“Barrio 18”
“Barrio 18”, in English 18th Street, was created by teenagers from Mexico during the 1960s. The most interesting part is that one of the most predominant terrorist groups (“gangs”) in Central America was created here in the United States. “Barrio 18” was made in Los Angeles and the name actually refers to 18th Street in Los Angeles, California.
In the 1960’s there were various Hispanic gangs in the city of Los Angeles; none, however, accepted Mexican youth during that time. These Mexican youth successfully created “Barrio 18” and the group became dominant because they accepted people into their gang from all races and expanded their recruitment across state lines – this type of expansion was the first of it’s kind for a Hispanic gang.
The gangs are still active in Los Angeles but, as a majority of Central Americans are well aware of, their terror has gone international. In 2008 NPR listed their gang to have about 30,000 members; with violence on the rise in Central America these past few years we may see a higher number as we begin our research on these gangs in each country.
Works Cited:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34112.pdf
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91105501
Central American Gangs, Mara Salvatrucha, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
So the members were originally from Central America then moved to LA, didn’t like how they were treated (racism) then went back to CA? That’s fascinating.