Scheduling Lenten processions to avoid gang shootouts

From the Catholic Herald

El Salvador faces an acute problem of murders, largely as a result of the war over territory fought by the country’s two main gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha or MS13, and Barrio 18.

In order to avoid shootouts between rival gangs, the parish of Our Lady of Asuncion in Paleca, a crime-ridden barrio in Ciudad Delgado, is planning multiple processions during Lent. This is so that gang members do not have to cross into neighbourhoods controlled by rivals.

“We have to carry out the processions separately, although I would like to have only one … that’s the kind of thing we need to do to keep some kind of peace in that place,” Fr Gregorio Landaverde, parish priest, told Catholic News Service.

Another way that gang violence disrupts ordinary life in El Salvador.