Foreign Policy Blogs

A Startling Look at El Salvador's Infamous Gang Life

Few people–let alone journalists–can get very close to the notorious gang in El Salvador, known as MS-13. Some journalists might even say, “Don’t bother trying, they won’t talk to you”. But Salvadoran journalist Christian Poveda has done just that, and what he discovered both startling and impossible to ignore.

Poveda’s resulting documentary, “La Vida Loca”, is an uncomfortably close look at the life and times of numerous gang members, whose very formation is seen by some as a result of faulty policies by both the U.S. and El Salvador.

Whatever your opinion about where MS-13 came from and why it continues to survive, La Vida Loca is worth a look.

 

Author

Genevieve Belmaker

Genevieve Belmaker is a freelance journalist and contributing editor with The Epoch Times (www.theepochtimes.com). She also contributes to Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists and Poynter.org. Her blog on journalism is http://artofreportage.com.

Genevieve has traveled throughout the U.S., Asia, Central America, Israel and the West Bank for reporting assignments, including major investigative reports on the recovery of New Orleans, the encroaching presence of China in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the dangerous import of melamine-contaminated milk into the U.S. and settlement outposts in the West Bank. She regularly reports on issues related to journalism, and the work of journalists.

She holds a BA from the University of Southern California in International Relations, and has been a member of several prominent national and international professional media organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the International Women’s Media Foundation, the New York Press Club, and the Newswomen’s Club of New York. She lives in Jerusalem, Israel with her husband and son.

Areas of Focus:
New Media; Journalism; Culture and Society