Order Code RL34112
Gangs in Central America
July 27, 2007
Clare M. Ribando
Analyst in Latin American Affairs
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division

Gangs in Central America
Summary
The 110th Congress maintains a strong interest in the effects of crime and gang
violence in Central America, and its spillover effects on the United States. Since
February 2005, more than 1,374 members of the violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
gang have been arrested in cities across the United States. These arrests are raising
concerns about the transnational activities of Central American gangs. Governments
throughout the region are struggling to find the right combination of suppressive and
preventive policies to deal with the gangs. Some analysts assert that increasing U.S.
deportations of individuals with criminal records to Central American countries may
be contributing to the gang problem.

Most experts argue that the repressive anti-gangs laws adopted by El Salvador
and Honduras have failed to reduce violence and homicides in those countries, and
that law enforcement solutions alone will not solve the gang problem. Analysts also
predict that illicit gang activities may accelerate illegal immigration and trafficking
in drugs, persons, and weapons to the United States, although a recent United Nations
report challenges those assertions. Others maintain that contact between gang
members across the regions is increasing, and that this tendency may cause increased
gang-related violent crime in the United States.
Several U.S. agencies have been actively engaged on both the law enforcement
and preventive side of dealing with Central American gangs. The National Security
Council (NSC) created an inter-agency task force to develop a comprehensive, three-
year strategy to deal with international gang activity. The strategy, which is now
being implemented, states that the U.S. government will pursue coordinated anti-
gang activities through five broad areas: diplomacy, repatriation, law enforcement,
capacity enhancement, and prevention.
In the 110th Congress, immigration legislation has been introduced – H.R. 1645
(Gutierrez), S. 330 (Isakson), and S. 1348 (Reid) – that includes provisions to
increase cooperation among U.S., Mexican, and Central American officials in the
tracking of gang activity and in the handling of deported gang members. The House-
passed version of the FY2008 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies
Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764; H.Rept. 110-197) would provide $8 million to the
State Department to combat criminal youth gangs, an increase of $3 million from the
Administration’s request. In Central America, that funding would support a regional
anti-gang initiative aimed at prevention, police training, and judicial reform. On July
23, 2007, Representative Eliot Engel introduced a resolution (H.Res. 564)
recognizing that violence poses an increasingly serious threat to peace and stability
in Central America and supporting expanded cooperation between the United States
and Central America to combat crime and violence.

For more information on the activities of Central American gangs in the United
States, see the relevant sections of: CRS Report RL33400, Youth Gangs:
Background, Legislation, and Issues
, by Celinda Franco. This report will be updated
periodically.

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Defining Gangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Violent Crime Rates in Central America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Scope of the Gang Problem in Central America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Factors Exacerbating the Gang Problem in Central America . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Poverty and a Lack of Educational and Employment Opportunities . . . 4
Societal Stigmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Role of the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Anti-gang Law Enforcement Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
U.S. Deportations to Central America and the Gang Problem . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Country and Regional Responses to the Gang Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Honduras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Panama and Nicaragua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Regional Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Organization of American States (OAS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence . . . . . . . . . . 10
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Regional Security Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Central American Integration System (SICA) Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
U.S. Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Congressional Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Legislation in the 110th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
U.S. International Anti-Gang Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
International Efforts by U.S. Local Law Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Policy Approaches and Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. Deportations to Central America, FY2005-FY2007 . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Gangs in Central America
Introduction
In recent years, Administration officials and Members of Congress have
expressed ongoing concerns about gangs and violence in Central America, and its
spillover effects on the United States. Policy-makers in countries throughout the
region, including in the United States, are struggling to find the right mix of
suppressive and preventive policies to confront the gang problem. Most agree that
unless a comprehensive, regional approach to gangs is implemented soon, the
problem will continue to escalate.
The 110th Congress maintains a strong interest in crime and gang violence in
Central America, and in the related activities of Central American gangs in the
United States. Some Members of Congress have also expressed interest in the effects
of U.S. immigration policy, particularly increasing deportations of individuals with
criminal records to Central America, on the gang problem. This report describes the
gang problem in Central America, discusses country and regional approaches to deal
with the gangs, and analyzes U.S. policy with respect to gangs in Central America.
It concludes with a discussion of policy issues that Members of Congress may
encounter in addressing aspects of U.S. international anti-gang efforts.
Defining Gangs
Academics and other experts on gangs continue to debate the formal definition
of the term “gang” and the types of individuals that should be included in definitions
of the term.1 Generally, there is agreement that gangs usually have a name and some
sense of identity that can sometimes be indicated by symbols such as clothing,
graffiti, and hand signs that are unique to the gang. Gangs are thought to be
composed of members ranging in age from 12 to 24, but some gang members are
adults well over the age of 24. Typically, gangs have some degree of permanence
and organization and are generally involved in delinquent or criminal activity. Gangs
may be involved in criminal activities ranging from graffiti, vandalism, petty theft,
robbery, and assaults to more serious criminal activities, such as drug trafficking,
drug smuggling, money laundering, alien smuggling, extortion, home invasion,
murder, and other violent felonies.
Gangs are generally considered to be distinct from organized criminal
organizations because they typically lack the hierarchical leadership structure, capital,
and manpower required to run a sophisticated criminal enterprise. Gangs are
1 This section was drawn from CRS Report RL33400, Youth Gangs: Background,
Legislation and Issues
, by Celinda Franco.

