El Salvador and Honduras have major anti-gang operations ongoing, locking up tens of thousands of MS-13 and Calle 18 gang members.
From The Daily Mail:
El Salvador’s new mega prison is already packed with bitter rivals from two of North and Central America’s most feared gangs – MS-13 and Calle 18 – with history showing their foot soldiers will take any opportunity to kill their enemies.
Salvadoran streets are safer, and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele enjoys an approval rating over 80%.
The bad news? The crackdowns in Honduras and El Salvador are driving escaping gang members north.
Beliz is bracing for impact, tightening up border surveillance and contemplating similar gang crackdowns.
Southern Mexico is already feeling the effects, as gang activity there swells.
Reports of increasing extortion in southern Mexico suggest crackdowns on gangs in Central America may be pushing gang members to migrate, swelling the ranks of formerly small Mexican branches and potentially helping them step up their criminal activities.
Here’s the key paragraph:
“The presence of the MS13 in Tapachula has been going on for many years. But they have traditionally been passing through,” explained Carlos García, a Central American gang expert living in Mexico and contributor to InSight Crime.
Those gang members aren’t “passing through” to Mexico City, Cancun or even Juarez. They are aiming for the criminal’s Valhalla: The United States of America.
This is an expected development in the natural flow and evolution of cartel activity plaguing the hemisphere. Market forces work the same for criminal enterprises.
In Mario Saviano’s excellent book, Zero Zero Zero, he explains how the power transitioned from the Italian Mafia to Colombian cartels, who were then overtaken by Mexican narcos. It’s unlikely Salvadorans and Hondurans will take over Mexico or supplant native syndicates there, but they may change their character and further evolve the situation, pushing more activity toward the US border, because that’s where the money is.
Evidence mounts that Mexico is becoming a failed state.
What say you?