Interpeace experts contribute to the Accord review of peace initiatives on Legitimacy and peace processes from coercion to consent.

Ana Glenda Tager, Isabel Umaña and Bernardo Arévalo de León discuss the truce between the two main gangs in El Salvador reached in March 2012. Levels of gang violence were comparable with war zones, with a rate of 66 homicides per 100,000 people in 2011. Increasingly tough mano dura (iron fist) policies of criminal investigation proved counter-productive. But the truce delivered an immediate reduction in homicides that dropped by 60 percent overnight.

The truce's implementers reached out to civil society to legitimize the process, in response to criticism and to enroll partners to support reintegration of ex-gang members. The process remains fragile but it provides valuable lessons for peacebuilding.

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