Slum Wars of the 21st Century: Gangs, Mano Dura and the New Urban Geography of Conflict in Central America

Abstract

The political economy of violence in Central America is widely perceived as having undergone a critical shift during the past two decades, often pithily summarized as a movement from 'political' to 'social' violence. Although such an analysis is plausible, it also offers a depoliticized vision of the contemporary Central American panorama of violence. Basing itself principally on the example of Nicaragua, the country in the region that is historically perhaps most paradigmatically associated with violence, this article offers an alternative interpretation of the changes that the regional landscape of violence has undergone. It suggests that these are better understood as a movement from 'peasant wars of the twentieth century' to 'urban wars of the twenty-first century' (Beall, 2006), thereby highlighting how present-day urban violence can in many ways be seen as representing a structural continuation of past political conflicts, albeit in new spatial contexts. At the same time, however, there are certain key differences between past and present violence, as a result of which contemporary conflict has intensified. This is most visible in relation to the changing forms of urban spatial organization in Central American cities, the heavy-handed mano dura response to gangs by governments, and the dystopian evolutionary trajectory of gangs. Taken together, these processes point to a critical shift in the balance of power between rich and poor in the region, as the new 'urban wars of the twenty-first century' are increasingly giving way to more circumscribed 'slum wars' that effectively signal the defeat of the poor.

Gangs, Guns and the City: Urban Policy in Dangerous Places

“…America and South Africa, gangs in both contexts, while not explicitly revolutionary in nature, can be analysed as emergent vanguard social forms, perhaps not revolutionary for themselves, but certainly in themselves, even if their rage is generally little more than a spontaneous and anarchic cry against situations of inequality, exclusion, and injustice (Jensen and Rodgers, 2008;Rodgers, 2009).…”

“…More recently, there is a sense in which cities are increasingly understood as key sites of violence, as well as of the failure of development and/or political processes, in the contemporary world (Beall, 2006;Beall et al, 2013;Brennan-Galvin, 2002;Davis, 2006;Goldstone, 2002;Rodgers, 2009). The fact that much recent conflict, terrorism, and civil disorder has occurred in cities such as Beirut, Baghdad, Mumbai, and Nairobi, or that the world's highest homicide rates afflict cities in Colombia, Central America, South Africa, or, most recently, Mexico, has become ever more noted, and has clearly added to the ubiquitous notion that cities and violence are intimately related.…”

“…This, Jensen argues, has permitted a more repressive form of policing, through a dual process of stigmatisation of particular urban figures such as the "skollie" as well as more targeted forms of both public and private security. Deborah Levenson (2013: 75 & 104 In some cases, the very urban fabric of the city itself can become the means for repression, as Dennis Rodgers (2004Rodgers ( , 2009Rodgers ( , 2012 highlights in his work on urban violence in postrevolutionary Nicaragua. More specifically, he shows how the urban development of Managua over the past two decades has been largely linked to securitisation concerns, with particular forms of road-building actively constituting a form of "infrastructural violence" that aims at isolating poor neighbourhoods in order to contain crime -and more specifically gang violence -within them, and has led to a concomitant intensification of violence within these areas, as well as a shift in the underlying nature of gangs, which has shift from being solidaristic with their local neighbourhoods to predatory.…”

Coming of Age in the Penal System: Neoliberalism, ‘Mano Dura’ and the Reproduction of ‘Racialised’ Inequality in Honduras

“…theft), these did not account for the rise of violence, insecurity and crime in the country. Rather, organised crime did (Rodgers 2009;Jüttersonke et al 2009;UNODC 2012). Today, the maras are involved in the organised crime economy, but-to the extent that it is possible to establish comprehensive knowledge of this-hitherto mainly thought to be as associates further down in the food chain rather than as spiders in the web (Bosworth 2010:10).…”

“…However, even if the maras were framed as the main culprits for escalating violence and crime in the country, they were not the centre of the storm. Rather, organised crime was (Rodgers 2009;Jüttersonke et al 2009;UNODC 2012). However, these networks are much more difficult to target, whilst also being tied to more powerful sectors in the country (Bosworth 2010;Shipley 2016).…”