The Washington Post - 06.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A

Photographer Nadège Mazars

has taken a number of trips to

El Salvador in recent years to

document how these men have

transformed into evangelical

Christians.

Many of them believe seeking

God is their last chance at reclaim-

ing their lives, Mazars said. And

religion “gives them the space” to

leave their old selves behind.

But even once they consider

themselves changed, their gang

tattoos, which sometimes cover

their faces or arms, give away

their darker past. Some have

sought to have them removed

through special programs that re-

integrate former gang members

into society. Others must find a

way to move on despite their ap-

pearance.

“For me, the contrast between

the past lives they had and this

current devotion is something in-

credible that I am still trying to

better understand,” Mazars said.

[email protected]

BY SIOBHÁN O’GRADY

PHOTOS BY NADÈGE MAZARS

In the prisons of El Salvador,
former gang members have found
an unlikely friend in Jesus.
El Salvador is home to about
60,000 gang members, according
to its government’s estimates, and
thousands of people have been
killed in gang violence there in the
past few years.
Some of those in prison for
gang-related crimes are among
the Central American country’s
most hardened criminals. But al-
though they may have once sold
drugs or killed rival gang mem-
bers, behind bars many have
found comfort in evangelical
Christianity.
At La Gotera prison in San
Francisco de Gotera, it’s hot, with
little water or food. But the hun-
dreds of men who sit quietly lis-
tening to a pastor’s sermon seem
to have found solace in the Chris-
tian message he shares.

The World

KOREAN PENINSULA

North fires another

round of missiles

North Korea continued
to ramp up its weapons
demonstrations by firing two
presumed short-range ballistic
missiles into the sea Tuesday
while lashing out at the United
States and South Korea for
continuing military exercises that
the North says could derail fragile
nuclear diplomacy.
North Korea’s fourth round of
weapons launches in less than
two weeks came amid a standstill
in nuclear negotiations and after
President Trump repeatedly

dismissed the significance of the

country’s recent tests despite the

threat the weapons pose to ally

South Korea and U.S. bases there.

Experts say the North’s weapons

displays could intensify in the

coming months if progress isn’t

made on the nuclear talks.

South Korea’s military alerted

reporters to the launches minutes

before the North’s Foreign

Ministry denounced Washington

and Seoul over the start of their

joint exercises on Monday. The

ministry’s statement said the

drills, which North Korea sees as

an invasion rehearsal, leave the

country “compelled to develop,

test and deploy the powerful

physical means essential for

national defense.”

The statement said that

Pyongyang remains committed to

dialogue but that it could seek a

“new road” if the allies don’t

change their positions.

— Associated Press

IRAN

Zarif says he declined

Trump’s invitation

Iran’s foreign minister said

Monday that recent U.S. sanctions

against him marked a “failure” for

diplomacy and suggested that the

measures were taken after he

declined an invitation to meet

President Trump at the White

House.

Imposing financial restrictions

on a foreign minister

means “failure in negotiations,

failure in diplomacy and an

opposition to dialogue,”

Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a

news conference in Tehran.

The Treasury Department’s

Office of Foreign Assets Control

sanctioned Zarif last week for

acting “for or on behalf of ”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah

Ali Khamenei, who was also

recently placed under U.S.

sanctions.

Zarif said an invitation from

Trump to visit the White House

was extended last month when he

was in New York for meetings at

the United Nations.

U.S. officials have not

confirmed the account, but the

New Yorker magazine reported

last week that Sen. Rand Paul

(R-Ky.), whom Trump said he had

authorized to speak with Zarif,

relayed the message in a meeting

with the foreign minister.

“I’m not going to make remarks

on what happened in the

negotiations, but I was told in New

York that I would be sanctioned in

two weeks unless I accepted that

offer, which fortunately I did not,”

Zarif said.

His remarks come amid a rise

in tensions between Iran and the

United States.

— Erin Cunningham

BRITAIN

Boy reportedly thrown

from building is stable

Police said Monday that a 6-

year-old boy was in “critical but

stable” condition after he was

reportedly thrown from the 10th

floor of London’s Tate Modern art

gallery a day earlier.

A 17-year-old was arrested on

suspicion of attempted murder.

There was nothing to suggest that

he knew the child, police said.

The boy, who landed on a fifth-

floor roof, was treated at the

scene before being airlifted to a

hospital.

— Karla Adam

DIGEST

Gang members find reform and revival

In El Salvador, many prisoners who may have once sold drugs or killed rivals have since found comfort in evangelical Christianity

TOP LEFT: Roberto, tattoos naming or alluding to his former gang covering his face, prays in San Salvador. TOP RIGHT: Also in the capital, José Rolando shows where gang tattoos were

removed from his arms. ABOVE: Óscar Benavides, director of La Gotera prison, speaks to prisoners last year. In recent years, 1,500 inmates have converted to evangelical Christianity.

IN SIGHT