Violence against women rises in El Salvador


Some analysts say that 'femicides' increase with the chaos of organized crime, though motives in El Salvador and the rest of Central America and Mexico remain unclear.

By Hannah Stone, Guest blogger / May 24, 2011

Non-governmental organization Salvadoran Women for Peace (Organizacion de Mujeres Salvadoreñas por la Paz - ORMUSA), which tracks violence against women, reported that, according to police statistics, there were 160 such murders committed in the country in the first three months of the year. This would put the country on track for a record 640 such killings in 2011 - higher than any year since the organization began to track the issue in 1999.

Human rights organizations in Latin America use the word “femicideâ€