discussion of this growing transnational communications industry in El Salvador. 9 This chapter focuses on how manodurista policies undermine efforts as preven­ tion and intervention. It is also often the case, however, that these programs themselves are poorly conceived, are executed by people with little training, and are not subject to proper evaluation. I sought out Pro-Jóvenes and Lisette Miranda in particular precisely because of their resources, combined technical know-how, and experience. 10 Weasel was not wrong to fear further detention. The most recent request granted for Withholding from Removal for a former gang member came with a high price: permanent detention. 11 The term used in the e-mail was “bangui,” not “baggy.” Although there is a brand of clothing called Bangui, none of the teenagers and young adults I asked had heard of it, and they generally thought that Argueta must have intended to write “bagui” as a transliteration for “baggy.” 12 See Rivas, “Imaginaries of Transnationalism,” for a discussion of the mega-mall industry. 13 See Baires, “Socio-Spatial Urban Transformations, Social Exclusion and Internal Borders in Central America.” N O T E S

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14 Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan fast-food chain specializing in fried chicken and popular in Central America. It was common for Central Americans to fly back to the United States with bags of Pollo Campero as gifts. As a result, the chain opened up branches in Los Angeles to cater to Central Americans living there. There was even a branch in the Glendale Galleria shopping mall. 15 Burgos was referring to certain postwar security plans for coffee cultivation such as Grano de Oro and Plan Caminante. He argues that Mano Dura and Súper Mano Dura have their antecedents in the postwar transition. 16 See Gill, The School 0/the Am ericas, for an ethnography of the s

s e v e n

o a

.

G a n g -C rim e-T erro rism C o n tin u u m

1 Benajmin in Buck-Morss, Dialectics o/ Seeing, 67-77. 2 See Derrida, Specters o/ M arx, for a discussion of this notion of time (xix-xx). 3 For a discussion of the distinction and continuum between political and social or criminal violence see Cruz, “Los factores posibilitadores y las expresiones de la violencia en Los Noventa” ; Ramos, Violencia en una sociedad en transicion; ScheperHughes and Bourgois, Violence in W ar and Peace; Zilberg, “Gangster in Guerilla Face.” See Moodie, “ ‘It’s Worse than the War,’ ” for a discussion of nostalgia for the war in the face of postwar crime. 4 On the “real of violence,” see Aretxaga, “Violent Spectres.” 5 Drawing on Zulaika and Douglass, Aretxaga argues that what is copied is not terrorism but a fantasy of terrorism. Like the savage, the terrorist exists in a fan­ tasized form as the “other” of an imaginary relation, which is to say as a collec­ tive representation (“A Fictional Reality,” 60). Fantasy, in its Freudian sense, is not a purely illusory construction but is a form of reality in its own right, a scene whose structure traverses the boundary between the conscious and the uncon­ scious (Aretxaga, States o/ Terror, 106). Fantasy has no “owner” or subject— it is a technique of The Real irrupting into the Symbolic order. 6 Horkheimer and Adorno use the term “organized mimesis” to think about the co­ optation o f mimesis as a function o f alterity by fascism; that is, not as outright re­ pression but as organized control of mimesis (Dialectic o/Enlightenm ent, 148). Build­ ing on this notion of “organized mimesis,” Aretxaga speaks of the “disorganized and fantastic character o f organized mimesis” to discuss “the organized copy of terrorism by the state to eliminate terrorism” (“A Fictional Reality,” 60). 7 The cultural argument unleashed by the Rosa N. case is a perfect example of what Aretxaga explored as a “mirroring paranoid dynamic,” where the accusations do not face in one direction (“Maddening States,” 399-402). For a discussion of the role of the relationship between rumor and magical realism in violence in Colom­ bia, see Taussig, Sham anism , Colonialism , and the W ild M a n , 8. 8 Like Anderson’s use of “imagined,” in my use of “fantastic” I do not mean “un29 2

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real.” Aretxaga speaks of the “structure of fantasy” as a reality that transcends a concrete individual to become a social fact to demarcate the space of the real (“Violent Specters,” 12). That said, neither am I presenting the details of Lin’s tes­ timony as fact. Indeed, I rather suspect Lin had me pegged and told me his story in terms he knew I would understand. Truth or fantasy, honesty or manipulation, what is of interest here are the forms of emplotment by which Lin structures his narrative. 9

As Derrida notes, “Every age has its scenography” and its own “theatre o f ghosts” (Specters 0/M arx, 119).

10 For a discussion of the “production of a culprit,” see Aretxaga, “Violent Specters,” 28-32. 11 These are the structures that were supposedly dismantled under the conditions of the Peace Accords of 1992. See chapter 5 for a discussion of the disbanding of the extant public security system. 12 The teacher’s union,

andes,

was an important political formation of the Left in

the period leading up to the civil war. It remains active in contemporary El Salva­ dor. 13 When I last saw Amanda she was living in San Salvador and had become a com­ mitted evangelical Christian. Amanda had always been a bit of a rebel and critical of society around her. She said that her conversion to Christianity helped her with her earlier frustrations and finally had given her some peace. 14 For studies of Salvadoran immigrant hometown associations, see Lungo and Kandel, Transform ando El Salvador; Landolt, Autler, and Baires, “From Hermano Lejano to Hermano Mayor” ; Baker-Cristales, Salvadoran M igration to Southern Califor­ n ia ; and Hamilton and Chinchilla, Seeking Com m unity in a Global City. 15

unhcr,

“Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Victims of Organized

Gangs.” 16

w o l a , Central

Am erican Gang-Related Asylum Guide.

17 Aizenman, “More Immigrants Seeking Asylum Cite Gang Violence.” 18 I allude here to Agamben, State o/Exception. 19 See Cole and Dempsey, Terrorism and the Constitution. 20 Brown, “Legislating Repression,” 6. 21 See Federman, “Who Has the Body?” 22 Ibid., 323. 23 The one exception is the purported recruitment of a Chicago gang by Libya in Sep­ tember 1989 to shoot down U.S. airliners with shoulder-fired missiles. 24 Farah, “Criminals, Jihadists Threaten U.S. Border.” 25 McPhee, “Eastie Gang Linked to Al-Qaeda” ; Seper, “Al Qaeda Seeks Tie to Local Gangs.” 26 Gingrich, “American Gangs— Ties to Terror?” ; Hayden, “Gingrich/Fox Invent Gangs/Terror Link.” N O T E S

