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Security & Strategic Review - April 2014 (ISSN 1741-4202)
EL SALVADOR: No clear explanation for surge in violence
In the inter-regnum until President-elect Salvador Sánchez Cerén takes office in June, the outgoing government is having to cope with an upsurge in violence for which it is trying to find an explanation, after having to accept that it goes beyond an attempt to influence the recent elections. Top officials have ventured that it may reflect a shift towards the ‘militarisation’ of the street gangs known as ‘maras’ and their greater involvement in the drugs trade, but their explanations do not sound convincing. There have been moves within the outgoing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) government to apply anti-terrorist legislation against violent acts by the gangs against the police and other authorities, at the same time as a proposal to work on a more comprehensive ‘pacification’ deal with the gangs.
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