SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – The U.S. government on Tuesday pledged to give El Salvador US$2.6 million to fight violent gangs known as Maras.

The money will be used over the next year to help authorities investigate the gangs, contain their recruiting and improve the country's prison system.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Glazer and Public Safety and Justice Minister Rene Figueroa announced the aid at a news conference in San Salvador.

Figueroa described the money as “another very significant step toward creating a regional anti-gang strategy.”

Central American immigrants living in the U.S. in the 1980s started the Mara gangs, which spread to Central America in the 1990s as the U.S. began massive deportations of convicted criminals.

Glazer said rising crime and violence are harming ordinary people in this Central American nation and is a cause of migration.

Authorities estimate there are some 70,000 Mara gang members in Central America, Mexico and the U.S. who are involved in crimes such as drug trafficking, people smuggling, kidnapping and extortion.