Salvadorians Demand End to Violence
Human rights and managerial organizations demanded on Wednesday that Salvadoran authorities stop the wave of violence that is currently agitating the country.

The problem isn´t only gangs or maras (delinquents), there is both organized and common crime here, and there is a serious situation of insecurity that the police have not been able to control, human rights attorney Beatrice Alamanni complained.

The extreme aggressiveness can be seen in murders, armed raids, and extortion by gangs or common criminals, whose victims are businesspeople, traders, and managers of buses and even of small stores.

El Salvador Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIES) Southwestern Sonsonate affiliate, president Rafael Vergara said there is an increase of violence and demanded urgent action by the authorities.

Salvadorians suffer more extortions and robberies and live worried and insecure, thus we ask the administration to do something about it, he said.

San Salvador Archbishop Fernando Saenz urged the nation´s leadership to root out the evil by eradicating poverty, which affects over 60 percent of the population, and design an effective social program.

He recalled that in spite of President Antonio Saca´s government´s repressive policy, the police record 12 homicides a day.