🇮🇷 Iran Proxy | https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Gangs_in_Belize
Jump to content

Gangs in Belize

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Draft:Gangs in Belize)

Urban poverty is deemed a primary reason why Belizean youth join gangs

An estimated 900 to 1,400 people in Belize were part of street gangs as of 2019, with some three dozen gangs active in the country. These gangs were formed in the 1980s in Southside Belize City, as offshoots of the American Bloods and Crips gangs. Most gangs in Belize remain based in the Southside, and retain at least loose affiliation with Bloods or Crips. They are widely deemed primarily responsible for sustained waves of violent, gun, and organised crime in the country since the 1990s, still unabated as of today (the 2020s).

History

[edit]

Rise of gangs

[edit]

In the 1960s, the economic devastation wrought by Hurricane Hattie (especially in Belize City) prompted scores of Belizeans to emigrate to America, resulting in a sizeable overseas diaspora (especially in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York).[n 1] Belizean emigrants to LA were there embraced by the budding Bloods and Crips street gangs, and subsequently spread them to Belize during holidays back home, or upon their deportation.[n 2]

Locals promptly took to the novel American gangs, ostensibly due to media influence.[1] The local 1970s premiere of The Wild Bunch, for instance, was credited as Belize's "first exposure to criminal street gang activities" by Home Affairs personnel.[2] A group of impressionable youths allegedly began "cop[ying] the behaviour [they had] seen in the movie", dubbing themselves the Wild Bunch.[n 3] The 1980s introduction of television (especially American programming) and premiere of Colors are also cited as inspiring locals to embrace street gangs.[n 4]

In addition to priming via media, the rise of gangs is further attributed to increased arrivals of US deportees from LA, and US-instigated eradication of cannabis farms, both in the 1980s.[n 5] The deportee-gang members founded the country's first Bloods (George Street) and Crips (Majestic Alley) gangs, while the eradication programme forced a switch to imported cocaine.[n 6] As a result, by the late 1980s and early 1990s the said street gangs were well-established, with "youths claiming to be members of the Crips and the Bloods [and] fighting over colours and turf".[n 7]

Initially, the official line by authorities was dismissive, claiming self-identified Bloods and Crips were "not real gang members, but only [people who] use the name".[3] As gang violence became more violent and visible, however, police (and even soldiers) were forced to act despite this official denialism.[4] The 1990 muggings and beatings of school children who had failed to pay protection money, for instance, prompted increased patrols and periodic sweeps, though these provided only brief respite, with said sweeps (like Operation Thunder) being "from a civil rights standpoint, highly questionable".[n 8] Similarly, the 1991 drive-by shooting and murder of a student (alleged Crip) at Excelsior High in Port Loyola (in addition to a string of other notorious crimes) prompted a joint BPD-BDF operation "to take back the city streets" (the country's first deployment of military for domestic law enforcement) and a commission of inquiry (the Crimes Commission).[n 9]

Outbreak of gang-banging

[edit]

The "most visible initial event" portending the coming gang warfare came in 1992, with the murder of Derek Itza Brown (Crips leader) at the National Stadium in Belize City, and retaliatory murder of Lyndon Tunan Arnold (Bloods leader) in New York City.[5] The ensuing violence spurred a quick about-face by authorities, prompting the country's earliest parliamentary response to gangs (Crime Control & Criminal Justice Act 1992) and first gang truce (1995 Bird's Isle agreement).[n 10]

By the 2000s, efforts in Colombia and elsewhere had largely succeeded in blocking maritime cocaine traffic through the Caribbean Sea, leaving Central America (including Belize) as the only viable route to the US.[n 11] Gang activity in Belize thus ramped up, and grew even more visible and violent.[n 12] For instance, 2008 alone saw both the Putt Putt mass shooting (most casualties) and Mayflower grenade attack (first such). By 2009, the country's murder rate had doubled from the already-dizzying 16 per 100,000 rate in 2000.[6]

The worsening situation in the 2000s now necessitated serious, concerted effort by authorities.[n 13] Various attempts were then made to understand and address the problem of gang violence, including studies (Crooks, Gayle), preventative and rehabilitative programmes (Kolbe, Youth Cadets, YFF, CYDP, RESTORE Belize), policing reforms and operations (various), and parliamentary, judicial, and governmental measures (various).[7] Nevertheless, the spiralling crime wave continued into the 2010s and 2020s unabated, despite several attempts to address it, including three further gang truces.[8] By 2023, "comprehensive and long-term intervention continue[d] to elude public and private efforts".[9]

