Most homicides were recorded in the departments of San Salvador, Chalatenango, Sonsonate, and Cabanyes; according to police.
Criminal violence claimed the lives of 20 people in the first three days of 2021, according to police figures. On the first day of the year 10 murders were recorded, seven this Saturday and three more yesterday.
Five of the crimes took place in San Salvador, three in Chalatenango, three more in Sonsonate, two in Cabanyes, two more in La Unión and two more in Ahuachapán. The rest occurred in Santa Anna, Peace and Freedom.
This Sunday morning, police found the body of Caesar Hannibal Cruz Juarez, 22, in the corner of San Juan, Costa L’Esparver, Tacuba, Ahuachapán.
Cruz Juarez was plagiarized by gangs on Saturday night when he returned from a religious cult, according to police. The reasons for his assassination are unknown, although authorities do not rule out that gangs with a presence in the sector have responsibility for this.
SEE ALSO: Semi-naked man’s body found in Sant Antoni de la Muntanya, Sonsonate
Juan Manuel Flores Mendoza was also killed yesterday morning on the main street of Tepemechín Canton, Yucuaiquín, La Unión, authorities reported.
While the previous Saturday afternoon, authorities found the bodies of a man and a woman in a breach of Prim City, on the Golden Road. The victims were not identified by police.
Also the body of a brigand who had recently left a penal center was found in the corner Hill the Glory of Ahuachapán.
But the most serious incident occurred on the morning of January 1 in the La Clínica de Guarjila colony, Chalatenango, in which two young people died and two others were injured.
A group of men in dark clothing attacked the victims celebrating the arrival of the new year. Edwin Josuè Hernández Cruz, aged 18, died in the incident; and Óscar Arnulfo Hernández García, of 27.
The injured youths were taken to a hospital in Chalatenango. After the attack, the criminals left a note that read, “Drug traffickers and gang members die (The Justices).”
SEE ALSO: Woman is murdered while trying to prevent her life partner from being abducted
Gangs kidnap two police officers in San Salvador and the Western area
The rise in homicides has led police to alert their peers on social media to take precautionary measures so that they do not have to fall victim to gang attacks or other criminals.
On Saturday afternoon, police officers reported the kidnapping of one of his comrades by gangs in the western part of the country.
His relatives reported the incident to the police authorities so a search operation was carried out by his colleague and after two hours, the police were able to escape from their captors. He was found by 911 Emergency System agents and taken to a hospital to be treated for the beatings he received while being abducted, according to police sources.
At night, another police officer, stationed in Ilopango, also managed to escape from the brigands who had kidnapped him. He was found by colleagues in the 911 Emergency System near the Harrison Community Bridge in the San Jacinto neighborhood, south of San Salvador.
The agent reported that he had been deprived of his liberty by gangs, but that he was able to escape along the banks of the Acelhuate River. The victim, who was allegedly drunk, had a sprained right ankle, so he was taken to a hospital.
Authorities maintain their defense that homicides have dropped significantly. Security Minister Rogelio Rivas wrote on January 1 on his Twitter account that 2020 had closed with a rate of 20 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants and an annual average of 3.6 murders per day, the “lowest recorded in recent two decades “.