Quote:
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Originally Posted by ihateyouth
I doubt L.A. has any influence over south american riots.
I will pray for you.
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EDUCATED AS A GANG MEMBER IN
LOS ANGELES
Tuesday, 11 September 2007 The Story Of A Chilean Who Grew Up In The L.A. Gang Scene
(Ed. Note: This article relates the life of a young Chilean who spent many years as a member of one of
Los Angeles’ many
gangs before being deported to
Chile. The article first appeared in The Clinic earlier this month – and makes one think twice before heading to Valparaiso – where the former gang member now calls home.)...
The Story Of A Chilean Who Grew Up In The L.A. Gang Scene
Los Angeles needs to go global to fight gangs, says Rocky Delgadillo
Rocky Delgadillo, the Los Angeles city attorney, oversees the enforcement of 57 gang injunctions, including ones against the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. In
Opinion today, he talks about how combating Los Angeles gangs is not a local challenge, but an international one.
"The two fastest-growing and most powerful gangs in the world are homegrown products of Los Angeles. The Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, and the 18th Street gang, known in Central America as Mara 18, sprang up in Pico-Union and the densely populated neighborhoods around MacArthur Park. But unlike many local street gangs, these two were entrepreneurial: They recruited Central American immigrants across the city and then expanded farther -- throughout Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Conservative estimates put MS-13's ranks at 20,000 and 18th Street's at 30,000 worldwide.
"Stopping street gangs is no longer a local matter -- a point driven home to me during a symposium in El Salvador. During the conference, two points of consensus emerged. First, MS-13 and 18th Street have become an international concern -- indeed, even Interpol is now involved in the fight. Second, past strategies to handle these gangs have failed."
Read the full Opinion piece here.
How the Street Gangs Took Central America
Ana Arana
From
Foreign Affairs,
May/June 2005
Article ToolsSummary: For a decade, the United States has exported its gang problem, sending Central American-born criminals back to their homelands -- without warning local governments. The result has been an explosive rise of vicious, transnational gangs that now threaten the stability of the region's fragile democracies. As Washington fiddles, the gangs are growing, spreading north into Mexico and back to the United States.
Ana Arana is an investigative journalist who has reported extensively on Latin America.