Gustavo Adolfo

 VICTIMS: convicted of 7, suspected of 10 others

Gustavo Adolfo, whose full name unfortunately cannot be published under Salvadoran law because he is a minor, was originally charged with 17 counts of murder. As there was little evidence in 10 of the cases the judge threw them out. But Adolfo wasn't so lucky in the other cases as he was convicted of killing seven people.

Amazingly he was only sentenced to seven years in prison -- the maximum sentence for a minor for any crime. With good behaviour, he could be released in half that. Not surprisingly the case has prompted a nationwide movement that is trying to change those limits.

Gustavo Adolfo says he's innocent (surprise, surprise), and that he is being persecuted because of fashion, not evidence. ``My hands haven't killed,'' he said at a news conference before being sentenced. ``The judge doubted me because of my tattoos, my clothes. Nobody believes in me.''

Despite the massive amount of violence in El Salvador (more people are being killed per week than during the Civil War) this kid and his crimes have shocked the nation, so much so that when he briefly escaped from jail earlier this year it caused dozens to flee their home towns with the fear that he may be coming. His escape also prompted the president to propose eliminating some protections for juvenile criminals.

"It says a lot about how things aren't right in our country,''
President Armando Calderon Sol states the obvious.

"Gustavo Adolfo is in a way the painful face of the society that we have created,''
Some amazing insight from Auxiliary archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chavez.

Some Background and Interesting Information

Gustavo Adolfo, whom relatives call ``Tavo,'' grew up in a poor neighbourhood of San Miguel, 85 miles east of El Salvador's capital.

In the middle of fourth grade, Tavo's mother pulled him out of school because he was suffering beatings at the hands of other students every day. He took a job at a bakery, working mornings and spending afternoons playing soccer in the streets with a ball of wadded rags.

At age 13, he says he entered the world of gangs, many of which are led by former U.S. gang members deported to El Salvador.

Prosecutors are barred by law from discussing the case publicly, but two spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. They told of a teenager forced to become ever more violent to impress his peers, and whose brutality helped him become a leader of his gang.

It is very rare that a murderer makes it to the front pages in El Salvador, but prosecutors say Gustavo Adolfo distinguished himself with his brutality.

His first murder, they say -- and one of those for which he was convicted -- was of a young woman he was dating. He was 14, and she had turned down his sexual advances.

According to the prosecutors, Gustavo Adolfo kidnapped her and took her to a hideout, where he raped her, cut off her breasts and threw her - still alive - into a well, where he left her to die. The prosecutors said other gang members corroborated the story.

Prosecutors would not provide details of the six other killings, except to say that several involved rapes.

Gustavo Adolfo's mother, Dora Alicia Morales, said her son couldn't have committed such crimes. She conceded that he had joined the Salvatrucha gang -- she said it was because he liked wearing the baggy jeans -- but said he could never have raped anyone.

"Girls always come looking for him,'' she told The Associated Press. "My son is not a monster. Everyone is accusing him without knowing him.''

Adolfo made headlines again earlier this month (May, 1999) when he and members of his gang clubbed a guard at a temporary prison, and escaped. About 20 families fled his mothers neighbourhood in fear of him visiting.

Luckily for them they were able to return after Gustavo Adolfo was recaptured while holding up a city bus.
 

MY OPINION

I really don't know enough about the guy to make a decent comment, but it would seem that he is one nasty guy. From what I've read I doubt very much that I would want to run into him when he gets out in a few years.