Salvadoran Gang Becomes Major U.S. Crime Scourge

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the past decade, a youth gang with its origins in El Salvador has established a major criminal presence in the United States, bringing a new level of violence and brutality to towns and cities across the nation.

MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, had its roots in El Salvador during the bloody civil conflict that tore that country apart in the 1980s. Many of its members, then teen-agers, received military training in that war. Some fled as refugees to the United States, where the gang gained strength.
...
All this would be worrying enough for authorities but two factors make MS-13 even more of a threat. The gang maintains a major presence in several Central American countries, threatening the stability of fledgling democracies like El Salvador and Honduras.
...
This has raised fears that groups like al Qaeda might turn to the gang to smuggle some of its operatives into the United States. According to several reports in U.S. media but as yet officially unconfirmed, at least one senior al Qaeda figure was spotted last year meeting MS-13 members in Honduras.

"We know from El Salvadoran law enforcement that al Qaeda is meeting with violent gang leaders in El Salvador. We have also had reports that Middle Easterners have been sighted on the banks of the Rio Grande," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=7402259

[eg101]

1. "manufacturing consent" for "liberating" latin american populist democracy

The supine media and the corporate-rightwing propaganda machine grinds inexorably on and on. Meanwhile the Left dithers about, debating which of our pseudoleftist politicians are more deserving of this or that position...

[GRLMGC]

2. What is is with all of these stories about El Salvador?

I know some in the Bush Adm want to implement another "Salvador" policy in Iraq but don't these stories just make it less appetizing? Considering that crap like that gives rise to crime syndicates like that. Hell, the fucking Iraq war has turned it into a terrorist state!

[Roland99]

3. Why do you think Negroponte is the US Ambassador to Iraq?

[GRLMGC]

4. I figured

This should be an example but I guess they're not getting a clue. Policies like that give rise to violence. Iraq is screwed if this is the case and who suffers? The civilians.

[Roland99]

5. And then, one day...

we'll be forced to re-intervene in Iraq due to the current intervention of a prior intervention.



What a fvcking mess.

[Cocoa]

6. beware of stories about MS-13

keep in mind that scary stories about this gang, especially about their potential ties to al Quaeda, are favorites among the RW columnists like Michelle Malkin

No doubt gearing up for the immigration battle...

[mom cat]

7. Middle Easterners have been sighted on the banks of the Rio Grande,"

I bet there were a few Gringos there too!

[chunkylover55]

8. It seems the discourse on this site is reaching new lows. Gang violence

is a real problem in central-America, and latino gangs in the United States are becoming a larger problem. Instead of actually discussing the problem everyone wants to talk about right-wing fundies and deflect the issue by somehow relating this to the mess in Iraq. This site is less a forum to discuss real issues then it is to bash Bush.

Here in Virginia, the Democratic Governor had to create a special task force to address the problem of gang violence in Northern Virgina. Just a couple miles from me, an MS-13 gang member chopped the hands off a rival gang member in mid-daylight using a hatchet. The perpetrators were no more then 16-17 years old. This didn't make the national news, but was big story locally.

There's a rather large latino community a couple blocks from me, and I periodically see "MS-13" spray painted on fences/buildings around here. People have a legitimate right to be concerned about this problem, and there should be some real discussion around it.

To survive in the U.S. illegal aliens often have to take two full time jobs, both the mother and the father, leaving little time to take care of their children. So while the parents may have come to the U.S. with well meaning intentions, their children become vulnerable to bad influences without proper parental guidance. This social problem fuels the rise in latino gangs.