MS-13/Al-Qaeda Connection

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MS-13/Al-Qaeda Connection
Tuesday , June 06, 2006
MATAMOROS, MEXICO -- The chief officer of the American Consulate in the border city of Matamoros says he is concerned about the Central American Mara Salvatrucha gang helping al-Qaeda.

Consul John Naland made his remarks following the arrest Feb. 24 of an MS-13 gang member in Matamoros trying to smuggle three illegal aliens into the United States. The arrest comes on the heels of the American government acknowledging last week it was holding Ebner Anibal Rivera-Paz - the reputed head of the Honduran Mara Salvatrucha organization - after his arrest in Falfurrias, Texas on Feb. 10.

"The Maras are certainly a threat to the United States," Naland said. "The concern is that they might be just the kind of group which would take money to smuggle an honest-to-goodness terrorist into the United States.

"There has been some intelligence that al-Qaeda has talked with the Maras to help smuggle someone in to the U.S.," Naland added. "It's kind of the logical open door that could be used and the Maras are just ruthless enough to do it."

Gang experts in Matamoros say the Mara Salvatrucha are a "transit-gang" in the area, only interested in transporting drugs and people for profit.

Congressman Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) says others in the American government have heard rumors about the al-Qaeda/MS-13 union, but confirmation has not been easy to pin down.

"Some people who are witnesses to these meetings will not confirm or deny because they are concerned not only for their lives but also the safety of their own country," Ortiz said.

Ortiz adds that MS-13 are practically everyhere in the United States, spreading like a cancer. The Salvatrucha gang is believed to have members in at least 16 states, including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Utah.

Ortiz doesn't discount what the groups could be capable of doing. He says the recent capture of Rivera-Paz is a measure of how vicious the MS-13 gang can be. The gang leader is wanted in his native Honduras for the murders of 28 people two days before Christmas.

"If he was to do that to people he knows," Ortiz said. "Can you imagine what he's capable of doing here in the U.S. for the right amount of money paid to him?"