In September 2007, when Eddie arrived, it had been roughly four years since the right-wing ARENA government of Francisco Flores had unleashed a new anti-gang policy called Mano Dura, or “Strong Hand.” It had consisted of massive patrols and gang sweeps launched by combined units of the military and police; with broad new security powers, the government arrested thousands of people, some of whom didn’t belong to the gangs but were thought to be associated with them, either because of where they lived, whom they knew, or how they dressed.
