A new kind of war is being waged in Central America-and elsewhere around the world-today. The main protagonists are what have come to be called first, second, and third generation street gangs. In this war, gangs are not sending conventional military units across national borders, or supporting proxy forces in an attempt to conquer territory or bring down governments. Rather, these nonstate actors are more interested in commercial profit and controlling territory (turf) to allow maximum freedom of movement and action. That freedom of movement within countries and across national borders ensures commercial market share and revenues, as well as secure bases for market expansion. Thus, in addition to drug smuggling, these gangs are known to have expanded their activities to smuggling people, body parts, weapons, and cars; associated murder, kidnapping, and robbery; home and community invasion; and other lucrative societal destabilization activities. What makes all this into a new kind of war is that these commercial motives are known to have been developed into political agendas by more sophisticated gangs.Street gangs from California began moving into Central America in the early 1990s. The main impetus came as a result of convicted felons being sent from prisons in the United States back to the countries of their parents' origins. These gangs include the famed Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and several others operating in the United States, Mexico, South America, Canada, and Europe. In the first, second, and third generation stages of their development, virtually all the Central American gangs have flourished under the protection and mercenary income provided by gang-narco alliances that are credited with the transshipment of up to 75 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States. And, in this connection, third generation gangs have developed into more seasoned organizations with broad markets and very sophisticated alliances with transnational criminal organizations. This more highly developed nexus must inevitably take control of ungoverned territory within a nation-state, and begin to acquire political power in poorly-governed space.Rather than trying to take down a government in a major stroke (golpe, or coup) as insurgents do, gangs take control of turf one street or neighborhood at a time ("coup d' street"). As a result, crime rates have increased dramatically throughout Central America to the point where the Honduran annual murder rate, at 154 per 100,000 population, is reported by the Honduran press as the highest in the world and double that of Colombia-which is engaged in an insurgency war. Additionally, 3,500 people, including more than 455 young women, were murdered in Guatemala in 2004. A majority of those murders took place in public, in broad daylight, and many of the mutilated bodies were left as grisly reminders of a gang's prowess. As a result of these and other types of violence and intimidation, second and third generation gangs and
