The Reformation of an 18th Street Hitman | Valentina Pereda & Wilfredo Gómez

March 9, 2020 Peter McCormack

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The Reformation of an 18th Street Hitman | Valentina Pereda & Wilfredo Gómez Peter McCormack

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Location: San Salvador, El Salvador
Date: Friday, 14th February 2020
Company: N/A
Role: Freelance Journalist & Ex-Gang Member

El Salvador is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Gangs are prolific, with nationwide membership as high as 10%, most joining either MS-13 or 18th Street.

Violence, murder and extortion are not new to El Salvador. Following the brutal civil war, from 1979 to 1992, some speculate that this desensitised the population and is a contributing factor to the extreme gang culture, the level of violence and high murder rate. In 2015-16 the murder rate in El Salvador was more than 100 per 100,000 making it, by far, the murder capital of the world.

Like much of Central and South America, political and economic migration has long been popular with the majority choosing the United States as their destination. Following the end of the civil war in 1992, the US has clamped down on El Salvadorian criminals, and between 2014 and 2018, the deported an estimated 111,000 people back to El Salvador.

Human Rights Watch has flagged this as a potential breach as many deportees have no ties to El Salvador with some never having set foot in the country before being deported. This can lead to exploitation, with HRW reporting that at least 138 of those deported from the United States in recent years were subsequently killed.

In this interview, I talk to Valentina Pereda, a journalist and filmmaker in El Salvador and Wilfredo Gómez, an ex-18th Street gang hitman who turned his back on the gang lifestyle after being imprisoned in the US and deported to El Salvador. We discuss gang culture in El Salvador, how Will became involved with 18th Street in LA, his role in the gangs before he was arrested and deported, and how he left the gang lifestyle behind.

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