Alberto Arce has another disturbing story with
In Honduran Schools, Gangs are in Control.
Gang prevention police distribute US-funded pamphlets on manners and anger management in about two thirds of the 130 public schools of Tegucigalpa. Gang members, meanwhile, circulate catalogues of their girls offering sexual services for sale.
It can't exactly be said that street gangs are recruiting in Honduran schools because gangs in Honduras don't need to recruit. In a country of limited opportunities, more schoolchildren want to join the violent Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street and other newly formed gangs than the illegal bands can absorb.
Meanwhile, John Leland picks up on what happens when children escape the violence of Honduran schools for the safety of Brooklyn with
Fleeing Violence in Honduras Teenage Boys Seeks Asylum in Brooklyn. Two boys left the violence and death of San Pedro Sula to reunite with their dad who was living in the US after they had heard that minors would be allowed to stay in the country.
In New York, there were adjustments to make. The streets and language were alien. Their father had started a new life, with a wife and a son; his apartment, a studio, was barely big enough for the three of them, let alone the addition of two adolescent boys. Mr. Rodriguez worked in an auto body shop, earning $800 a week — enough to support them, he said, since he had previously been sending money for the boys to Honduras. His wife, from El Salvador, stayed at home.
For many families, reunification comes with tension and recriminations. But if there are stresses in Alejandro’s home, neither he nor his father let on.
Their dad is eligible for relief following President Obama's executive order while the two boys that are adjusting to life in New York have filed petitions for asylum. Fortunately, it sounds like the boys have a good chance of acquiring some manner of staying with their dad in Brooklyn.
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