Gangs have now gone for a new look. Instead of tattoos, baggy pants, and anything associated with the stereotype of gangs, they have switched to blazers and university students. In the case of Central American gangs, it’s quite a makeover. They have lowered their profiles in fear of harsh crackdowns at the hands of both government security forces and citizen vigilante groups.
It would seem if gangs are evolving. Two most notable violent gangs of Central American: Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha are by means no exception. Traditionally, these gangs were uneducated and aimless. Now, they have started to recruit both high school and college students.
They have expanded from petty crimes to more high scale crimes such as: extortion, prostitution, car theft, and kidnappings. Those gangs formed in Los Angeles as they attracted Central Americans who fled to escape civil war. However, they would be deported back in the 1990s. From there, those gangs set up shop in Central America.
It is believed that the Maras have 100,000 strong in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. About 30,000 operate in Los Angeles, California.
These nations have adopted tough and strict anti-gang policies such as graffiti-removal campaigns along with tough punishments for gang-related crimes. Allegedly in operations by both police and citizen’s groups, a lot of youths have been arrested or killed.
“These days we can’t even go out onto the street, where the police look at us and we end up dead,” according to Giovanni “Little Crazy” Estrada, a gang member currently in prison.
He explains that this is why they tell new members not to paint their faces.
According to Sammy Rivera and Jose Luis Tova, security adviser for the Narcotic Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Guatemala and deputy police chief in El Salvador respectively explain that the lucrative pursuits attract students wanting to make quick money. This is extremely different from dropouts and other members wanting to belong.
Rivera says that no longer would they rob buses. Instead, they resort to extortion.
A woman named Ingrid Vicente had joined a gang in 2002. She had left her husband, two children, law studies, and a government job as a result. Working at the finance ministry, she warned 2,000 quetzales a month. As a gang member, the monthly amount doubled.
She wasn’t a typical gang member. It enabled her to smuggle guns from El Salvador. Ingrid taught the uneducated members to figure how much they could extort from stores without bankrupting them.
“These guys don’t know what is possible,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press. She adds: “They didn’t even know how to drive a car or a motorcycle, so I showed them how to drive.”
However, Ingrid discovered the price. She had two other children with a gang member. Ingrid quit. The gang killed her brother and a boyfriend as a result. Ingrid Vicente is currently a witness testifying against the gang.
Gangs have recruited more educated people to stay ahead of the government’s anti-gang policies. While gangs have went underground, they have explored new areas of crime.
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