More shadows than lights:

Central American Maras and the categorization as terrorists in El Salvador

Abstract

The maras are a current phenomenon in the Central America Northern Triangle – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala –. The complexity that the situation had acquired as a result of a process of securitization contributed to motivate El Salvador to determinate the main mareros groups as terrorist. The present article wonders about the conditions in which this policy is being developed and the effects produced by this denomination.