Types and activities

[edit]

The earliest "gangs" (like the Wild Bunch) were small crews or posses of mostly lower and working class Creole baseboys who appropriated bases (street corners, alleyways, playgrounds) in Belize City for the sale or use of ganja (cannabis) and for petty crime.[n 14]

With the arrival of the Bloods and Crips, these disparate crews were purportedly coopted and consolidated into two large gangs, now properly street gangs composed of wanna-bes (baseboys) and true gang-bangers (experienced gang members).[10] By the early 1990s, these street gangs were seemingly being coopted by foreign drug traffickers to facilitate cocaine transshipment to America in exchange for arms (short arms and high-powered rifles) and a portion of the cargo (for local production, sale, and use of crack-cocaine).[n 15] They were also engaging in extortion, for instance, by demanding protection money from locals, including school children.[n 16] Further activities included assaults, robberies, kidnappings, stabbings, shootings, homicides.[11] There have even been allegations of gangs doing the illicit bidding of local corrupt politicians.[n 17]

When the first street gangs began to splinter, the offshoots originally retained strong allegiances to (and so strong rivalries with) Bloods or Crips. By the turn of the century, however, gang fragmentation accelerated, and rivalries no longer seemed to follow the old Bloods versus Crips line.[n 18] And so "a new generation of gangs emerged" in the 2000s which were neither (or only nominally) Bloods or Crips.[12] By the 2010s, the new gangs "look[ed] less to US gangsta iconography and more to Jamaican rude boy identities and music".[13]

Recruitment

[edit]

Poor, urban, six to twenty-four year old boys not in schooling nor employment are thought to form gangs' core recruits.[14] These boys are especially found in Southside Belize City.[15] Their vulnerability to existing gang violence, poverty, and romanticisation of gangs, in addition to poor deterrence by authorities, have been cited as the primary reasons why youth join gangs, with the Gayle Report finding "boys join gangs because of the failings of the state and civil society".[16] Thus, gangs remain (in fact and fiction) these boys' only recourse for much-needed safety and welfare.[17]

Demographics

[edit]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, street gangs were a mix of inexperienced wanna-bes and experienced gang-bangers.[18] The former were mostly lower and working class Creole boys, aged twelve to early twenties, many with no or little secondary schooling, and with emigrant parents.[19] In 1989, one scholar estimated Bloods at some 300 and Crips at some 1,000 members, though the official Home Affairs estimate at the time was circa 75 members total.[n 19]

In the 2000s, official (Home Affairs) estimates found street gangs averaged 10 to 15 members, were concentrated in Southside Belize City, and were deemed responsible for a majority of the country's shootings and gun homicides.[20] Their members were predominantly 14 to 30 year old males, mostly from underprivileged or dysfunctional homes, with some being deportees themselves or else influenced by deportees.[21] Also, "limited numbers" of Mestizos were found to be associated with MS 13 or 18th Street.[22] The Gayle Report found gangs were predominantly present in Southside, with their ethnic makeup fairly reflecting that of the area (three-quarters Creole or Garifuna, and a quarter Mestizo, East Indian, or Maya).[23] They further found most members were not employable, had relatives in gangs, and could be classed into shottas or greens or soldiers (inexperienced members in their teens or 20s) and dons or bosses or generals (experienced members in their 30s or older).[24] They conservatively estimated the tally of gangs at "just under 30", with 10 to 30 "hard core members" each.[25]

Today (2020s), there are an estimated 900 to 1,400 gang members across some three dozen gangs, nearly all in Southside.[26] A 2023 snowball sample study found gang members were disproportionately school drop outs (despite overwhelmingly positive views towards education), were parents with generally positive views on the importance of parenting, had accumulated relatively little material wealth, and felt unjustly treated by law enforcement and the judiciary (but nonetheless viewed the institutions themselves as necessary for society).[27]

Legacy

[edit]

The most immediate effect of gang activity has been an unabated boom in violent crime, which has surpassed levels deemed epidemic by WHO.[n 20] Further notable impacts include a similarly unrelenting wave of organised crime, the corrosion of social and state institutions, negative health and education outcomes, and economic losses, among others.[28]

