http://www.theworld.org/2012/08/gang-truce-in-el-salvador-reverberates-in-los-angeles/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gang-truce-in-el-salvador-reverberates-in-los-angeles Global Perspectives for an American Audience Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:49:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.theworld.org/2012/08/gang-truce-in-el-salvador-reverberates-in-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-25473 luis j rodriguez Sat, 11 Aug 2012 17:31:00 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=133134#comment-25473 Alex is a real leader for peace, for making our communities better. I do want to correct one important fact--18th Street started in the late 1950s by Chicano/Mexican youth in the Pico-Union barrio. In the 1980s, refugees from El Salvador (but also Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, including Oaxaca) reinvigorated and populated this barrio. 18th Street recruited them as well. Mara Salvatrucha started in the 1980s and used to be part of 18th Street, until a falling out led to barrio warfare between them. Both gangs have grown throughout L.A. but also the U.S., and as reported, were deported to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and parts of Mexico. U.S. policies created the refugee situation, made the the gangs bigger and more entrenched through repression, then gave them their transnational character through deportations. These policies have to be seen as key factors in the birth and growth of any gang, in this case of 18th Street and MS-13. Alex is a real leader for peace, for making our communities better. I do want to correct one important fact–18th Street started in the late 1950s by Chicano/Mexican youth in the Pico-Union barrio. In the 1980s, refugees from El Salvador (but also Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, including Oaxaca) reinvigorated and populated this barrio. 18th Street recruited them as well. Mara Salvatrucha started in the 1980s and used to be part of 18th Street, until a falling out led to barrio warfare between them. Both gangs have grown throughout L.A. but also the U.S., and as reported, were deported to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and parts of Mexico. U.S. policies created the refugee situation, made the the gangs bigger and more entrenched through repression, then gave them their transnational character through deportations. These policies have to be seen as key factors in the birth and growth of any gang, in this case of 18th Street and MS-13.

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