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27 Gingrich, “American Gangs— Ties to Terror?” 28 See Wilson and Sullivan, “On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism.” 29 Wilson and Sullivan, “On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism,” 1. The stated aim of De­ fense and the National Interest is to “foster debate on the roles of the U.S. armed forces in the post-Cold War era and on the resources devoted to them. The ulti­ mate purpose is to help create a more effective national defense against the types of threats we will likely face during the first decades of the new millennium. Con­ tributors to this site are, with a few exceptions, active/reserve, former, or retired military. They often combine a knowledge of military theory with the practical experience that comes from trying their ideas in the field. As you browse our site, please pay particular attention to the e-mails from our deployed forces in such places as Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern Countries” (http://d-n-i.net). 30 Wilson and Sullivan, “On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism,” 13. 31 See Manwaring, “Street Gangs.” 32 García, “N.Y. Using Terrorism Law to Prosecute Street Gang.” 33 On the “free-floating signifier,” see Zulaika and Douglass, Terror and Taboo. 34 Wilson and Sullivan, “On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism,” 2. 35 Ibid., 16. 36 Hofstader in Marcus, Paranoia w ithin Reason, 1. 37 Zulaika and Douglass, Terror and Taboo, 30. 38 See United States Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, “Operation Commu­ nity Shield.” 39 NationalTerrorAlert.com describes itself as “a private homeland security blog and not affiliated with any government agency” that archives and comments on “homeland security related news items from a variety of news sources, as well as provide[s] immediate updates on breaking stories, bulletins and any change in status to Homeland Security advisory.” 40 Domash, “America’s Most Dangerous Gang.” 41 Garfield, “Gang Scare.” 42 This show followed the release of a study by the Justice Policy Institute in July 2007. The study, entitled “Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies,” counters the prevailing common sense about the rise of gang membership, the racial makeup of gangs, the degree to which gangs are involved in the drug trade and responsible for the national crime rate, as well as the permanence of gang membership (Greene and Pranis, Gang Wars). 43 Since its inception,

ice

agents across one hundred field offices, working in con­

junction with hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies nationwide, have arrested a total of 7,655 street gang members and associates,

29 4

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representing over 700 different gangs (United States Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, “Operation Community Shield”). 44 Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff study what they call the South African “fic­ tional economy of representation.” A similar “metaphysics of disorder” that feeds “criminal obsessions” in the South African postcolony (“Criminal Obsessions”) also appears to be at work in both El Salvador and the United States. 45 Garfield, “Gang Scare.” 46 For analysis of Salvadoran media coverage of gangs, see Marroquin, “Indifferencias y espantos” ; Martel, “Las maras salvadoreñas” ; and Moodie, “Wretched Bodies, White Marches, and the Cuatro Vision Public in El Salvador.” 47 In 2007, Salvadoran media outlets signed a public accord, “Medios Unidos por La Paz” (Media United for Peace), agreeing to reduce sensationalist coverage of violence in recognition of the media’s role in generating more violence. Interest­ ingly, in 2009 after the f

m l n

candidate Mauricio Funes was sworn in as the first

Salvadoran president, media coverage of violence and gangs increased signifi­ cantly. While it would take a serious content analysis of the Salvadoran media to corroborate such a claim, many on the Left felt that this was an intentional effort of the part of the right-wing-owned media to undermine Funes popularity with the Salvadoran public. 48 This was not the first time someone who I knew had been killed. But the proximity of our first meeting and his murder was particularly agonizing. After three years of grappling with the timing and meaning of his death, I learned from sources close to him that by the time he was killed, the pastor had, it seemed, resumed his activity in the gang when he was killed. Whether his activity was a desperate attempt to replace the funding for the project he had been working on which had come to an end or whether it was an indication that he had only masqueraded as a pastor in order to receive those funds, or something else altogether, I cannot say. 49 See Mulvey, Visual and Other Pleasures. 50 Blanchard, “Post-Bourgeois Tattoo,” 295. 51 See Peterson, “Remains Out of Place.” 52 Tattoos can be mobilized as marks of “predatory identities whose social construc­ tion and mobilization require the extinction of the other” (Appadurai, Fear oj Small Numbers, 53). 53 Phillips, “Make It Last Forever,” 15, 36. 54 On “street” to “decent,” see Anderson, Code oj the Street. 55 See Caldeira, “Remaking Walls and Inequality.” 56 Marlon Carranza, interview with the author, September 2006. 57 Thus, in working to highlight the differences between them and us, Súper Mano Dura inaugurated “a new economy of slippage and morphing” (Appadurai, Fear oj Small Numbers) and “an abundance of shadows” (Ferguson, Global Shadows).

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58 Derrida, Specters 0/M arx, 116. 59 I am grateful to Brandt Peterson for his insights into Mano Dura through the lens of the events of 1932 and with it the echoes between el indio and el marero despite their considerable divergences.

coNdusiON H a ll o/ Mirrors 1 Many people assume that it was based on the arena

usa patr io t

Act. Presumably,

knew that they would minimize the resistance to the law if they drew upon

a model from a communist country. That said, there is a great deal in common between Cuban and U.S. antiterrorist legislation (Hernandez-Reguant, “The Mi­ grant as Terrorist”). 2 According to The Board, a blog by the editorial writers of the New York Times, even though the Bush administration reported forty-nine nations, there were actually only forty-five (New YorkTimes Editorial Board, “President Bush’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ ” ). 3 See Lovato, “The War for Latinos” ; Mariscal, “Homeland Security, Militarism, and the Future of Latinos and Latinas in the United States” ; Flores, A Piece o/ the A m eri­ can D ream ; and Amaya, “Dying American.” 4 See Harman, “Firms Tap Latin America for Iraq,” for a discussion of how Salva­ doran police are leaving their jobs to take higher-paying positions in private secu­ rity in Iraq with American contracting firms. 5 See n. 80 in the introduction to this volume for a discussion of “the protection racket” and the “global military-gift economy.” 6 Tim’s El Salvador Blog, “Election Meddling.” 7 See Rose, States o/ Fantasy. 8 For a useful discussion of “doing in spite of knowing,” see Navarro-Yashin’s study of the role of cynicism in Turkish politics. As Navarro-Yashin notes, Slavoj Zizek borrows from Lacan’s psychoanalytic symptom to explore the question of why, in spite of its interpretation, the symptom does not dissolve but rather persists (Zizek, The Sublim e Object o/Ideology, 74; Navarro-Yashin, Faces o/ the State, 159-60). 9 Indeed, fantasy is productive in the Foucauldian sense— this despite Foucault’s focus on the rationality of the disciplinary apparatus and governmentality to the exclusion of fantasy (see Aretxaga, Shattering Silence). 10 Aretxaga, “Maddening States,” 145. This eerie sensation of reality invaded by fic­ tional portrayals has been explored at length in Hollywood movies about the Arab terrorist. Aretxaga argues that we are in a moment of what Derrida (Specters o/ M arx) has called a “phantomatic mode of production” — a mode in which we are caught between the production and actualization of mirroring phantoms (Islam­ ist and Western terrorisms), where fantasies organize reality as fear and thrill. In speaking of the footage of the attacks on the Twin Towers, she states: “The very 296

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familiarity of the scene, already seen in popular Hollywood disaster movies, made reality unreal and shocking. It was not that a terrorist attack on the United States was unimaginable, it had in fact been imagined to satiety in films like Indepen­ dence D ay” (States of Terror, 270-75). See also Davis, who argues in “Flames of New York” that the attacks were a perfect example of Freud’s “uncanny effect” which is produced “when the distinction between imagination and reality is effaced, as when something that we have hitherto regarded as imaginary appears before us in reality” (Freud in Davis, 38). 11 On “punctured porous,” see Taussig, Mimesis and Alterity, 251. 12 I allude here to Siegel, A New Crim inal Type in Jakarta. 13 Aretxaga, “A Fictional Reality,” 64. 14 Feldman, “Securocratic Wars of Public Safety,” 330, 346-48, and Formations o fV io lence, 191. 15 See Weldes et al., Cultures of Insecurity.

