Salvadoran police free to shoot gang members if threatened

According to Reuters

El Salvador's vice president said on Wednesday that police should respond with force "without any fear of suffering consequences" if threatened by gang members, following the killing of seven officers in ambushes so far this year.

Vice President Oscar Ortiz, acting as president while President Salvador Sanchez Ceren receives medical care in Cuba, said the government endorsed the decision of the federal police director last week to authorize the new policy.

Previously, police who used deadly force would be investigated and sometimes fired.

Ortiz added that the government will no longer tolerate attacks on the country's police, military, prosecutors or judges.

"We support ... any member of the police, our police, who in fulfillment of his duties and the defense of the safety of citizens, uses his gun and should use it without any fear of suffering consequences," said Ortiz in a statement.

Let's just say that the policy change does not inspire confidence. The police are certainly in a difficult situation in El Salvador but "shoot" and "we won't even bother to ask questions" is a policy that I would associate with certain right-wing sectors of the country today and yesterday.