Óscar Martínez is the author of The Beast (Verso, 2013) and A History of Violence (Verso, 2016). For ten years he has covered violence and migration in the United States, Mexico, and northern Central America. Martínez writes for Elfaro.net and is a founding member of El Faro’s project Sala Negra, a research team specialized in organized crime, gangs, and violence culture in Central America.