Versión Español
EspañolEl Salvador’s outgoing President Mauricio Funes acknowledged on Monday that the gang truce that cut the country’s murders by half for nearly two years has collapsed.
The March 2012 peace agreement between the Mara Salvatrucha and Mara 18 gangs reduced the average daily number of murders from 14 to around five, until recently. The pact has always been surrounded by criticism and rejection, while the Funes administration denied ever negotiating with the gangs, assuring that it had only acted as “facilitator” between the groups.
“Today, we’re at an average of 14 homicides per day in part because there are organized crime structures, with clear political links and motivations, that want the country to be seen as a failed state,” president Funes said.
Last Friday, authorities registered at least 31 homicides nationwide.
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune.
