Latino gangs: An approach of social recuperation in Barcelona

This work presents an approach of what have become known as “Latino gangs”, and has been carried out in Barcelona since this reality first came to light, in late 2002. The approach is based onone of the criteria that Barcelona City Council has defined as a basic element of its urban policy, that is, to develop interventions that facilitate the integration of new emerging urban realities, even those that may result in the generation of conflict in the city’s social and political life. Meanwhile, one sine qua non condition is the acceptance of the rule of common law, and of the very diversityof the city’s community life. In the case under study, the aim has been to encourage groups of young Latinos who have been “branded” as dangerous to commence processes of normalisation, by exploring the associational route as a democratic resource for functioning socially