Priest shot dead in El Salvador by apparent gang member

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A priest in El Salvador was shot dead by a presumed gang member while he slept, apparently for not paying protection fees.

Constantino Barrera, bishop of the Sonsonate diocese near the Guatemala border, said that Father Cecilio Perez Cruz’s body was found in his room with three bullet wounds. Next to the priest was a note signed by the Mara Salvatrucha gang that said: “He didn’t pay the rent.”

El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world. The murder rate last year in the Central American country was 50.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, or 9.2 murders a day.

The Associated Press

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