THE JOURNEY
ENCOUNTERING THE GANGS
Quique and his friends evaded the police. But ahead
was the biggest danger so far. Southern Mexico is
the territory of the Mara Salvatrucha - the most
feared gang in Latin American.
The Mara Salvatrucha's core is former members of
the Salvadoran army who had been deported from Los
Angeles and other American cities. They learned
about 'gang culture' there and had frequent disputes
with the popular L.A. gang, the Crips.
They're identified by the tattoos on their heads,
necks and arms which often have the number 13 or
18 or the letters MS. They've now become a huge
gang with more than a quarter of a million members
across North and Central America.
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The Mara Salvatrucha in southern
Mexico see the trains as their turf. They are
'migrant hunters' and lie in wait as the kids
jump off the slow moving trains as they reach
a checkpoint. The illegals make ideal victims
because they're unlikely to press charges.
Eyewitnesses say they're well armed with machetes
and
uzis. There have been incidents where the Mara
have hacked migrants to death for resisting robbery.
It's hard to estimate just how many migrants have
been killed this way.
On one trip Chacon witnessed some
of the violence firsthand. He saw one gang member
cut the hand off of an old man who didn't have
any money.
Women who ride the train take a huge risk as no
one can protect them against gang members with
guns. Gang rape is an everyday occurrence. Chacon
watched as a young girl was cruelly thrown off
the train when she resisted rape.
Chacon: They
did it without remorse - like they were throwing
an old rag or trash can. To feel that moment -
how the girl was screaming a scream of agony while
dying through the air. There was no hope for her.
Only to be scattered on the rocks and the river.
When Quique and his friends finally arrived in
Tonala, a town in southern Mexico, they were not
very happy. They'd managed to evade the police
but not the Mara Salvatrucha.
Quique: They came
with machetes, saying we are the Mara Salvatrucha.
They robbed all of us - about 35 people. All of
the money I had to eat.
When the boys left they had $100, now they have
nothing. They can't buy anything to eat - and
worse - if they get caught again they'd have nothing
with which to bargain for their freedom.
Quique warned the fifth estate
cameraman that the camera was attracting too much
attention. (read more about this incident in the
filmmaker's notes)
Quique:
Don't get on the train. Those rats have machetes
- they will take you camera and throw you from the
train.
He and his friends quickly jumped
on the next train north - heading straight for
Mexico City.
