the lack of educational and employment prospects for the rural and urban poor in the 1980s lead to dramatic increases in crime, especially in the illegal drug trade. by the middle of the decade, belize had become the fourth largest exporter (after mexico, colombia, and jamaica) of marijuana to the united states. by 1987, crack cocaine and gangs had established a foothold among the youthful population of belize city. by 1991, both gang membership and gang warfare had escalated dramatically, moving off the street corners of the poorer neighborhoods into the schools and major public spaces of belize city. gangs, drugs, and violence were the dominant realities with which nearly all belizean urban youth, especially the poor, had to deal.