article_snippet.sent: when suspected Mara Salvatrucha gang members opened fire .
article_snippet.sent: Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. began among Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s, but became an international criminal gang as members were deported back to Central America.
article_snippet.sent: Governments in countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have struggled to control violence, including inter-gang attack between groups such as the Salvatruchas and a gang called Calle 18.
article_snippet.sent: members have been involving in trafficking cocaine into the US, prostitution rings, robberies, assaults, murders and gun smuggling.
article_snippet.sent: Gang thugs sent back to Central America from time committing crimes in the US, who often decorate Gang thugs bodies with elaborate tattoos, are seen as having special status in Gang thugs home countries.
article_snippet.sent: The gang members alleged abuses against The gang members young fellows at Las Gaviotas (pictured, which means The Seagulls .
article_snippet.sent: Mara Salvatrucha often decorate Mara Salvatrucha bodies with elaborate tattoos.
article_snippet.sent: Above, a former leader of the  gang poses during a photo session at Comayagua jail in Honduras in 2008 .