Eastern Connecticut |
The young business owner never wanted to pay the gangs, and at first she didn’t have to.
Back in El Salvador, the 30-something woman — she asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety — owned a popular restaurant. Like many others in her neighborhood, the gang members often stopped by for a quick bite to eat. Like everyone else, they paid their fair share to do so. Then they began asking for favors. They’d say they needed help, but she knew they were taking advantage of her. They wanted meals without paying. They wanted free rides from her husband, a taxi driver. And then they wanted money. “It’s the fear that made us say yes to their demands,” the woman said through a translator. In El Salvador, gangs run wild. According to the New York Times, an estimated 60,000 people belong to gangs in El Salvador, which is home to 6.5 million people. The result? The country saw 103 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2015. The United States saw five. Engaging the men, she said, “was not even worth it in the end.” The first time her husband put his foot down, the gang responded by taking hostage of the older of their two daughters. The next time, they took her husband. The family had negotiated to free the daughter. But there would be no such deal for her husband. “My husband called and told me to take care of his daughters,” she said. “He said he wasn’t going to be returning.” The line still open, she heard them take his phone. Police called the woman on the morning of Nov. 7, 2015 — just more than a day later — to deliver the bad news. She cried as she recalled how he was found: hands tied behind his back, two bullets in his forehead. On Nov. 10, 2015, after she had hosted a proper funeral for her husband, she packed up her things. It was time to head north. “I was scared of coming here,” she said, “but more scared of staying there with my daughters.” Read more at www.theday.com/local/20170712/pathways-road-to-lawful-residency-in-us/1.
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ABOUTA selection of stories I wrote as a breaking news and police reporter for The Day in New London, Conn. Archives
July 2019
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