CRS-2
generally more horizontally organized, with lots of small subgroups and no central
leadership setting strategy and enforcing discipline. Although some gangs are
involved in the street-level distribution of drugs, few gangs or gang members are
involved in higher-level criminal drug distribution enterprises run by drug cartels,
syndicates, or other sophisticated criminal organizations.
Violent Crime Rates in Central America
Latin America has among the highest homicide rates in the world, and in recent
years murder rates have been increasing in several countries in Central America.
Latin America’s average rate of 27.5 homicides per 100,000 people is three times the
world average of 8.8 homicides per 100,000 people.2 Based on the most recent crime
trend surveys (CTS) data available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), Guatemala and El Salvador are among the most violent countries
in the world for which standardized data has been collected.3 Whereas homicide
rates in Colombia, historically the most violent country in Latin America, have fallen
in the past few years, homicides have increased dramatically in El Salvador,
Guatemala, and Honduras. In 2005, the estimated murder rate per 100,000 people
was roughly 56 in El Salvador, 41 in Honduras, and 38 in Guatemala. In Costa Rica
and Nicaragua, the corresponding figures were 6.2 and 8 respectively.4
Since most Central American countries exhibit many of the risk factors that
have been linked to high violent crime rates, the region’s current crime problems and
related consequences are likely to continue in the near future. Scholars have
identified income inequality as the strongest predictor of violent crime rates. Central
America, along with Southern Africa and South America, is one of the most unequal
regions in the world.5 UNODC contends that Central American countries are
particularly vulnerable to violent crime fueled by drug trafficking and corruption
because they are geographically located between the world’s largest drug producing
and drug consuming countries. Some 90% of the cocaine shipped from the Andes to
the United States flows through Central America.6 Other traits that make many
Central American countries vulnerable to violent crime include highly urbanized
populations, growing youth populations, high unemployment rates, a widespread
2 World Health Organization, World Report on Violence and Health, 2002, Available at
[http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/].
3 No standardized CTS data is available for Honduras, but police statistics indicate that it
also has a serious murder problem. See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), Crime and Development in Central America: Caught in the Crossfire, May
2007, Available at [http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/central_america_study.pdf].
4 Although police statistics are not entirely reliable, they provide a starting point for
comparing the relative severity of violent crime in different countries. See “Guatemala, El
Salvador, and Honduras Register Highest Crime Rates in Central America,” Global Insight
Daily Analysis
, April 27, 2007.
5 Costa Rica is an exception to this regional trend. See D. Ledermann et al., “Determinants
of Crime Rates in Latin America and the World,” World Bank, October 1998.
6 UNODC, May 2007.

CRS-3
proliferation of firearms, and an enduring legacy of prolonged civil conflicts. Low
criminal justice capacity, corruption, and an absence of political will to fight crime
in a holistic manner have also hindered countries’ ability to respond to violent crime.7
Scope of the Gang Problem in Central America
In recent years, Central American governments, the media, and many U.S.
officials have attributed a large proportion of violent crime in the region to youth
gangs or maras, many of which have ties to the United States. The major gangs
operating in Central America with ties to the United States are the “18th Street” gang
(also known as M-18), and their main rival, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The 18th
Street gang was formed by Mexican youth in the Rampart section of Los Angeles in
the 1960s who were not accepted into existing Hispanic gangs. It was the first
Hispanic gang to accept members from all races and to recruit members from other
states. MS-13 was created during the 1980s by Salvadorans in Los Angeles who had
fled the country’s civil conflict. Although FBI officials have described MS-13 as a
loosely structured street gang, it is expanding geographically throughout the region
and becoming more organized and sophisticated.8
Estimates of the number of gang members in Central America vary widely, but
the U.S. Southern Command has placed that figure at around 70,000, a figure also
cited by the United Nations. The gang problem is most severe in El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala. Estimates of Central American gang membership vary
considerable, but UNODC cites country membership totals of some 10,500 in El
Salvador, 36,000 in Honduras, and 14,000 in Guatemala. These figures are compared
to 4,500 in Nicaragua, 1385 in Panama, and 2,660 in Costa Rica.9
Press reports and some current and former Central American officials have
blamed MS-13 and other gangs for a large percentage of violent crimes committed
in those countries, but some analysts assert that those claims may be overblown.10 In
recent congressional testimony, Geoff Thale, a gang expert from the non-
governmental Washington Office on Latin America, argued that, although gangs may
be more visible than other criminal groups, gang violence is only one part of a broad
spectrum of violence in Central America.11 In El Salvador, for example, officials
7 Ibid.
8 Arian Campo-Flores, “The Most Dangerous Gang in America,” Newsweek, March 28,
2005; USAID, Central America and Mexico Gang Assessment, April 2006. Available at
[http://www2.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/democracy/gangs.html].
9 Testimony of General Bantz J. Craddock, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, before
the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 15, 2005; UNODC, May 2007.
10 For example, see Federico Brevé, former Minister of Defense of Honduras: “The Maras:
A Menace to the Americas, Military Review, July-August 2007.
11 Thale asserted that the spectrum of violence in Central America includes intra-familial
violence, street crime, politically-motivated crimes, drug-related violence, and “traditional”
organized crime. See Testimony of Geoff Thale, Program Director of the Washington Office
(continued...)