EPiLOGUE Impressionsfr o m a P o litica l Present 1 Obama, “President Obama’s Inaugural Speech.” 2 Sweet, “Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama on n b c ’s ‘Meet the Press.’ ” 3 Ayuso and Hursthouse, “¿Cambio? Latin America in the Era of Obama.” 4 See Hursthouse and Ayso, “¿Cambio? The Obama Administration in Latin America.” 5 See Garrett, “The Funes Inauguration.” 6 Williams, “Dominant, Residual, Emergent” in M arxism and Literature, 121-27. 7 Habermas, “Consciousness-Raising or Redemptive Criticism,” 56-57. 8 Enacted in 1970 as part of Richard Nixon’s Crime Bill,

rico

was first intended to

root out the Mafia, but its application has since become considerably more wide­ spread. 9 The defense also noted that Flores’s testimony leaves out the portion of the tran­ script in which one of the m s gang members on the phone call tells Alex to “stay out of it” since he “ is not active” any more. Upon cross-examination, Flores ex­ plains to the defense that he did not find this relevant to his determination that Alex was a “shot caller” for the gang. 10 Hayden, “At the Alex Sanchez Trial, a Window onto the Global War on Gangs.” 11 Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Twenty-Four Defendant Indictment Names Members and Leaders of Notorious MS-13 Gang.” 12 See Anderson and Jackson, “Law as a Weapon.” 13 This analysis was subsequently published in an article by Hayden entitled “Has Bratton’s l a p d Really Reformed?” 14 Pine, “Honduras’ Porfirio ‘Pepe’ Lobo.” 15 Hayden, “Bratton’s exit opens the door to questions of conflict of interest.” N O T E S

TO

E P IL O G U E

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16 See Altegrity’s Web site, http://www.altegrity.com/. 17 See also Hayden, “Bratton’s exit opens the door to questions of conflict of inter­ est.” 18 See Mittrany, “Medios de El Salvador unidos contra la violencia.” 19 While it would take a serious content analysis study of the Salvadoran media to corroborate such a claim, many on the Left felt this was an intentional effort on the part of the right-wing-owned media to undermine Funes’s popularity with the Salvadoran public. Certainly the incoming president Funes and the outgoing presi­ dent Saca occupied very different positions with respect to mainstream media in El Salvador: Funes had been fired for his investigative, hard-hitting current affairs tv

show; the outgoing president, Antonio Saca, was a prominent media mogul.

20 Witte-Lebhar, “El Salvador.” 21 During Schwarzenegger’s term as governor, the California prison population in­ creased from 160,000 in 2004 to 170,973 in by the end of 2009. The corrections budget grew from 5 percent of the general fund to more than 10 percent during the same period (Petersila, “A Retrospective View of Corrections Reform in the Schwarzenegger Administration,” 148-53). 22 A federal judge installed a receiver in 2006 to oversee inmate health care in Cali­ fornia state prisons, finding that substandard care led to the death of about one prisoner per week (Moore, “Court Orders California to Cut Prison Population” ). 23 Tumlin, Joaquin, and Natarajan, “A Broken System,” vi. 24 Roberts, “Immigration Detention Facilities to Become Less Like Prisons.” Un­ documented entry into the United States is a civil not criminal offense; threefifths of detainees have no criminal record. 25 Obama, “Remarks by the President on Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” n.p. 26 See De Genova, “Antiterrorism, Race, and the New Frontier.” 27 Cornel West in Smith, Tw ilight, 105. 28 Funes did not support the

f m l n ’s

position that El Salvador should join Alianza

Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, or a l b a ), the Venezuelan- and Cuban-initiated alterna­ tive to neoliberal trade agreements. In 2004, Venezuela and Cuba initiated the now eight-member a l b a group to create a mechanism of international trade based on mutual benefit and cooperation rather than profit and the free market. Current member states include Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. In October 2009 leaders from a l b a agreed to create an autonomous regional currency, much like the Euro. This unit, the sucre, was due to be implemented in 2010. 29 For a discussion of the respective “power blocs” or cross-class coalitions brought together under Obama and Funes, see Winant, “Just Do It” ; and Garret, “The Funes Inauguration.” 30 I allude here to Williams, “Dominant, Residual and Emergent” in M arxism and L it­ erature. 298

NOTES TO EPiLOGUE

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31 James Faubion on Raymond Williams (Rabinow and Marcus, Designsfor an A nthro­ pology o f the Contem porary, 93-94). 32 The “Joshua Generation,” as Howard Winant notes, is a term invoked by Obama in a convocation address he gave to students at Howard University in 2007: “Every­ one in this room stands on the shoulders of many Moseses. They are the coura­ geous men and women who marched and fought and bled for the rights and free­ doms we enjoy today. They have taken us many miles over an impossible journey. But you are members of the Joshua Generation. And it is now up to you to finish the work that they began. It is up to you to cross the river” (Obama in Winant, “Just Do It,” 50). 33 See Portillo, “Although I Wasn’t There, I Remember.” 34 Pacific Rim Mining Corporation is a Canadian company with subsidiaries in the United States and El Salvador, including Pac Rim Cayman l l c , Pacific Rim El Sal­ vador, S.A. de C.V., and Dorado Exploraciones, S.A. de C.V. In June 2008, more than one thousand protestors shut down Pacific Rim’s El Dorado gold mining project by arguing that it would divert thirty thousand liters of water from sur­ rounding agricultural communities. The murders of six environmental activists, although as yet unprosecuted, were widely thought to be linked to gold mining in the region

(c

ispe s

,

n a c l a

,

and Upside Down World, “The 2009 Salvadoran

Elections”). 35 Kathleen Stewart speaks of the need for a speculative and concrete attunement in order to discern not whether things are “going well” but that things “ are going” : “The world is still tentative, charged, overwhelming, and alive” (Ordinary Ajjécts, 128).

