President Funes bans the carrying of weapons in twenty-seven of the country's most violent municipalities for sixty days. While Guatemala’s murder rate is slightly better compared to last year, El Salvador’s is slightly worse. Most of the increase appears to have been caused by a bloody Julu.
After two months of uncertainty, Decree 743 was repealed last week. I was definitely more of a Funes supporter than I was an FMLN supporter, but some of his actions these last two years really leave one scratching me scratching my head. He's got three more years in office so don't give up on him just yet.
Pro-Busqueda continues to search for 400 children missing from the Salvadoran civil war.
The United States has promised to cooperate in the ongoing investigation into the murders of the six Jesuits and their housekeeper and daughter in November 1989. Let's hope that the cooperation goes beyond looking for two suspects thought to be living in the US. Given the arrests of former Guatemalan kaibiles, I'm optimistic here. But the US should open up all its files on the massacre and provide former and current government employees to testify as necessary. The Council on Hemispheric Relations has a brief note up on El Salvador: The Truth Commission and the Jesuit Massacre.
Finally, a tense situation involving 30 hostages at an evangelical church in Guazapa ended peacefully yesterday. A father and son held the thirty people hostage for several hours before authorities convinced them to release the hostages. The motive isn’t entirely known but it is believed that they were motivated by injustices and the recent arrest of the father’s daughter.
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