GANGS/SOUTH AMERICA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “On a cloudy afternoon, Mayra Ayala shepherded her family along the winding footpaths of a hillside cemetery in Ilobasco, a town about 35 miles from the capital. The group of nine clambered over dozens of brightly painted mausoleums while descending to a purple tomb topped with three crosses. Two years had passed since Ms. Ayala’s husband, José, and two of her sons — Vladimir, 21, and Douglas, 19 — were murdered by members of the street gang MS-13. Mr. Ayala, a community leader in one of the gang’s strongholds, had routinely spoken with Ilobasco’s mayor and police officials, who were trained by American advisers to build rapport with residents…The United States has stepped up its engagement in the country over the last two years, dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars and dozens of law enforcement and military personnel to fighting the violent gangs that send so many Salvadorans fleeing to the American border. The goal is to create a self-sufficient Salvadoran justice system. But the consequences of the effort are difficult to assess.”
–Ali Watkins and Meridith Kohut, “MS-13, Trump and America’s Stake in El Salvador’s Gang War,” The New York Times online, December 10, 2018