NOTES TO EPiLOGUE

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ÍNDEX

Abramsky, Sasha, 9 aclu

(American Civil Liberties Union),

3 1 72 Acosta, Frank, 60 African Americans, 15-16, 35, 284^4. See also King, Rodney Aguilar, Luis, 161 alba

(Alianza Bolivariana para los

Pueblos de Nuestra América), 250, 298n28

aren a

(Salvadoran political party):

candidates of, 10, 211, 216; crime dis­ courses of, 18, 41, 168-73, 234-35, 247-48, 296m; policies of, 33; U.S. support of, 17, 34. See also El Salvador; neoliberalism; zero-tolerance policing strategies; specific p olitician s and policies Aretxaga, Begoña, 236-37, 284^8, 292n7, 296n10 Argueta, Luis Alonso, 196-98

Al Qaeda, 16-17, 4 4 , 47, 221, 226

Argueta, Marisol, 235-36

Altegrity, Inc., 246

Arias, Arturo, 150

Alton, Frank, 106, 116

Arts Expand (Homies Unidos program),

Alvarado, Arlene, 107-8

106, 110, 112-13, 124

American Baptist Church, 30, 39

Art Shield (program), 199

American Enterprise Institute, 235

Ashamala, Rosemary, 43, 121

Am erican Gangs (Gingrich), 18, 221-24, 236

Asociación de Desarrollo Económico

“America’s Most Wanted” (site), 150, 154 Amesqua, Jesus, 106, 109, 122 Amnesty International, 40, 72 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Pen­

Social asosal

(a d

es

),

196

(Association o f Salvadorans in

Los Angeles), 110 Ávila, Rodrigo, 10, 203

alty Act, 36, 220 Antonio Saca, Elias, 1, 46, 178, 187, 234, 297n19 Appadurai, Arjun, 3, 230

Barnen, Radda, 142 barrios (as space): definitions of, 10-11; Homies Unidos’ uses of, 103, 112, 116;

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barrios (as space) (continued) mobility in, 77, 94-97; policing of,

Caldeira, Teresa, 14, 170 Calderon Sol, Armando, 157

103-20; o f San Salvador, 131-32, 174;

cam

transnationality of, 145-50. See also

Cannon, Lou, 114

(Centro Area Metropolitana), 167

gangs; Pico Union; San Salvador;

Carranza, Marlon, 192, 195, 229

space and spatiality

Carter, Jimmy, 25

Barrios Unidos (group), 41

case

Belloso, Mario, 233-34

“Case of Rosa N.,” 167, 210, 292n7

Beltrán, Silvia, 39, 43, 110, 115, 121, 123, 173

Catholic Relief Services, 157-58

Benjamin, Walter, 16-18, 86-87, 265^9,

Chavez, César, 105

(hometown association), 216

Chavez, Hugo, 48

278m6 Bensinger, Kerry, 244

Chavez, Mauricio, 169

Bienvenido a Casa project, 157-58

Cheney, Dick, 17

Biggie Smalls, 115

Cherasky, Michael, 246

“Black vs. Brown” (Miles), 61, 85

c h ir l a

Blackwater (company), 235

(Coalition for Humane Immi­

grant Rights of Los Angeles), 60

Blanchard, Mark, 230

Christopher Commission, 41

Bloods (gang), 34, 42, 104, 115

Church World Service, 29

Bolivia, 17, 48, 235

City oj Q uartz (Davis), 270m6

Bonilla, Juan, 244

City Walk (theme park), 275^ 5

Bonilla, Oscar, 166

class, 55-62, 67-69

Boston Herald (newspaper), 220-21

Clinton, Bill, 33, 39, 79, 203, 243

Boyer, Peter, 131

Clinton, Hillary, 242

Bradley, Tom, 34, 76-81

cnsp

Bratton, William, 45, 97, 171, 219-20, 246. See also Broken Windows policy (in New York);

lapd

(Los Angeles

Police Department)

(National Council of Public Safety

in El Salvador), 179-81, 190 Coalition for Humane Rights— Los Angeles, 104 Columbian Lil Cycos (clique), 27

Bright, Brenda, 279n16

Comite de Amigos de Santa Elena, 148

Brimelow, Peter, 61-62

communism, 16-17, 69, 227, 234, 236-38

Broken Windows policy (in New York), 45,

“community” (problematic term), 76-80,

97- 98, 219, 272n48 Burgos, Roberto, 200-204, 233-34 Bush, George H. W., 31, 78, 97-98 Bush, George W., 17, 44-45, 48, 220, 234,

82, 95-102, 190-92, 281n41 consumerism. See Latino looter (trope or figure); neoliberalism Contras (rightist opposition group in Nicaragua), 26

242 Bus Riders Union, 119

Convention Against Torture Act, 194 Corrections Corporation o f America

café

(Central American Fingerprinting

Exploitation initiative), 1 cafta

(Central American Free Trade

Agreement), 243

334

( c c a ), cra

8, 195, 248-49

(Community Redevelopment

Agency), 80 crash

(Community Resources Against

iNDEX

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Street Hoodlums): assumptions of, 98;

Decesare, Donna, 121, 141

corruption in, 42-43, 101-2, 106, 113­

Denny, Reginald, 56, 273n3, 278n16

15, 131, 245; mimesis of gangsterism

deportation: as anti-crime U.S. policy,

and, 113-15, 123, 283n22; territory and

2-3, 13, 120, 212-13, 285m; criminal

spatial logic of, 42, 77, 90-99, 195-96.

deportee as figure, 15, 129-31, 154; due

See also l a p d (Los Angeles Police

process exceptionalism and, 36; geo­

Department)

graphical disorientation and, 129-45,

Crawford, Margaret, 28on39

164, 230; Los Angeles (1992) riots and,

Crazy Riders (gang), 134

31; neoliberal ideological roots of,

crecen

(Central American Refugee Cen­

ter), 35, 72, 104, 119, 161 crime: consumerism and, 83-98; deporta­

6-10; police corruption and, 111-12; repression o f violence and, 4, 13; Sal­ vadoran violence and, 162-69; trans­

tion as strategic response to, 4; neolib­

national spaces and, 145-50. See also

eral conceptions of, 6-10, 71; policing

El Salvador; immigrants and immigra­

as product of, 9, 90-97; Salvadoran

tion; nationalism; United States; zero-

responses to, 9-10, 18, 40-41, 161-62,

tolerance policing strategies; specific

167-73, 247-48; terrorism and, 16-18,

policies and agencies

207-14, 220; theoretical approaches

Derrida, Jacques, 232, 296n10

to, 14-16. See also gangs; terrorism and

dialectical images: criminal cop, 102, 113­

counterterrorism; specific police depart­

15, 117, 131, 238; definitions of, 16-18,

m ents, governm ental agencies, policies, and

208; gang peace activists, 102-13, 115­

gangs

18, 156, 174, 187-90; gangster as terror­

Crime Bill (1994), 8, 35, 220

ist, 208, 213-17, 238; in l a p d protests,

“Criminals, Jihadists Threaten U.S. Bor­

86-89; Mara Salvatrucha in f m l n face,

der” (article), 221

207-8, 217; Obama and Funes inaugu­

Crips (gang), 34, 104

rations, 241-42, 249; soldier cop, 178,

Cristiani, Alfredo, 33 Cuba, 33-34, 233, 242 CV Amigos Westside (gang), 164

181-87, 238 Diamante, Alan, 43, 110, 120-21 El Diario de Hoy (newspaper), 210 Dominguez, René, 172

Dalton, Roque, 214

Doña Leti, 147-48, 287n15

D’Aubuisson, Roberto, 17

Doña Ofelia, 146-47

Davis, Mike, 67, 84, 95, 263^3, 270n16,

Don Bosco (program), 163

278n14, 280nn39-40 Death Row Records, 115 death squads: in contemporary El Salva­ dor, 40-41, 138, 145, 150-51, 208, 211­

