MARAS: AMERICA'S FUTURE - PART 2Photos by Victor J. Blue
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This girl just located a friend of hers amid the corpses piled up after the prison riot. The MS-13 prisoners put together the attacks with a system of interprison messengers, websites, and cell phones smuggled in by guards.
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In 1996 the US adapted its policies to allow for the deportation of immigrants convicted of felonies. Many Salvadoran Maras were shuttled back to a country they hadn’t seen in years. There’s some fancy metaphor in this situation about lighting the fuse on a powder keg full of dynamite and manure, but let’s make it even simpler and just say that this created a huge fucking problem for the entire continent. The chaos and desperation of postwar El Salvador provided the well-trained United States Maras with legions of marginalized youth and plenty of legal breathing room to set up their gang structure anew, only this time it’s less like a gang and more like an army. Or a couple armies. A couple armies with lots of tattoos and guns and huge balls. (We should state here for the record that we think Maras are the coolest-looking gang ever and we’re cool with them. So if any of you guys happen to be reading this, we’re cool with you. OK?)
After consolidating in El Salvador, the Maras spread north into neighboring Honduras, then Guatemala, then into southern Mexico. They can now be found, stronger than ever, in the majority of US states. This is partially thanks to the Federal Prison Bureau’s genius attempt to break up the gang by scattering members across the country.
Meanwhile, almost a decade after the end of its civil war, Guatemala is again mired in blood. From July 2004 to July 2005 there were at least 1,966 murders in the country, bringing its murder rate to 34.7 per 100,000. Just to give you a reference point, the US rate for that year was 5.7.
The response to the gang violence down there hasn’t really made the situation any better. In 2005, a wave of mysterious “social cleansing” killings by unknown vigilantes began sweeping across the country, with the Maras as their number-one target. Police and army roundups, kidnappings, and random disappearances became regular occurrences, and every week, new mangled bodies turned up in fields and on the side of roads.
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| A member of Mara 18 out in the yard at El Hoyon. His chest tattoo reads, “I don’t tell secrets to anyone, especially not bitches!” |
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Another Mara 18 member being treated for his wounds in the hospital. How about those sad-clown tattoos for foresight, eh?
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MARAS: AMERICA’S FUTURE | 1 | 2 |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Sep 9, 2009 wrote:
If I recall, Brown Pride a very small gang managed to push ms back. MS seem to be easy push overs, even 4 corners hustlers have wiped them from the streets. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2009 wrote:
Note to self: Stay away from guys with huge facial tattoos. | | Anonymous, on Aug 25, 2009 wrote:
They are not the future of the US, the other 95% of their communities that arte hard working law abiding citizens are.
And they will not take over the continent, they cant even take over a couple blocks in McArthur Parque. | | Anonymous, on Aug 9, 2009 wrote:
What’s with the faggy "secret clown" aesthetic? Is there some kind of tortured symbolism behind it? | | Anonymous, on Dec 20, 2008 wrote:
what bunch of *ankers | | Anonymous, on Sep 23, 2008 wrote:
I guess now is the time fot the KKK and it"s Kniteriders | | Anonymous, on Jun 30, 2008 wrote:
These are just pawns in the game. No one ever talks about who is really pulling the strings. Iran contra has never stopped. It just got larger and more spread out. International wall street bankers make out with clean records, and a huge cut of the laundered money. Without the drug profits, the U.S. economy would collapse. Google "Mike Ruppert". He proved everything. Even offers a thousand dollars to anyone who can prove his facts are wrong. So before you spout off at me. His web site offers a 1000$ to anyone who could disprove any of his documented evidence. Oh yeah, he is in recovery in another country after being giving Columbian Devils breath. 20 countries have offered him exile. He has risked his life to expose some of the shit that is destroying our country. I think he deserves to be honored for his actions. We’re all fucked! | | Anonymous, on Jun 27, 2008 wrote:
Fucking great giving latinos a shitty name in this country all my parents worked for for 30 years down the dam toilet thank you! | | Anonymous, on Jun 27, 2008 wrote:
This gang is seriously scary No one likes them in El Salvador government wise the law "mano dura" or strong hand. lets the El Salvadoran police arrest anyone with gang related tattoos clothes or anyone who pulls gang signs. | | Anonymous, on Jun 24, 2008 wrote:
Its bad thinking on the overview
but fuck- u americans sometimes just sound so so stupid? | | |
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