by AMY SMITH
Inmates sit down for class PHOTO/Christian Aid/ E Wigley
Huddled in a dingy classroom, groups of girls chat loudly as teacher Jórge Ramirez gets ready to begin the poetry class. Eventually, the dimly-lit room quietens and Ramirez announces today’s topic – ‘love’ – causing giggles to erupt from the back of the class.
It may seem like a typical teen school scene.
Yet, today’s lesson is far from normal. Set in the Rosa Social Female Reinsertion Centre, a Salvadoran prison surrounded by high-rise concrete walls and barbed wire, it is the place where many young women caught up in El Salvador’s bloody gang warfare end up. Frequently in the name of love.
Guadalupe, 18, a surprisingly gentle, articulate young woman, fell for a local 18th street gang member when she was just 15.
‘When I met him, it was really beautiful. He offered me everything and took care of my family. We had dreams together. I was in love,’ she said of their first meeting, with a reminiscent smile.
Sadly, Guadalupe’s joy did not last long; and her story is not unique. Since January 2015, gang-related violence has transformed this tiny Central American country, approximately the size of Wales, into the murder capital of the world. In the first three months of 2016, national authorities recorded almost one murder every hour.
The state argues that the country’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Calle 18, are behind the spike in violence. Gang members attest they’re defending themselves against alleged extrajudicial killings carried out by the police.
Either way, it’s Ramirez’s young pupils – like Guadalupe – who are paying the ultimate price. Aged between 14-24 years old, these young girls were either the partner of, or directly linked to, a gang member. Almost all are in prison for extortion.
Ramirez explained: ‘Many have been caught up in a cycle of violence since birth. They live in a context that’s dominated by gangs, even if they’re not directly connected. And if their mother or father is involved it automatically means they are.
Guadalupe’s story is one that Ramirez knows all too well. ‘The gangs approach the girls as if they want to court them – or fall in love with them. The girls feel supported. Often more so than by their own mothers and fathers,’ he continued.
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