Most murders were recorded in the departments of San Salvador, Chalatenango, Sonsonate and Cabañas; according to the police.
According to police figures, 20 people were killed in criminal violence in the first three days of 2021. Ten murders were recorded on the first day of the year, seven this Saturday and three yesterday.
Five of the crimes took place in San Salvador, three in Chalatenango, three more in Sonsonate, two more in Cabañas, two more in La Unión and two more in Ahuachapán. The rest took place in Santa Ana, La Paz and La Libertad.
On Sunday morning, police authorities found the body of César Aníbal Cruz Juárez, 22, in the canton of San Juan, Cuesta El Gavilán, Tacuba, Ahuachapán.
Cruz Juárez was kidnapped by gang members on Saturday night when he returned from a religious service, police said. The reason why he was murdered is unknown, although authorities do not rule out that gang members present in the sector are responsible.
SEE ALSO: Half-Naked Body of a Man Found in San Antonio del Monte, Sonsonate
Juan Manuel Flores Mendoza was also murdered yesterday morning on the main street of the canton of Tepemechín, Yucuaiquín, La Unión, authorities reported.
While authorities found the bodies of a man and a woman in a ravine in Ciudad Delgado, on the Oro highway last Saturday afternoon, the victims were not identified by police.
The body of a gang member who had just left a detention center was also found in the Loma la Gloria neighborhood of Ahuachapán.
But the most serious event occurred in the early morning of January 1 in La Clínica de Guarjila neighborhood, Chalatenango, where two young people died and two others were injured.
A group of men in dark clothes attacked the victims celebrating the arrival of the new year. Edwin Josué Hernández Cruz, 18 years old; and Óscar Arnulfo Hernández García, 27.
The injured youth were taken to a hospital in Chalatenango. After the attack, the criminals left a note that read: “Drug smugglers and gang members die (Los Justicieros).”
SEE ALSO: Woman Is Murdered While Trying To Prevent Her Life Partner From Kidnapping
Gang members kidnap two police officers in San Salvador and the Western Zone
The spike in murders has prompted police officers to warn their colleagues on social media to take precautions so they don’t become the target of gangs or other criminals.
On Saturday afternoon, police officers denounced the kidnapping of one of their companions by gangs in the western part of the country.
His family reported the incident to the police, so a search was carried out on his colleague and after two hours the policeman was able to escape from his captors. He was found by agents of the 911 Emergency System and taken to a hospital to be treated for the assault he received while he was being kidnapped, according to police sources.
During the night, another police officer, stationed in Ilopango, also managed to escape the gang members who had him kidnapped. He was found by his colleagues at the 911 Emergency System near the Harrison community bridge in the San Jacinto neighborhood, south of San Salvador.
The officer said he had been deprived of his freedom by gang members, but that he managed to escape along the banks of the Acelhuate River. The victim, who was reportedly drunk, had a sprained right ankle, for which he was taken to hospital.
Authorities continue to argue that the number of murders has decreased significantly. Security Minister Rogelio Rivas wrote on January 1 on his Twitter account that 2020 had ended at a rate of 20 homicides per 100,000 residents and an annual average of 3.6 murders per day, “the lowest recorded in the last two decades “.