Scholarly attention to Belizean gangs has been relatively sparse (compared to Jamaican, Mexican, and Northern Triangle groups), but has nonetheless picked up since the 2010s.[29] The 2010 Gayle Report, by anthropologist Herbert Gayle, is deemed the earliest study to be based on primary data from gang members themselves, followed by a 2016 book (Like Bush Fire) based on the report, and a 2019 paper by ethnographer Adam Baird for Men and Masculinities.[30]

In popular culture, Belizean gangs were first brought to widespread attention by Ross Kemp in a 2008 episode of Ross Kemp on Gangs.[31] California Assemblyman Tom Hayden had earlier brought them to LA's attention in a 1995 article for the LA Times.[32]

See also

[edit]

Notes and references

[edit]
  1. ^ HA, pp. 4–5.
  2. ^ HA, p. 4.
  3. ^ Rot, p. 117; Bra.
  4. ^ Rot, pp. 117, 120.
  5. ^ Am a; War, p. 214.
  6. ^ Gay a, p. 48.
  7. ^ Gay a, pp. 130, 145–146, 157–158, 345–346; HA, pp. 12–16.
  8. ^ Dur, pp. 19–22, 27–32; War, pp. 219–220.
  9. ^ You b, p. 15.
  10. ^ Rot, pp. 116–117; Bro, p. 389.
  11. ^ Rot, pp. 117, 120; Gay a, pp. 311, 315; Pyr, pp. 360–361; Bro, p. 388; Oti.
  12. ^ Bro, pp. 386, 393, 395.
  13. ^ Bro, pp. 395–396.
  14. ^ Gay a, pp. 18, 308, 325, 342–343.
  15. ^ Gay a, pp. 102–103.
  16. ^ Gay a, pp. 4, 346–347.
  17. ^ Gay a, pp. 126–127; Pyr, p. 361; You b, p. 8; Bro, p. 390; War, p. 217.
  18. ^ Rot, p. 117.
  19. ^ Rot, p. 115.
  20. ^ HA, pp. 7, 9.
  21. ^ HA, p. 7.
  22. ^ HA, p. 6.
  23. ^ Gay a, p. 307.
  24. ^ Gay a, pp. 65, 306, 308, 310; Bro, p. 389.
  25. ^ Gay a, p. 310.
  26. ^ You b, p. 1; Bro, p. 394; War, pp. 198, 215–216.
  27. ^ You b, pp. 9–15.
  28. ^ Gay a, pp. 49–50, 230–234.
  29. ^ Pyr, pp. 330–331, 358–359, 360–361; You b, p. 5; Bro, p. 387; War, p. 8.
  30. ^ Bro, p. 387; War, p. 8.
  31. ^ Gay a, p. 272; Bro, p. 386.
  32. ^ Smi, pp. 284–286.
  1. ^ HA, p. 4; Gay a, p. 308; Smi, p. 277; Bro, p. 388; War, pp. 88–89; NY. Belizeans had first mass emigrated to America to fill labour shortages during WWII (Smi, pp. 274–275). About half of them stayed back after the war, and an estimated average of 1,400 to 1,600 per annum joined them over 1950–1990 (Smi, p. 275).
  2. ^ HA, p. 4; Gay a, pp. 308–309; Smi, pp. 270–272.

    The accent, the jargon, the mixture of bravado and nihilism, the talk of gangs, street fights, drugs and muggings [of/by Big Russian, LA deportee and local Bloods member] -- all recalled the mean streets and troubled neighborhoods of Los Angeles. But the scene was this sleepy Caribbean port city [Belize City] in a country that has been a bastion of tranquility through years of war, economic dislocation and social unrest in the rest of Central America. "Bloods," "Crips" and crack cocaine have come to Belize, and authorities seem powerless to do much about it.

    — William Branigin, WaPo journalist, in 1989, Bra

    While Belize exports people to Los Angeles, it imports Bloods and Crips. Some Belizeans become gang members in Los Angeles, then return home in their new colors. They become a new "family" option for many street youth whose parents have gone to Southern California. Some act as couriers for cocaine flown from Colombia to Los Angeles. Crack cocaine addiction is prevalent for the first time. Guns are shipped from Los Angeles to the streets of Belize City. Shootouts and funerals follow, unprecedented in Belizean history.