CRS-4
have blamed gangs for 60% of all murders committed annually, but UNODC
contends that evidence to support that conclusion is lacking. Similarly, a recent
police study only attributes 14% of the 427 murders committed in Guatemala in
January 2006 to gang activity.12 In fact, the regions of Guatemala with the highest
murder rates tend to be those without a significant gang presence, but where
organized criminal groups and narco-traffickers are particularly active.13 For
example, despite (or perhaps because) of its isolated and rural location, Petén had the
second highest murder rate in Guatemala in 2004, probably due to its role in regional
drug trafficking operations.
Although the actual percentage of homicides that can be attributed to gangs in
Central America remains controversial, the gangs have been involved in a broad array
of other criminal activities. Those activities include kidnaping; human trafficking;
drug, auto, and weapons smuggling. Gangs have also been involved in extortions of
residents, bus drivers, and business-owners in major cities throughout the region. In
San Salvador, for example, gangs regularly demand that citizens pay “war taxes.”
Failure to pay often results in harassment or violence by gang members.
There are some reports of gang activity in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico
border. Until Hurricane Stan hit in October 2005, MS-13 members were active in
southern Mexico where they often charged migrant smugglers to let their groups pass
and sometimes worked in collaboration with Mexican drug cartels. MS-13 members
are reportedly being contracted on an ad-hoc basis by Mexico’s warring cartels to
carry out revenge killings. Regional and U.S. authorities have confirmed gang
involvement in regional drug trafficking.14
Notably, analysts find no link between Central American gangs and Al Qaeda
or other terrorist groups.15
Factors Exacerbating the Gang Problem in Central America
Poverty and a Lack of Educational and Employment Opportunities.
Several organizations working directly with gang members have asserted that the
combination of poverty, social exclusion, and a lack of educational and job
11 (...continued)
on Latin America before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the
Western Hemisphere, June 26, 2007.
12 J. Lara, “Hipótesis Sobre 427 Muertes,” Prensa Libre, February 2, 2006.
13 Washington Office on Latin America and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México,
Transnational Youth Gangs in Central America, Mexico and the United States, March 2007,
Available at [http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=272].
14 “Criminal Gangs in the Americas,” Economist, January 5, 2006; “Gangs Undermine
Security, Democracy,” Miami Herald, March 30, 2006; “Marked Men,” Dallas Morning
News
, October 29; 2006.
15 Testimony of Chris Swecker, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation Division, Federal
Bureau of Investigation, before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the House
Committee on International Relations, April 20, 2005.

CRS-5
opportunities for at-risk youth are perpetuating the gang problem. In Honduras, for
example, close to 30% of the population is youth ages 15-24. Those youth have very
limited opportunities in a country where some 65% of the population lives on less
than $2 a day and the unemployment rate was 25% in 2005. A 2007 World Bank risk
assessment for Honduras states that the country has large numbers of unemployed
youth who are not in school and, unable to develop the skills required for attending
a university or obtaining skilled employment, provide a ready pool of gang recruits.16
In the absence of familial and community support, many marginalized youth have
turned to gangs for social support, a source of livelihood, and protection.
Societal Stigmas. Societal stigmas against gangs and gang-deportees from
the United States have made the process of leaving a gang extremely difficult. A
recent State Department report on youth gangs in El Salvador identifies religious
conversion, marriage, enlistment in the military, or enrollment in a substance abuse
rehabilitation program as the few options available for those who seek to leave a
gang. Many organizations that work with former gang members, particularly those
with criminal records, say that offender reentry is a major problem in many
countries. Ex-gang members report that employers are often unwilling to hire them.
Tattooed former gang members, especially returning deportees from the United
States who are often native English speakers, have had the most difficulty finding
gainful employment. In El Salvador, some 200 gang members have gone through
complete tattoo removal during the last three years, a long and expensive process,
which many feel is necessary to better blend in to Salvadoran society.17
Role of the Media. Many recent studies have observed that sensationalist
media coverage of the gang phenomenon in Central America has contributed to a
sense of insecurity in the region and may have inadvertently enhanced the reputation
of the gangs portrayed. For example, a 2006 USAID gangs assessment found that
rival gangs in Honduras often compete to see who can portray the most brutal and/or
delinquent activities in order to capture the most media attention. Exaggerated media
reports may have also contributed to the popular perception, which has been backed
by some politicians in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, that youth gangs are
responsible for the majority of violent crime in those countries. This sentiment,
however erroneous, has led many Central American citizens to support tough law
enforcement measures against gangs, hire private security firms, and, in isolated
cases, take vigilante action against suspected youth gang members.18
16 Sara Michel, Elizabeth Utting, and Bob Moquin, “Honduras: a Risk Assessment,” World
Bank
, February 2007.
17 U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, “Issue Paper:
Youth Gang Organizations in El Salvador,” June 2007.
18 Testimony of Lainie Reisman before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, June 26, 2007. For more on the politicization
of the gang problem, see Lainie Reisman, “Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Respond to Central
American Gang Violence,” Sais Review, Vol. 26, Summer 2006. The State Department
Human Rights Reports covering Guatemala and Honduras for 2006 include references to
NGO reports that vigilante killings of youths (including suspected gang members) have
continued to occur. NGOs in both countries have asserted that these youth killings may
(continued...)

