Homicides Up 70% in El Salvador, Among Deadliest Nations

Killings spiked by nearly 70 percent last year in this gang-plagued Central American nation, authorities said Monday, resulting in a homicide rate that could make it the world’s most violent country.

The sister of Alberto Hernández Escalante mourns over the body of her brother, found in a clandestine grave, in a rural area near Caserio el Chumpe, El Salvador, on May 28, 2015. In a report released Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, authorities said that killings spiked by nearly 70 percent in El Salvador in 2015, resulting in a sky-high homicide rate that could make it the world’s most violent nation. AP Photo/Manu Brabo

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—Killings spiked by nearly 70 percent last year in this gang-plagued Central American nation, authorities said Monday, resulting in a homicide rate that could make it the world’s most violent country.

National Police director Mauricio Ramirez Landaverde said El Salvador officially registered at least 6,657 homicides in 2015, up from 3,942 the previous year.

The overall yearly homicide rate was the country’s highest ever at 104 per 100,000 inhabitants, putting it in a position to take over the dubious title of the world’s murder capital from neighboring Honduras.

“It puts us at the head of the world’s most violent nations” including Honduras and Venezuela, said Jeannette Aguilar, a researcher at Jose Simeon Canas Central America University.

Honduras has led the world in homicide rates in recent years. It hit 92 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according to World Bank data, before falling off somewhat since then.

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