Protests and rioting spread shortly afterwards to Gonaí¯ves, as a result of the assassination of Amiot Metayer, leader of the Armée Cannibale, a violent gang that had acted as a shock force for the government until a recent falling-out between Metayer and Aristide. These left a toll of up to a dozen dead. An uneasy calm was restored in early October.
At about the same time, the OAS announced a new effort to secure the appointment of a new electoral council, to prepare the ground for legislative elections which, it is hoped, might close the country's longstanding political crisis.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Focus on gun ownership. Interior minister Pedro Franco Badía has announced that gun licences will be made harder to forge, in a bid to cut down the widespread production and sale of counterfeit licences. The purchase of guns is seen as a reaction to a growing sense of insecurity. At present, more than 360,000 people (about 7% of the population) own firearms legally, and the police reports that applications are coming in at a rate of about 80 a day.
EL SALVADOR | Tightening anti-gang legislations. The Salvadorean legislative assembly has accepted the modifications suggested by President Francisco Flores to their anti-mara amendments of the penal legislation. By doing so it has reinstated provisions included in Flores's original draft which they had initially rejected.
With the changes, the maras are declared criminal organisations, and membership of them becomes a criminal offence, punishable with three to five years' imprisonment. Penalties have been tightened for certain crimes committed by gang members: prison terms have been raised from five to eight years for robbery, extortion, injuries, false imprisonment, sexual offences and aggravated threats; and from eight to ten years for aggravated homicide and kidnapping. Minors committing murder will be tried as adults.
The police reports that between 23 July, when the anti-mara offensive was launched and passage of the new legislation, 3,055 gang members were arrested. Almost 40% had to be released, mainly because of lack of any evidence of any wrongdoing — and because mere membership of a mara was not yet an offence.
HONDURAS | Anti-gang drive results. Since the new anti-mara legislation was introduced last August, the police have arrested more than 300 gang members in Honduras's main cities. The Honduran law, which preceded the one just approved in El Salvador, established prison terms of 12 years for gang leaders and eight years for members.
Cofadeh, the NGO representing relatives of disappeared and detained persons, has filed a suit before the supreme court seeking a ruling that it is unconstitutional to punish mere membership of a mara. The view that it is unconstitutional has been publicly endorsed by former security minister Gautama Fonseca.
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