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What A Reporter Found 'Embedded' In El Salvador's Violent Streets

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NPR’s Kelly McEvers went to El Salvador — to find out how violent street gangs are terrorizing a whole country for the podcast “Embedded." She joins us. Plus, the latest on Brazil's political crisis.

In this April 5, 2016 photo, a masked and armed policeman patrols a gang controlled neighborhood in San Salvador, El Salvador. Hyper-violent gangs declared open-season on police in this Central American nation in response to a government crackdown that began last year. (Alex Peña/AP)
In this April 5, 2016 photo, a masked and armed policeman patrols a gang controlled neighborhood in San Salvador, El Salvador. Hyper-violent gangs declared open-season on police in this Central American nation in response to a government crackdown that began last year. (Alex Peña/AP)

Summer’s coming, when we’ve seen America’s border flooded with asylum seekers from the south. The Supreme Court is today weighing the president’s immigration plans. Is it really so bad down there in Central America? NPR’s Kelly McEvers has gone deep on one bad day in El Salvador for the podcast Embedded. It will tell you a lot. Up next On Point: up close, embedded, with the extreme violence in El Salvador.  Plus, we’ll look at political turmoil in South America’s giant, Brazil.
-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Kelly McEvers, host of NPR's "Embedded" and co-host of All Things Considered. She ran NPR's Beirut bureau from 2011 to 2013. She covered the Arab uprisings from Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and other locations in the Middle East as a correspondent for NPR in 2011. (@kellymcevers)

Adriana Beltrán, head of citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America. She's an expert in citizen security, organized crime, police reform and violence prevention in Central America. (@Adriana_WOLA)

From Tom's Reading List

NPR: City, Interrupted: How Gang Killings Brought San Salvador To A Halt -- "Gang violence is commonplace in El Salvador, one of the most violent countries in the world. But the capital city of San Salvador was brought almost to a standstill when gang members began murdering bus drivers one by one in July 2015."

San Diego Union-Tribune: Gangs declare war on police as El Salvador violence rages — "Hyper-violent gangs declared open-season on police in this Central American nation in response to a government crackdown that began last year. Killings of officers nearly doubled to more than 60 in 2015, and so far this year 15 officers have been slain, including two Tuesday. In some cases they are targeted while they're off duty and relaxing with family members, who also become victims. Analysts say the growing attacks are a sign El Salvador's conflict is spiraling out of control and threatening to explode into open warfare."

NPR Goats and Soda: The Surreal Reasons Girls Are Disappearing In El Salvador: #15Girls — "Marcela's mother is too upset to talk. So, we talk to her grandmother. She says Marcela left the house that morning with her sister. The two worked in downtown San Salvador, the capitol of El Salvador, making tortillas. The grandmother tells us that Marcela's boyfriend was a bus driver in a gang-controlled neighborhood. First, he got threats. 'Help the gang or we'll kill you.' Then he disappeared."

Latest On Brazil's Political Crisis

Paolo Trevasani, covers politics and the economy in Brasilia for the Wall Street Journal. (@ptrevisani)

This program aired on April 18, 2016.

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