US renews travel warning for El Salvador

Given the recent decision by the Peace Corps to suspend operations in El Salvador, it is not all that surprising that the US government also issued a new travel warning for its citizens traveling to the country.

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit El Salvador each year for study, tourism, cruise ship visits, business, and volunteer work.  There is no information to suggest that U.S. citizens are specifically targeted by criminals; however, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country. Since a rise in violence in the summer of 2015, the current murder rate in El Salvador is among the highest in the world, an annual rate of 103.1 murders per 100,000 citizens for 2015. In comparison, the U.S. rate is 4.5 per 100,000.  While U.S. citizens are not singled out as targets, the pervasive violence greatly increases the chance of someone being “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”  Since January 2010, 38 U.S. citizens have been murdered in El Salvador.  During the same time period, 449 U.S. citizens reported having their passports stolen, while others were victims of violent crimes.

Don't quote me on this but it reads really reasonable. They even put a positive spin as to why so few crimes are successfully investigated - "lack of sufficient resources." I think that's true but they seem to have purposefully left out other explanations.