The Organization of American States and the government of El Salvador signed a cooperation agreement on April 8 on cooperation, establishing a security assistance committee to support the Central American nation’s internal peace process. That effort has so far achieved a truce between the nation’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18. The gang truce, begun in March 2012 and negotiated with the assistance of El Salvador’s military bishop, Fabio Colindres, and the social leader Raúl Mijango, has led to a significant drop in El Salvador’s homicide rate—to 5.9 murders per day from 14. The secretary general of the O.A.S., José Miguel Insulza, commented, “The truce between the gangs is just the beginning; changing the way of life of a significant number of young people, giving them hope, promoting peace and rehabilitating them is a much more complex task.”
Diminishing Violence In El Salvador
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
The Jerusalem patriarchate expressed its "deepest condemnation" of the attack, saying it was a "flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe haven in times of war."
Despair is easy for anyone who takes seriously the call to love your neighbor as yourself. But hope can come in two ways.
A Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, by Father Terrance Klein
The majority of survey respondents cited their Marian devotions as having played an important role in the discernment and living of their call to religious life.