Recent Study Concludes Latin American Gang Threat Overstated
Washington Times: David Lipscomb: February 9, 2007

Link:
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20070208-104255-2965r.htm

Summary:
A recent study conducted by Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico concluded that Latin American gangs are less internationally organized, and threatening than law enforcement has reported.  The study focused on gangs in the Washington D.C. area, Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Obviously, many in law enforcement disagree with this assessment, and note the recent conviction of Melvin Murios-Garcia for racketeering. Garcia was sending funds to an L.A. based clique, indicating cooperation between the various cliques of the gang.

Analysis:
This is an interesting study because the conclusions are very different from what the conclusions of law enforcement have been.  One interesting thing to note is that WOLA is a D.C. based advocacy group, which promotes human rights, democracy, social and economic justice. Normally, I tend to consider “social justice” a code word used by political liberals, which really means socialism. So, while I haven’t really delved into what WOLA’s political orientation is, “social justice” seems like it could be a red flag when it comes to unbiased analysis.

Copy of Study:
http://www.wola.org/gangs/transnational_gangs_study/washington_dc_gang_research.pdf
Link to WOLA site:
http://www.wola.org/