Private Story
COMANDOS
In 2015, El Salvador registered a record 103 homicides per 100,000 habitants, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world outside a war zone.But for many young people who have few chances to distance themselves from rivalries between so-called maras in their schools and neighbourhoods, a civil-society organisation called the Comandos de Salvamento, or Rescue Corps, has been a refuge.
Voluntary rescue worker Jazmin Hernandez has vivid memories of the day she responded to an emergency call involving a policeman shot dead by gang members in an El Salvadoran slum.It was the first time the 16-year-old had seen violence up-close in her home country, where a turf war between the notorious gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) has pushed murder rates to record levels."When we arrived he was still alive, but we couldn't do anything and he died because he had so many bullets in his body," she said.
Jhonny Ramos, a volunteer coordinator, said that about 2,000 youths now respond to traffic accidents, natural disasters and violent crimes in a country where emergency services personnel have been overwhelmed by crises.
The volunteers, who are trained in first-aid, gunshot wound care and evacuation techniques, often spend long shifts sleeping on small cots and responding to emergency calls.
With 32 bases around the country, the organisation founded 56 years ago has also helped to take many youth off the country's crime-ridden streets and offering them opportunities to work as yellow-clad outreach workers.
But their work is not without risk. In April, suspected gang members stormed a Rescue Corps base in the central city of Quezaltepeque, about 13 miles (21 km) northwest of San Salvador, peppering a 14-year-old volunteer with bullets.The victim, Erick Beltran, died of his wounds, becoming the first Rescue Corps volunteer to be killed on duty a long history that saw the organisation on the streets during El Salvador's civil war."These are things that happen if you save the life of someone who is against a gang or mara," Ramos said.
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