The masks looked ridiculous, and the guys knew it. The shiny strips of plastic made them look like old-fashioned bandits or, worse yet dopey superheroes. A former member of Mara Salvatrucha, Central America's most notorious gang, complained into the camera, appealing to a public that he assumed was already laughig at him, "This thing makes me look like Batman or something. Or, no, like a little Batgirl, right?" The masks didn't even do a good job of obscuring their faces, which was their official purpose. They were supposed to protect the identities of ten former gang members while they participated in a reality television show cosponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and titled Desafio 10, or Challenge 10. Recruited from local churches, in which many of these former gang members his for their lives, the ten men were split into two teams, each of which was expected to build a sustainable business within Guatemala's formal economy. One team used its seed money (approzimately US$3200) to start a car wash, while the other team began a shoe repair service. Successful Guatemalan executives mentored both teams from the start to finish, nurturing and nudging these men toward entrepreneurial self-sufficiency.
Gang members "converting" during a reality tv show in Guatemala. This paper is by Professor Kevin O'Neill who gave a talk at a Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies colloquium last fall. Tom
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