{"code":"27090","sect":"Central America","sect_slug":"central-america","hits":"1711","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202310\/centroamerica\/27090","link_edit":"","name":"Two Sister Gangs, Two Paths","slug":"two-sister-gangs-two-paths","info":"After the rupture of El Sur, Guatemala\u2019s two most powerful gangs were quick to distance themselves from their origins: Almost none of their members remained in Los Angeles, very few were over the age of 30, and the\u00a0 clecha sure\u00f1a \u2014the philosophy or code of Southern California\u2019s Latino gangs\u2014 had fallen out of favor, despised as the obsolete and ridiculous are despised.","mtag":"Gangs","noun":{"html":"Carlos Mart\u00ednez and Jos\u00e9 Luis Sanz","data":{"carlos-martinez-and-jose-luis-sanz":{"sort":"","slug":"carlos-martinez-and-jose-luis-sanz","path":"carlos_martinez_and_jose_luis_sanz","name":"Carlos Mart\u00ednez and Jos\u00e9 Luis Sanz"}}},"view":"1711","pict":{"cms-image-000039580-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"39580","name":"cms-image-000039580.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039580.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039580.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000039580-jpg","text":"<p>\u00d3scar Humberto Contreras, \u2018El Abuelo\u2019 (\u2018Grandpa\u2019) the former leader of Barrio 18 in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I Prison. Photo Pau Coll<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003E\u00d3scar Humberto Contreras, \u2018El Abuelo\u2019 (\u2018Grandpa\u2019) the former leader of Barrio 18 in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I Prison. Photo Pau Coll\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000039581-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"39581","name":"cms-image-000039581.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039581.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039581.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000039581-jpg","text":"<p>Photo Mauro Arias<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EPhoto Mauro Arias\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000039582-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"39582","name":"cms-image-000039582.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039582.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039582.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000039582-jpg","text":"<p>Jos\u00e9 Daniel Galindo, aka \u2018Criminal,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EJos\u00e9 Daniel Galindo, aka \u2018Criminal,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000039583-jpg":{"feat":"1","sort":"39583","name":"cms-image-000039583.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039583.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000039583.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000039583-jpg","text":"<p>Aldo Dupi\u00e9, alias \u2018Lobo,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll<\/p>","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EAldo Dupi\u00e9, alias \u2018Lobo,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":39583,"date":{"live":"2023\/10\/04"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2023","data_post_dateLive_MM":"10","data_post_dateLive_DD":"04","text":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E This second chapter on the split of MS-13 and 18th Street in Guatemala was published by El Faro \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/salanegra.elfaro.net\/es\/201211\/cronicas\/10161\/II-Los-dos-caminos-de-las-hermanas.htm\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ein Spanish\u003C\/a\u003E in November 2012. Read chapter one in English \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202309\/centroamerica\/27069\/the-day-ms-13-betrayed-the-guatemalan-sur\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ehere\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003EAbuelo is retired now. He took so many turns around the 18th Street gang merry-go-round that he finally grew sick of it. He was once a kid enchanted by Dickies and Van Davis jeans \u2014the big, baggy ones\u2014 and Nike Cortez sneakers; he had been a sicario on a bicycle, a voice of authority; an infamous prisoner; he was profiled by the police as a \u201cleader\u201d of the gang... and he grew tired of it. He grew tired of the disorder, the lack of rules, the new kids despising the old code, of their devotion to the trigger. At least, that\u2019s how he tells it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe years Abuelo \u2014\u201cGrandpa\u201d\u2014 spent in the gang were enough to cover him completely in tattoos: the ink blots out his belly, weaving its way up his chest and along his arms, creeping up his neck and face and eventually consuming the tip of his nose. His years in the gang left him serving a 50-year sentence in a maximum-security prison, with enough of a reputation that the authorities don\u2019t believe a word he says. They don\u2019t believe that he\u2019s a \u003Cem\u003Eladeado\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u003C\/em\u003Eor a traitor to the gang, they don\u2019t believe that he wants to cooperate, and they don\u2019t believe that his newfound willingness to talk isn\u2019t just a plan by the gang designed to confuse them, to fill their heads with lies. But just in case he is in fact telling the truth, the guards keep him isolated from his former homies, and every now and then a police officer comes to the prison to hear him out, and then tells him he doesn\u2019t believe him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbuelo enters the interview room at Fraijanes I prison \u2014home to several generations of \u003Cem\u003Eruederos\u003C\/em\u003E, the leaders of 18th Street\u2014 with his hands and feet in chains. He is escorted by a swarm of guards, ten at least, all with their faces covered. When they remove his handcuffs, several of the men stand ready with batons in hand. But Abuelo isn\u2019t an intimidating person, even if he has scrawled \u201cFuck the World\u201d along his forehead in dark ink. Even if the only skin visible on his face is the negative space that forms an enormous \u201c18\u201d across the whole length of it. Even if he\u2019s a murderer. Abuelo has a big, wide smile with uneven teeth, a round face and a pot belly. He looks like a giant baby-faced boy, except that he has \u201cFuck the World\u201d written on his forehead and the number 18 outlined on his face and he is in prison for homicide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbuelo is a veteran of the gang. He watched the \u003Cem\u003EBarrio\u003C\/em\u003E take its first breath in Guatemala, which is why he can tell its story and why his \u003Cem\u003Epalabra\u00a0\u003C\/em\u003E\u2014his word, his authority\u2014 has always carried such weight. But to say \u201cgang veteran\u201d in Guatemala is just a figure of speech: Abuelo is 30 years old and has never been to Los Angeles, he doesn\u2019t speak English, and his only knowledge of 18th Street\u2019s original philosophy comes from what he learned from those who were deported to Guatemala from the United States and are no longer here: either because they went into hiding, frightened by the madness they had given birth to, or because they went back to the U.S., or because they were killed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn neighboring El Salvador, the majority of 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha leaders are in their forties, and sometimes even their fifties. The most famous and probably most respected among them were jumped into the gang in Los Angeles and boast of having battled with dozens of enemy cliques, of having suffered the scorn of Mexicans and gringos alike, of having lived under \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202308\/centroamerica\/27034\/13-the-Mark-of-the-Mexican-Mafia.htm\"\u003E the \u003Cem\u003ESure\u00f1o\u003C\/em\u003E order imposed by the Mexican Mafia\u003C\/a\u003E. Some Salvadoran MS-13 members were \u003Cem\u003Estoners\u003C\/em\u003E: the true founders of the Mara Salvatrucha. But in Guatemala, no gang leader is older than 30 and every generation of \u003Cem\u003Eranfleros\u003C\/em\u003E, those who call the final shots, gets younger and younger. In the streets, the gangs are recruiting more and more children who have an increasingly deformed and degraded understanding of the old southern codes; respect for myths and traditions disappeared a long time ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the main reasons for this generational difference likely has to do with the difference in the years that Salvadorans and Guatemalans migrated. A study conducted by the Central American University (UCA) and the International Network on Migration and Development found that most Salvadorans living in the United States between 2005 and 2007 had entered the country before 1990, while most Guatemalans arrived after the year 2000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, between 1970 and 1989, 166,846 Salvadorans obtained resident status in the United States, which implies that they pursued a lengthy process of establishing roots in the country. During the same period, only 82,684 Guatemalans obtained this same status \u2014 less than half the number of Salvadorans given only the raw numbers, but an even greater disparity when accounting for the fact that the population of Guatemalans living in the U.S. was nearly double that of El Salvador\u2019s.