It is one of the most brutal, numerous, and rapidly growing street gangs in Central and North America.
The judicial system of El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele is waging a "war" against gangs, has sentenced dozens of members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) to several centuries of imprisonment, including sentences of over a thousand years, according to the prosecutor's office.
Since March 2022, Bukele has been confronting gangs under a state of emergency that allows for arrests without warrants. According to official sources, more than 90,000 people have been arrested, and about 8,000 have been released due to proven innocence.
The prosecutor's office of El Salvador reported on social media platform X that 248 members of the MS-13 gang received "exemplary sentences" for 43 murders and 42 disappearances, among other crimes, without specifying the date of the sentencing or participation in collective processes.
One gang member, classified by the U.S. as a "terrorist," received a sentence of 1335 years in prison. Another 10 were sentenced to 958, 880, 739, 745, 739, 702, 639, 543, 530, and 463 years of imprisonment.
Mara Salvatrucha (Mara Salvatrucha, which in slang means "the brigade of Salvadoran migratory ants," or MS-13) is an organized international criminal group; one of the most brutal, numerous, and rapidly growing street gangs in Central and North America, which actively operates in several countries (primarily in the U.S., Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala).
According to various estimates, the number of the criminal syndicate ranges from 50,000 to 300,000 people, including associated members (from 10,000 to 40,000 in the U.S.). According to law enforcement estimates, including the FBI, the number of Mara Salvatrucha is about 50,000–80,000 people, of which about 10,000–15,000 are in the U.S. The ethnic composition of the gang is mixed, with Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Mexicans, and other Latin Americans (both recent immigrants and first-generation Americans) being part of it in the United States. Mara Salvatrucha operates within a specific urban territory, periodically attempting to expand its controlled holdings (additionally, it is quite active and influential in Central American prisons).
Mara Salvatrucha engages in many types of criminal business, including drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and human trafficking; robberies, racketeering, contract killings, kidnappings for ransom, pimping, car theft, money laundering, and fraud. Many street vendors and small shops located in Mara Salvatrucha territories pay the gang up to half of their income for the opportunity to operate. Salvadorans living in the U.S. are also forced to pay MS-13, as gangsters will mutilate or kill their relatives back home if they refuse (both in freedom and in prison). However, Mara Salvatrucha's greatest profits come from mediating in drug trafficking or collecting tribute for the right to sell drugs in "their" territory. Numerous teams of thieves operating in retail chains, small shops, and pharmacies are also linked to MS-13.
