On Monday morning around dawn, a bus driver was shot and killed in El Salvador.It was the opening salvo in a new gang tactic: a call for buses on some 40 lines in the capital city of San Salvador to get off the road.Gang warfare is nothing new in this country of 6 million. The local gangs were actually born in the U.S., when El Salvadorans fled the civil war in the 1980s and settled in cities like Los Angeles. They formed gangs to protect themselves from other gangs. When many of the El Salvadorans were deported, they took the gang culture back home with them. Today there are an estimated 60,000 gang members on the streets of El Salvador, and perhaps another 10,000 in prison.The gang known as Barrio 18 — 18th Street — is believed to be the mastermind behind the transit shutdown.What is the gang demanding? It's hard to say. It's not like the gangs have official spokesmen. Theories include: pressuring the government to ease up in the crackdown on gangs, better treatment for gang members
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