El Salvador: 346 gang members killed this year

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Latin America | 16 June 2016

InsightCrime reported on 1 June 2016 that El Salvador"s security forces have so far killed 346 gang members this year. The author of the report, David Gagne, expressed concern "that the country's bellicose security strategy is leading to widespread human rights abuses." Gagne explains: "The large number of gang members killed and the disproportionately low number of officers being shot in those operations raises serious questions about the circumstances in which the deaths occurred. Across Latin America, from Mexico to Venezuela and Brazil, the term "˜confrontation" is used to explain lopsided body counts and cover up human rights abuses by the security forces." Dennis Petri, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "The first thing we learn from this report is that El Salvador sadly continues to be hit by extreme violence (as reported previously in July 2015 by WWR), and that the violence caused by gangs continues unabated. The second thing to recognize is that the security forces of El Salvador are also responsible for severe human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, which highlights the severe challenges for the preservation of rule of law in the country. In such contexts of impunity, actively practicing Christians are always a vulnerable group. Speaking out against gangs, or even against the government"s strategy to fight the gangs, is not easily accepted."