Free Republic

SNIPPET: "SAN SALVADOR — Eleven people were killed and eight left wounded after suspected gang members set fire to a public bus on the outskirts of San Salvador, police officials said. Arsonists thought to be members of the Mara 18 gang set fire to the minibus, but "there are no clear motives" for the attack, Roberto Villalobos, a top commissioner with the national civil police, told AFP."

Members of rival El Salvadorian gangs were arrested by Border Patrol agents over the weekend just north of Laredo on Interstate 35, an indicator of the increasing through traffic by violent gang members the Laredo Police Department has noticed in recent months."Mostly they're transient," said Sgt. Armando Elizondo, supervisor of LPD's Juvenile Enforcement Team, which deals with local gang activity. "They use this area as a crossing point." Sunday, a 22-year-old gang member was arrested by agents at the Texas Travel Information Center at the 18-mile marker on the interstate at about 2 p.m. He had tattoos showing he's a...

To duck radar, gangs ditch tattoos, go for college look CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala — Tattoos, baggy pants and tank tops are out. Smart blazers and university recruits are in. It’s an extreme makeover for Central America’s gangs. Facing harsh crackdowns by government security forces and citizen vigilante groups, they are trying to lower their profile. The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and the United States for their brazen tactics, including beheading their enemies and covering entire buildings and even their bodies with gang symbols. Now, according to anti-gang operatives, these traditionally uneducated and aimless youth...

A teen accused of killing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and implicated in 16 other slayings has escaped from a youth correction facility just as he promised he would officials said Saturday. Herlan Colindres, a 16-year-old street gang member, slipped out of a rehabilitation center housing 156 youths outside the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on Friday night, authorities said. Colindres and his 13-year-old bodyguard Manuel Romero were arrested in July in connection with the murder of DEA agent Michael Timothy Markey outside Tegucigalpa at a temple dedicated to Honduras' patron saint. He had previously been identified as 13-year-old Erlan Colindres,...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras- A 13-year-old gang member and his teenaged bodyguard have been arrested in the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent during an apparent bungled robbery, a Honduran official said Sunday. DEA Special Agent Timothy Markey was shot to death on Friday while on vacation visiting a popular Roman Catholic shrine in Tegucigalpa. The suspects were identified as Erlan Colindres, who has escaped three times from correctional centers, and his 13-year-old bodyguard Manuel Romero. Police described both as seasoned gang members. "They are dangerous offenders, despite their young ages," Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said Sunday. Honduran authorities...