Gangs

Four years into a crackdown on alleged gang members that has discarded civil liberties, recent constitutional reforms create opportunities for further abuse.

Forty years after the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haiti’s ongoing crisis exposes the devastating legacy of permanent foreign intervention.

[CLOSED] NACLA is currently accepting proposals for our Winter 2026 issue on state violence, insecurity, and the political production of “criminality.”

Óscar Martínez’s profile of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele unmasks an authoritarian leader who hangs on to power through propaganda, gang pacts, and repression.

The Barrio 18's January attacks sought to destabilize the country to benefit well-connected political elites who have challenged the government of President Bernardo Arévalo.

A wave of violence inside and outside prisons drew attention to President Bernardo Arévalo's fragile political balancing act between the gangs and a corrupt political class.

Haiti’s gang coalition Viv Ansanm is powered by thousands of child combatants drawn by hunger, displacement, and a century of foreign intervention.

Haiti’s current form of “checkpoint governance” represents a structural transformation in how politics works in the country.

El Salvador's offer to house deportees and U.S. citizens in its infamous prisons – for profit – signals a new and troubling escalation in the criminalization of migration.

Brazil’s highly militarized policing disproportionately impacts poor and racialized communities. By providing funding and training, the United States has helped exacerbate the crisis.

Rather than address the root causes of violence, President Nayib Bukele's prolonged state of emergency militarizes Salvadoran society and exacerbates state persecution of vulnerable communities.

Although the international resettlement system considers Ecuador to be a safe country, refugees tell a different story.