Vicious gangs that have terrorized Central America are also operating in the U.S. The FBI plans to work with other nations to deal with the problem.

BY TRACI CARL
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR - They sever fingers with machetes in the United States and cut off heads in Honduras. U.S. officials worry they'll help al Qaeda sneak in terrorists from Mexico.

Central American gangs have spread from the streets of San Salvador to South Florida and even Virginia, prompting the FBI to share intelligence and resources with southern neighbors -- launching an antigang strategy that reaches beyond U.S. borders.

The FBI is expected to announce the plan as early as next week. It would centralize investigations at FBI headquarters, increase intelligence and establish a national task force to reduce Central American gang activity in the United States.

MEETING MONDAY

The new strategy will likely be a hot topic of discussion Monday, when law enforcement officials from across the United States and Central America meet in San Salvador to discuss ways to keep the gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, from extending its influence.

''Right now, the gangs are communicating much better than the law enforcement officials,'' said Harvey Smith, a consultant who is organizing the conference.

The FBI and U.S. Homeland Security officials, some of whom will attend the conference, have taken a greater interest in the problem since Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said that al Qaeda might be trying to recruit Central American gang members to help terrorists infiltrate the United States. He has offered no evidence, however.

Alvarez said his department began working closely with the FBI two weeks ago. Central American officials already share information regionally, including with officials in southern Mexico.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security James Loy told Congress on Wednesday that, in addition to al Qaeda, ``we are seeing the emergence of other threatening groups and gangs like MS-13 that will also be destabilizing influences.''

He also said there was growing intelligence suggesting al Qaeda was considering entering the United States through the Mexican border, although he had nothing conclusive.

Some U.S. officials have said they fear al Qaeda will tap into the gangs' smuggling and drug networks.

Central American gangs got their start in Los Angeles in the 1980s, mainly among Salvadorans who had fled their country's civil war.

By the 1990s, they had spread to Central America -- in large part because their members were being deported for crimes committed in the United States.

WIDE INFLUENCE

In Central America, the gangs flourished, growing to control everything from drug trafficking to public bus routes.

In Guatemala, police recently took over several bus routes after 100 drivers walked off the job to protest the protection money demanded by gangs.

In Mexico, the gangs have taken over migrant smuggling routes, attacking people hitching rides on trains on their way to the U.S. border.

Honduras made gang membership illegal in 2003 and put thousands of suspected members into already overcrowded jails. El Salvador did the same a few months later. That sent many gang members fleeing north to Mexico and the United States, where they can be found in Dallas public schools, even small southern towns.

Two Hondurans suspected of being gang members were arrested in Miami this month on charges stemming from a Los Angeles gang slaying last July.

The two were also wanted in Miami on charges of home invasion robbery, armed robbery and false imprisonment.