French journalist who made documentary on El Salvador’s street gangs found shot to death

Frenchman who made film on gangs slain in Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A French filmmaker who recently made a documentary about the lives of members of El Salvador’s street gangs was shot dead Wednesday in the Central American country, authorities said.

The body of Christian Poveda, 52, was found inside a car in a Tonacatepeque, a rural region north of the capital, police said. He had been shot in the head.

President Mauricio Funes said he was “devastated” by the journalist’s killing. Salvadoran Public Safety Minister Manuel Melgar deplored the “repugnant and reproachable criminal act” and vowed police would work tirelessly to find Poveda’s killers.

Earlier this year, Poveda, who lived in El Salvador, made the documentary “La Vida Loca,” which follows the lives of members La 18 street gang and received widespread attention in El Salvador.

It shows disturbing images of gang members shot to death in the streets, relatives crying over coffins and young female gangsters with heavily tattooed faces.

The documentary is critical of the heavy police crackdown on gang members, an effort Poveda felt neglected the socio-economic conditions that prompt young Salvadorans to turn to crime. The film concedes gangs “spread terror,” but it also describes the young gang members as captivating and representative of the breakdown of family life in El Salvador.

“We have to understand why a 12- or 13-year-old child joins a gang and gives his life to it,” Poveda said in a recent interview with El Faro, a Salvadoran online newspaper. “Children who have terrible family problems or come from poor families who don’t have time to take care of their children.”

Poveda first came to El Salvador as a photographer for Time magazine. He also covered wars in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and other countries. In the 1990s, he dedicated himself to documentary work and concentrated on Salvadoran gangs.

El Salvador, which has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America, has more than 16,000 gang members. Many were deported from the United States after serving jail terms there.