Sessions, Central American counterparts eye anti-gang strategies

Record ID: 904319

  • Title: Sessions, Central American counterparts eye anti-gang strategies
  • Date: 28th July 2017
  • Summary: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (FILE) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF CAPITAL MONUMENT IN LOCAL SQUARE EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2017 01:24
  • Keywords: El Salvador United States U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions combat criminal gangs U.S. President Donald Trump Salvador Sanchez Ceren
  • Location: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
  • City: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016RHUFRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions held talks with Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren to explore strategies to combat criminal gangs during his visit to El Salvador, the Central American country's foreign minister said on Thursday (July 27).
    Violent crime in El Salvador and other countries in the region is one of the main reasons people seek to emigrate, often moving northward through Mexico to the United States. Sessions earlier in the day welcomed steps by law enforcement officials in El Salvador to charge 113 members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as MS-13, the U.S. Justice Department said, as he prepared for talks with Salvador's president.
    El Salvador charged 593 gang members ahead of Sessions' visit, including many MS-13 members, the Justice Department said. The U.S. has welcomed the crackdown. The Mara Salvatrucha was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s to protect earlier immigrants escaping civil war in El Salvador. The gang, and its rival Barrio 18, have about 60,000 members and are fighting each other for control of extortion, drug trafficking and robbery in El Salvador. Their criminal activities have helped make El Salvador one of the most murderous nations in the world.
    Sessions' visit to the country comes amid speculation about his future in the job. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he was frustrated Sessions had recused himself from the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia and that he would not have appointed him had he known he would do so.
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