El Salvador wields heavy hand to contain murder rate

Published in Financial Time

By Robert Muggah

After a temporary lull brought about by sweeping Coronavirus quarantine measures, violence is increasing in many parts of Latin America. In Brazil, homicides are up by over 8 percent. Mexico is reporting the highest murder rate since the 1990s. The resort by some governments to mano dura will make a bad situation worse. With an economic depression on the horizon, smart public security moves are needed now more than ever. It’s not clear that the leadership received, much less want to hear, the memo.

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