CRS-6
Anti-gang Law Enforcement Efforts. One 2006 study by a human rights
group further argues that the repressive policing techniques adopted by many Central
American governments may have partly contributed to gangs “becoming more
organized and more violent.”19 Instead of focusing on law enforcement efforts on
capturing top gang leaders, current anti-gang initiatives in many countries have
rounded up any and all tattooed youth, many of whom were later released for lack of
evidence against them. For example, Salvadoran police estimate that more than
10,000 of some14,000 suspected gang members arrested in 2005 were later released
for lack of evidence against them.20 In response to these law enforcement strategies,
gangs are now changing their behavior to avoid detection. Many gang members are
now hiding or removing their tattoos, changing their dress, and avoiding the use of
hand signals, making them harder to identify and to arrest.
U.S. Deportations to Central America and the Gang Problem
Some analysts argue that U.S. immigration policy has exacerbated the gang
problem in Central America. By the mid-1990s, the civil conflicts in Central
America had ended and the United States began deporting undocumented
immigrants, many with criminal convictions, back to the region, particularly after the
passage of the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)
of 1996. IIRIRA expanded the categories of aliens subject to deportation and made
it more difficult for aliens to get relief from removal.21
U.S. deportations to Latin American and Caribbean countries constitute the
overwhelming majority of U.S. deportations worldwide. In FY2006, Latin American
and Caribbean countries accounted for 95% of the almost 197,000 aliens deported.
The Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador are now
the countries in the region with the highest number of U.S. deportations after Mexico.
In FY2006, more than 26,000 Hondurans, 18,000 Guatemalans, and 10,000
Salvadorans were deported. These three countries were also the three top recipients
of deportees on a per capita basis. For all Central American countries, with the
exception of Panama, those deported on criminal grounds were a much smaller
percentage than the regional average, which stood at 45% in 2006. For example,
about 20% of Guatemalans and Hondurans were removed on criminal grounds in
2006. (See Table 1 for FY2005-FY2007 deportations by country for Central
America)
18 (...continued)
have been perpetrated by groups that included members of the security forces.
19 Ana Arana, “How the Street Gangs Took Central America,” Foreign Affairs, May/June
2005; Mary Helen Johnson, “National Policies and the Rise of Transnational Gangs,”
Migration Policy Institute, April 1, 2006; USAID, April 2006; “Youth Gangs in Central
America,” Washington Office on Latin America, November 2006.
20 “El Salvador: Murder Rate Soars in 2005,” Latinnews Daily, January 4, 2006; “Most of
14,000 Gang Members Arrested in El Salvador Were Released,” EFE News Service,
December 27, 2005.
21 For more information, see CRS Report RL32480, Immigration Consequences of Criminal
Activity
, by Michael John Garcia.

CRS-7

In Central America, policymakers are concerned that increasing U.S.
deportations of individuals with criminal records has exacerbated the gang problem.22
Between 2000 and 2004, an estimated 20,000 criminals were sent back to Central
America, many of whom had spent time in prisons in the United States for drug
and/or gang-related offenses. Many contend that gang-deportees have “exported” a
Los Angeles gang culture to Central America, and that they have recruited new
members from among the local populations.23 Although a recent United Nations
study says there is little conclusive evidence to support their claims, the media and
many Central American officials have attributed a large proportion of the rise in
violent crime in the region on gangs, particularly gang-deportees from the United
States.
Central American officials have called on the United States to provide better
information on deportees with criminal records. In recent testimony before the House
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, the Honduran Ambassador asserted that
while the United States now provides information on the criminal background of
deportees, information is not provided on whether the repatriated nationals are gang
members.
Country and Regional Responses to the Gang
Problem
Most gang activity in Central America has occurred in El Salvador, Honduras,
and Guatemala. Honduras and El Salvador have enacted aggressive anti-gang laws,
whereas Nicaragua and Panama — two countries in which the gang problem has yet
to pose a major security threat — have adopted youth crime prevention strategies.
The Guatemalan government, which has yet to enact comprehensive gang legislation,
supports both strengthening law enforcement capacity to combat criminal gangs, and
expanding gang prevention programs. An April 2006 USAID assessment found that
country and regional efforts to address gangs have been “fragmented, disjointed and
[that they] further underscore the need for coordinated action and leadership.”
Honduras
In 2003, Honduras passed tough anti-gang legislation that established stiff
prison sentences for gang membership. While the initial crackdown reduced crime
significantly and was popular with the public, it was opposed by human rights groups
concerned about abuses of gang suspects by vigilante groups and police forces, and
its effects on civil liberties. The 2007 State Department human rights report covering
Honduras includes NGO reports of killings of youth, including suspected gang
members, by vigilante groups. One NGO reports that some 2,000 youth have died
22 Robert L. Lopez, Rich Connell, and Chris Kraul, “Gang Uses Deportation to its
Advantage to Flourish in the U.S.,” Los Angeles Times, November 1, 2005.
23 Ana Arana, “How the Street Gangs Took Central America,” Foreign Affairs, May/June
2005.

