Gang Violence In Central America

In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

41). These drug cartels present a difficult problem in that they not only import illegal drugs, but they often are in dispute over both territory and police ownership (Warner, p. 42). These cartels are smuggling drugs across the border from many different regions of the world and present a very difficult situation for law enforcement. This may be due in part to their intimate knowledge of the area they operate in, as well as that of their connection to gangs, which they utilize to assist in cross-border movement. The current number of both law enforcement agents and law enforcement agencies along the border is not sufficient in either numbers or strength to curtail these illicit

Latino gangs began forming in California during the early 1920s and started as loose-knit groups1 for unity and socializing in the barrios2 where everybody had the same culture, customs and language. Potential gang members were male youths with the age of 14 to 20 committing crimes such as burglary, strong-arm robbery, and vandalism. Later the order for committing a crime became a way of gaining status within the

There have been many causes due to the United States of America and Mexico border disputes. These include its extensive history through sources such as the several past wars and the countless disputes between residents. With the strong issue of territorial claims that contradict each other, treaties have been seen as useless with an even more inadequate attempt of fence construction as seen in Image 1. With many bandits and thieves in this area, drug trafficking and illegal immigration is an impending dilemma.

The word gang may make individuals quiver, as gangs are associated with gruesome criminal activities. Formation of gangs and gang violence is a global crisis. Some of the most notorious gangs are located in; Europe, Asia and Africa. However, the majority is located in the Americas, namely; Bloods, Crips, Aryan Brotherhood, and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), (Rodriguez, 2005). It is said that the rise of gangs in American came after the end of the American Revolution (Howell & Moore, 2010). A Gang is defined as “a group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit” (Gang, 2014). It is said that most of the notorious gangs in America were originated in California, this is attributed to the enormous amount of immigrants

The Dominican Republic is a beautiful island located on a larger piece of land called Hispaniola. The tropical land takes up two-thirds of Hispaniola which equals out to be roughly 19,000 square miles, while its sister island, Haiti, takes up the rest. According to an article by world atlas, there are four significant mountain ranges. Lesser ranges cover the northern coastlines, and the southwestern border areas with Haiti (World Atlas). The Dominican Republic lies between the

There is no doubt that now a day the main concern in todays world is discrimination towards the Hispanics. ‘’In a study conducted by Rutgers University, 22% of Hispanic/Latino workers reported experiencing workplace discrimination, compared to only 6% of whites’’. Discrimination towards Hispanic race is a big social injustice that affects the Hispanic because they have hard time getting benefits in a job and lack of knowing English as there Second language. I believe no one should be judged by there appearance but by they’re potential. In other words, its not right for people that come here for better opportunity’s to reach there potential and being denied because there not us citizens.

Guatemala is located in Central America and was once heavily populated with the Mayan population. Ever since the Spaniards took over the land that the Mayans called theirs, the Mayans became enslaved in their home country and have been struggling to regain power ever since. For many years the people of Guatemala have been poorly treated and have been constantly fighting to keep their land against the government. Guatemala has been at civil war for a very long time due to economic and political inequalities which in turn lead to the Mayans protesting against the governments that were causing damage to their land. Although the Mayans believed that these protests would solve the issues that they were facing but in reality the government just invested

The novel Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez is about the author and his experiences in the East L.A. gang life. In doing so, Rodriguez brings forth many deep issues. With the gang life often comes the reality of the police and drug abuse. Rodriguez shows the cop and gangster relationship multiple times. The police were very often seen as violent, brutal, and corrupted. The author takes it a step further to not only say that this relationship is only caused because the men are gangsters, but that they are also Mexican. There are many occasions when Rodriguez relays an account where the police call the men very racist names and act upon their beliefs in a very brutal manner. He continues this theme of social inequality as he talks about his experiences in school and his parents ' experiences in their jobs. By depicting these situations Rodriguez makes the large assumption that the main reason that gangs are so prominent is because the Mexican culture was experiencing a lack of resources and support and therefore, their youth turned to something they felt could help.

Richard, F. (2013, March 1). Foreign Affairs. The Fire Next Door: Mexico's Drug Violence and the Danger to America. pp.

As a result of the low economy, and constant wars, due to the United States funding Latin American countries’ military and police forces, which are usually controlled by gangs and cartels, Latin Americans are feeling unsafe in their home countries. Latin Americans seemed forced to flee due political and financial barriers (Abrego 26). As established in Abrego’s book, fathers who migrated during the civil war claimed that it was because a family member was being persecuted and they seemed to face life or death situations constantly (Abrego 32). These persecutes common in Latin America even when there is not a war due to gangs and cartels having more money and being more manipulative they control authorities and use them to attack anything that

“Society thinks we are monsters.” Mr. Antunez said at the beginning of the article Shuttling Between Nations, Latino Gangs Confound the Law. The following paper is going to take a close look at several aspects of Latino gangs and their effects on culture. The taboos and deviant acts that are committed by both groups. Actions the dominant culture has done to enforce the rules of society and, more closely, ways that the dominant culture has been deviant. The material and nonmaterial items in both cultures, and how has one nation’s culture influenced another. What might a sociologist hypothesis be and what type of research would they use. To start off with, let’s look at the two cultures that are in conflict.

In California Hispanic gangs began forming in 1920. This started with groups of people looking to be unified with each other. The gang member were “usually the age of 14 to 20” (Rodriguez 5). The crimes that they usually did was burglary, robbery, and vandalism. Hispanic gangs were created to protect wherever the people in the gang came from. They would usually get into many fights with other gangs because they disliked the people from the other gangs. These gangs didn’t really do violent things when they were first formed, but as the years passed by violence started becoming more common. They started murdering people, and doing drive-by shootings in their own communities. The age for people to join the gangs soon changed. The age was now 12

Second, the thesis is shown through the perspective of Ernesto Vera. Ernesto Vera was the eldest child in the Vera family. His two younger siblings, Lupe and Ray, otherwise known as Payasa and Lil Mosco, are both heavily involved with gang violence and all types of gang activity, but not Ernie. Ernesto said, “When I’m passing houses, I only hear TVs on, and all the anchors are talking about is looting and fire and Rodney King and black people and anger and that’s cool, whatever, because I’m focused on something else.” (6). Ernie wanted to completely absolve himself from this lifestyle by finding a part-time job, focussing on getting an education, and eventually getting out of Los Angeles. Through his actions, he demonstrated how to be a respectable

The first paramilitary groups were set up in the 1960s, by the Colombian military. Due to an increase of armed communist groups in rural Colombia, the United States had sent counterinsurgency teams to Colombia in 1962, to investigate Colombia’s internal security situation. The head of the counterinsurgency team recommended the Colombian government to authorize the Ministry of Defense to recruit civilians - mainly landowners and drug lords – to form paramilitary groups. This provided a legal basis to paramilitary groups. The groups referred to themselves as defensive groups, with the purpose of protecting the civilians. In 1968, Law 48 was legislated, which permitted the Ministry of Defense to arm the paramilitary