Saturday 19 October 2013

Mayors shot in El Salvador, murders said increased across country

The mayor of the town of Osicala in north-eastern El Salvador was gunned down on 17 October as he drove away from a meeting, the second such shooting within days in the department of Morazán, the Salvadorean daily El Mundo reported on 18 October. The daily observed that an unspecified number of fellow passengers were left unharmed; the mayor, Fredy Edilberto Villeda García, was injured after shooting caused him to crash his car, then shot to death when he staggered out. Gunmen had shot and injured the mayor of nearby Torola on 14 October while the mayor of another neighbouring district San Fernando was cited as saying he survived a similar attack last May. The towns are in the department of Morazán near the frontier with Honduras. The latest attack was provisionally attributed to local highwaymen. The website elslavador.com reported on 18 October that homicides increased across the country from June to the end of September, compared to the same period in 2012. It cited figures from police, coroners and the state prosecution service as indicating 1,903 homicides in a period to 17 October, presumably from 1 June. It did not state how many were killed from June to the end of September but observed there were 257 more homicides in that period, year on year. The homicide rate for October was described as similar so far to 2012.