CENTRAL AMERICA: Gang Violence and Anti-Gang Death Squads

CENTRAL AMERICA: Gang Violence and Anti-Gang Death Squads: "Although the civil wars are over in Central America, violence remains a serious problem in this impoverished region. An average of six people a day are murdered in Honduras (a country of six million), eight a day in El Salvador (population 6.2 million) and 14 a day in Guatemala (population 12 million).

Authorities blame most of the murders on the maras, but human rights groups say many of the killings are the work of off-duty police officers operating in death squads carrying out a sort of 'social purge'. "