HomeNewsBrief'El Salvador Gang Members Flee to Honduras, Guatemala'
BRIEF

'El Salvador Gang Members Flee to Honduras, Guatemala'

BARRIO 18 / 28 APR 2015 BY ARRON DAUGHERTY EN

A small number of Salvadoran gang members have reportedly elected to set up operations in neighboring Central American countries, in order to escape violent clashes back home. 

Salvadoran newspaper El Diario de Hoy reported that some MS13 members have fled El Salvador and set up shop in Honduras, while Salvadoran members of rival gang Barrio 18 have been detected in Guatemala. 

The report cited several unnamed sources, who claimed that gang leaders have fled in response to "increased persecution" by Salvadoran authorities. Gangs and security forces have been engaged in escalating rounds of retaliatory violence, including police station bombings, assassination campaigns allegedly targeting police, and paramilitary death squads allegedly targeting gang leaders. 

Some MS13 members have moved into an isolated village in the western department of Lempira, and are recruiting youths and smuggling drugs and weapons across the border in canoes, town residents told Honduran newspaper La Prensa. The newspaper quoted one town resident who said the gang members have forced some families to take them in, while other gang members have built their own houses. According to El Diario de Hoy, at least 18 MS13 members have been reported in this area. 

In response, a spokesperson for Fusina, Honduras' interagency security force, said that a border security operation was in the works for the affected region. 

InSight Crime Analysis

There have been previous indications that El Salvador's gangs are looking for a reprieve from ongoing bloodshed -- at least, that is how they have apparently presented themselves in certain public statements. While the gangs struck a more confrontational tone in a statement released in January, a more recent press release attributed to the gangs included talk of "repentance and a request for society’s forgiveness."

SEE ALSO: El Salvador News and Profiles

However, the Salvadoran government has given no indication of straying from its hardline policies. It is not implausible that some gang members may see a residency in Guatemala or Honduras as a better option.

Unfortunately for El Salvador's neighbors, this is a classic example of the so-called "cockroach effect," in which criminal groups facing increased pressure in one area move somewhere else where they face less resistance. While Honduran authorities have vowed to tighten border security -- and have already made motions towards doing so along its other frontiers -- it wil be a significant challenge to extend state control over the isolated, rural areas near El Salvador.  

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

EL SALVADOR / 20 JUL 2022

The US government has added dozens of individuals to a list of allegedly corrupt actors in Central America.

ELITES AND CRIME / 1 DEC 2021

As day broke in Guatemala City on August 31, 2016, a judge named Carlos Ruano anxiously awaited a meeting with one of Guatemala’s most powerful…

ELITES AND CRIME / 1 NOV 2022

Honduras has freed dozens of individuals tied to organized crime a year after reforming its money laundering law.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…