Santa Tecla, El Salvador — July 8, 2005 — Passersby in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, look on as a police officer detains a member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang as part of an ongoing operation called "Mano Dura," which means "hard hand."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72486

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San Salvador, El Salvador — July 8, 2005 — A Mara Salvatrucha gang member known as "Denver" maintains a look of defiance as he and other gang members are shown to the media following a police roundup in a gang-plagued neighborhood of San Salvador.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72485

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San Miguel, El Salvador — July 9, 2005 — A member of the Mara Salvatrucha Marineros clique uses a cellphone to contact an associate in Virginia from the backyard of his home in San Miguel, El Salvador. The Marineros formed in San Miguel, but have since spread to the East Coast of the United States.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72487

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Ciudad Barrios Penitentiary, El Salvador — July 12, 2005 — An inmate is framed by bars, drying laundry and an American flag at Ciudad Barrios Penitentiary in El Salvador, which is solely devoted to more than 900 incarcerated members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang. Inmates essentially run the prison during daylight hours as guards mainly stay outside barred gates leading to the cellblocks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72488

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Ciudad Barrios Penitentiary, El Salvador — July 12, 2005 — A pair of inmates hang out in a yard at Ciudad Barrios Penitentiary in El Salvador, a crowded, aging prison devoted solely to 900 incarcerated members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72489

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Barrio Lourdes, El Salvador — July 11, 2005 — A Mara Salvatrucha gang member named Snoopy smokes marijuana during a visit to a cemetery near Barrio Lourdes, El Salvador, where two fellow gang members are buried. The pair were recent victims of gang violence that has plagued this Central American nation.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72490

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San Salvador, El Salvador — July 6, 2005 — Melvin Cruz-Mendoza, 23, stands stripped to the waist as he is processed by Salvadoran National Police after arriving from the United States aboard a plane filled with deportees. A member of the street gang called Mara Salvatrucha, Cruz-Mendoza was deported because he is a convicted felon. However, he said he planned to begin a journey north to try to illegally re-enter the United States.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72491

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Langley Park, Md. — August 24, 2005 — Prince George's County officers shake down a group of Mara Salvatrucha gang members at a low-income apartment complex in Langley Park, Md.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=72492

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