    — Tom Hayden, CA State Senator, in 1995, Hay
  3. ^ HA, p. 4. They eventually assaulted and seriously injured a law enforcement officer, resulting in their prosecution and subsequent incarceration or emigration (HA, p. 4). Basketball icon Clinton Lightburn noted, "there was a thin line between basketball and being a gang member because I grew up [in the 70s] in the streets with one of the first gangs, called the Wild Bunch" (5 a).
  4. ^ HA, p. 5; Rot, p. 117; Wil, pp. 235–236; War, pp. 210, 212; Bra; NY. Colors is especially cited (War, p. 212). Rot state, "it is undeniable that the gang craze 'exploded' after the showing of Colors in 1988" (p. 117). Bro note the 1991 Boyz n the Hood "became the cultural signifier for Belizean gang activity" (p. 390).
  5. ^ Rot, p. 117; Am a; Dur, p. 22; Pyr, p. 360; War, pp. 210–212; Geo. Local cannabis farming is thought to have begun in the 1960s, and intensified after Mexican cannabis eradication, such that by the early 1980s, Belizean cannabis exports (Belizean Breeze) totalled "more than 40 percent of GDP", making Belize the hemisphere's fourth largest cannabis producer (War, pp. 200, 207; Bra; Oti).
  6. ^ HA, p. 5; Rot, pp. 106, 117; Am a; Gay a, p. 309; Bro, pp. 388–389; War, p. 200; Bra; Oti. Am a date the arrival of cocaine to the introduction of discos in the mid 1970s, but still blame cannabis eradication for the ensuing mass adoption of crack-cocaine. Bro date the first arrival of LA gangs to Belize to 1981, "arguably making them the first experience of gang transnationalism in the entire region" (p. 388).

    I had my aunty here [...] in Majestic Alley. First we were selling weed; crack-cocaine hadn't even touched Belize. I started selling and just hustling, whatever, just to make a buck. There weren't gangs then, just guys who hung out and tried to hustle. There weren't really any guns; we used to chase our enemies with stick and machete [...] Only the big people would have guns. The cocaine came in [about 19]85. [...] Then men came to trade guns for crack, guns for weed. [...] My friend started acting [like a] real gangster, the way America does it. He's the one that decided that Majestic Alley would be blue [Crips], and anything over the Swing Bridge [would be] red [Bloods] in [19]87–88. We used to fight at the local disco; if you [were] from over the bridge, we'd pick a fight with you, with knife and machete. They were serious fights, but not really with guns.

