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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Gang Members Kill Food Vendor in El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR – One person was killed and
four others wounded when two suspected gang
members shot up a tortilla stand outside the
Salvadoran capital, police said Thursday.
They said the attack took place Wednesday
night in a rural area of the municipality of
Apopa.
The assailants walked into the small shop
and opened fire, a police officer told Efe,
killing Ernestina Barahona, 58, and leaving
four other people wounded, including an
11-year-old boy.
While authorities did not suggest a motive
for the attack, protection payments extorted
from bus drivers and owners of small
businesses represent a major source of
income for El Salvador’s fearsome youth
gangs.
Small stands selling corn tortillas – a
staple of the Salvadoran diet – are common
both in poor urban neighborhoods and rural
hamlets.
El Salvador has suffered for years from an
average of 10-12 murders per day and the
rate has surged in recent weeks to 16
homicides a day.
President Mauricio Funes said Wednesday that
he may deploy roughly 6,500 soldiers to
reinforce police in the country’s most
crime-ridden areas. EFE
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