Salvadoran media highlight gang members fleeing to the north

Havana, April 21 (RHC) - The gangs operating in El Salvador move to northern countries, which causes Mexico and Guatemala to shield themselves from this situation, the newspaper El Mundo reported this Friday.

The US Border Patrol registers a significant increase in the arrests of gang members on the southern border, most of them Salvadorans, the newspaper pointed out. The rise in gang members fleeing security measures in El Salvador is embarrassing authorities in Guatemala and Mexico, who fear that fleeing criminals have been hiding in their territories and entering illegally for a year.

The outlet indicated that Security authorities of both countries express their concern that the large arrival of these criminals will establish a permanent and strengthened condition of gang members in their territories, where until now there is a reduced existence of gang nuclei.

On the other hand, the Border Patrol, the main agency in charge of the security of the 3,200 kilometers of the southern border between the United States and Mexico, reported an increase in the arrests of gang members who seek to penetrate the territories of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

That body reported that in 2022 there were 312 arrests at the border of MS-13 members, compared to 113 in 2021, and 100 of Barrio 18 gang members, compared to 28 in 2021. (Source: Prensa Latina)