El Salvador: 125 killed in 3 days as gang violence soars

An anti-crime crackdown has led gangs to ramp up violence and many of the killings are related to internal purges or turf wars between rivals, Justice and Public Security Minister Benito Lara said.

Cotto said most of the victims are believed to be “gang members who in some way have betrayed the gangs and are murdered by those same groups.”

Authorities say gangs are trying to pressure the government into negotiating a truce like a previous one in 2012, during which homicide rates fell notably. The truce has since fallen apart.

The government has said it will not negotiate with criminals or give in to gang demands that their leaders be transferred out of a maximum-security prison.

Lara said the country of 6 million people is confronting “a very complicated situation.”