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SOCIAL SCIENTISTS TRACE GANG DEATHS TO POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM AND MEDIA COMPLICITY AS MANY DIE IN GUATEMALA PRISON RIOTS.

Article Excerpt
At least 35 members of international youth gangs perished in Guatemala's prisons on Aug. 15, adding to the hundreds who have died in penitentiaries in Honduras (see NotiCen 2004-05-20) and the Dominican Republic (see NotiCen, 2005-06-30) in recent months. The bodies continue to pile up in Central America as researchers pile up data indicating that the "mano dura" approach to controlling the phenomenon, abetted by political opportunism and mainstream media hysteria, has been brutally counterproductive in protecting citizens or curtailing gang violence.

One of the methods authorities have found effective in encouraging gang-on-gang extermination is to lock rival gangs up together without effective supervision or separation. This is what appears to have been the cause of the latest incident, which, in addition to the deaths, resulted in serious injury to no less than 50 others. The mayhem between Mara Salvatrucha and Mara 18 was coordinated by cell phone to detonate simultaneously in several prisons throughout Guatemala. Weapons used included guns, hand grenades, knives, and an array of improvised items, clear evidence of official neglect to police inmates.

Hundreds of police and soldiers armed with automatic weapons and firing tear gas gained control of the prisons only after hours of battle. Witnesses counted 18 dead, tattooed bodies carried out of the prison known as El Hoyon at Esquintla. Some were mutilated. At Pavon,...

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