CRS-8
since the mano dura (“firm hand”) legislation was adopted.24 There has also been
ongoing concern about the law’s effects on already poor prison conditions.
Early in 2006, the new government of Manuel Zelaya announced measures to
use dialogue to convince gang members to give up violence and re-integrate into
society, but has thus far relied on private groups to run most rehabilitation and
offender reentry programs. President Zelaya generally prefers to address gang
violence as part of the overall problem of violence in Honduras. His government
funds a small anti-gang office in the National Police, and has used joint police and
military patrols in high-crime areas. Those patrols arrested more than 1,200 gang
members in early September 2006 alone, but crime and violence in Honduras have
continued unabated.
El Salvador
In July 2004, El Salvador’s Congress unanimously approved President Tony
Saca’s Super Mano Dura (“Super Firm Hand”) package of anti-gang reforms despite
vocal criticisms by the United Nations and others that its tough provisions violate
international human rights standards. Since that time, human rights groups have
reported examples of targeted harassment and violence by police against suspected
gang members and gang-deportees. However, a recent State Department paper on
youth gangs in El Salvador states that there have been “no credible reports of police
engaging in extrajudicial killings of gang members.”25
In addition to enacting tough anti-gang legislation, in 2005, El Salvador’s
legislature tightened gun ownership laws, especially for youths, and President Saca
initiated joint military and police patrols in high-crime areas. The Saca government
also began to allocate 20% of anti-gang funds for prevention and rehabilitation
programs. In 2006, the Salvadoran government created a new Ministry of Public
Security and Justice, increased joint military and police patrols, and unveiled a draft
law against organized crime. Despite those efforts, El Salvador recorded 3,761
murders in 2006, a slight increase from 2005.26
Guatemala
In Guatemala, youth gangs are just one part of a broader crime problem
involving corrupt security officials, organized crime, and drug cartels. In December
2005, President Oscar Berger announced that he would deploy joint military and
24 Thelma Mejía, “In Tecucigalpa, the Iron Fist Fails,”NACLA, Vol 40, No. 4, July/August
2007.
25 Several NGO reports are summarized in “No Place to Hide: Gang, State, and Clandestine
Violence in El Salvador,” the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School,
February 2007 U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor,
“Issue Paper: Youth Gang Organizations in El Salvador,” June 2007.
26 “El Salvador: Crime Busted?” Economist Intelligence Unit, December 18, 2006;
“Salvadoran Murder Rate in 2006 Remains Unchanged,” Global Insight Daily Analysis,
January 3, 2007.

CRS-9
police forces to contain violent crime, including gang-related violence. These joint
forces were necessitated by rank depletion within the Guatemalan police that had
occurred as some 4,000 officers were dismissed for irregular or criminal activities
between 2003 and 2005. The need to develop other measures to counter corruption
by prison guards emerged after gang warfare in the prison system, which was
facilitated by contraband and unauthorized visitations allowed by prison staff,
resulted in 53 inmate deaths in August and September 2005. More recently, the
February 2007 killing of three Salvadoran legislators and their driver and the
subsequent killing of the four Guatemalan police officers accused of the legislators’
murders drew international attention to the related problems of corruption, crime and
impunity in Guatemala. Specific concern about gang activities recurred in late May
2007 when attacks by youth gangs demanding payoffs from bus drivers halted service
between Guatemala City and Antigua, one of the country’s top tourist destinations.27
The Guatemalan Congress has approved organized crime legislation
criminalizing racketeering and enabling law enforcement to use modern investigative
tools such as wiretaps and undercover operations. Other measures pending before the
legislature would reform the penal code and regulate private security firms. While
the Guatemalan interior minister has attributed many of the country’s 5,629 murders
in 2006 to inter-gang conflict, evidence supports the counter argument, that drug
cartels and organized criminal groups are actually responsible for a larger percentage
of violent crime committed in Guatemala. Law enforcement solutions have been the
immediate focus of the Berger government, prevention programs are also being
created to assist disadvantaged and vulnerable youth, especially former gang
members. Addressing gang violence is likely to be a key issue in the country’s
September 2007 presidential elections.28
Panama and Nicaragua
Although their efforts have received considerably less international attention
than El Salvador and Honduras, other Central American countries have developed
a variety of programs to deal with the gang problem. In September 2004,
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos launched Mano Amiga (“Friendly Hand”), a
crime prevention program that provides positive alternatives to gang membership for
at-risk youths. Aimed at children aged 14-17, the government program, which was
supported by a number of domestic and international non-governmental institutions,
sought to provide access to theater and sports activities for some 10,000 Panamanian
youth. Nicaragua has also adopted a national youth crime prevention strategy that,
with the active involvement of the police, focuses on family, school, and community
interventions.
27 “Government to Purge 1,500 Police Officers,” EFE, December 7, 2005; “Guatemala:
Mara Shootout Claims 14 lives,” Latinnews Daily, September 20, 2005; Manuel Roig-
Francia, “Linked Killings Undercut Trust in Guatemala,” Washington Post, March 23, 2007;
“Gang Violence Halts Bus Service in Guatemala,” EFE, May 30, 2007.
28 “Ten Years On, Peace Remains Distant,” Latin News Weekly Report, January 4, 2007;
UNODC, May 2007.