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn short, Guatemalans migrated later and migrated less to the United States than Salvadorans did.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGuatemala\u2019s gangs were always less Angeleno than their Salvadoran counterparts, and even more so after 2005, when they remade the gang\u2019s philosophy and told the old California \u003Cem\u003Eclecha\u003C\/em\u003E, or code that had anchored \u003Cem\u003EEl Sur,\u003C\/em\u003E to go to hell: the Mara Salvatrucha, because it was this foolish philosophy that had forced them to coexist with their enemies for so many years; 18th Street, because it was precisely that cursed \u003Cem\u003E clecha \u003C\/em\u003E that had \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202309\/centroamerica\/27069\/the-day-ms-13-betrayed-the-guatemalan-sur\"\u003E left them at the mercy of MS-13\u2019s treachery\u003C\/a\u003E. To never forget the day of that rupture, Abuelo had it tattooed on his arm: 8\/15\/2005.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=39580 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"\u00d3scar Humberto Contreras, \u2018El Abuelo\u2019 (\u2018Grandpa\u2019) the former leader of Barrio 18 in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I Prison. Photo Pau Coll\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E \u00d3scar Humberto Contreras, \u2018El Abuelo\u2019 (\u2018Grandpa\u2019) the former leader of Barrio 18 in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I Prison. Photo Pau Coll \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbuelo was 11 years old and living in the urban slums of Guatemala City\u2019s Zone 6 when he met his first gangsters deported from the United States. He was a member of a breakdance crew called King Master Techno, his street name was Rebel Boy, and his favorite thing to do was dance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn 1993, three \u003Cem\u003Elocos\u003C\/em\u003E came down from Los Angeles, right. At the time, we had a crew and we were dedicated to dancing,\u201d he recalls.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDancing?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, we would just dance. We\u2019d, like, set up outside a high school or someplace, and there\u2019d be girls and everything. That was our thing. There weren\u2019t any problems with fighting, there wasn\u2019t a lot of drugs.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd you were just focused on dancing?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, that\u2019s why we would get together, just to dance. We called ourselves the \u003Cem\u003EKMT\u003C\/em\u003E, King Master Techno, like \u201clos Maestros del Baile\u201d (\u201cDance Masters\u201d), you feel me? Eventually those three came down from the United States and they showed up to the spot where we were always hanging out. They had just been deported. One of them was named Loco, another was called Gerson, and I don\u2019t remember what the other guy\u2019s name was. They were all between 18 and 20 years old. They told us about 18th Street, what shit was like in Los Angeles, and everything else. And we liked what we heard.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDo you remember the first time you saw them?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, man, we were always going around with our boombox, hanging out and practicing in parks and shit. That day, we were rehearsing and they just showed up, dressed like they did, all loose and baggy, asking us what we were up to, what we were working on. We told them we were a breakdancing crew, that there was a handful of us from different neighborhoods. So they just showed up and asked if we wanted to hear about what was what was up with the 18. We asked them what that was, and they told us it was a gang up in Los Angeles, that was fighting with other gangs, and that they wanted to expand to other places, that there weren\u2019t any problems or anything, that the problem up there was with other gangs; at the time, the Mara Salvatrucha wasn\u2019t even here yet. There were just some dance gangs in different zones of the city. Because, even at parties and shit, we\u2019d run into people from other zones and...\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd you\u2019d fight?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo. We\u2019d be dancing, and then we\u2019d form a circle and one of us would jump in the middle and one of theirs would jump in, and we\u2019d battle to see who danced better. There weren\u2019t any problems, no one had guns. Like I said, drugs weren\u2019t much of an issue, we were all really healthy. That was where he first told us that we\u2019d have to be baptized, that we had to get jumped into the gang, into the \u003Cem\u003EBarrio\u003C\/em\u003E. We asked him what that meant, what it was like, and he said there would be three guys and you would be alone, and the three of them would try to kick your ass; you could defend yourself, to prove how much of a badass you were. And so we said okay, go ahead, jump us in.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHow does someone convince you to join a group where you have to let three guys beat the crap out of you to be let in?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI mean, we were just kids\u2026 what else were we gonna do? How can I put it\u2026 It\u2019s like, if we joined, everyone would know our gang, not just here, but in Los Angeles. Everybody dreams about that. Who knows, maybe people would even come down from there or they\u2019d take you up there.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDid you have family up there, in the United States?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy siblings and my dad.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDid everyone in KMT get jumped in?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHow many of you were there?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere were about 50 of us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe break-dancers from the Quintanal neighborhood in Guatemala City\u2019s Zone 6 would thus become the Hollywood Gangsters clique of 18th Street. According to the authorities and several former and current gang members, it was the first time in Guatemala that a group of young men referred to themselves as a \u2018clique\u2019 and self-identified as members of a Sure\u00f1o gang.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the early morning of Wednesday, February 4, 1976, a trembling earth shook the country awake. The earthquake registered 7.5 on the Richter scale, laying waste to the capital at three in the morning and leaving the entire country in ruins that would take more than a decade to rebuild. Between 23,000 and 25,000 Guatemalans died buried under the rubble. More than one million people lost their homes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd as tends to happen when misfortune strikes \u2014an earthquake, a dictator, a tropical storm\u2014 the massive disaster hit the people with the least the hardest, leaving them with nothing. The earthquake devastated the capital, but it also affected the departments of Chiquimula, Chimaltenango, Pet\u00e9n, Izabal and Sacatep\u00e9quez. In two months\u2019 time, 126 precarious settlements sprung up on the outskirts of Guatemala City, on the periphery, next to the garbage dumps, along the sheer cliffs of the canyons or on the steep slopes of the ravines. 126 slums, shantytowns, \u2018misery villas\u2019...\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=39581 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Photo Mauro Arias\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Photo Mauro Arias \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe earthquake of \u201976 destroyed a country already mired in civil war since 1960 \u2014 a war that would not end until 1996. After the disaster, the conflict continued to produce its endless trickle of refugees fleeing Guatemala\u2019s rural interior in search of survival in the capital. By the end of the 1980s, state security forces were fully dedicated to pursuing the revolutionaries entrenched deep in the mountains, and in their unsparing rage, the army scorched the earth and swept away tens of thousands of Indigenous people who were, once again, dispossessed of their lands.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a country torn apart by disaster and war, no one gave a second thought to the children of the refugees who filled the city\u2019s invisible spaces, or to the children of those children\u2026\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1985, Guatemala was ruled by General \u00d3scar Humberto Mej\u00eda V\u00edctores, who had taken the presidency in a coup against another general \u2014Efra\u00edn R\u00edos Montt\u2014 who in turn had couped another general who had himself committed electoral fraud.