Caribbean & Central America - September 2017 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The president of the legislative assembly, Guillermo Gallegos, has called for a state of emergency to be declared in El Salvador in response to the rising number of members of the police and military being murdered in the country. In the first eight months of 2017 a total of 23 police officers have been murdered, nine members of the military, and a prison guard.

The number of police officers and soldiers murdered by mara gang members has overshadowed the statistical confirmation of a sustained decline in homicides in El Salvador over the last 18 months. But it is not a brand new phenomenon. Rather the dramatic increase in murders of police officers (and also, even more disturbingly, their relatives) dates back to the decision by the government led by President Salvador Sánchez Cerén to ramp up the fight against the mara gangs after taking office in 2014, especially with the introduction in March last year of ‘extraordinary measures’ to combat them.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 445 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial