The plan

On Thursday, 22 October, the Mossos d'Esquadra presented Pla Proa, a cross-cutting plan drawn up by the force's General Commissariats of Information and of Criminal Investigation. Chief Sílvia Catà, deputy executive commissioner Ramon Chacón and intendant Toni Rodríguez briefed reporters at the force's central complex in Sabadell. The stated goal is to neutralise the groups and stop their territorial spread across Catalonia. To do that, the plan gathers as much information as possible and turns it into police intelligence, with a territorial table in each police region and one central table to process the material. Officers will also saturate some public spaces the gangs frequent, such as squares and some Metro lines.

A returning phenomenon

Youth gangs first arrived in Catalonia in the early 2000s, then largely disappeared around 2011. Police now count 34 active groups and about 1,000 young people identified. The Mossos date the first signs of the resurgence to 2024, when weekend nights brought fights involving machetes and other blades, mostly among Spanish nationals of Latin American origin. Membership figures differ. Rodríguez put the number of members with solid roots at 400 to 600, while other accounts describe 400 or 500 active members with another 400 or 500 in their orbit.

Rodríguez summed up what he sees as the common thread of the groups:

“It is identity-based and structural. Violence unites them.”

Violence and weapons

The Mossos say seven groups account for 80% of incidents: Trinitarios, Barrio 18, Los 300, Latin Kings, PGS, Lobos and Mara Salvatrucha. Barrio 18, Los 300 and Trinitarios alone account for 66% of episodes. The groups are concentrated in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, with smaller branches in Tarragona, Girona and Lleida. Police are also worried about easy access to firearms and bladed weapons, which they say makes the crimes more serious than those of 20 years ago. The force has investigated three homicides linked to gangs since December 2023.

On 2 July, four hooded men shot a 15-year-old boy in Pegaso park in the Sant Andreu district of Barcelona, and he died at the scene. Press reports tie the killing to Latin gangs. Catà described the groups' core problem in blunt terms:

“They are not so organised, but they have a great component of violence.”

A changing profile

Current groups are less hierarchical than the gangs of the early 2000s, with fewer rituals, looser rules and less clear symbols. Most members were born in Catalonia, although many come from families of Latin American origin, and recruits can be very young, with some under 12 or 13 according to the police assessment. Most of the people arrested now are Spanish nationals, a shift from the past. Chacón said the lack of a strong national bond is one reason the phenomenon may not spread as quickly.

“There is no strong nationality bond.”

The Mossos also say that some people who use gang symbols to commit crimes are imitators with no fixed role in any group.