HomeNewsBriefMurderous Day A Reality Check for El Salvador Government
BRIEF

Murderous Day A Reality Check for El Salvador Government

BARRIO 18 / 17 MAR 2017 BY TRISTAN CLAVEL EN

The killing of dozens in El Salvador in a single day, despite government claims that a hardline policy against violent gangs is working, shows these criminal groups maintain their lethal power, and may signal a resurgence of spiking violence in the country.

El Salvador's head of National Police Howard Cotto announced during a press conference on March 16 that 30 individuals were killed during the previous day, reported La Prensa. According to Cotto, at least 17 of the deaths were directly linked to the country's powerful gangs.

Hours before the announcement, authorities had praised the more than 62 percent decrease in homicides between January 1st and March 14th 2017 and the same period in 2016. El Salvador witnessed 651 murders during those dates this year, a significant drop from last year's 1,722.

SEE ALSO: MS13 News and profiles

Among the lethal incidents on March 16 were the deaths of six individuals in the capital city's historic centre following a shootout between gang members and private security guards over extortion activities.

Another incident took place in the San Martín municipality of the San Salvador department, where gang members murdered three individuals. In their attempt to flee, six suspects, allegedly members of the Barrio 18 gang, were killed by elements of the Special Reactionary Forces (Fuerzas Especializadas de Reacción El Salvador - FES), reported El Mundo. Four of them were shot in their escape vehicle.

According to the Nicaraguan media La Prensa, Cotto refuted the notion that these incidents signalled a new wave of violence and insecurity. This stance was echoed by the Justice and Public Security Minister Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde, who chose to describe the murderous day as "abnormal."

InSight Crime Analysis

These recent violent events show that the maras still possess the power to wreak havoc in the country, despite the government's anti-gang strategy.

Cotto in February praised the extraordinary measures implemented in 2016 against gangs for their alleged impact on the decrease of homicides that year. But as InSight Crime had noted then, the fall in violence may have been as much the result of a decision by the gangs to ease their attacks than of a government policy.

SEE ALSO: El Salvador News and Profiles

The killing of the six suspects in San Martín, including four within their own vehicle, indicates that the government is maintaining its hardline crackdown on the gangs. Authorities asserted that the gang members opened fire first, but there is growing evidence of increased extrajudicial killings by El Salvadoran security forces, and the FES was set up with the explicit purpose of violently cracking down on gangs.

Given this context, the latest incidents could constitute early signs of an end to the 2016 trend of decreasing homicides.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 12 JAN 2022

El Salvador’s Navy has seized record amounts of cocaine recently, indicating a possible resurgence of maritime trafficking off the country’s…

COLOMBIA / 14 OCT 2022

ELN fighting has reduced in most of Colombia following peace talk commitments, but in Arauca, the group remains active.

EL SALVADOR / 15 JUN 2022

The MS13 gang and the Pentecostal Church are two worlds seemingly at odds. One man, known as Elvis, has a…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…