Mr. Harris
English IV CP
April 21, 2011
Hidden Violence The word gang-everyone knows what it means or what it stands for. Of course by the time children get to the end of their elementary years they’ve heard of know gangs such as; the Cribs, Bloods, Latin Kings, Vatos Locos, but none of those names cause as much fear and terror as the gang called La Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13. La Mara known for their psychotic methods of killing and running their turf, no other gang comes close to causing the same fear as La Mara Salvatrucha (ms-13gang.com). Forced to abandon their home land due to the civil war in El Salvador, the adventure to the U.S. was good at the start but soon the odds turned against them. Therefore for their protection they were forced to start was today is known as the most dangerous gang of the world La Mara Salvatrucha (National Geographic). A simple face-off between El Salvador’s government and guerrilla groups began the civil war of 1980 in El Salvador. The civil war killed 75,000 people and left 8,000 missing and another million or so homeless. The war was known for the government’s massacres and its Death Squad's killing of civilians, nuns and priests (bookrag.com). This led many Salvadorians to search for a better life, many of whom came to America for their fresh beginning. A group of refugees in Pico Union, California had to get used to their new home, not knowing that by escaping the war in El Salvador they had just jumped right into a new one against the LA street gangs. Immigrate parents working endless sifts providing no parental supervision; young Salvadorian children were being raised by the streets of LA. After being beaten, stabbed, and harassed by the rest of the LA street gangs, a group of refugees decided to form a strong hold or as it is called in Salvador, a Mara. They said, “If these guys want violence we’ll show them violence” keep in mind that these refugees had a good knowledge of what violence was as well