Victor Garcia alias The Duck from Calle 18 gang sits with his wife and daughter during a religious service at a prison in Quezaltepeque

Victor Garcia (R), alias “The Duck” from the Calle 18 gang, sits with his wife and daughter during a religious service at a prison in Quezaltepeque, on the outskirts of San Salvador June 16, 2012. The relentless tit-for-tat murders between El Salvador’s two largest street gangs – “Calle 18” and “Mara Salvatrucha” – made the country the most murderous in the world last year after neighboring Honduras, also ravaged by gang violence. That was until Garcia, from the Calle 18 (“18th Street”) gang, along with elders from the Mara Salvatruchadeclared an unprecedented truce that authorities say has cut the homicide rate in half in just four months. Picture taken June 16, 2012. To match Feature SALVADOR-GANGS/ REUTERS/Ulises Rodriguez (EL SALVADOR – Tags: CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST)

Alex Stonehill

Alex is a cofounder and editor of The Seattle Globalist. He's a visual journalist whose work has been published by PBS, The Seattle Times, FRONTLINE/World and the Seattle Weekly.  Alex teaches journalism in the University of Washington's Department of Communication and recently directed the documentary film Barzan.
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