{"id":19435,"date":"2016-05-11T01:40:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T01:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?p=19435"},"modified":"2025-12-06T16:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:23:03","slug":"maras-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"child-696171_1280\"<\/a>Since the 1990s, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador \u2013 commonly called the Northern Triangle due to their crime levels \u2013 have been plagued by the violence of the maras<\/em>, criminal gangs characterized by extreme violence. In addition to spreading terror in various Central American cities, these gangs also recruit children and teenagers, pulling them into organized crime.<\/p>\n

A multi-faceted plague<\/h2>\n

The phenomenon of the maras<\/em> appeared in the United States in the 1970s. Many Central Americans who had taken refuge in California from conflicts that raged in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador had trouble integrating and fell victim to gangs. Following their survival instinct and determined to defend themselves, they imitated the gangs\u2019 modus operandi and formed gangs themselves, which they called maras<\/em>. Their members are called mareros<\/em>. At the end of the conflicts in the 1990s, young Central Americans who had criminal records were deported from the United States. Faced with harsh realities upon their return (cultural differences, poverty, unemployment, weak institutions and an absence of security), they reconstructed the same gangs in their home countries.<\/p>\n

The Northern Triangle: the pinnacle of crime and violence<\/h2>\n

In Central America, the maras form a true criminal network. The list of their crimes is long, \"gun-on-ground\"<\/a>but the maras<\/em> mainly live off racketeering, burglary, kidnapping, and prostitution. In addition, these gangs are armed and extremely violent, and won\u2019t hesitate to pull the trigger. This is why the Northern Triangle records criminal activity, with 15,802 homicides in 2014. Additional problems include the inefficiency of policies to combat this problem and corruption in law enforcement. All of these factors contribute to the extent of the mara <\/em>problem and they continue to lawlessly spread terror in Central America.<\/p>\n

Young people caught in a trap<\/h2>\n

Central American young people are most affected by this phenomenon because mareros are recruited when they are still just children. The endemic poverty faced by these Central American countries very often leads to the destruction of families: either children are abandoned by one of their parents or that parent is in prison.<\/p>\n

\"Young_gang_recruits_Guatemala\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a result, these children turn to the maras, which seem like a family to them \u2013 they give them an identity (with dress codes and tattoos), recognition within the gang, and easy money. Yet in most cases, they have no other choice but to join a mara, as their own lives or those of their families are threatened.<\/p>\n

Joining a mara between the ages of 6 and 14, children are caught up in the system and have no way out. Starting off as informants or messengers, from the age of 9 they undergo an initiation to become a fully-fledged marero<\/em>. This can be anything from starting to smoke, having to kill an average citizen in the street or, when the recruit is a girl, being raped. Moreover, they become parents very young, raising their children in the heart of the mara<\/em>, so their children in turn become mareros. Ultimately, mareros<\/em> generally die before the age of 30, victims of enemy maras or killed by their own for wanting to leave the mara<\/em> way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Written by: Laetitia Amany<\/div>\n
Translated by: Beth Smith<\/div>\n
Proofread by: Amanda Fearnley<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
La-Croix.com. (October 31, 2015). En Am\u00e9rique centrale, une jeunesse \u00e0 l\u2019ombre de la violence des gangs. La Croix<\/i>. http:\/\/www.la-croix.com\/Actualite\/Monde\/En-Amerique-centrale-une-jeunesse-a-l-ombre-de-la-violence-des-gangs-2015-10-31-1374908<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Les Maras, ces gangs arm\u00e9s qui pi\u00e8gent une jeunesse sans espoir – Alma Latina – Rue89 – L\u2019Obs. (n.d.). Rue89<\/i>. http:\/\/rue89.nouvelobs.com\/blog\/alma-latina\/2010\/05\/04\/les-maras-ces-gangs-armes-qui-piegent-une-jeunesse-sans-espoir-149756<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Les \u00ab\u202fMaras\u202f\u00bb\u202f: les gangs de jeunes d\u2019Am\u00e9rique Centrale. (n.d.). Amnesty International Belgique Francophone<\/i>. http:\/\/jeunes.amnesty.be\/jeunes\/nos-campagnes\/enfants-soldats\/a-voir-a-lire\/les-enfants-soldats-par-pays-region\/amerique-latine\/article\/les-maras-les-gangs-de-jeunes-d-amerique-centrale<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ni\u00f1os son reclutados por maras para extorsionar. (n.d.). Diario El Heraldo<\/i>. http:\/\/www.elheraldo.hn\/pais\/862927-214\/ni\u00f1os-son-reclutados-por-maras-para-extorsionar<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tout Savoir. (n.d.). Au C\u0153ur du Gang Maras le Plus Dangereux du Monde ( Tout Savoir )<\/i>. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h4K4PGeS6pM&noredirect=1<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
http:\/\/grupoirena.com\/newsletter\/71-francais\/septembre-2012\/338-focus-amerique-centale-la-violence-dans-le-triangle-du-nord<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the 1990s, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador \u2013 commonly called the Northern Triangle due to their crime levels \u2013 have been plagued by the violence of the maras, criminal gangs characterized by extreme violence. In addition to spreading terror in various Central American cities, these gangs also recruit children and teenagers, pulling them into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the 1990s, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador \u2013 commonly called the Northern Triangle due to their crime levels \u2013 have been plagued by the violence of the maras, criminal gangs characterized by extreme violence. In addition to spreading terror in various Central American cities, these gangs also recruit children and teenagers, pulling them into […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Humanium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-11T01:40:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-06T16:23:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Olivier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Olivier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/\",\"name\":\"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-11T01:40:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-06T16:23:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eff9e75308caf4fb911ea040d1edf09\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Humanium\",\"description\":\"Children first!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eff9e75308caf4fb911ea040d1edf09\",\"name\":\"Olivier\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/945a9bb4662b83cabc6e1483b64823d58adf8c47dcbb3a834cd5df54a5f60495?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/945a9bb4662b83cabc6e1483b64823d58adf8c47dcbb3a834cd5df54a5f60495?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Olivier\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/author\/olivier\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium","og_description":"Since the 1990s, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador \u2013 commonly called the Northern Triangle due to their crime levels \u2013 have been plagued by the violence of the maras, criminal gangs characterized by extreme violence. In addition to spreading terror in various Central American cities, these gangs also recruit children and teenagers, pulling them into […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/","og_site_name":"Humanium","article_published_time":"2016-05-11T01:40:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-06T16:23:03+00:00","author":"Olivier","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Olivier","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/","name":"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth - Humanium","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-11T01:40:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-06T16:23:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eff9e75308caf4fb911ea040d1edf09"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/child-696171_1280-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/maras-central-america\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Maras: Trap for Central American Youth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/","name":"Humanium","description":"Children first!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eff9e75308caf4fb911ea040d1edf09","name":"Olivier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/945a9bb4662b83cabc6e1483b64823d58adf8c47dcbb3a834cd5df54a5f60495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/945a9bb4662b83cabc6e1483b64823d58adf8c47dcbb3a834cd5df54a5f60495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Olivier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/author\/olivier\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19435"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87898,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19435\/revisions\/87898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}