The Washington Times

U.S. labels MS-13 a transnational criminal organization

The violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) was designated Thursday by the Treasury Department as a transnational criminal organization.

**FILE** Soldiers stand guard Dec. 21, 2010, while police raid a home in Coban, Guatemala. In December 2010, the Guatemalan military declared a month long state of siege in Alta Verapaz in hopes of reclaiming cities that have been taken over by Mexico's Zetas drug gang. Guatemalan authorities say they have begun to see new and disturbing evidence of an alliance between the Mara Salvatrucha street gang and the Zetas drug cartel, one of the most feared criminal organizations in Latin America, a deal with the potential to further undermine the U.S.-backed effort to fight violent crime and narcotics trafficking in the region. (Associated Press)

**FILE** Soldiers stand guard Dec. 21, 2010, while police raid a home in Coban, Guatemala. In December 2010, the Guatemalan military declared a month long state of siege in Alta Verapaz in hopes of reclaiming cities that have been taken over by Mexico's Zetas drug gang. Guatemalan authorities say they have begun to see new and disturbing evidence of an alliance between the Mara Salvatrucha street gang and the Zetas drug cartel, one of the most feared criminal organizations in Latin America, a deal with the potential to further undermine the U.S.-backed effort to fight violent crime and narcotics trafficking in the region. (Associated Press)

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