CRS-10
Regional Efforts
Organization of American States (OAS). On June 7, 2005, the OAS
passed a resolution to hold conferences and workshops on the gang issue and to urge
member states to support the creation of holistic solutions to the gang problem. The
OAS unit focused on the problem of gangs in the Americas is located within the
Organization’s Secretariat for Multidimensional Security. In the past two years, the
OAS has hosted meetings and conferences on the gang problem in Latin America and
conducted an 8-country study of gangs in the region that should be available later this
year. The OAS is also developing a regional strategy for promoting inter-American
cooperation in dealing with gangs.
On June 5, 2007 the OAS General Assembly passed a resolution to promote
hemispheric cooperation in confronting criminal gangs that instructs the General
Assembly to support country anti-gang efforts and the Permanent Council to create
a contact group of member states concerned about the gang issue. The resolution
also requests that the Permanent Council hold a special meeting with member states,
other inter-American agencies (such as PAHO and the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights), other international organizations, and civil society representatives
to analyze the gang problem from an integrated, cross-cutting perspective.
Representatives from the OAS are also active members of the Inter-American
Coalition for the Prevention of Violence.
Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence. The IACPV
is a multilateral group formed in 2000 to promote prevention as a viable way of
addressing crime and violence in Latin America. In addition to the OAS, IACPV
member organizations include the World Bank, the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), USAID, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The IACPV has
helped municipalities in Central America develop violence prevention plans,
developed a user-friendly violence indicators document, hosted a major conference
on gang prevention, and provided technical and financial assistance to help form a
counterpart organization within the region, the Central American Coalition for the
Prevention of Youth Violence.29
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Among IACPV member
organizations, the IDB has taken the lead in funding major violence prevention
programs in Central America. The IDB is executing significant violence reduction
loans in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. In Honduras, a $32 million IDB loan
has provided support for infrastructure, as well as micro-entrepreneurship training for
former gang members. On May 24, 2007, the IDB, in coordination with UNODC
and the OAS, hosted a seminar in Washington D.C. on crime and violence in Central
America.
Regional Security Meetings. In addition to these multilateral efforts,
Central American leaders and officials have regularly met, often accompanied by
29 For more information on the IACPV, see [http://www.iacpv.org/].

CRS-11
their U.S. counterparts, to improve ways to coordinate security and information-
sharing on gang members. Presidents Saca of El Salvador and Oscar Berger of
Guatemala agreed to set up a joint security force to patrol gang activity along their
common border. Berger and other leaders have also called for assistance from the
United States to create a regional “rapid-reaction force” to tackle drug traffickers and
gangs. Regional law enforcement efforts are already underway. In September 2005,
6,400 law enforcement officers from the United States, Mexico, and Central America
carried out a coordinated gang raid that resulted in the arrest of 650 suspects.30 In
October 2006, the governments of the Central American Integration System or SICA
(Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic
proposed legislation to make a local felony into a regional felony and pledged to
improve intelligence-sharing within the region.
Central American Integration System (SICA) Summit. At a recent
SICA summit in Guatemala, the United States government pledged some $4 million
to help Central American governments develop a regional anti-gang strategy.
Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs,
pledged $1 million to strengthen regional security coordination and $3 million to be
disbursed over three years by USAID for rehabilitation programs for gang members.
Central American officials have said that they may need between $600 and $800
million to fund the increased law enforcement and equipment that would be
necessary to implement a comprehensive regional security strategy.31
U.S. Policy
Bush Administration officials and Members of Congress have expressed
ongoing concerns about the effects of crime and gang violence in Central America,
and its spillover effects on the United States. In June 2007, after attending a meeting
with attorney generals from Central America, Colombia, and Mexico, U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales stated that “the United States stands with all of our
neighbors in our joint fight against violent gangs.”32 U.S. officials are striving to
coordinate anti-gang initiatives on both the domestic and international fronts, taking
into account their likely impacts on domestic security, on the one hand, and on
foreign relations with the countries of Central America and Mexico, on the other.
Congressional Interest
Over the past two years, Congress has expressed ongoing concerns about the
problem of transnational gangs. On April 20, 2005, the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee held hearings on
gangs and crime in Latin America. Witnesses discussed the scope of the gang
30 “Central America’s Crime Wave Spurs Plan for a Regional Force,” Los Angeles Times,
August 16, 2005; “Gang Crackdown Nets 650 Suspects,” Los Angeles Times, September 9,
2005.
31 “U.S. Offers Funds to Fight Central America Gangs,” Washington Post, July 18, 2007.
32 “U.S. Vows to Help Latin America Fight Gangs,” Reuters, June 8, 2007.

