If this is true, then it really is good news!
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Gangs in El Salvadore have made a truce that authorities say has cut the homicide rate in half in just four months.
"We've been through things that have changed us. It is a waste of life, those who have died in this conflict," said Garcia, a tattoo of a skeleton hand clutching his shaved head.
Tired of the cycle of revenge killings, gang leaders housed side by side with their enemies in a maximum security prison outside the capital of San Salvador decided to broker a deal.
Garcia from the Calle 18 gang and Aristides Umanzor, aka "El Sirra," from the Mara Salvatrucha - each backed up by 15 of their top lieutenants - sought out a Catholic bishop and a former leftist congressman to serve as mediators.
In March, they surprised the country by releasing a joint statement declaring an end to violence and pledging to freeze recruitment of new adolescent members, especially in poor neighborhoods and around schools.
Since then, the change has been dramatic. Murder rates are down to around five a day from more than a dozen before the pact. On April 14, El Salvador recorded its first day in three years without a single murder.
SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/el-salvadors-gang-truce-cuts-murder-rate-060535914.html?_esi=1
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