At least 14 gang inmates have been killed in an El Salvador prison when violence errupted between two factions.
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The Directorate General of Prisons in El Salvador said the killings are “presumed to be an act of purification among gang members”.
The deaths follow a spike in homicides throughout the country last week, in which 125 people were killed in just three days. The authorities described the killings as a “purge action” by the gang, and said that its members were suspected of forcing bus drivers into a violence-plagued strike in late July. “These are Salvadorans who are dying, regardless of who is a gang member or not”, Ramirez added. It took a foothold in Central America when Latino members were deported from the US.
They argue that gang warfare has replaced the guerrilla warfare and death squads which wracked the country from 1980 to 1992, when Marxist rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) fought the government.
So far this year, the murder rate in El Salvador is of 96 per 100,000 inhabitants, making the most risky country in the world debunking Honduras.
The group was demanding to be included in a commission examining ways of stemming urban violence – which they are largely responsible for. They were members of the 18th Street Revolutionaries gang.
Since taking office a year ago, President Salvador Sanchez Ceren has tried to crack down on crime and refused to negotiate with the gangs.
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The gangs have intensified their attacks against authorities and public transportation in recent weeks in an attempt to pressure the government into negotiations.
