How Los Angeles Taught the Mara Salvatrucha to Hate (Lengthy feature article.)

[Judi Lynn]

Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Carlos Martínez and José Luis Sanz

This piece on the origins of MS-13 was published by El Faro in Spanish in August 2012.

It’s not that the young palabrero from Fulton was much of a peacemaker. In fact, he did not earn the nickname Satan for promoting truces with his enemies.

He was leader of the Mara Salvatrucha clique in the San Fernando Valley, which borders the city of Los Angeles.

He had received elite training from the Salvadoran army; it was precisely these military skills which turned him, after just one year, into leader of one of the most powerful Mara Salvatrucha cliques in the United States — no small feat. Within gang protocols, almost nobody goes from being a wriggling sack on the floor, during initiation rites known as el brinco (the jump), to being the one who decides who is a punching bag and who is not.

He knew how to load and unload handguns and rifles, strategies for withdrawal, how to conduct an ambush, the purpose of small units, and the importance of holding onto certain territories. Probably, he knew how to kill. Satan knew all about war.

Born Ernesto Deras, Satan was no Hollywood-style Rambo, except for perhaps his voice — tired-sounding, almost a whisper, making him seem infinitely sad. And except for the fact that those who know him say they’ve never heard him shout, nor cackle with laughter. And his Green Beret training, which he received from U.S. advisors as part of a rapid response battalion during the civil war in El Salvador.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202308/centroamerica/26933/how-los-angeles-taught-the-mara-salvatrucha-to-hate