offers a proactive approach to the problem; not an offensive approach but a preventive one, helping to build the legal norms of the country, the information gathering, the analytical and the communication systems, which will help prevent terrorist acts from occurring or originating in the Central American states. Not pursuing an explicitly anti-terrorism agenda is also important so that terrorism concerns do not fuse with the mara problem, since it can expand the indiscriminatory use of force by governments. The tactic has always been to increase the number of military personnel, police officers, and in general, an increase of force, which always falls short due to lack of a comprehensive structural approach. For Salvadorian President Antonio Saca, and many more, it seems logical to continue with the “mano dura” strategy, believing that introducing harsh measures will bring an immidiate sense of security.51 But this only reinforces the framework of instability and the increase in violence mentioned by Chernick, and is proven by the continual increase in violence and in the mara/drug trafficking problem. The approach cannot be a full-fledged civil war against their own nationals but a more calculated strategy to motivate the population to retract any support they may be giving to rogue groups. The maras are a tangible problem, rooted in inequality, poverty and historical circumstance. This is a red flag to the Central American governments; introducing counter terrorism efforts that replicate the past will only perpetrate the current problem, because the military and police in these countries do not have transparent and judicious criminal justice processes. Thus, duties that are more elaborate can expand with time, but at this stage, fully implementing a multilateral terrorist strategy would mean jumping crucial 51
“El Salvador/Maras: Ejército A La Calle” BBC (25 November 2005) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_4469000/4469466.stm> (30 March, 2006) 36