How should Sánchez Cerén seek to bring down the murder rate and improve security in El Salvador?

Along with Adam Blackwell of the OAS and Ricardo Cevallos of BLP Abogados in El Salvador, I answered a series of questions related to insecurity in El Salvador in today's edition of the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin American Advisor. Here were the questions:

This month marks the one-year anniversary of Salvador Sánchez Cerén's election as president of El Salvador. Sánchez Cerén has consistently vowed that he will not make truces with criminals in the Central American country, where a government brokered 2012 truce between rival gangs broke down last year, leading to a sharp increase in the homicide rate. How should Sánchez Cerén seek to bring down the murder rate and improve security in El Salvador? Is another truce the answer, or are more hardline tactics against gangs needed? How would you rate the president's performance thus far?

Kind of a loaded question - truce or a return to hardline tactics? I didn't take the bait.

And he was my conclusion:

There are no shortcuts—neither halfbaked mano-dura policies nor gang truces—to a more prosperous and secure El Salvador. Domestic public and private sectors must work with local, regional and international partners to invest in social and economic programs, improve infrastructure, tackle corruption, reduce impunity and strengthen democratic institutions. A proposed increase in U.S. assistance to the region and ongoing multi-sector collaboration through the National Council for Citizen Security (CNSCC) are potentially positive developments. Largely beyond its control, however, El Salvador will also need serious regional and global efforts to minimize the damage that it suffers from climate change and the international drug trade.

Go read the rest of my answer.