Mexico City (AP) – The Trump administration on Tuesday named the Barrio 18 gang as a foreign terrorist organization and joined others Latin American Crime Groups I’ll receive the specified number in the last few months.
Based primarily in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Barrio 18 was born in the United States as a Los Angeles street gang created by young Salvadra immigrants as a way to protect themselves. When many of their members were deported from the US to El Salvador, the gang expanded and gained power in Central America, where they continued to terrorize their communities.
In recent years, gangs have been like that It dealt a powerful blow by President of El Salvador Naive BuquereHe fought wars with the country’s gangs, and more than 1% of El Salvador’s population was jailed for gang connections that had little access to evidence or due process. It significantly reduced the crime rate in El Salvador, but it fueled it Mass human rights violations accusations By the government.
In a statement on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio The designation said it “further demonstrates the Trump administration’s unwavering commitment to dismantling cartels and gangs and ensuring the safety of the American people.”
For a long time, Bukere called gang members “terrorists” and built the MegaPrison, known as the terrorism confinement center. It was the same lockup 200 Venezuelan deportees have been detained As part of an agreement with Trump earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Trump thanked his allies Bukere. United Nations General Assembly “For the successful professional work they did by receiving and imprisoning so many criminals who have entered our country.”
Bukele’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It is unclear what the designation means for law enforcement agencies in the area. The Trump administration is wavying Latin American feathers. Fires on a Caribbean boat It claims it was carrying drugs to the US, which means that many people were killed in those strikes.
Barrio 18 is its rivals, Malasal Battle Cha, or MS-13, Venezuelan gang trends, and many Mexican cartelIt holds designations for foreign terrorist organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the new generation of Jalisco cartel.
This designation has long been applied to inherently political groups. Although Latin American groups own fears about the population they primarily do, they also are barely political and instead focused their efforts on rake money through drug trafficking, fear tor and other illegal activities.