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat year, at the end of August, General Mej\u00eda V\u00edctores had a bad idea. Or, at least, an idea he would come to regret: raising the bus fare from 0.10 to 0.15 cents Quetzales. In an already explosive time, the streets erupted in an instant: university students shook the country, labor unions backed the movement by calling for a general strike, teenagers at public high schools joined in, and along with them, the incipient gangs of the 80s.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile Guatemala\u2019s security forces were busy with other matters, gangs were forming in the capital city and they had started fighting each other, committing crimes, defending their respective territories, and, for the most part, calling themselves \u003Cem\u003Emaras\u003C\/em\u003E: Mara Five, which operated in Zone 5; Mara 33, which controlled a large part of Zone 6; The Mara of Plaza Vivar, in Zone 1; Mara X, which operated in the neighborhoods of El Milagro and Carolingia, in the neighboring city of Mixco; the Uni\u00f3n de Vagos Asociados (the UVA, roughly, \u201cunion of associated vagrants\u201d), which controlled the area around Mixco Park; Los Monjes de Bel\u00e9n (\u201cthe Monks of Bethlehem\u201d), in the Bel\u00e9n neighborhood of Mixco....\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese were organizations created by teenagers, and some of them, like the Mara 33, boasted several hundred members. They were not necessarily criminal organizations, or at least were not created for that purpose \u2014 internal structures were virtually nonexistent, and firearms were rare. Many of the boys associated with these gangs were students at the public high schools closest to what they considered \u201ctheir\u201d territory: for example, most of the kids with Plaza Vivar were students at the Instituto Central para Varones and Rafael Aqueche schools; those with the Mara 33 attended Enrique G\u00f3mez Carr\u00edo; and those with the Mara Five went to the Instituto Jos\u00e9 Matos Pacheco.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe army\u2019s violent reaction to the protest movement provoked a response in kind, and what began as a show of citizen discontent quickly morphed into something more like rioting and vandalism.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGustavo was a teenager who had been on his own since he was a kid. He ran away from his home in the interior of the country and fled to the capital, where he lived on the streets for several years. In those years, he was a member of the Mara de la Plaza Vivar and attended the Instituto Central, an all-boys secondary school in Guatemala City. He recalls:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople from the university would come to give their speeches about how we had to fight. Revolutionary speeches. And we were like, \u2018Let\u2019s hit the streets and let\u2019s demonstrate... and then the wave we made stopped being just a protest and turned into vandalism. They started looting businesses. We\u2019d stop a bus and take all the money and the people would get off and we\u2019d take the bus wherever we wanted to go, and the country was thrown into chaos, and people from the interior started sending us food to eat at the school. Since I had been on the street, this made me really happy. I was in seventh grade. I lived at the school for about three months, but the other students had families, parents. And their families started bringing them back home. They couldn\u2019t hack being in the resistance, and the movement started losing momentum. So I went and got my homies with Plaza Vivar and they took the place of the students, and the kids from the Plaza came to the school to sleep, eat, and protest, hahahaha!... That\u2019s when things started to escalate.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwenty-five buses were burned for trying to implement the new rates and there were days of looting across the city. Students marched on September 3 to the Presidential Palace and in response, General Mej\u00eda V\u00edctores sent 500 soldiers and a tank to take control of the university. The Minister of Education decided to cancel school for the rest of the year. Gustavo\u2019s diploma states that he graduated seventh grade \u201cby decree\u201d in 1985. In the end, the government was forced to give in and rescind its decision to raise the bus fare.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen all of us graduated that year by decree, the gang kept saying we would all go back to school, but we went to the pool halls, to the arcades \u2014 we kept going to class, too, but we stopped caring and paying attention. The kids from the Mara Five used to meet up at a place called 21, which was a real pit. So they\u2019d get together, and the kids from the Plaza would go out to a dance, to a famous disco called Music Power, and to another called Three Two One... but these were mobile dance parties, and you\u2019d go to the parties and hook up with girls. From there, famous clubs started popping up in places that were already local spots, like La Monta\u00f1a P\u00farpura, where only kids from Plaza Vivar would go. There was another one called Frankenstein, where people from 33rd Street went; the Tivoli, which was the spot for the kids from Zone 5. That\u2019s where they started forming their own groups and fighting over different things.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen the boys would stay out partying too late, they often spent the night in Zone 1, in the city center, waiting for the public buses to start running again: drinking, flirting, fighting... If you needed somewhere to pass the time until the sun came up, there was one street where you could find everyone and everything, where you were guaranteed to be entertained into the early hours of the morning: 18 Calle. A place that translates, coincidentally, to the same name as the L.A.-born gang 18th Street.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Gustavo, this nocturnal ritual changed his life: \u201cThat\u2019s when all the different groups started coming together in one place, where everyone knew each other... on 18 Calle.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy 1993, many of the boys had already abandoned their allegiances to the gangs they were brought up with, and now, as members of the expansive and motley 18 Calle, they felt bigger and prouder than ever. That year, Gustavo went to prison for a minor crime, the same year he saw his first two Angeleno gangbangers, in Pavoncito penitentiary. It was the first and last time he would see them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe first time I saw \u003Cem\u003Echolos\u003C\/em\u003E was in \u201993, when I was already in prison, at Pavoncito. I saw these two locos had come down, one from the Harpies and the other I think was from Pacoima. And these \u003Cem\u003Evatos\u003C\/em\u003E would make signs with their hands, like a language, and I remember one time, a bunch of us were sitting outside the prison\u2019s church, all of us from 18 Calle. We\u2019d just got done sitting through an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, because they would give everyone cigarettes for listening to that bullshit. We were all just kids at that point. So, we were all just sitting there hanging out, when one of those guys comes over in his white T-shirt and white shoes saying, \u2018Hey, where you from, \u003Cem\u003Eese\u003C\/em\u003E?\u003Cem\u003E\u2019\u003C\/em\u003E and\u00a0\u003Cem\u003E\u003C\/em\u003Ea guy who had spent some time in Los Angeles translated for us. So we told him we were from 18 Calle, and his response was like, \u2018Fuck you y su puto barrio,\u2019 and the guy from L.A. told us what they\u2019d said that our barrio was shit, and so all the homies stood up and were like, \u2018You\u2019re gonna insult us like that? You don\u2019t even know us!\u2019 And like 50 dudes grabbed those guys and stabbed them to death.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the early 1990s, young gang members deported from Los Angeles began arriving to Guatemala, though in much smaller numbers than in El Salvador. Many belonged to gangs that had recently begun to allow members who were not of Mexican descent \u2014gangs like the Harpies, White Fence, or Pacoima\u2014 but most of the new arrivals came from one gang in particular, founded in the late 1950s and, beginning in the 1980s, known for its openness to enlisting Central Americans: 18th Street. A short time later, more young men started arriving, lost and disoriented in a Guatemala City they scarcely knew. These latter arrivals were members of a different gang, whose origins were exclusively Salvadoran, but that over the years had come to serve as a refuge for other Central Americans who saw the gang as a way to reclaim their origins without having to masquerade as Chicanos: the Mara Salvatrucha.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two cholos who were stabbed to death inside Pavoncito prison apparently did not have time to adjust their old L.A. habits to fit their new tropical home. In Los Angeles, where the Sure\u00f1o gang pact known as \u003Cem\u003EEl Sur\u003C\/em\u003E \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202309\/centroamerica\/27069\/the-day-ms-13-betrayed-the-guatemalan-sur\"\u003E prohibits Latino gang members from killing each other in prison\u003C\/a\u003E, an offense like the one the two Angeleno inmates committed at Pavoncito would have provoked, at most, a fist fight. But the cholos were also ignorant of something else: the \u201cCalle 18\u201d they were insulting had nothing to do with their mortal enemies 18th Street, in Los Angeles. It was just an unfortunate coincidence of names.