SAN SALVADOR, Jan 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The security policies implemented by the government of El Salvador are maintaining the trend to reduce the number of homicides, authorities said.
El Salvador reported 18 days without homicides in January 2023, due to the implementation of the Territorial Control Plan (PCT), which in its fifth phase allowed, with the support of the state of emergency, encircling several municipalities and conflictive communities with a high incidence of gangs.
According to official statistics from the National Civil Police (PNC), in areas such as the municipality of Soyapango, the homicide rate has been reduced to three violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 73 in the past.
In the case of Mejicanos, another of the country’s most populated districts, it has been reduced to six per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 80 in the past.
If the current trend continues, El Salvador will become one of the safest countries in the world, something the official propaganda claims and which is reaffirmed by the arrest of more than 61,000 people, whom the government considers to be gang members and alleged collaborators.
In 2022, El Salvador reported 495 violent deaths, accounting for a rate of 7.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, a notable drop compared to 2021, when the figure was 18.1 with 1,147 deaths attributable to gang violence.
In the coming days, local authorities are expected to inaugurate a prison with a capacity for nearly 40,000 inmates, most of them alleged gang members, which is one of the government’s main bets to keep the low homicide rates.
