In what the United Nations considers one of the most violent countries in the world, Salesian Father Jose "Pepe" Morataya has taken a different approach to tackling the widespread violence: He educates El Salvador's poor youths.
For 24 years, Father Morataya has directed an institution that offers free education and job training to children and young adults from marginalized communities who are at risk of falling into the world of crime.
"Many of these kids would already be dead if they were not here," said Father Morataya, founder of the Don Bosco Business Worker Technical Institute in one the most crime-ridden barrios of the Salvadoran capital.
Spanish by birth, the 63-year-old priest came to El Salvador in 1983, during a time when guerrillas and government forces were still fighting a civil war that left nearly 70,000 dead. It would be another nine years before a peace accord was signed.
Since Father Morataya started the Don Bosco program, students have created small businesses in agriculture and industry.
"What inspires me is the church's social doctrine, which has energized me to continue the project," Father Morataya said, citing the precepts outlined in the Pope John Paul II's 1991 social encyclical "Centesimus Annus" ("The Hundreth Year").
The program's goal, he explained, is to give people who face serious challenges to becoming responsible, contributing members of society the opportunity to escape violence and avoid turning to crime.
A report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime released in October found El Salvador to have the second-highest homicide rate in the world, at 66 killings per 100,000 people. Only Honduras rated higher, according to the report, which attributed the violence to competition among gangs and the illicit drug trade.
Much of the country's crime is attributed to two gangs: MS-13 and Barrio 18. The gangs, which experts believe make up an army of about 25,000 members, have caused criminal violence to escalate to the point of destabilizing the country.
Since 1999, three different governments have attempted to combat gang violence by implementing so-called "iron fist" legislation, which included heavy sentences for violent crime. To date the approach has had little effect, according to observers. Father Morataya said a wiser approach should include crime prevention and rehabilitation.
Among the 400 students on the institute's campus, 150 are considered to be at risk of joining the gangs because they have little hope of avoiding the cycle of violence. They live inside the walls of the institute.
Moreover, young men serving prison terms have been sent by judges, because of good behavior, to the institute to finish their sentences and learn a trade.
Luis Ricardo, 18, is one of the men chosen for the alternative sentencing. He is serving a four-year prison sentence for rape, finishing high school and has a hopeful outlook for his future.
"Coming here has been very helpful to me." he said. "It's a chance to straighten out my life."
Young men and women can enroll in courses and train in one of the five fields the institute offers: electricity, mechanics, carpentry, welding and tailoring. Father Morataya is seeking financial support from the World Bank to create a symphony orchestra, whose musicians would come from the institute and from 40 other schools located in violent areas.
A 15-year-old identified only as Antonio was being recruited by members of Barrio 18, but his parents took him out of the community and sent him to the institute.
"My life has taken a turn for the better since I've come and I am no longer walking the streets causing problems," he said during a break from a welding class.
The school survives with help from an annual contribution of $300,000 from the Salvadoran government. The funding covers less than one-third of the overall budget. The rest of the money comes from donations and "providence," Father Morataya said jokingly.
The priest believes the institute is ready to take its next step: forming young entrepreneurs. He has secured an agreement with three universities to start a university-level course and create a kind of incubator of companies developed by students and managed by them after graduation.
"I do not want to produce only labor, or business managers who manage others' companies," Father Morataya said. "We want to produce entrepreneurs."