MEXICO CITY — Central America's brutal Mara gangs have taken root in Mexico because law enforcement is too busy fighting drug smuggling to go after them, a government commission charged Wednesday.
About 5,000 members are now active in about 200 cells in Mexico, the government's National Human Rights Commission reported, calling the gangs' rise a problem of national security.
"This is negligence on the part of the government," commission head Jose Luis Soberanes said as he presented the scathing three-year study.
The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and in some U.S. cities for their brazen tactics, which often include beheading their enemies. Many Mara members moved into Mexico after Central American nations began implementing tough anti-gang laws in recent years. Some travel through Mexico to reach the United States.
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In the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, 63 percent of the Mara members detained by authorities are Mexican citizens, indicating the gangs have truly taken root here, the commission said.
"They have become Mexicanized," said Raul Plascencia, a commission inspector.
Soberanes said police in Mexico are ill-prepared to deal with the problem, and in many cases they don't even spot the gang affiliation of detained Mara members.
The Maras are believed to number about 100,000 in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. As many as 30,000 operate in the United States, mostly in Los Angeles, according to U.S. authorities.
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