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El Salvador’s murder rate falls to half of last year’s, now it’s 4.4 per day: minister

Police review the charred remains of a car that exploded as authorities responded to a report of a vehicle with a corpse inside, in the San Bartolo neighborhood of Soyapango, El Salvador, Monday, April 29, 2019. AP Photo/Salvador Melendez

El Salvador‘s justice minister says the country’s homicide rate has fallen to about 4.4 killings a day since June, about half of 2018 levels.

The country of 6.5 million people recorded 3,340 killings in 2018, or about nine a day. The bloodiest year of 2015 saw 6,425 homicides, or 17.6 a day.

WATCH: June 19 — Mexico to launch El Salvador jobs program under Central America development plan

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Mexico to launch El Salvador jobs program under Central America development plan

Justice Minister Rogelio Rivas said Friday that “homicides are declining across the country.”

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Since taking office June 1, President Nayib Bukele has deployed police and soldiers to shopping and commercial areas to combat extortions, which provide 80 per cent of gangs’ incomes.

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READ MORE: El Salvador finally records first day without murder in 2 years

On Friday, a court sentenced 72 Mara Salvatrucha gang members to prison terms of 260 years for a series of 22 killings in 2014 and 2015.

The sentences are symbolic, since the effective maximum is 60 years.

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