Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, leader of the vicious Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13), a Latin American gang initially founded in Los Angeles, has reportedly issued orders to attack the "Minuteman Project" volunteers who are planning to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border in April of this year. This just days after the Mexican Foreign Secretary said he is working with lawyers to sue the volunteer group.

In September I covered the story of al-Qaeda working with the MS-13 group. The gang is responsible for alien, weapons and drug smuggling across the border as well as many brutal crimes throughout the US including at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely mutilated his hands. Their leader is also tied to a bus attack in Honduras that killed 6 children and 22 adults.

The group has been on the rise throughout the US, Mexico and Canada recently and with it's al-Qaeda ties now being established a homeland security threat.

World Net Daily

A leader of the violent, terror-connected Latin American gang Mara Salvatruchas, Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, has reportedly issued orders from federal prison to members of his international criminal organization to teach a lesson to a group of Americans taking border control into their own hands.

...

Lately, the gang has joined forces with former members of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a radical terrorist group, and some U.S. intelligence sources say they may also be cooperating with Islamic terrorist groups – including al-Qaida.

Meanwhile, the Minutemen hope to form a group of civilians from all walks of life to patrol the border day and night – even with the threat of such violence. Their goal is stop the flow of illegal immigration through the Arizona-Mexico border, the biggest entry point into the U.S.

...

Border patrol agents have seen a growing problem with violence in recent years. Agents have been attacked by frustrated smugglers with rocks, bricks, even automatic weapons.

According to authorities, violence along the Tucson sector has climbed to an all-time high.

...

Rivera-Paz was arrested three weeks ago and is accused of murdering more than two dozen people in Honduras. He was wanted in connection with the December bus massacre of 28 people, including six children, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The Mara Salvatruchas identify themselves with tattoos, such as "MS" or the numbers 13 and 18, signifying their relationship to the gang. The gang formed in the United States in the 1980s in a Los Angeles prison. The 13 and 18 signify the city streets in L.A. where they hung out.

U.S. officials are concerned the gang members might help sneak al-Qaida terrorists into America.

Rivera-Paz was charged with illegally entering the United States after being deported, but is expected to be extradited to Honduras to face charges in connection with the bus massacre.

For more on Mara Salvatrucha see the Diggers Realm Mara Salvatruchas Archive

Tipped via email by: Chad Evans of In The Bullpen.

The Counterterrorism Blog points out that the leader of the group was arrested 8 times in California before they finally held him.