All About Barrio 18

BARRIO 18 / 13 MAR 2012

In recent years, officials have expressed increasing concern about the influence of Central American street gangs, known as “maras,” in South America; but while street gangs are on the rise…

BARRIO 18 / 21 FEB 2012

El Salvador has seen a spike in homicides this year, up to 13 per day compared to 11 per day in February 2011, which the government has blamed on a…

BARRIO 18 / 15 FEB 2012

Five soldiers have been murdered so far this year in El Salvador, lending credence to the claims of federal police that local “maras,” or street gangs, are plotting against…

BARRIO 18 / 3 FEB 2012

El Salvador's government has proposed implementing a curfew on young people and placing schools under heavy guard, following a record year for murders.

BARRIO 18 / 2 FEB 2012

El Salvador’s government says it is taking a radical stance on crime, using the military to police the country's most violent areas and now appointing military men to top security…

BARRIO 18 / 31 JAN 2012

Authorities in El Salvador have transferred more than 1,000 inmates in an attempt to stabilize some of the country's violent, overcrowded prisons following the death of nine inmates earlier this…

BARRIO 18 / 25 JAN 2012

El Salvador’s police have claimed that the country’s “maras,” or street gangs, are planning an all-out attack on security forces, despite the fact that these groups have neither the organizational…

BARRIO 18 / 17 JAN 2012

Reports that San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has taken the place of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, as the most violent city in the hemisphere are a result of shifts in trafficking patterns…

BARRIO 18 / 11 JAN 2012

El Salvador saw a huge number of disappearances in 2011, with capital San Salvador alone registering more than 2,000 missing people, in a sign of growing gang violence.

BARRIO 18 / 3 JAN 2012

A top drug policy official in El Salvador said they have no official estimate for how much cocaine transits through the country. After registering a record murder rate in 2011,…

BARRIO 18 / 5 OCT 2011

El Salvador is suffering a new wave of disappearances, mostly of young people and teenagers, who go missing without explanation in a phenomenon linked to the gang violence hitting…

BARRIO 18 / SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

The 18th Street Gang, also known as "Barrio 18," is one of the largest youth gangs in the Western Hemisphere. Like its better known rival, the Mara Salvatrucha (…

About InSight Crime

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