Maras In Honduras

Introduction At this time, there are two big maras in Honduras: the mara 18 and the mara salva-trucha or better known as the MS13. The maras are referred to as a group of people who share the same identity, “mara” was a word used in a general it was not necessarily referred to delinquents. The word mara comes from the word marabunta, a group of migrating ants that destroyed out everything in their path. At first those who formed these maras gathered for fun but then this fun became a combination of profligacy and poverty. The maras originated in Los Angeles and other points in the United States and have expanded to Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Spain, mainly due to the deportations of Central Americans from the

These young people are the ones that later become part of these maras, in San Pedro Sula there are approximately 1350 maras that are integrated by approximately 150 thousand teens in ages between 11 and 18 years old. Coupled with unemployment deportation is another important factor in the growth of the maras, in what goes of the present year more than 4 thousand Hondurans have been deported both of the United States and of Mexico, according to the Honduran newspaper “Honduprensa”. In 2015, 75 thousand 875 Honduran were deported, 73 % returned for terrestrial route, that is to say from Mexico. Maras in Honduras are usually involved in all activities of street crime, such as extortion and drug trafficking, both within and outside the prison system. In addition, maras usually take control over the territory in a particular city and are often involved in "protection", a kind of extortion, because the "protection" is usually from the own gang, or in other criminal activities. The majority of members retain their membership in gangs when they go to jail. Not to mention that most of the maras use organized fronts to demonstrate its influence and profit in a particular

Honduras has not taken action to eradicate the maras but increasingly they have expanded more by the lack of unemployment, culture and education in the country. Equally important Honduras has to work in the factors that influence the expansion of maras, the mentioned above unemployment and deportation as well as other not mentioned such as family disintegration, the lack of values in the home and at school. Honduras must eradicate this problem since it directly affects the population, and it is the Government which must generate more jobs, improve education and create rehabilitation