Criminal Organizations
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 - 06:10
In an offensive started at the beginning of the year — the latest front in a decades-long struggle to control crime — the police have pushed deep into the slums where gangs hold sway and three units of elite troops stand by to join the battle on the streets for the first time.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 - 06:06
For nearly a week, gun-toting masked men loyal to a local drug gang overran this small city along a key smuggling route. Police officers and soldiers stood by as the gunmen patrolled the streets, searching for rivals and hauling off at least 14 men who have not been seen since.
Thursday, August 6, 2015 - 06:49
Gunmen boarded a bus near the Salvadoran capital and opened fire on its driver and passengers on Wednesday, killing four people including the driver, and wounding four others a week after a string of attacks brought bus service in the country to a halt.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 07:15
A year after truce collapses El Salvador gangs seek new path to engage government in another truce process.
Monday, August 3, 2015 - 06:12
The conclusions of a recent study examining the outcomes of gang truces in Latin America suggest a new peace agreement between the Barrio 18 and MS13 in El Salvador may only lead to increased violence in the long term.
Friday, July 31, 2015 - 05:29
A Mexican university presented a study to its Senate last week indicating that their own country, along with Colombia, had some of the highest rates of criminal impunity in the world.
Friday, July 31, 2015 - 05:18
A gang-enforced transportation strike in El Salvador has now left seven bus drivers dead, raising doubts about how long the government can refuse to meet the demands of the street gangs, in what has become an increasingly deadly game of chicken.
Friday, July 31, 2015 - 04:57
Tens of thousands of children in El Salvador flee their homes each year to escape gang violence, and the government is "either unwilling or unable" to protect them from persecution, a U.S.-based advocacy group said on Thursday.
Thursday, July 30, 2015 - 07:31
El Salvador's street gangs paralyzed the capital city of San Salvador on Wednesday as many bus drivers stayed clear of their routes after the killing of at least nine transportation workers in a challenge to the government's crackdown on violence.
Friday, July 24, 2015 - 06:31
Honduras has strengthened legislation to combat gang activity by enacting stricter prison sentencing guidelines and new legal tools for prosecuting gang members -- all in the hopes of reining in street gangs and the crime and violence they generate.