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cholos killed at Pavoncito weren\u2019t the only ones who were confused. In the span of a few years, Guatemala\u2019s prisons had become home to several dozen members of 18th Street, which at that point was the dominant gang by far, overshadowing the rest of the Sure\u00f1o gangs that had been reduced to a small handful of groups, including MS-13, which had yet to strengthen its ranks in the prisons or on the streets of Guatemala. The 18th Street cholos took it for granted that these Calle 18 kids belonged to a branch of the gang. And this included Gustavo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBack then you didn\u2019t hear about the MS in Guatemala, and the 18 was starting to grow, and in the Preventivo, the Zone 18 Pretrial Detention Center, they created a new sector, a big cell to hold the kids from Calle 18, the ones that didn\u2019t have visitors, that didn\u2019t have money, that were poorer. That was where the 18 and the 18 converged, and the cholos started talking about their philosophy, about the \u003Cem\u003Eclecha\u003C\/em\u003E and brotherhood, about all the codes of the gang. And no one ever bothered to ask if you\u2019d been jumped in or not, and we started to follow their program. It was more attractive back then. They dressed like rappers, and when you learned that they had a philosophy, that you had to respect a code, that you didn\u2019t answer to personal interests anymore, but to common ones... That changed everything.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn May 15, 1998, police were searching for a businessman who had been kidnapped months prior when they finally found him, held captive in a brothel. After rescuing the victim, agents arrested the owner of the brothel. She was later sentenced to 40 years in prison.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe woman had several children whom she had raised alone. After her arrest, each of her kids went their own way, and the youngest was \u201crecommended\u201d to a neighbor\u2019s house. He was a 13-year-old boy named Jos\u00e9 Daniel Galindo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the days passed, Jos\u00e9 Daniel found himself living the life of a lonely child, deposited in the home of an unfamiliar family in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the capital: the colonia of Carolingia in Mixco, Guatemala City\u2019s western appendage, its poor and marginalized little brother.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo Jos\u00e9 Daniel went searching the streets for whatever he could find, and one year after his mother\u2019s arrest, he was imprisoned for the first time, in a juvenile correctional facility.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFifteen years later, few remember that this young man \u2014now 27\u2014 was once named Jos\u00e9 Daniel, and it\u2019s hard to imagine him without a face covered in tattoos. Now, both his gang and the authorities know him only as \u201cCriminal,\u201d and he spends his days locked away in the Fraijanes I maximum security prison. According to a map of the criminal structure published by the Guatemalan police, Criminal is at the top of 18th Street\u2019s leadership hierarchy, along with a few others, like Lobo. On the streets, he\u2019s considered a respected veteran \u2014 his reputation brings honor to his \u003Cem\u003E taca \u003C\/em\u003E , his nickname; to his \u003Cem\u003Eplacazo\u003C\/em\u003E, his tag. He\u2019s part of the gang\u2019s warrior generation, whose great betrayal the 18 still aims to avenge, which perhaps is why his story is stripped of any epic narratives, of a romantic view of the gang. Criminal is young and tough.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=2000&ImageHeight=3000&ImageId=39582 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Jos\u00e9 Daniel Galindo, aka \u2018Criminal,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Jos\u00e9 Daniel Galindo, aka \u2018Criminal,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a small office normally reserved for appointments with the prison psychologist, masked guards remove Criminal\u2019s shackles and he sits down to tell his story, his history with the gang. As the minutes pass, the room fills to capacity: the guards don\u2019t want to miss his story, and they squeeze into every corner of the little room, jammed against each other at the front door. Standing behind at least a dozen agents with their faces covered, guards bob and shift their heads, straining to peer between shoulders in hopes of seeing, or at least hearing, Criminal recount something of what remains of Jos\u00e9 Daniel.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen my mom went to prison and my brothers took over, I went to stay with a woman we knew, who loved us, then after that it was always to the corner, to where they were; to learn about guns, you feel me? In 1990 there were already some homies, it was already a thing. There weren\u2019t a lot, but you\u2019d see them around, for sure.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou were already seeing cliques by 1990?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere were already a lot of homies. What you didn\u2019t see back then were face tattoos. Just the clothes and the style, \u003Cem\u003Ela ropa tumbada\u003C\/em\u003E, you know. A lot of guys were coming down from California. It\u2019s true what they say, that they came here to expand the\u00a0\u003Cem\u003E\u003C\/em\u003EBarrio [18th Street]. It\u2019s true that there were crews from Los Angeles who came down, and who came with the goal of building up gangs. And it wasn\u2019t just the Barrio that came here like that; a lot of other Sure\u00f1o gangs came down too. And then, you know, the MS showed up a little later.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo your clique, the Little Psychos Criminal, didn\u2019t start out as a breakdancing crew?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo, no! I mean, in my \u003Cem\u003Epunto\u003C\/em\u003E, my territory, there were like 22 of us, and of those 22, maybe seven had been \u003Cem\u003Ebreikeros\u003C\/em\u003E or \u003Cem\u003E burgueses \u003C\/em\u003E \u2014 breakdancers or bourgeoisie. A bourgeois is a guy who, like, only thinks about playing Nintendo, riding BMX, skateboarding, that kind of stuff.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo, from the very beginning, your crew was dedicated to gangbanging, to crime?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, I guess you could put it like that. We started out like, \u2018Hey, if you want to ride with us, then go grab your shotgun and find an MS; if not, get outta here,\u2019 you feel me?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo you started out as members of 18th Street from the beginning?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWell, I mean, you started seeing it in all the neighborhoods, in all the colonias. Different homies started showing up, some from California, others from here, from Guatemala, who by then, by 1990-something, were already making waves. They\u2019d talk about it like, how do I put it\u2026 they\u2019d be like, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s a crew over there on that corner, let\u2019s go see what\u2019s up, see if they wanna hear about the Barrio.\u2019 So it was a thing where already we were like, \u2018Man! We want to be part of the 18,\u2019 you know. So those same guys would say, \u2018All right, then, go ahead, choose which one of you is gonna be the \u003Cem\u003Eranflero\u003C\/em\u003E, the leader, then get to it, you dig.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn the beginning, was money an important part of day-to-day life in the clique?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo, no. It was never like that at first, and for years the only thing we thought about like that was \u003Cem\u003Eferia\u003C\/em\u003E, some cash for things like, \u2018let\u2019s go grab some food.\u2019 Back then, there were a lot of us who worked in maquilas, in factories, in different jobs. But things would come up and we\u2019d be like, \u2018Ok, there\u2019s 22 of us so we each have to pitch in 500 quetzales for\u2026\u2019 whatever it was, to buy a gun, stuff like that. But after a while is when some of the crew decided they didn\u2019t want to work anymore, started saying, \u2018\u003Cem\u003ENel\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Cem\u003Eya no\u003C\/em\u003E, no, I don\u2019t need other people.\u2019 But then something would come up that required money, and so, well, the crew would discuss it among themselves. It wasn\u2019t just like someone wanted to rob or extort on the corner just because he felt like it; but if we all agreed, if we all decided together, well, then it was, \u2018Let\u2019s not work anymore, let\u2019s pick up the gun and... let\u2019s go rob buses, let\u2019s go take that corner, let\u2019s go to that store and take everything that guy has.