Douglass, William A., 223, 292n5 d r -ca ft a

(Dominican Republic-Central

America Free Trade Agreement), 5-6,

12, 218, 228, 269n38; in Salvadoran civil

48, 235 drug trafficking, 92-94, 114-15, 202

war, 17, 32-33

Dumm, Thomas, 62, 93, 113, 279n16

decco

(Elite Division to Combat Orga­

nized Crime), 213 de Certeau, Michel, 11-12, 15, 19, 157

Ecology oj Fear (Davis), 270m6 Economist (journal), 64

iN DEX

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335

18th Street Gang: in El Salvador, 12-13, 131-35, 138, 141-43, 150, 179-80, 210­ 11, 228; founding of, 27-28; Homies Unidos and, 37, 102;

i c e ’s

operations

cians, gangs, parties, policies, and police forces ethnography (as methodology), 21-22, 266n87

against, 47, 226, 245, 294n43; mobility restrictions and, 91-98; as new crimi­ nal type, 15, 219; territory of, 27, 77, 92-93, 123, 213. See also c r a s h (Com­ munity Resources Against Street Hood­

Falling D ow n (Shumacher), 53-56, 65-74, 275nn30 - 35 (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias

farc

de Columbia), 236

lums); gangs; zero-tolerance policing

Fees, Gary, 246

strategies

Feldman, Allen, 238

El Salvador: anti-gang and terrorism poli­ cies of, 48, 152, 169, 209-10, 233-34;

fespad

(Fundación de Estudios para la

Aplicación del Derecho), 178

civil war of, 2, 25-34, 70, 130, 140-41,

First American Methodist Church, 56, 59

147, 203, 213, 217, 227; crime in, 40-41,

Flores, Francisco, 45, 169, 173

46-47, 167-73, 178; death squads in,

Flores, Juan, 150

17, 32- 33, 40- 41, 138, 145, 150- 51,

fm ln

208, 211-12, 218, 228, 269n38; dollar­

(Farabundo Martí National Libera­

tion Front): gang members and, 207-8,

ization of, 43, 243; emigration from,

210-11, 213-17; political life of, after

268n8; extortion and remittances as

civil war, 33, 161, 169-70, 235, 242; as

economic foundation of, 6, 30-31, 34,

pretext for U.S. intervention in El Salva­

38, 47, 152, 192-96, 243; forced re­

dor, 6; Salvadoran civil war and, 2, 26;

patriation and, 12, 38-39, 129-50,

as terrorist organization, 33, 233-36,

153-54, 162, 167, 218, 230, 238; gangs

242; transnational support for, 148;

in, 12, 178-204, 247-48; globalization’s

violence and, 32-33

effects on, 2-3, 198; Homies Unidos in, 106, 151-69; liberal social politics

El Foro Permanente de Migrantes, 157-58, 160-62, 169, 289n15

in, 139-40, 158; manodurismo in, 46,

Fortun, Kim, 22

165, 168-73, 178-204, 218-19, 227-32,

Foucault, Michel, 6-7, 14, 93-94, 170,

247-48, 291n9; migration in the poli­

200, 278n16, 280n40

tics of, 160-62; neoliberalism’s rise in,

Fox, Lisa, 95

5-6, 48;

Fox, Vicente, 44

ngos

in, 157-58, 196; Peace

Accords of, 25-27, 31, 33, 48, 157,

Fox News, 222, 226, 236

170-71, 178, 203-4, 209, 243, 265n75;

Free Enterprise (film), 88

refugees from, 25-27; Secretariat of

Frenzen, Niels, 59

Youth of, 179-80, 184, 186, 190; United

Friedman, Milton, 260n11

States’ official involvements with, 1-2,

“From Madness to Hope” (U.N. Report),

6, 16-21, 25-26, 28, 45, 48, 54, 70, 152,

32

201-4, 208-9, 233-50, 270n24, 290n3;

fucad

U.N. Truth Commission on, 32; as “workshop of empire,” 17. See also San Salvador; United States; specific p o liti­

336

(Fundación Centroamericano

para el Desarrollo Humano Sostenible), 161 Fuhrman, Mark, 71

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Funes, Mauricio, 235, 242-43, 248-50, 297^9, 298n28

Guillén, Silvia, 178 Gusterson, Hugh, 3

Funes, Nelson, 216 habeas corpus, 8, 220 Gang Related Asylum Project, 218

Hale, Charles, 21

gangs: academic studies of, 14, 158, 191;

Hall, Stuart, 79, 277n6

culture of, 39; definitions of, 153; de­

Handal, Shafik, 211, 216, 235

portation o f members of, 11-12, 40,

Harvey, David, 260n11

47, 129-40;

Haugen, Rana, 110

fm ln

and, 207-8, 210-11,

213-17; mimesis and, 18-21, 113-15,

Hayden, Tom, 39, 43, 104-5, 107-10,

211-15, 229-30, 247, 283n22; peace

117-21, 123, 245-46

activists and, 16-18, 23, 37, 103-13,

Hayek, Friedrich, 260n11

115-18; structures and practices of,

Hernandez, Ricardo Termino, 244

Th 94- 9^ u 2-^ 154- 55, 196 - 99, 227-32, 284n34, 286n7; terminologi­

Hoffman, Paul, 123 Hofsteader, Richard, 223

cal slipperiness of, 38; terrorism tropes

Hollywood, 55, 60

and, 45, 48, 151, 209-39; transnational

Hombres y Mujeres Inserción Social de

security measures and, 1-2, 44, 129-40, 244-45. See also c r a s h (Community

El Salvador ( h o m i e s ), 175 Homies Unidos (organization): Cam­

Resources Against Street Hoodlums);

paign to Free Alex Sanchez and, 42­

Homies Unidos (organization); immi­

43, 118-24; founding of, 37, 41, 102-3,

grants and immigration; space and spa-

153-54; gang structure and mores

tiality; tattoos; zero-tolerance policing

of, 115-18, 122-23, 153-55, 167, 218;

strategies; specific cities, gangs, and nations

leadership of, 42-43, 45, 48, 123-24;

Gang Violence Prevention Task Force (in California), 39

media’s relationship to, 167-68; par­ ticipation of, in California politics,

García, Michelle, 223

39-40, 103-13; Salvadoran politics

Garfield, Bob, 225

and, 159-69; in San Salvador, 106,

Gates, Daryl, 58, 71

151-60, 173-75, 178-79, 187; spaces

gender, 68, 71, 154, 264n56, 288n3

of, 103-13, 123-24, 153; transnational

Geragos, Mark, 120-21

alliance of, 13, 43-44, 106-7, 141-44,

Gingrich, Newt, 18, 221-24, 226, 236

152, 174-75; zero-tolerance policing

Girard, René, 238

strategies and, 41, 106-13, 116-18, 122,

Giuliani, Rudolph, 45, 97

157, 172, 187. See also c r a s h (Commu­

globalization. See El Salvador; immigrants and immigration; nationalism; neolib­ eralism; United States; zero-tolerance policing strategies “Global Situation, The” (Tsing), 259n6

nity Resources Against Street Hood­ lums); dialectical images; specific Jorums and leaders Honduras, 245-46 hoodlum (trope or figure). See c r a s h

