EL
SALVADOR:
Violence Imposes Huge
Economic Burden
By Raúl Gutiérrez
SAN SALVADOR (IPS) -
Medical care for
victims, protection of
property and restoring
material damages caused
by the high level of
crime in El Salvador
take up a large
proportion of state
resources, while the
authorities are failing
to come up with a
solution for the rising
tide of violence.
El Salvador is being
stalked by an "epidemic
of violence" that is
draining the population
and severely harming the
economy, said Rafael
Pleitez of the
Salvadoran Foundation
for Economic and Social
Development (FUSADES), a
think tank for local
private enterprise.
"The climate of violence
and criminality is a
high cost for the
country to bear; it
affects foreign
investment and has
human, economic and
social costs, especially
for the public health
service," said the
FUSADES representative.
Pleitez told IPS that
many companies are
extorted by gangs and
organised crime up and
down the country, to
whom they have to pay
"tolls" when their
vehicles enter certain
areas to distribute
merchandise.
Official sources say
that between 2003 and
2007, more than 16,000
murders were committed,
80 percent of them with
firearms.
The authorities estimate
that there are 450,000
firearms in private
hands in this country,
although only 170,000
are legally registered.
According to the latest
census, which was
carried out in May 2007
and whose results were
released early this
month, El Salvador has a
murder rate of 64 per
100,000 population, one
of the highest in Latin
America -- and the
world.
Previous government
projections, based on
the 1992 census, assumed
that El Salvador had a
population of nearly
seven million, but the
2007 census recorded
only 5.7 million people.
The difference of nearly
20 percent in the
population figures is
reportedly due to a
sharp drop in the birth
rate between 1998 and
2002, which had escaped
the authorities’ notice,
and to increased
emigration, mainly to
the United States, where
some 2.5 million
Salvadorans live and
work.
A 2006 study by FUSADES
says the high crime
rates "are seriously
eroding the quality of
life" of the population,
and "are a hindrance to
development."
In addition, FUSADES’
survey of companies
indicates that 28.5
percent of businesses
were victims of crime in
the second quarter of
2006, with the largest
firms being the most
affected.
Company owners spend
millions of dollars on
building fortresses with
sophisticated
anti-burglary devices to
safeguard their
businesses and homes.
They pay thousands of
private security guards
who stand, machine-guns
or revolvers in hand, at
the entrances of banks,
shopping malls, shops,
and private schools and
universities.
A study carried out by
the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)
estimated that in 2003,
violence had cost 1.72
billion dollars, then
equivalent to 11.5
percent of gross
domestic product,
including health and
psychological costs,
production losses,
effects on investment
and material losses.
The 87-page document,
which was published in
2005, estimated the
average cost to the
emotional health of
relatives of a murder
victim, in monetary
terms, as 75,000
dollars. An injury was
calculated at 2,000
dollars and a rape at
5,000 dollars.
Jeannette Aguilar, head
of the University
Institute of Public
Opinion (IUDOP), would
not venture to estimate
a figure for the recent
cost of violence, but
she told IPS that
"logically, since the
number of murders shot
up between 2003 and
2007" and extortion has
also risen, the costs
must have increased
considerably.
The annual cost to every
company affected by
crime, added to the
expense of protection,
averages 63,316 dollars,
resources that could
well have been spent on
buying computers or
other equipment,
particularly in smaller
businesses, said Pleitez.
The National Civil
Police (PNC), the
country’s only police
force, has 16,000
officers, while
according to the
Foundation for the Study
of Applied Law (FESPAD),
there are more than 400
agencies employing
25,000 private security
guards.
The deputy chief of the
PNC, José Luis Tobar,
confirmed to IPS that
the police spend heavily
from their "limited
budget" to combat crime.
They have been allocated
a budget of 217 million
dollars for 2008.
The PNC even have a
ready reckoner for their
costs. Every police
operation involving 100
officers costs 3,500
dollars. Air support for
an operation has an
extra cost of between
250 and 985 dollars an
hour.
The police force carries
out "mega-operations,"
often involving hundreds
of agents, like "Quezaltepeque
seguro" in early May
with the participation
of 600 police officers
and several aircraft,
which involved searches
of dozens of homes and
arrests of nearly 100
gang members in that
town, located about 12
kilometres from San
Salvador.
Experts, civil society
organisations and
religious leaders have
criticised the police
for this type of sweep
which, in their view, do
not deter crime. They
complain that for over a
decade they have
presented, in
conjunction with
research centres and the
UNDP, assessments and
proposals for how to
approach the problem,
but that they have not
been heard.
"An integrated strategy
is needed to counter
violence," that in
addition to law
enforcement efforts
would involve heavy
spending on prevention,
and in which private
businesses would assume
their share of "social
responsibility," said
Pleitez.
For instance, he said,
out of every 10 young
people of high school
age, only between three
and four are actually in
school. The rest are
outside the educational
system, and if they have
no jobs, they are at
high risk of being
inducted into a gang or
other criminal
activities.
Progress in "the war
against violence"
depends on "greater
social investment,
raising attendance in
secondary school, and
more closely linking
social policies with law
enforcement and safety
policies," said Pleitez. |
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