In the Central American capital of Honduras, violent gangs not only run neighborhoods, they run schools, adding new gang members as young as 12 and extorting teachers in the hallway, according to The Associated Press.
Gang members of Mara Salvatrucha and others like 18th Street extort teachers for the right to teach, and when gang members pull a child out of class, teachers dare not say a word, the AP reported.
Gang members ambush teachers daily and steal their pocket cash, according to the AP. If the teacher does not give up the money, they are not allowed to go to class and teach.
"The extortion takes place through the school director, " said Liliana Ruiz, the Ministry of Education's director for Tegucigalpa, the AP reported. "They make an appointment with the director at the mall and he has to arrive with the money. In Honduras, the extortion has to be paid."
Gang members, who are also sometimes "students," repeat grades several times in order to remain in school to keep the illegal activities within schools and the recruiting going, according to the AP. This leads to teenagers as old as 17 to be in the same classroom with children as young as 11.
"The fear is indescribable ... because these children are capable of anything," Ruiz said, the AP reported. "It is a climate of shocking desperation."
Gangsters pass catalogues of their gang's girls up for prostitution in the highschool hallways, according to the AP.
There are 130 public schools in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and gangs have claimed territory over all of them, the AP reported. What school buildings belong to which gangs can be found out by the graffiti on the walls.
Due to the extreme violent atmosphere in Honduras, most children and teenagers want to join gangs, according to the AP. Some of the children's parents are, or were, part of gangs themselves.
Once the situation becomes extreme, sometimes police are sent in, but the gangs only settle down for a little while before starting back up, as to not let other gangs take over their territory, the AP reported.
"The schools are a base of organization for the gangs, and the point through which all children in the neighborhood pass," said Lt. Col. Santos Nolasco, according to the AP.
Nolasco is a spokesman for the joint military and police force that is in charge of security in the country of 8.2 million people, the AP reported.
Laws which prevent minors from serving serious time give gangs the reason to recruit kids and teens to do their dirty work, according to the AP.
According to a study examining age groups within gangs, in 2010 a third of 5,000 arrests were kids and teens under the age of 15, the AP reported.
