Heinous And Violent: MS-13’s Appeal To Girls Grows As Gang Becomes ‘Americanized'

MS-13 is known as a chauvinist and fearsome gang. Hence, the idea of a female member was pretty unheard of. Until 2017, when 15-year-old Damaris Reyes Rivas was murdered by 17-year-old Venus Iraheta, an MS-13 member. In this piece for the Washington Post, journalists Michael E. Miller and Justin Jouvenal delve into the newest phenomenon of gangs recruiting female members in the United States, who they call “homegirls”. Prosecutors say they are increasingly seeing female involvement in MS-13. Unlike girls from Central America, who are forced into sexual slavery by the gangs, the girls in America are driven to the MS-13 due to trauma, poverty or loneliness. “The gang’s bad boy allure can cross cultural lines,” write the journalists.

This piece takes a close look at the lives of the victims, detailing the day of Rivas’ execution. Iraheta speaks to the journalists from prison, telling them the killing was motivated by love for a man Rivas set up.

This piece offers a great insight into the roles that women play in the dreaded Central American gangs, both in their home countries and in the United States