Article: Gang violence

Gunmen kill six in Guatemala quarry, gangs feared

14 Jan 2005 23:21:48 GMT

Guatemala City, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and killed six youths in a quarry on Friday after snatching them from the streets of Guatemala City a day earlier, in what may have been a gang killing, police said.

"The victims come from poor neighborhoods; they are all young, and the shootings do not look professional. For this reason, we think this is a gang problem and not drug traffickers," officer Hugo Blanco said.

However, none of the victims bore the distinctive tattoos that identify members of Central America's ultra-violent street gangs, the "Mara Salvatrucha" and "Mara-18."

The six youths were found in a makeshift sand quarry tunnel on a hilltop at the edge of the city. Gunmen had shot them in their heads, faces and bodies.

Two of the victims were half-brothers, and another victim was a young female and thought to be Nicaraguan.

Witnesses said the brothers were ambushed in a poor district of the city on Thursday and carried off by 15 armed men traveling in five cars.

Guatemala is one of the world's most violent countries, with a homicide rate of around 36 per 100,000. Government sources admit less than five percent of murders result in a conviction.

Analysts say the Central American country's rampant violence is the legacy of a 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996, combined with widespread poverty, freely available firearms and ineffective security forces.

Retaliatory killings between the gangs are responsible for many of the deaths, although vigilante-style extra judicial killings of suspected criminals are also common.