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat year would you say the Barrio started growing in the streets?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAlready by 2000, 2001. I mean, shit, they were all over Zone 1, in Montserrat\u2026 every bus stop you saw was overflowing with cholos. From the Barrio and from the others [MS-13].\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor decades, the Guatemalan Army was dominated by thuggery and collusion with organized crime, when the military wasn\u2019t directly running the menacing gangs and criminal squads that trafficked, stole, and killed with the protection of the state. When the armed conflict ended, these criminal structures infiltrated every branch of the state security apparatus, especially the National Civil Police (PNC), a process consolidated after Alfonso Portillo assumed the presidency in 2000. Portillo is currently in prison in Guatemala, accused of corruption and awaiting possible extradition to the United States on charges of money laundering. [In 2013, Portillo was extradited to the U.S. where he pled guilty to money laundering. He was released in 2015 and returned to Guatemala.]\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnder the following government of \u00d3scar Berger (2004-2008), Carlos Vielman was appointed Minister of Governance \u2014an office that oversees the Vice Ministry of Public Security and the police\u2014 and Alejandro Giammattei was named Director General of the Penitentiary System. Both were accused of overseeing a criminal structure dedicated to the execution of prisoners. According to the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), \u201cthis structure engaged in a pattern of continuous criminal activity that included murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, extortion, and drug theft, among other crimes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGiammattei, who was later elected president of Guatemala for the 2020-2024 period, was found not guilty in the national courts. The chief of the National Civil Police under the Berger administration, Erwin Sperissen, was also charged for his involvement in several cases of extrajudicial executions between 2004 and 2007 [Sperissen, who is a dual Guatemalan-Swiss citizen, was sentenced to prison in Geneva in 2014 for the massacre of inmates in Pav\u00f3n]; the head of the Criminal Investigation Division (DINC), V\u00edctor Soto Di\u00e9guez, was accused of running an extermination squad; his deputy director, Javier Figueroa, was accused of the same crime and was eventually arrested in Austria, where he had gone into hiding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the subsequent period, during the administration of President \u00c1lvaro Colom (2008-2012) \u2014whose own Presidential Honor Guard had planted hidden microphones in his office to spy on him\u2014 the vice minister of security, Marlene Blanco, who previously served as director of the national police, was arrested and accused of commanding a group involved in extrajudicial killings and \u201csocial cleansing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis decade of profound institutional decay instilled in the Guatemalan populace a pervasive and justified distrust of their government\u2019s security forces, as well as a widespread and lingering suspicion that the cancer had never died, but was alive and biding its time inside.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor decades, the anti-gang policy of the police was extermination, so no one bothered to ask questions about the origins and nature of these organizations. The period also left other loose ends: the impossibility of determining how many gang members had died as a result of \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202309\/centroamerica\/27069\/the-day-ms-13-betrayed-the-guatemalan-sur\"\u003E the war set off by the rupture of El Sur \u003C\/a\u003E , and how many had been victims of paramilitary social cleansing units.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo kill someone, you don\u2019t need to know them very well, and so the years of \u201csocial cleansing\u201d also bequeathed ignorance \u2014 a profound ignorance, on the part of the state, about MS-13 and 18th Street.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECarlos Menocal, who served as Minister of Governance until January 2012, explains: \u201cWhen Colom took office [in 2008], the government believed that the Salvatrucha and the 18 were like a single gang, and they didn\u2019t understand the meaning of \u2018cliques.\u2019 They also thought that the 18 and the MS had their capo, their one big boss, and that everyone else was just a soldier.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJuan Pablo R\u00edos is head of the PNC\u2019s homicide task force, and knows more about Guatemala\u2019s gangs than perhaps anyone else in the agency. He is part of a new generation of young officers who managed to climb the ranks quickly, following a long period of obscurantism that characterized the country\u2019s security forces for decades.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ER\u00edos\u2019 team is responsible for putting together the pieces of an incomplete puzzle. He coordinates a working group that is subdivided into two specialized units: one to investigate 18th Street, the other focused on the Mara Salvatrucha. He meets nearly every week with the President, Otto P\u00e9rez Molina, together with Minister of Governance Mauricio L\u00f3pez Bonilla.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince taking office in January 2012, R\u00edos and his team have worked to demystify the two\u00a0\u003Cem\u003Ebarrios\u003C\/em\u003E, learning to differentiate between the two and to understand the impact that the rupture of El Sur has had on these twin gangs intent on fighting each other to the death. The Mara Salvatrucha, they found, had maintained the stealth and cold-blooded instincts that had helped them secretly plot their betrayal over years, in silence, crouched down, calculating and patient. 18th Street, meanwhile, still had that dagger stuck in their back, still held in their hearts the shame of having trusted an enemy. It was the anger of the humiliated, the hostility of the betrayed who wait to exact their revenge. This new generation of \u003Cem\u003E dieciocheros \u003C\/em\u003E is a loud one, constantly competing to see who can thump their chest the hardest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor years, Ricardo Guzm\u00e1n was the chief homicide prosecutor in the country. His assessment of 18th Street echoes that of R\u00edos: \u201cThe 18 have become more disorderly, more bloodthirsty, in the sense of attacking citizens. Once, in order to kill a bus driver, they killed all the passengers too; when MS-13 wants to kill someone, they aim only at their target. The Mara has businesses, they\u2019re better at knowing how to manage money, and their members are older.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter 2005, two 18th Street cliques stood out among the rest for being bigger, more bloodthirsty, and bringing in more money: the Little Psychos Criminals and the Solo Raperos, who imposed their voice and temperament on the rest of the gang. Today in Guatemala, the name 18th Street is signed in the handwriting of these two cells and their hardened leaders: Criminal and Lobo. And neither man cares to hide or temper the unbridled violence of his soldiers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=3000&ImageHeight=2000&ImageId=39583 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"Aldo Dupi\u00e9, alias \u2018Lobo,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E Aldo Dupi\u00e9, alias \u2018Lobo,\u2019 one of the main leaders of 18th Street in Guatemala, interviewed by El Faro in Fraijanes I prison. Photo Pau Coll \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAldo Dupi\u00e9, also known as \u201cLobo,\u201d gesticulates with anger at the mere mention of the Mara Salvatrucha. In his presence, one must only refer to his enemies as \u201c\u003Cem\u003Elas letras\u003C\/em\u003E\u201d or \u201c\u003Cem\u003Elos otros\u003C\/em\u003E\u201d \u2014 \u201cthe letters\u201d or \u201cthe others.\u201d He is serving sentences for several murder convictions and at 28 years old has managed to become the gang\u2019s most revered leader, from his cell in Fraijanes I maximum security prison. \u201cThey had their chance to kill us off and they couldn\u2019t,\u201d he says, referring to \u201cthe others\u201d with a hint of resignation, but he immediately lifts his head high and adds: \u201cHere we are, still waging war against them!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf they gave us an income, do you think I\u2019d still extort? But if the homies are left with nothing, what else can they do? What do they have? A telephone... I already know how to get paid. If we had work, you\u2019d see the number of extorsions go down, and same with the murders of bus drivers, because there was a time when, unfortunately... we even understood that the driver didn\u2019t have anything to do with it, that the one to blame was the owner, because the driver... if one dies, they just put another guy in his place, and that\u2019s it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECriminal is even more explicit:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe always wanted to show that 18th Street was the shit. We\u2019re the ones who thought about blowing it up with the PNC, attacking the cops, which is something the MS would never think about doing. Our plan is basically, \u2018Fuck it\u2026 come what may.