El Salvador paints over gang graffiti to take back streets Police officers and soldiers paint over graffiti associated with the Mara Salvatrucha gang in Quezaltepeque, a town 15 km from San Salvador, in an operation to take back gang-controlled neighborhoods. The Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street gangs are the main cause of the escalation of violence plaguing El Salvador, where an estimated 60,000 people belong to gangs, 15,000 of them in prison. IMAGES