Drug crime wasn't even a big part of crime in El Salvador. It was mostly straightforward extortion rackets.
Libertarians greatly overestimate the role of drugs in crime. The tattooed men in those photos WANT to engage in a violent tournament for dominance. If drugs were not available to fight over they would turn to something else, including in the end just violently shaking people down.
Drug crime wasn't even a big part of crime in El Salvador. It was mostly straightforward extortion rackets.
Libertarians greatly overestimate the role of drugs in crime. The tattooed men in those photos WANT to engage in a violent tournament for dominance. If drugs were not available to fight over they would turn to something else, including in the end just violently shaking people down.
Evidence for Salvador drug crime/crime? You evade presenting a standard for acceptable drug crime/crime. Most US federal prisoners are drug criminals. Many parts of many US cities are dangerous because addicts steal for black market prices. Courts are slow because of many drug trials. Security is expensive. Corruption of the justice system. Contempt for law. Enourages more statism.
Based on my conversations with Salvadoreans (I was there in March 2022 actually), forumposter123 is right. It was mostly extortion rackets.
It was shocking to see how much it distorted markets, to the point where large areas of San Salvador didn't have any small shops (the usual Latin American bodeguitas/boliches/almacenes).
According to insightcrime.org: "The Barrio 18 spread south into Central America and Mexico mainly as a function of a change to US immigration policies in the mid-1990s, which increased the number of criminal charges for which any foreign-born resident could be deported to their country of origin.
The new policy was applied aggressively to gangs in California, where many gang members were not US citizens. The deportations led to a sudden influx of Barrio 18 and other gang members in Central America and Mexico, bringing with it violence and crime.".
But many other poor nations dont have a big extortion problem. Of course, the elephant in the room is the anti-individual rights US drug laws. You describe its indirect effects.
I disagree immensely on this one because what drugs afford is the corrupting influence the money provides. Yes organized crime has been running extortion rackets world wide time immemorial but they tend to be that, organized, effective, stable, and safe to the point it basically becomes another tax and it remains that way because it's in everyone's interest. Young men wanting to engage violent dominance is everywhere, they simply get regulated to intergang warfare over rights to tax certain neighborhoods, sports, video games, become police, or join the military. Ecuadorian men aren't magically unique in this respect.
Drug money though, because of its amount and illegality which means it can't count of legal protection, breaks this system for the majority of these guys who really, at the end of the day, just want a social club that provides them some sort of validation.
Drug crime wasn't even a big part of crime in El Salvador. It was mostly straightforward extortion rackets.
Libertarians greatly overestimate the role of drugs in crime. The tattooed men in those photos WANT to engage in a violent tournament for dominance. If drugs were not available to fight over they would turn to something else, including in the end just violently shaking people down.
Evidence for Salvador drug crime/crime? You evade presenting a standard for acceptable drug crime/crime. Most US federal prisoners are drug criminals. Many parts of many US cities are dangerous because addicts steal for black market prices. Courts are slow because of many drug trials. Security is expensive. Corruption of the justice system. Contempt for law. Enourages more statism.
Based on my conversations with Salvadoreans (I was there in March 2022 actually), forumposter123 is right. It was mostly extortion rackets.
It was shocking to see how much it distorted markets, to the point where large areas of San Salvador didn't have any small shops (the usual Latin American bodeguitas/boliches/almacenes).
What caused such an unusual amount of extortion?
According to insightcrime.org: "The Barrio 18 spread south into Central America and Mexico mainly as a function of a change to US immigration policies in the mid-1990s, which increased the number of criminal charges for which any foreign-born resident could be deported to their country of origin.
The new policy was applied aggressively to gangs in California, where many gang members were not US citizens. The deportations led to a sudden influx of Barrio 18 and other gang members in Central America and Mexico, bringing with it violence and crime.".
Other gangs appear to have the same origin. About why they "chose" extortion as their business, I don't see what other options they had in the 1990s. (https://insightcrime.org/el-salvador-organized-crime-news/barrio-18-profile/)
But many other poor nations dont have a big extortion problem. Of course, the elephant in the room is the anti-individual rights US drug laws. You describe its indirect effects.
I disagree immensely on this one because what drugs afford is the corrupting influence the money provides. Yes organized crime has been running extortion rackets world wide time immemorial but they tend to be that, organized, effective, stable, and safe to the point it basically becomes another tax and it remains that way because it's in everyone's interest. Young men wanting to engage violent dominance is everywhere, they simply get regulated to intergang warfare over rights to tax certain neighborhoods, sports, video games, become police, or join the military. Ecuadorian men aren't magically unique in this respect.
Drug money though, because of its amount and illegality which means it can't count of legal protection, breaks this system for the majority of these guys who really, at the end of the day, just want a social club that provides them some sort of validation.