Juvenile gangs in El Salvador

"Only those who kill, are part of us": The members of San Salvador’s juvenile gangs, called maras, live according to this rule. Territories and areas of influence are clearly marked by graffiti, those who trespass across them risk their lives. Due to the members' custom to tattoo the sign of their mara, those who wish to leave remain stigmatised. The public however demands "to execute these juveniles right away". The long civil war has brutalised   Salvadorian society. In the past years the maras have extended into the whole of Central America and control all parts of organized crime.