CRS-12
problem in Central America, and on current and proposed efforts undertaken by
various U.S. agencies, in coordination with Central American officials, to deal with
the gang problem. The 109th Congress introduced legislation— S. 853 (Lugar) and
H.R. 2672 (Harris), the North American Cooperative Security Act — that included
provisions to increase cooperation among U.S., Mexican, and Central American
officials in the tracking of gang activity and in the handling of deported gang
members. Both House and Senate versions of broader immigration legislation, H.R.
4437 (Sensenbrenner) and S. 2611 (Specter) contained similar provisions, but neither
were enacted.
In the 110th Congress, while interest in the topic of gangs and violence in
Central America has continued, that interest has broadened out to include concerns
about the unintended consequences of mano dura policies, the relationship between
gangs and drug cartels, and the effects of U.S. immigration policy on the gang
problem. At a June 26, 2007 hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’
Subcommittee on Western Affairs, three of the witnesses asserted that law
enforcement-only approaches have been ineffective at reducing gang activity. In
subsequent questioning, several Members of Congress expressed their concerns that
drug-trafficking through Central America might be at the root of violence in the
region. Others wondered what types of U.S. assistance would be most effective in
offering youths alternatives to joining gangs. A separate hearing was held on July 24,
2007 in order to examine the effects of increasing U.S. deportations on Central
America.
Legislation in the 110th Congress
The 110th Congress has considered immigration legislation – H.R. 1645
(Gutierrez), S. 330 (Isakson), and S. 1348 (Reid) – that includes provisions to
increase cooperation among U.S., Mexican, and Central American officials in the
tracking of gang activity and in the handling of deported gang members.
The House-passed version of the FY2008 State, Foreign Operations, and
Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764; H.Rept. 110-197) would provide
$8 million to the State Department to combat criminal youth gangs, an increase of $3
million from the Administration’s request. In Central America, that funding would
support a regional anti-gang initiative aimed at prevention, police training and
judicial reform.
On July 23, 2007, Representative Eliot Engel introduced a resolution (H.Res.
564) recognizing that violence poses an increasingly serious threat to peace and
stability in Central America and supporting expanded cooperation between the
United States and Central America to combat crime and violence.
U.S. International Anti-Gang Efforts
Several U.S. agencies have been actively engaged on both the law enforcement
and preventive side of dealing with Central American gangs. On the law
enforcement side, recent and current efforts, by agency, include:

CRS-13
! FBI: created a special task force focusing on MS-13 in December
2004, and opened a liaison office in San Salvador to coordinate
regional information-sharing and anti-gang efforts in April 2005.
! Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement: has created a national anti-gang initiative called
“Operation Community Shield” that, in addition to arresting
suspected gang members in the United States, works through its
offices overseas to coordinate with foreign governments that are also
experiencing gang problems. Since February 2005, ICE has arrested
more than 1,374 suspected MS-13 members.
! State Department, International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement (INL): has provided training and technical assistance
to law enforcement officials throughout Central America, sponsored
anti-gang workshops at the International Law Enforcement Academy
(ILEA) in San Salvador, and designed a “model precinct” to improve
policing and police-community relations in Villanueva, Guatemala.
! FBI/INL: is creating a Transnational Anti-Gang (TAG) Unit
composed of FBI agents and Salvadoran police.
! FBI/INL: is implementing the Central American Fingerprinting
Exploitation (CAFÉ) initiative to facilitate information-sharing
about violent gang members and other criminals.
! Department of Homeland Security (DHS): is implementing an
electronic travel document (eTD) system to provide biometric and
biographic information on persons being deported from the United
States to law enforcement officials in receiving countries. The eTD
system has been in place in Guatemala since January 2007, and will
be extended to Honduras and El Salvador.33
On the preventive side, U.S. agency efforts include:
! USAID/Department of Justice’s International Criminal
Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP): created a
community policing program in some 200 municipalities in El
Salvador.
! USAID: is implementing a similar community crime prevention
program in Villa Nueva, Guatemala in cooperation with the State
Department’s INL Bureau, as well as some rehabilitation and
reinsertion programs for former gang members.
33 Testimony of Charles Shapiro, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs, before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the
Western Hemisphere, July 24, 2007.