    — Angel (first local Crips leader; deported from LA in 1981), Bro, p. 388
  7. ^ HA, p. 5; Rot, pp. 106, 110, 116, 118; Am a; Bro, pp. 388–389; War, pp. 212–213; Bra. Bro note the first gang leaders "were proactive, distributing Blue or Red rags and bandanas and handing out money and weapons to ‘protect’ gang members from the rivals that, ironically, they had discursively created on the streets" (p. 389).
  8. ^ Rot, p. 117. In 1990, 64 percent of Belize City households surveyed had experienced a robbery or some form of violent assault against one of their own that year, per a UCB poll (Rot, p. 119). By 1993, the prison population had so overwhelmed Central Prison that it had to be relocated from Belize City to its barely-completed site in Hattieville (Gay a, p. 145). On the other hand, by the 1980s, baseboys were already "being hassled" by Babylon boops (police) (Rot, p. 115). And by the 2000s, police were already infamous for their corruption, abuses, brutality, and alleged unlawful killings, with the Gayle Report noting they "operate like gangs", and circa 90 percent of complaints to the Ombudsman regarding police (Gay a, pp. 136–137). According to the same, police had so brutalised urban youth that by the late 2000s the latter "really want[ed] an outright war with them like in Jamaica – even if we lose", and yet interviewed gang members deemed police gangs' "best friends", given their corruptibility (Gay a, pp. 136–137, 320–324). These findings still held in the 2020s in You b, pp. 11–13.
  9. ^ Rot, p. 120; Bro, p. 391; Smi, p. 270. Police also started being militarised. For instance, still by 1991, "police carr[ied] only billy clubs unless assigned to potentially dangerous raids" (Oti). Now (2020s), guns are standard issue.
  10. ^ Dur, pp. 19–27; You b, p. 3; Smi, pp. 270, 284; NY. Truce modelled after prior LA truces, mediated by government, prompted by Crips (Ghost Town) gang leader George Junie Balls McKenzie, soon crumbled as funding dried up (Dur, pp. 22–24, 26).
  11. ^ Gay a, pp. 47–48, 309. By 2006, an estimated 90 percent of US-bound South American cocaine transited Central America (Gay a, p. 47). By 2009, the isthmus ranked as the most violent region in the world (Gay a, p. 46).
  12. ^ HA, pp. 9–10. Gay a further claim it grew more organised upon the arrival of 27 Rolling 30s members from NYC (arrested 1997, served prison time, then deported; p. 309). HA state "they [Rolling 30s] quickly established their bases [upon arrival in Belize] and introduced new subcultural behaviours among their associates" (p. 5). But Bro find gang activity grew less organised (and thus more violent) in the 2000s as gangs rapidly fragmented (pp. 386, 391–393).
  13. ^ By 2007, Home Affairs deemed gangs a "threat to national security" (HA, pp. 9, 11).
  14. ^ Rot, pp. 115–116; Am a; Bro, pp. 388–389; War, pp. 210–211. Possibly akin to Jamaican rude boy posses or Eastern Caribbean liming (Rot, p. 120).
  15. ^ HA, p. 10; Rot, p. 117; Am a; Gay a, pp. 309, 311, 314–315, 318–319; War, pp. 213–214; Bra; Oti. Of 703 murders in 2002–2009 in Belize, 357 (51 percent) had been by firearms (which had become "a core indicator of gang violence"), versus 211 (30 percent) by knife or machete (Gay a, p. 284). By 2020, the portion of murders by firearm stood at circa two-thirds (Wall, p. 212). A 1990s gang leader noted "[in 19]85–86 [things] started to get worse, we started getting guns [and] Belize just got out of hand" (Dur, p. 22). By 2023, a question on how difficult it was to acquire firearms was met "with derision and looks of amusement" by interviewed gang members, all of whom said it was "very easy" (You b, p. 13). On the other hand, Bro found gangs had been largely passed over by foreign traffickers by the mid 2010s (in favour of other local actors), though gangs still found other sources of arms and drugs (p. 392). Similarly, in 1991 Oti reported local cocaine traffickers were "mainly based in Orange Walk", but their activity nevertheless "led to a sharp rise in drug use and street crime in Belize City".
  16. ^ Rot, p. 117; Gay a, pp. 311–314. Gay a note gangs were providing protection sans prior extortion (pp. 311, 315–318).
  17. ^ Pyr, p. 360; Bro, p. 389; War, pp. 226–227. Am a attributed "a period of crisis" in 2003 (when Crips began "to step on us [Amandala], me [the publisher] specifically") to influence "by a powerful faction of the ruling PUP" who wished to bring the paper "under manners". And Gay a noted, "it is very clear that some politicians who have symbiotic links with gangs [illicitly exert undue influence in favour of the latter]" (pp. 138–139, 144–145, 315–318). Further, some interviewees in Dur claimed "politicians used gangs for garnering votes and participating in electoral rallies" (p. 26).
  18. ^ Am a; Bro, pp. 386, 391–393; War, pp. 210, 220. Gay a found "the turf war is usually between Crips and Bloods but occasionally, depending on the stimulus, intra-group factions occur" (p. 310). Bro found "homicide rates rose most dramatically as violence became less organised when the Bloods and Crips structures began to fragment" (p. 386). But War claim "Crips and Bloods gang identity never became hegemonic in the sense of co-opting existing base identities and forming two larger gang blocks" (p. 215).