\u2019 Before, just for something like the guards took one of our homies and transferred him to another prison\u2026 it\u2019d be, \u2018Hey, you, \u003Cem\u003E mir\u00e1\u003C\/em\u003E, go find a couple guards and kill them, then we\u2019ll send a message that it was because of the homie they took.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe other gang, starting in 2005, they handled things differently, right?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey didn\u2019t make as much noise.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s right. I mean, it was only after we started problems with the authorities that they had to learn to handle things differently. I\u2019ll put it this way: a lot of us had the point of view where, basically, we said, \u201cWe want everyone to be saying, \u2018Those guys, the 18, they\u2019re going around blowing shit up with the PNC, attacking the whole system, the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office.\u2019 It even got to the point where there were shootings in courtrooms. But they [the MS] saw all this go down and they said to themselves, \u2018Let them get into more trouble, while we stick to the rules of the game.\u2019 And that\u2019s what they did.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSome people we spoke with told us the MS has started to acquire more resources, generate more income. That they\u2019re making less noise and bringing in more money.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ve tried to start doing that more, through legal means, yeah, that\u2019s true. I\u2019ll explain it with an example: let\u2019s say between all of us we bring in 100 thousand bricks, and if we feel like getting high, well then, \u2018Let\u2019s all get high today, \u003Cem\u003Emuch\u00e1\u003C\/em\u003E! We\u2019re all happy. Today\u2019s the 18th of the month, right?\u201d But then those guys, they\u2019ll bring in 100 thousand bricks and\u2026 \u003Cem\u003Enel\u003C\/em\u003E, nothing, they don\u2019t touch it.... But we\u2019re like, \u2018Let\u2019s enjoy it, who cares, if we run out, we\u2019ll just go shoot up their spot and make them give us more,\u2019 you feel me?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Mara Salvatrucha remains an enigma for the authorities. It moves in the shadows. An investigator specializing in the gang admits that some cliques still only appear to authorities like bumps under a sheet: the police can see that they\u2019re there, but they can\u2019t tell what shape they take. In the case of twelve of these cliques, the government doesn\u2019t even know a single member\u2019s name.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo facts have given the police reason to suspect that underneath the sheet is a more complex and sophisticated organization: In 2010, when authorities decided to transfer Diab\u00f3lico \u2014one of the main leaders of MS-13\u2014 to maximum-security prison, the gang ordered the dismemberment of four random victims, whose remains were dropped on the front steps of several government institutions, including the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office. In the same context, the Mara ordered the execution of bus drivers across the city. In one day of bloodshed, a group of \u003Cem\u003Emareros\u003C\/em\u003E used eight different vehicles to avoid being tracked by police, including a BMW. In 2012, Guatemalan police arrested an MS-13 gang member who managed several legal businesses, including a water purification plant, a cable television service company, and a vehicle importer. But authorities have not been able to determine how and to what extent the gang was involved in these business operations, nor what role this particular individual may have played in the criminal structure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbuelo insists that he\u2019s had enough of it all, that everything is different now, that his homies are too ambitious and don\u2019t care about understanding the gang anymore, that they only see it as a springboard to money and power.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhy did the gang change after 2005?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn 2005, we started extorting to arm ourselves and wage war against \u003Cem\u003E los batos \u003C\/em\u003E [MS-13] ... Because it\u2019s really hard for us to get to them in here, on the inside. So the idea was that we\u2019d give \u2018em hell in the streets, you feel me? Kill all their soldiers. But then I start hearing that they\u2019re buying legal vehicles, setting up legal businesses, right. Because, like, all that was coming to an end... It\u2019s all over.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat\u2019s over?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cExtorsion has to end eventually. You can\u2019t go on extorting forever. One day, they\u2019ll stop you and then what will you have left?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDo you think Lobo is the one responsible for the aggressive \u003Cem\u003Eclecha\u003C\/em\u003E that took over the Barrio?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPower does many things. There are a lot of people who want to take control of the Barrio. Lobo came here, he was with us, you feel me. He was my comrade, so to speak. We were in different prisons together, and we were always tight, always a team, keeping tabs on things. And there was a time when his clique was falling apart, but they picked themselves back up. The \u003Cem\u003Epatajos\u003C\/em\u003E and \u003Cem\u003Ematones\u003C\/em\u003E, the young homies and hitmen, they started coming back out to the streets and started making a giant shitshow of everything. And that\u2019s when he seized power, with his people. Everyone knows the more people you have, the more power you have. El Lobo, how can I explain it\u2026 That dude is stuck in his own fantasy, okay? He\u2019s not above anyone. His power is in the people he has, and because he\u2019s part of the old guard. But to run an organization like this, in my opinion \u2014and I\u2019m not saying this just because I\u2019m not involved anymore or anything like that\u2014 but El Lobo isn\u2019t any good. He\u2019s not gonna lead the Barrio anywhere good. For him it\u2019s all about killing and killing and killing, and sometimes you need to find other ways to get things done, you know.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOthers have told us that the MS evolved quite differently.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLas letras aren\u2019t in the business of following the Barrio anymore. They\u2019re working with drug traffickers and organized crime now. And that\u2019s something the Barrio hasn\u2019t put any effort into recently. They\u2019re protecting their people. Their people are in hiding. I think they even stopped getting tattoos to make business easier. They already beat us, in 2005. They beat the shit out of us, and now the only ones going after them are the Barrio. But the Barrio only uses \u003Cem\u003Eanzuelos\u003C\/em\u003E and\u00a0\u003Cem\u003Epatojos\u003C\/em\u003E, rookies and kids who aren\u2019t worth shit, and the top dogs, \u003Cem\u003Elos meros meros\u003C\/em\u003E, they\u2019re nowhere to be found, because the top dogs\u003Cem\u003E\u003C\/em\u003Earen\u2019t stupid; they\u2019re putting their minds to use and working. You know what\u2019s happening now? Say I show up \u2014I\u2019m just giving you an example\u2014 and I say: \u201cHey, \u003Cem\u003E chequeo\u003C\/em\u003E, rookie, go kill a shopkeeper, go kill three drivers and someone else at such and such shopping center for me.\u201d And later, everyone\u2019s like, \u201cAlright, homies, the kid did it, he got it done, so let\u2019s jump him in.\u201d And now he\u2019s a homie, just like that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJust like that\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2014They don\u2019t turn kids into homies to extort for the Barrio anymore, they do it to make money for themselves, because they\u2019re running out of people, you feel me. So now, if you work for me the deal is like, \u2018Hey homie, check it, we\u2019ll charge such and such rent [extorsion] and, since you\u2019re out on the street, you do the killing, and I\u2019ll do my part from here, from inside, and we\u2019ll go in \u003Cem\u003Emita mita\u003C\/em\u003E, half and half.\u201d And here, on the inside, one thousand, two thousand pesos a week ain\u2019t nothing, you know. In other words, the war isn\u2019t with those vatos anymore, you feel me. Now the war\u2019s with the business owners. Just look at the news and you\u2019ll see who the majority of the victims are: bus drivers, store owners, some business owner or another\u2026 You don\u2019t see vatos like that anymore, all inked up with letters and numbers. Now everything\u2019s about business.