Goldstein, Daniel, 9

(Community Resources Against Street

Gonzales, Alberto, 1

Hoodlums)

Guardado, Facundo, 161, 169, 172

Hoover Street Locos (gang), 92

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337

ic e

(Immigration and Customs Enforce­

ment), 45, 47, 49, 224, 226, 245, 248 ICITAP (International Criminal Investi­ gation Technical Assistance Program), 171, 290n31 id h u c a

(University of Central America’s

Institute for Human Rights), 201, 203 ile a

(International Law Enforcement

Academy), 48, 202-3, 233-34 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immi­ grant Responsibility Act, 8, 36, 39, 44- 45,62 IMF (International Monetary Fund), 33- 34 Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 104, 124, 161

Import Substitution Industrialization (economic model), 33 inauguration (definition), 241-42 in s

(Immigration and Naturalization

Service), 35, 42, 45, 58, 76, 110, 117­ 20, 124, 174, 195, 269n11 Interagency Task Force on Gangs, 1, 238 Iraq War, 45, 234-35, 249 IUDOP (University Institute for Public Opinion), 142, 172 iv u

(Instituto de Vivienda Urbana), 179,

190, 230-31 Jack in the Box (Pico Union), 77, 92, 96-98, 134, 145, 276m Jackson, Jesse, 64

immigrants and immigration: citizenship and, 30, 35-36, 44, 234-35; consumer­

Jail Construction Funding Bill, 8. See also prisons

ism and, 83-90; deportation of “crimi­

Johnson, Lyndon, 78

nal youth” as U.S. policy, 2, 36-37, 40,

Justice for Janitors (project), 81-83, 86,

43-44, 117, 129-35, 238, 248; legality and illegality issues and, 4, 9, 14-15,

88-89 Justice Policy Institute, 225-26

31-32, 38, 122, 135-37, 140-41, 148-50, 217-18; Los Angeles riots (1992) and,

Kelling, George, 272n48

59-64; media narratives and, 15-16, 64,

King, Rodney, 41, 57, 59-64, 71-72,

224-26; military service and, 234-35,

81-82, 269n15, 278n16. See also Los

287n15; mobility of, relatively speak­

Angeles

ing, 3, 19, 62, 77, 103-13, 231; police

Knight, Suge, 115

relations and, 119-20, 130; race’s inter­

Koon, Stacey, 71

sections with, 31-32, 35, 61-62, 64-74,

Koppel, Ted, 59

76; refugee status and, 28-30, 35, 47,

Korean War, 69

268n8, 269n13; Salvadoran civil war

Koreatown, 42, 55, 60, 124, 132

and, 26, 37, 269n13; Special Order 40

Kroll Associates, 45, 246

and, 45, 117-20; terrorism tropes and, 45, 207-30; transgressiveness of, 15,

labor (organized), 81-83, 86-88

58, 62, 93. See also El Salvador; space

L.A. Bridges Project, 121

and spatiality; United States; specific

Lacinos, Walter, 244

policies, agencies, and people

La Curacao (building), 123, 161

Immigration Act (of 1990), 28

La Luna (space), 139-40

Immigration and Nationality Act (of

lapd

1996), 45

338

(Los Angeles Police Department):

corruption and abuses of, 42-43, 62-

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63, 7 1-72, 101-2, 106, 113-15, 131, 245­ 46; federal funding and, 219-20; im­ migration law and, 45, 76, 110, 117-20;

Los Angeles Tim es (newspaper), 59-61, 92, 220 Lula, Luiz, 242

leadership of, 45, 58, 71; media and, 65-76; pledges of, to work with gangs,

MacArthur Park, 27-28, 145

34; protests against, 55-56, 60-61,

M agical U rbanism (Davis), 95

86-88, 285n37; Special Order 40 and,

Mahler, Sarah, 89

45, 117-20. See also c r a s h (Community

Malkki, Liisa, 268n8

Resources Against Street Hoodlums);

Manic Chicago Disciples (gang), 220

gangs; Homies Unidos (organization);

Mano Amiga, 179

Los Angeles; zero-tolerance policing

Mano Extendida, 179, 182

strategies

Manwaring, Max, 18

Latin Kings (gang), 237, 284^4 Latino looter (trope or figure), 15, 31,

La Mara Salvatrucha. See m s (La Mara Salvatrucha)

54- ^ 7 2 75, 93, 278n14 Lawson, James, 282n6

Marcus, George, 19, 266n87

Lazo, Esteban, 242

Marquez, Mario, 106, 122

LeFebvre, Henri, 11, 280^9

Marroquin, Werner, 161

Ley de Juventud, 164-65, 179

Martínez, Carlos, 161

Libertad con Dignidad (organization),

Martínez, Ruben, 270n16

Mark, Gregory, 223

Masco, Joseph, 265n69

218 Limbaugh, Rush, 73

McCain, John, 242

Linares, Eduardo, 121

media, 55-65, 73-75, 83-84, 220-29,

Ling, Lisa, 224

236-37, 246-47, 278m6, 295n47,

Los Angeles: anti-gang measures of, 91-97, 280n40; as destination for

297n19. See also specific newspapers, journals, and authors

Salvadoran refugees, 26-28, 35-36,

Meissner, Doris, 119

140-41, 219; gang membership in, 13;

Menjívar, Cecilia, 2

media representations and narratives

Mexican American Bar Association, 104

of, 55-74; 1992 riots and, 15, 31-32,

Miguel Cruz, José, 12, 172

34^ 4 1 54- ^ 71 -76, 79-8o, ^ 97, 264n63, 269n15, 273n6, 276n39; r l a

Miles, Jack, 61, 85-86 militarization: in El Salvador, 178-204,

initiative and, 34, 76-90, 95; San Salva­

235-37, 248; in the United States,

dor’s geography and, 37, 133-35, 138,

17-18, 220-23, 237, 294n29

143-45, 149, 230; Special Order 40 and, 45, 117-20; Watts riots and, 59-60, 80, 85, 269n15. See also c r a s h (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums); gangs;

lapd

(Los Angeles Police

Department); specific neighborhoods Los Angeles City Club, 90

Millennium Challenge Corporation (m

c c

),

48

Miranda, Lisette, 180, 187-91, 195, 229, 291n9 Morales, Edgar, 223 Morales, Evo, 48 Morataya, José Pepe, 163

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339

Friedrich; Reagan, Ronald; Thatcher,

Mour, Linda, 59 ms

(La Mara Salvatrucha): Al Qaeda and,

16, 47, 221, 226; definitions of, 268n3; in El Salvador, 12-13, 131-35, 138, 141-43;

fm ln

and, 207-8, 212-14;

founding of, 27-28; Homies Unidos and, 37, 102;

i c e ’s

operations against,

Margaret New York City, 45. See also Broken Win­ dows policy (in New York) New York Tim es M agazin e, 101, 103, 113, 120 Nicaragua, 26, 34 9/11 (event), 17, 44, 223, 236-37

