Pandemic Micropolitics in Latin America: Small Business and the Governance of Crisis From Above and Below in El Salvador

In showing that the pandemic contributed to a renegotiation of co-governance between the State, criminal organisations, and business associations, we contribute to understandings of the dynamics of distributive politics and the co-governance of crisis; and the potential implications for a post-COVID-19 political economy in Latin America. [...] We argue that the public health measures and compensatory 4 Journal of Politics in Latin America 15(1) schemes implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic shaped a renegotiation of the roles of State and non-state – including criminal – actors in the governance of urban territories and the economic activity occurring therein. [...] The agency in charge of MSMEs, CONAMYPE, also provided subsidies on the costs of gas, as well as 30,000 “solidarity packages” to the self-employed and the postponement of payments for taxes and rents. [...] Criminal governance in the form of extortion intervenes in this relationship, with the potential to weaken cohesive governance among the transport-sector, possibly to the interest of the government. [...] The municipal- ity ended up striking a bargain with 18R to assist in pressuring vendors to relocate, and in lieu of payment the government instead secured the gang the most attractive and lucrative stalls in the market to where the vendors were moved (Dudley and Papadovassilakis, 2020).