Insecurity in El Salvador
On this blog, we have covered the high drug-related murder rate in Mexico multiple times, yet a much smaller Central American country is currently faced with a higher murder rate than Mexico, with no slowing in sight. In the first eleven days of October, El Salvador, with a population of 7 million, counted 178 murders - almost 16 murders per day. From January to September 27, 2009, there were 3,177 murders, just two shy of the 2008 total. This alarmingly high murder rate has created a debate in El Salvador on how to address the security problem, which largely stems from increasing urban gang violence and an overwhelmed police force. One estimate indicates that there are over 25,000 gang members on the streets in El Salvador, with 5,000 more in jails. The proposal on the table currently is to allow almost half of the Armed Forces to carry out public security duties in an effort to reinforce the overextended National Police. The Catholic Church has backed this proposal, calling for the Armed Forces to take part in the fight against the violence that is taking over El Salvador. The Armed Forces have readied 6,500 soldiers to reinforce combat against delinquency and violence, however, they can not be deployed until President Mauricio Funes accepts a proposal that will be presented to him at the beginning of next week. Under the Salvadoran Constitution, the Armed Forces cannot carry out the duties of the National Police. However, Article 168, number 12 of the Constitution indicates that "the President can make exceptional use of the Armed Forces if all ordinary measures to maintain internal peace, tranquility and public security have been exhausted." President Mauricio Funes, whose FMLN political party was a guerrilla insurgency that fought El Salvador's armed forces in the 1980s, appears to support reinforcing the police with army troops. In reference to a Central American University proposal suggesting the need to deploy half of the Armed Forces to the police force, Funes responded that, "We would have to try it, or at least some module of it." If President Funes does decide to deploy the Armed Forces to perform public security functions in support of the National Police, the military will be charged with training the soldiers to confront the current crime wave. Salvadoran Minister of Defense David Munguía Payés has reassured the public that the military has the capacity to submit its members to an intensive training in police duties. "We believe that with the course we offer, which can last between 15 days and 2 months, we could have our officers, superiors, subofficials, and troop personnel trained to carry out the mission in a better way," he said.