47, 226, 245, 295n43; international

North Korea, 69

policies regarding, 1-2; media accounts

la nueva canción (genre), 214-15

of, 210, 220-27, 236; members of, 41; as new criminal type, 15, 102-3, 219, 224-25; style and structure, 11, 28,

Obama, Barack Hussein, 241-43, 246, 248-50

94^ u 2-^ 154- 55, 1 96 - 99, 227­ 32, 284n34, 286n7; territory of, 27,

Oh, Angela, 104, 109, 282n6

244. See also Am erican Gangs (Gingrich);

Operation Community Shield

(Community Resources Against

tion), 47, 226, 245, 294n43

crash

O’Malley, Patrick, 98, 117 (i c e

opera­

Street Hoodlums); Sanchez, Alex; zero-

Operation Gate Keeper

tolerance policing strategies

Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task

( l a p d ),

91

Force, 120 nacara

(Nicaraguan Adjustment and

Other Side, The (Martínez), 270n16

Central American Relief Act), 39, 47 nafta

(North American Free Trade

Agreement), 5, 33 National Foundation for Development (f u

n d e

),

37-38

Pacific Rim Mining Corporation, 250, 299n34 Padilla, José, 220 Parks, Bernard C., 122

National Geographic Channel, 224-27

Patriot Act, 44, 296n1

nationalism: deportation’s role in, 4,

Paz, Brenda, 224, 226

131-32, 144, 149, 239; frailty of, in the face of capitalism, 10, 84-85; territorial

Penal Code Reform (of El Salvador), 41, 170

transgressions and, 15, 58, 62, 65-75.

Perez, Rafael, 101-2, 104, 113-15, 117-18,

See also crime; immigrants and immi­ gration; terrorism and counterterror­

131 Perla, Mirna, 121

ism; United States

Permanente Committee on Youth Vio­

Navarrette, Rubén, Jr., 64, 274n124 neoliberalism: consumerism as core tenet of, 77-90, 96-98; criminologies of,

lence, 141 Personal Responsibility and Work Oppor­ tunity Act, 8-9

7-9; definitions of, 4-6, 260n9, 260n11;

Phillips, Susan, 43, 121, 230

in El Salvador’s economic policies,

Pico Fiesta mini-mall, 92-94, 98

32-34, 215;

Pico Union (neighborhood): built envi­

rla

projects and, 77-81;

triumph of, historically, 232-38, 241­

ronment of, 21, 31, 77-78, 91, 123, 134,

50. See also Bush, George H. W.; Hayek,

276m; “community” of, 76, 95-96,

340

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98-99, 101-2, 28in4i; demograph­ ics of, 60; as destination o f Salvadoran refugees, 27, 147, 213;

l a p d ’s

view of,

92, 94, 97; policing of, 42; riots in, 55; r l a ’s

Proposition 184 (California law), 35, 37, 107, 171-72 Proposition 187 (California law), 35-37, 62, 73, 107, 274m8

view of, 77-78, 90, 97, 277n3;

in Salvadoran geographical sensibility,

race and racism: class’s intersections

^ 2 145 Pico Union Neighborhood Watch, 95

with, 55-62, 67-69; Los Angeles

Piñeda, Héctor, 106-7

269n15, 273n6, 276^9; media narra­

PIPCOM (Community Police Intervention Patrols), 171

riots and, 58-61, 64, 80, 85, 264^3, tives and, 15-16, 55-65, 83-84; mo­ bility and, 3, 19, 62, 72-73; U.S. crime

El Plan Mano Duro (Salvadoran crime

and immigration laws and, 35, 61-62,

policy), 46, 165, 168-73, 227-32

65-74, 76, 84-86. See also Latino looter

El Plan Súper Mano Duro (Salvadoran crime policy), 46, 178, 227-32

(trope or figure) Ramos, Lucia Artal, 273^

PNC (National Civil Police o f El Salva­

Rampart Division. See c r a s h (Com­

dor): corruption in, 164, 211, 213;

munity Resources Against Street

crime statistics of, 162, 270n37;

Hoodlums)

deported gang members and, 40;

Reagan, Ronald, 5, 236, 260n11

founding of, 26; Homies Unidos

Reebok corporation, 30

and, 166-68; U.S. policy and, 1, 170­

refugees (as trope), 28-30, 35. See also El

71; zero-tolerance policies of, 163, 169-73, 181-87, 210-11, 233, 247, 270n37. See also El Salvador; militari­ zation

Salvador; immigrants and immigration repatriation (forced). See deportation; El Salvador; space and spatiality El Rescate, 28-30, 161

“Poema de Amor” (Dalton), 214

Rice, Connie, 104, 282n6

police forces. See specific cities, jorces, and

r ico

units Poveda, Cristian, 247 Powell, Colin, 242

(Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt

Organizations Act), 244-45 rla

(Rebuild Los Angeles), 34, 76-84,

86- 90, 95, 98, 277n3

Pranis, Kevin, 225-27

Robinson, William, 6

prisons: gang identity and culture and,

Rodríguez, Antonio, 200, 231, 236

28, 134-35, 214; privatization of, 8, 174,

Rodríguez, Néstor, 2

195, 248, 262n23, 298n21; Salvadoran,

Rodríguez, Silvio, 215

41, 170, 178, 192

Romero, Luis Ernesto, 159, 175

Production oj Space, The (LeFebvre), 11

Romero, Oscar, 25-27, 243

Progressive Policy Institute (think tank),

Rose, Nikolas, 98, 277n6

78-79 Pro-Jóvenes (group), 179, 183, 186, 190, 291n9 Proposition 13 (California law), 31

Rose-Ávila, Magdaleno, 37, 41, 96-97, 105, 118, 121, 141-43, 146, 155, 286n8 Rosenberg, Howard, 59 Rushing, Rocky, 105, 110

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341

salef

(Salvadoran American Leadership

and Educational Fund), 80

Social Defense Law (of El Salvador), 172

Salvadoran Association o f Los Angeles (a s o

sal

),

Situationist International, 85

39

Soja, Edward, 69, 280n39 La Sombra Negra (death squad), 40, 150-51,

Samayoa, Salvador, 163, 179

210, 269^8

Sambrano, Angela, 119

Sosa, Mercedes, 215

Sanabria, Salvador, 161

space and spatiality: definitions of, 11;

Sanchez, Alex: legal travails of, 42-43,

deportation’s distortions and produc­

45, 97, 103-13, 118-24, 144, 150, 194,

tions of, 129-45, 164, 230; Homies

218, 244-45, 297n9; as peace activist,

Unidos of San Salvador and, 173-75;