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp align=\"center\"\u003E* * *\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn recent weeks, it has been relatively easy for El Faro to establish contact and speak with 18th Street members in Guatemala, in the streets and especially in prison. But the Mara Salvatrucha have proven more elusive. Thus far, we have only been able to contact retired MS-13 members, all of them more or less removed from the present-day reality of this reclusive gang. But today, we were informed that clique leaders from one of the most notorious areas of Guatemala City have agreed to speak with us. Social workers from a local NGO served as our go-between, and have agreed to escort us here on the condition that we don\u2019t mention the organization\u2019s name, nor the name of the neighborhood we\u2019re in, nor the names of the gang members we\u2019re going to meet, nor the name of the clique they belong to.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s past three in the afternoon. We get out of our guides\u2019 car on a dull main street and walk with them down a long alley that frays and forks as we make our way downhill. The path narrows, curves, then widens again every ten meters. The walls on either side are lined with doors that open into small two-story homes \u2014 so small they barely have facades.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the social workers, without moving his head and gesturing only with his eyes, interprets as we make our way through the neighborhood. \u201cThe police never come here\u2026 A few blocks down the street is where the 18\u2019s territory starts\u2026 In this house, they sell drugs.\u201d No doubt, some of these alleys are so narrow and steep that police couldn\u2019t even enter the neighborhood on a motorcycle, and to patrol on foot, forced to walk single file, would be to make themselves sitting ducks for anyone who might want to ambush them. We turn back to catch a glimpse of the alleged drug distribution house, and see a small metal door indistinguishable from the rest of the other small metal doors that line the street. We suddenly have the sensation that with each step we take forward, the narrow passage is closing in behind us, and that left to our own devices we would have no idea how to find our way back.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccompanied by the curious glances of a handful of neighbors and a few teenagers we pass by, whom we assume are involved with MS-13, we complete our descent until we reach the spot where the gang members should be waiting for us. It\u2019s a cloudy afternoon, but the place, which appears to be some sort of computer lab, has plenty of natural light. We scan the room with our eyes, searching for the \u003Cem\u003Emareros\u003C\/em\u003E. Apparently they haven\u2019t arrived yet, or maybe they\u2019ve already left. From the posters and chalkboards on the walls we can tell classes are held here. In the back, sitting around a table, we see three kids lingering after the last activity. But not a homie in sight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOur guides invite us over to the table and as we approach, our surprise collides with our dismay. The MS-13 members we are here to interview are, in fact, the three children \u2014 one girl and two boys; none look older than twelve. All three are dressed in athletic clothes and are slumped back in their chairs with their arms folded across their chests. On the left is a small, dark-skinned girl with enormous eyes, an upturned nose and a luminous face. She glares at us seriously, marking her territory. In the center, a boy with a round face and slanted eyes hides under a beanie pulled down to his eyebrows, just like Diab\u00f3lico. The girl is barely five feet tall and the boy doesn\u2019t look much bigger. On the right, the other boy \u2014taller, with a shy face\u2014 wears a sleeveless shirt revealing his thin figure. We\u2019ll call them la Ni\u00f1a, El Gorras and El Callado \u2014 the Girl, the Hat and the Quiet One.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe start by introducing ourselves and asking their names. We promise not to publish them, but even still, they don\u2019t want to identify themselves. They only tell us their ages: the two shortest are 16, the lanky one is 15. All three are older than they look. Their ages seem enormous compared to their miniscule bodies. When were they initiated, we ask them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELa Ni\u00f1a at 14. El Gorras, the veteran, at 10. El Callado at 12.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe conversation starts out stumbling, tripping over our improvised and somewhat condescending questions, and the misgivings of the young gangsters who still can\u2019t decide whether to be tough and treat us with silence, or to trust us and be themselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLike the boss says, the Mara is for life,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a recites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, from here to the grave, always and forever,\u201d echoes El Gorras.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe had asked them if they liked being part of the Mara Salvatrucha and they respond as if repeating lines memorized from a lesson, as if reciting a pledge of allegiance. It\u2019s also the first time we\u2019ve heard the word \u201cboss\u201d (\u003Cem\u003Ejefe\u003C\/em\u003E) come out of the mouth of a gang member. Standard practice among imprisoned leaders we\u2019ve spoken with \u2014the \u003Cem\u003Eranfleros\u003C\/em\u003E, \u003Cem\u003E palabreros \u003C\/em\u003E and \u003Cem\u003Ellaveros\u003C\/em\u003E\u2014 is to strip themselves of their stripes and shift leadership to the group, to distribute power horizontality, to speak of everyone as equal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAgain and again, their answers fall back on simplifications when we ask them to define the Mara and explain its purpose. \u201cTo finish off the \u003Cem\u003E dieciocho \u003C\/em\u003E [18],\u201d El Gorras says without hesitation. \u201cFor each of us to have our own territory,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a adds with the tone of a know-it-all. Between the two of them, they explain that two blocks from here, in the street, there is a faucet, and that this faucet is the border between territories. \u201cThey can\u2019t come here and we can\u2019t can go there,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a says with a smile. \u201cIf we see them coming up, we have to shoot them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe girl seems to like this game where she teaches us things about life and death. El Gorras breaks into a boastful laugh when they talk about bullets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEl Callado stays quiet. None of them knows that the Mara Salvatrucha was born in the United States. They don\u2019t know what El Sur was. They don\u2019t know the reason behind the eternal, unending hatred that they\u2019re obligated to honor with bullets. \u201cThey don\u2019t talk about those things with us,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEl Gorras explains that he joined the gang because he liked the easy money, because it was nice \u201cto have everything at once, to have everything without working, without making an effort.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen the girl describes how she imagines a rich and happy life \u2014the life she hopes to realize by joining the Mara\u2014 she says: \u201cIt\u2019s like every time you ask your dad for a quetzal, he always gives it to you.\u201d One quetzal, cents of a dollar.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe three teenage gangsters live together in a house run by the gang \u2014 like a boarding school for little homies; a nursery for assassins. The gang, they explain, provides them with clothing, food, everything they need. La Ni\u00f1a has a mom and dad, and they live nearby, just a few blocks away, and sometimes she goes to see them, especially her mother. She doesn\u2019t get along well with her father, and conveys an unfiltered gesture of contempt when she talks about him, as if he were her enemy. El Gorras has a brother in 18th Street, who lives a few blocks away and guards his side of the border with the gun his bosses gave him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHave you ever had a confrontation with him?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, one time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd did you shoot at him?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, and I almost hit him too,\u201d El Gorras says, his face tightening up.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut he has really bad aim,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a interjects, laughing as children laugh when they make fun of each other. El Callado joins in on the teasing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEl Gorras stiffens his face even more and mumbles something like, \u201cnext time I won\u2019t let him get away.