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Pandillas and Security in Central America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Thomas C. Bruneau
Thomas C. Bruneau*
Affiliation:
Naval Postgraduate School
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Abstract

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This article introduces the topic of pandillas (street gangs) and their implications for security in Central America. There is minimal scholarly literature on pandillas and security. In part this is due to serious challenges in analyzing pandillas. First, pandilla members consider truth to be situational; data derived directly from them is suspect. Second, those who know most about them are involved in NGOs that rely on foreign assistance for their work. The project reports they produce go to funders abroad and are generally not published. Third, to research and write on pandillas is dangerous.

Resumen

Resumen

En este artículo se presenta el tema de las bandas callejeras (pandillas) y sus implicaciones para la seguridad en Centroamérica. Existe una mínima literatura académica sobre pandillas y la seguridad. En parte, esto se debe a los graves desafíos en analizar a las pandillas. En primer lugar, los miembros de pandillas consideran que la verdad sea situacional; datos derivados directamente de ellos no son confiables. En segundo lugar, las personas que más saben acerca de ellos están implicadas en las organizaciones no gubernamentales que dependen de la ayuda extranjera para hacer su trabajo. Los informes de los proyectos que estas organizaciones producen van a los proveedores de fondos en el extranjero y, en general no se publican. En tercer lugar, es peligroso investigar y escribir sobre las pandillas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2014 , pp. 152 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

The present article grew out of a nine-year research project that resulted in the publication of Maras: Gang Violence and Security in Central America, edited by Thomas C. Bruneau, Lucía Dammert, and Elizabeth Skinner (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011). The views expressed in the book and in this article are the authors' alone and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Navy or the Department of Defense.

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