CRS-14
! USAID: published an assessment of the gang problem in Central
America in April 2006 that included programming initiatives needed
to confront its root causes throughout Central American and
Mexico.34
! USAID: is funding a new regional program to support public-private
partnerships in gang prevention.
! State Department/INL: has supported “culture of lawfulness”
programs in schools throughout the region.
! State Department/Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor: has funded capacity training for media officials, including
modules on how to cover issues of gangs and crime, through its
regional Trust for the Americas program.
The National Security Council (NSC) has recently developed a comprehensive,
inter-agency strategy to deal with the threat of criminal gangs from Central America
and Mexico, which was announced by Assistant Secretary Shannon on July 18,
2007.35 The strategy acknowledges that, based on previous U.S. and regional
experiences, future anti-gang efforts should be holistic, comprehensive, and regional
in scope. It calls for active engagement with governments in the region, the
Organization of American States (OAS), and the Central American Integration
System (SICA). The strategy states that the U.S. government will pursue coordinated
anti-gang activities in five broad areas: diplomacy, repatriation, law enforcement,
capacity enhancement, and prevention.
International Efforts by U.S. Local Law Enforcement
In addition to federal cooperation with governments in Latin America, there has
been some engagement between law enforcement officials from cities in the United
States and their counterparts in Central America. In February 2007, at a conference
in Los Angeles, law enforcement leaders from Central America met with more than
100 federal agents, police, and prosecutors from across the United States to discuss
ways to combat transnational gangs. They agreed to increase information-sharing on
suspected criminals and discussed the possibility of launching an international
prevention campaign, a police exchange program, and a “Top-20” fugitives list for
the border region. A follow-up meeting was held in April in San Salvador. In
addition, the mayor of Los Angeles has developed a cross-border alliance with
President Saca of El Salvador to combat gang violence as part of a broader $2 billion
initiative to combat gang violence in the city.
34 USAID, April 2006.
35 U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesman, “Combating Criminal Gangs from
Central America and Mexico,”July 18, 2007.

CRS-15
Policy Approaches and Concerns
Most policy-makers agree with the March 15, 2005 testimony of General Bantz
Craddock, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, before the Senate Armed
Services Committee, that finding regional solutions to the gang problem is
“absolutely essential.” At the same time, many argue that in order to effectively
reduce gang-related crime, a holistic approach to the problem must be developed that
addresses its root social, political, and economic causes. There is disagreement,
however, as to what mix of preventive and suppressive policies needs to be put in
place in Central America to deal with the gangs, and what U.S. agency is best
equipped to oversee those anti-gang efforts.
Proponents of law enforcement solutions maintain that Central American law
enforcement officials lack the capacity and the resources to target gang leaders
effectively, conduct thorough investigations that lead to successful prosecutions, and
share data. While most U.S. observers argue that the State Department and the FBI
should take the lead in assistance to improve law enforcement capacity, others see
a possible role for the U.S. Southern Command in training regional security forces.
Critics of U.S. military involvement in anti-gang efforts have noted that it is the State
Department’s role to provide security assistance to foreign governments, subject to
human rights and democracy concerns. Other proposals for increased U.S.
involvement in police training are likely to contain significant anti-gang components.
Proponents of prevention-based interventions argue that, based on the
experiences of cities in the United States, localities that provide social services to at-
risk youth have been more effective in preventing gang violence than those that have
relied on law enforcement-only approaches.36 These findings mirror the results of
several studies previously cited this report that focus on reducing gang violence in
Central America.
Some argue that USAID and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) could take
the lead on increasing gang-prevention programs in Central America. Both agencies’
efforts have been limited in recent years, however, by the declining funds made
available for development programs in Latin America. Further, some assert that,
regardless of U.S. efforts, gang prevention programs may not show immediate
results, and will require a sustained high-level commitment by Central American
leaders to attack the underlying factors of poverty and unemployment that have
contributed to the rise in gang activity.
36 “Gang Wars,” Justice Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., July 2007.

CRS-16
Table 1. U.S. Deportations to Central America,
FY2005-FY2007
FY2005
FY2006
FY2007 (through June 18, 2007)
Non-
Non-
Non-
Country
Total Criminal
Total
Criminal
Total
Criminal
Criminal
Criminal
Criminal
Costa Rica
369
83
286
563
92
471
286
51
235
El Salvador
7,235
2,665
4,570
10,312
3,679
6,633
12,499
3,138
9,361
Guatemala
12,529
1,840
10,689
18,386
3,589
14,797
14,234
2,238
11,996
Honduras
14,556
2,467
12,089
26,526
5,559
20,967
18,419
3,560
14,859
Nicaragua
1,022
345
677
2,241
585
1,656
1,457
345
1,112
Panama
143
121
22
152
117
35
97
70 27
Total:
Central
35,854
7,521
28,333
58,180
13,621
44,559
49,992
9,402
37590
America
a. The number of criminal and non-criminal deportees does not add to the sum total in FY2005 because no data
distinguishing these categories is provided for Barbados and St. Kitts and Nevis in that year.
Source: Prepared by Nelson Olhero, Research Associate, CRS Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, utilizing
information provided by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of
Detention and Removal.