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThanks to her boss, the \u003Cem\u003Epalabrero\u003C\/em\u003E of her clique, La Ni\u00f1a is enrolled in a private school. He signs all the necessary paperwork as though he were her legal guardian, pays all the fees, attends parent-teacher conferences, signs off on her report cards. \u201cOnce I did something at school and the principal called my boss and he came and got me and said, \u2018What did you do now?\u2019 and I told him, \u2018I didn\u2019t do anything\u2026\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELa Ni\u00f1a brags about being a good student: \u201cIf you saw my grades, I get all nines and tens.\u201d It seems like the Mara is preparing her for something more than her peers. And El Gorras and El Callado aren\u2019t surprised.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey own us,\u201d El Gorras says. \u201cWe\u2019re like their pets.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELa Ni\u00f1a, an honors student, suffered her first gunshot wound at the age of 11. She has two bullet holes in her body: one in her leg, the other in her shoulder. She shows them off with pride, because it proves how brave and dangerous she is. But she wears a silver dreamcatcher necklace that matches her earrings and the two rings she wears on her left hand, and she still smiles like a child. While one of her friends hides under his hat and the other behind his silence, La Ni\u00f1a seems to be relaxing little by little. She\u2019s wearing her school sports uniform, from the private school paid for by the Mara Salvatrucha.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe ask if they have attacked or killed people. All three say yes, bored with the question as if it doesn\u2019t carry much meaning for them, as if everything involved in killing a person were mundane and obvious.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYour bosses congratulate you, they give you money, they give you guns. And a gun gives you power. You feel bigger,\u201d explains El Callado, who so far has stayed silent, only nodding along to whatever his companions say, and sometimes not even that.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELa Ni\u00f1a nearly leaps out of her seat when the subject of guns comes up. She and El Gorras interrupt each other between jumps and shouts of joy to tell us which ones are their favorites, and La Ni\u00f1a cracks up laughing when she remembers the first time she fired a gun: how her girlish arms couldn\u2019t take the kick of the 9 mm, how the gun hit her in the face and gave her a bloody nose. They talk about how it feels when a rifle\u2019s recoil slams back into your shoulder.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI like the Mara, I like that people are afraid of you, that people who used to bully you are now afraid of you,\u201d she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI don\u2019t bother anyone who doesn\u2019t bother me, but I will mess with anyone who does,\u201d El Gorras says, with an emphasis on \u2018I will,\u2019 on the power to defend yourself that comes with having a gun.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWell, for me, I like it that people are afraid, that they spread out like little ants and stand aside to let you pass, like you were a colonel in the army or something.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELa Ni\u00f1a and El Gorras are amped up. They\u2019re on center stage now, and finally feel like opening up and talking about everything. The girl speaks with her hands, with her eyes. She\u2019s already forgotten her answers from earlier in the conversation. \u201cDo you ever think about leaving he gang?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI do, if I could. I think about starting a family, having children\u2026\u201d La Ni\u00f1a says, suddenly becoming a child, dreaming of a scene from a movie.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMe too, if that door could ever open, and four or five came out,\u201d El Gorras says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, me too,\u201d echoes El Callado.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut you can\u2019t say things like that if you\u2019re in the Mara,\u201d El Gorras says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou have to keep it a secret,\u201d La Ni\u00f1a agrees. \u201cIf you tell your boss you want to leave, \u003Cem\u003EPum!\u201d\u003C\/em\u003E \u2014she makes a mock pistol with her hand and fires\u2014 \u201cHe\u2019ll kill you.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201c\u2026\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYeah, you get involved in this because your head wasn\u2019t right,\u201d the girl insists.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile the three baby-faced teens talk about heads being in bad places, another boy who looks somewhat older than them walks into the space and sits down at the table, like he knows perfectly well who\u2019s who and what\u2019s going on. He\u2019s extremely thin. He\u2019s wearing distressed jeans and a tank top. His hair is medium length and messy. He looks like he just woke up from a nap that lasted all day. We\u2019ll call him El Despeinado \u2014 the one with the messy hair.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAre you with the Mara as well?\u201d we ask him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo, I\u2019m a sicario,\u201d he says. A hitman.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis answer \u2014unexpected, unreal\u2014 brings a smile to our faces, which we quickly temper into straight faces when we realize it\u2019s not a joke. He\u2019s not lying. The boy next to us is an assassin. Or at least he used to be, as he later clarifies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe three young gangsters confirm his story. It\u2019s clear that they all know him. They grew up with him, living in different worlds that collide in the same alleyways. Many gang cliques employ hitmen as part of their business operations. But El Despeinado was a free agent:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was a sicario for four years. Not all the time, just when a job would come up.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDid you do a lot of jobs?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThree. The fourth time I got shot.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe people who hired him for that fourth and final job neglected to mention that the guy they wanted him to kill was a professional, too, another hitman. And one with more experience than him. El Despeinado didn\u2019t bother to ask too many questions, either. They were going to pay him well, he says. A group from Zone 2 that he had worked for before.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I saw him, I went at the guy without thinking, with the gun in my hand. But he saw me coming and shot me first. I thought that was the end.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd from how he tells it, it almost was. El Despeinado\u2019s chest is covered in scars from the multiple operations that saved his life. His gangster friends make fun of him. They say he looks like a map of the world. Also, his right arm is much thinner than his left, and he keeps his right hand hidden in his pocket. He refuses to show it to us. He says he can move it, that it\u2019s fine, but he won\u2019t take it out of his pocket. He looks dehydrated.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe light is fading and it\u2019s time for us to leave. We make our way back to the main street, this time through different alleys, more winding and even narrower than the ones we arrived through. At times, our shoulders almost touch both walls. El Despeinado and the young gangsters accompany us. They open and close around us in a group as we move through the passages, as if guiding and protecting us. And they probably are, but the scene is an awkward one, given the small stature of two of them and the exceptionally fragile figure of the other.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBack on the main street, we tell them we need a cab and they offer to accompany us a few more blocks until we find one. The group disperses and La Ni\u00f1a and El Gorras move to each of our sides, escorting us. When the others are far enough away and can\u2019t hear, El Callado moves in closer and tells us:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s my job to watch these streets. Especially at night. To make sure the enemy doesn\u2019t come, and to send warning if a stranger arrives. They call me \u003Cem\u003Eel guardi\u00e1n en las sombras\u003C\/em\u003E: the guardian in the shadows.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe can\u2019t find words to respond.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis piece, translated by Max Granger, is chapter two of El Faro\u2019s 2012 special, \u201cGuatemala After El Sur.\u201d Read \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202309\/centroamerica\/27069\/the-day-ms-13-betrayed-the-guatemalan-sur\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003Echapter one\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u201cThe Day MS-13 Betrayed the Guatemalan Sur.\u201d\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E"}