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Second Place
Rodrigo Abd The Associated Press
"Guatemala Gangs"


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Francisco Campos holds a candle in a jail in Villa Nueva, a poor neighborhood of Guatemala City, June 27, 2003. Campos is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, captured extorting money from the buses in the area, which paid $2 a day for "protection."

Gangs that trace their roots back to the hard streets of U.S. cities are thriving in Guatemala, drawing blame for a wave of murders and other crimes that grip its shantytowns. Gang culture sprang up in Central America after gang members in immigrant communities in Los Angeles and elsewhere were deported to their homelands for committing crimes in the United States. The National Police have begun a new anti-gang operation called "Plan Escoba" (The Broom Plan) to combat gang violence.

 

 

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