104, 107-10, 115-18, 145, 250; Salva­

identity and, 129-32, 135, 138-40, 143­

doran experiences of, 144, 150-51; vet­

44; policing strategies and, 3-4, 19, 77,

eran status of, 41, 96-97, 102, 106, 115,

90-97; simultaneity and, 145-50; spa­

297n9

tial justice and, 103-13, 123; territorial

Sanchez, Gilbert, 121

transgression and, 15, 31-32, 58, 62,

Sanchez, Oscar, 118-19

93, 231; theorizations of, 10-14. See also

Sanctuary Movement, 269n11

immigrants and immigration; national­

Sandoval, Mauricio, 162-63, 165, 172, 210-12 San Salvador, 12-13, 131-32, 134-35, 138, 143-45, 149, 230. See also El Salvador; Los Angeles; specific gangs Save the Children

(n

g o

),

School of the Americans

(s o

step

(Street Terrorism Enforcement Pre­

vention Act), 173, 219 Stewart, Kathleen, 266n87

141-42 a

),

Sullivan, John, 222-23, 294n29

48, 203,

234 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 8, 248 sds

ism; zero-tolerance policing strategies Spectacular C ity, The (Goldstein), 9

(Students for a Democratic Society),

104

La Tarjeta Roja (crime proposal), 169, 171-72 Tattooed Soldier, The (Tobar), 60, 270m6 tattoos (gang membership indicator),

securityscapes, 3-6, 10-11, 19, 55, 209,

16, 106, 113-14, 118, 138, 144, 160, 182,

237-39, 243, 250. See also immigrants

198-99, 227-32, 286n7. See also zero-

and immigration; militarization; neo­

tolerance policing strategies; specific

liberalism; space and spatiality; zerotolerance policing strategies se iu

(Service Employee International

Union), 81 Shield, The

(t v

58, 62, 93, 231. See also media terrorism and counterterrorism: com­

series), 225

“Should Latinos Support Curbs on Immi­ gration?” (Navarrette), 64 Shukrijumah, Adanan G., 47, 221 Shumacher, Joel, 65 Simpson, O. J., 85 simultaneity, 18-21, 145-50

342

gangs territorial transgressions, 15-16, 31-32,

munism and, 204-7, 212-14, 233-37; gangs’ conflations with, 48-49, 151, 202-3, 209-39, 292n5; as master trope for crime policy, 16-17, 44- 45, 220. See also Al Qaeda; nationalism Thatcher, Margaret, 31, 79, 260n11, 277n6

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“Time to Rethink Immigration” (Brime-

Crime of, 2, 35, 37; War on Terror and, 17, 20, 44, 209, 220-21, 234, 236, 239,

low), 61-62 Tiny Locos of Shatto Park (gang), 149

242, 265n69; zero-tolerance crime poli­

Tobar, Héctor, 60, 83-84, 270ni6

cies of, 4, 6-10, 18, 47-48, 130-31, 152,

Tooner gang, 207

270n24. See also El Salvador; immigrants

“Torture, Ill-Treatment and Excessive

and immigration; nationalism; neolib­ eralism; specific p olitician s, gangs, cities,

Force by Police in Los Angeles”

and legislative acts

(report), 72 tps

(Temporary Protected Status), 28-30

Transnational Anti-Gang Unit

(t a g ),

1,

University of Central America, 142, 201, 203

238, 244- 45 Tree People (organization), 119

USA PATRIOT Act, 44, 296m

Triple Canopy (company), 235

Vacant Lot Revitalization Project, 77-78,

Tsing, Anna, 259n6

98 el vacil, 94, 154-56

Ueberroth, Peter, 34, 76-82 u n h c r

(United Nations High Commis­

sion for Refugees), 29, 218 Union Salvadoreña de Estudiantes Univer­ sitarios

(u

seu

),

250

United Nations Development Program, 158, 260n19 United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador, 32 United States: anti-gang measures of, 1-2, 47, 109; Border Patrol of, 58, 111; citi­

Vaquerano, Carlos, 77, 80 Venezuela, 17, 48, 235 La Vida Loca (Poveda), 247 El Viejo Lin, 210-14, 217 Villalobos, Joaquin, 169-70 violence: forced repatriation in El Salva­ dor and, 162-69; as media spectacle, 55-65; as returning repressed, 3-4, 9, 14, 18, 70-72, 114, 152, 178-79, 187­ 89, 199-204, 209-12, 219, 226-27, 231, 245; Salvadoran Civil War and, 32-33.

zenship requirements of, 30, 35-36, 44,

See also death squads; gangs; Los Ange­

234-35; defense industry’s retrench­

les; space and spatiality; zero-tolerance

ment and, 31, 54-55, 69-70; gangs as

policing strategies

contamination of, 39-40; globaliza­

Violence and the Sacred (Girard), 238

tion’s effects and, 2-3, 12; immigra­

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforce­

tion policies of, 8-9, 11, 28-30, 35-36,

ment Act. See Crime Bill (1994)

38- 39, 43- 44, 47, 49, 120- 23, 130- 31,

Violent Gang Task Force (of i n s ), 35

135-40, 148-50, 194, 217, 220, 248-49, 269n11, 272n41, 285n1; implication

Walpin, Ned, 8

of, in Salvadoran violence, 2, 6, 130,

W ashington Post (newspaper), 220-21, 223

162-69, 201-4, 208-9, 219, 233-50;

Watts riots, 59-62, 80, 85, 269^5

Iraq War and, 45, 234-35, 249; neolib­

Weber, Max, 21

eralism’s rise in, 4-6; racial politics of,

Weed and Seed (program), 97-98

30-31, 40; Salvadoran policies and, 16,

Westside Los Crazies (gang), 136

18-21, 25-26, 28, 37, 40, 54, 70, 130,

W hich W ay L A (program), 246

170-71, 173, 270n24, 290n3; War on

Wilson, Gary, 222-23, 294n29

iN DEX

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343

Wilson, James, 272n48

Zelaya, Manuel, 245-46

Wilson, Pete, 107

zero-tolerance policing strategies: as­

World Bank, 33-34

sumptions of, as to the causes o f crime,

World Council of Churches, 29, 32

98, 270n24; definitions and rise of,

World’s Most Dangerous Gang (National

6-10, 272n48; deportation as tenet

Geographic), 224-27 World Trade Center bombing (1993), 220

of, 2-3, 13, 117, 120, 212-13, 270n24, 285m; in El Salvador, 9, 54-55, 152, 165, 178-204; globalization of, 4, 9, 18, 46-48, 152, 163, 170-73, 233-50,

youth (gang- and immigration-related):

296m; Homies Unidos’s mission and,

criminalization of, 35, 93, 107, 109,

41, 103-13, 116-18; reproduction of

112-13, 163-65, 172-75, 196, 259n2;

what it means to eliminate and, 13,

definitions of, 259m; deportations of,

18-21, 59, 71-72, 103-13, 178-79, 187,

129-50; gender and, 264^6; Salva­

189, 199-204, 219, 226-27, 231, 238­

doran ministry of, 179-80, 184, 186,

39, 245, 247. See also specific police forces,

190. See also El Salvador; gangs; immi­

people, cities, and nations

grants and immigration

344

Zulaika, Joseba, 223, 292n5

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