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Members of the Mara 18 gang help another with his wounds in the El Hoyon prison in Escuintla, Guatemala.On the morning of August 15, 2005, jailed members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang threw three grenades, smuggled in by prison guards, into a dormitory housing members of the Mara 18 at the El Hoyon prison in Escuintla, Guatemala. They then walked in and shot or stabbed the survivors to death. It was the worst prison riot in Guatemala in years: Eighteen people were killed, and more than 50 were injured.You better already know about MS-13, aka Mara Salvatrucha, aka the possible future ruling party of America. A massive, nebulous conglomeration of Latino street gangs that stretches all across the States and Central America, the Maras thrive in some of the most godforsaken neighborhoods in the world. MS-13 is the oldest and largest of Maras, but there are plenty more to take its place should it ever be knocked from power.In the 1980s, immigrants fleeing the brutal civil war in El Salvador landed in Los Angeles and banded together to protect themselves from other LA gangs. The original group called themselves the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners and more or less looked like Hispanic metalheads (kind of awesome). As new chapters and divisions sprang up, their look gradually gelled with the cholos surrounding them.
A dead Mara 18 member being wheeled away from El Hoyon in the aftermath of the riot. Mara Salvatrucha coordinated simultaneous attacks in five prisons across the country, leaving a total of 31 gang members confirmed dead.Click on images to enlarge
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.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.
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!”
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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