  19. ^ Rot, p. 117; Bra. Rot note the former "are nearly impossible to confirm, however, and do not distinguish between hard-core members and supporters", whereas for the latter, "one only has to observe an all-too-frequent procession for a gang member's funeral to realise that the numbers are far higher than the total of seventy-five" (p. 117).
  20. ^ Dur, pp. 15–16; Pyr, pp. 360–361; You b, pp. 1, 3–4, 14; Wall, pp. 211–212; Bro, pp. 386, 396. Bro thus dub Belize "the forgotten fourth corner of the [Northern] triangle" (p. 387). But War point out that spikes in violent crime are not novel to Belize post-gangs, noting homicides for 1945–2015 peaked in 1983 and "already fluctuated well above" 20 per 100,000 in the 1950s (pp. 5–6). They nonetheless deem gangs "primary violent actors" who introduced "new forms of violence" (namely, urban, public, with guns, in positive feedback loops of escalating power struggles) (War, pp. 209–210, 214–217).
  1. Branigin W (19 September 1989). "Crack, L.A.-style gangs trouble torpid Belize". Washington Post.
  2. Otis J (14 April 1991). "Cocaine smuggling replaces marijuana growing in Belize". UPI.
  3. Rotenberg R, McDonogh G, eds. (1993). The Cultural Meaning of Urban Space. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey. ISBN 0-89789-319-0. LCCN 92-32179.
  4. Wilk RR (1993). "'It's Destroying a Whole Generation': Television and Moral Discourse in Belize". Visual Anthropology. 5 (3–4): 229–244. doi:10.1080/08949468.1993.9966591.
  5. George L (1 August 1993). "The word on the street: In a tradition that dates back to Africa, black Americans exchange stories, views and news at informal gathering places, gleaning truth from familiar voices". LA Times.
  6. Hayden T (30 January 1995). "L.A.'s Third World export: Gangs: Belize: From California to Central America, chronic unemployment cuts a deep wound in young manhood". LA Times.
  7. "Caribbean gale ebbs in Harlem". NY Daily Post. 31 October 1997.
  8. Smith LE, Guarnizo MP, eds. (1998). Transnationalism from Below. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. doi:10.4324/9781351301244.
  9. "From the publisher". Editorial. Amandala. 30 August 2007.
  10. Gang Situation in Belize. Meeting of the Ministers of Public Safety/Home Affairs of Countries in SICA. Guatemala City. 15 October 2007.
  11. Gayle H, Mortis N (2010). Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize (Report). Belize City: MOE.
  12. Reynolds L (17 February 2011). "The Bloods and Crips: Belize's Deadly Gangs". NotiCen.
  13. Bunker RJ, ed. (2013). Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas: The Gangs and Cartels Wage War. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-53375-1. LCCN 2016438196.
  14. Muhammad N (2015). Insights into Gang Culture in Belize. Sandhill, Belize: Reynolds Desktop Publishing. ISBN 9789769556331. LCCN 2016485679.
  15. Gayle H, Hampton V, Mortis N (2016). Like Bush Fire. Benque Viejo, Belize: Cubola. ISBN 978-976-8161-47-5.
  16. Flores F (2018). Community Resilience, Health, and Human Security: A Stakeholder-Engaged Case Study on Gang Violence and its Harmful Effects on Adolescents in Belize (Thesis). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh.
  17. Baird A (2019). "'Man a Kill a Man for Nutin': Gang Transnationalism, Masculinities, and Violence in Belize City". Men and Masculinities. 24 (3): 411–431. doi:10.1177/1097184X19872787.
  18. Warnecke-Berger H (2019). Politics and Violence in Central America and the Caribbean. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89782-0. ISBN 978-3-319-89781-3. LCCN 2018942510.
  19. Young M (2019). King DM (ed.). Belize City Community Gang Assessment (Report). Washington, DC: IDB. doi:10.18235/0001860.
  20. Baird A (2020). "From Vulnerability to Violence: Gangs and 'Homicide Booms' in Trinidad and Belize". Urban Crime. 1 (2): 76–97. ISSN 2732-6187.
  21. Brotherton D, Gude R, eds. (2021). Routledge International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429462443. ISBN 9780429462443.
  22. Janowitz N (15 July 2021). "How the US exported a Bloods and Crips gang war to Belize". Vice.
  23. Wallace WC, ed. (2022). Guns, Gun Violence and Gun Homicides: Perspectives from the Caribbean, Global South and Beyond. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-84518-6. ISBN 978-3-030-84518-6.
  24. Young HA, Patrick A (2023). "Gangs in the City: Profiles of Reality". Journal of Belizean Research. 1 (2). Art no 9.
  25. Krylova Y, Rico D (2023). Regional Hubs for Illicit Trade in Central America: Panama, Belize, and Guatemala (Report). Arlington, Virginia: TraCCC.
  26. DeGuerre K (2023). 'Talking Sweet and Moving Quiet': Trauma and Resiliency in Gang-Involved Girls in Belize (Thesis). Albany, New York: State University of New York. ISBN 9798377642459.
  27. Duran-Martinez A (2024). "A Theory of State-Criminal Negotiations: Evidence from Belize and Medellín, Colombia". doi:10.2139/ssrn.4890969. SSRN 4890969.
  28. Baird A (2024). From South Central to Southside: Gang Transnationalism, Masculinity, and Disorganized Violence in Belize City. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press. ISBN 9781439923351. LCCN 2023059602.
  29. Pyrooz DC, Densley JA, Leverso J, eds. (2024). The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society. Oxford: OUP. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197618158.001.0001. ISBN 9780197618189.
  30. "Legend in motion: The life and legacy of Pulu Lightburn". News 5. 13 June 2025.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gangs_in_Belize&oldid=1326028714"