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Caribbean & Central America - April 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

El Salvador challenged by resurgence in violence

The sharp escalation of violence in El Salvador is exposing the inadequacy of the public security strategy of the government led by President Salvador Sánchez Cerén. Homicides have leapt to levels not seen for a decade and beyond what was recorded before the 2012 mara gang truce. And the government can no longer dismiss the violent murders as the consequence of turf wars between rival gangs wrestling for control of the drug trade as fatal attacks on the national police (PNC) have proliferated. Sánchez Cerén led a ‘march for life, peace and justice’ on 26 March along with 450,000 people nationwide during which he promised to “apply the law with firmness to defeat violence”, but his government does not seem to have a coherent plan, and the prospect of forging a political consensus on public security has retreated with the elections on 1 March portending legislative stalemate.

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