I wasn't surprised by the content, but did not expect to see this news get quite so much coverage.
El Salvador has been a really violent place for a long time. I have rarely felt threatened or unsafe during my 23 months in the country, but it would be foolish to deny that it is a dangerous place. Recently, my adopted home received the infamous title of 'Most Violent' in the world. Below is an excerpt from an article published a few months ago.
"El Salvador is the most violent country in the world with 60 deaths per 100.000 of population.
From 2004 to 2009 more people died in violent conditions in El Salvador than in Iraq, the second most violent country in the world, followed by Jamaica."
Foreigners are rarely targeted, and despite the high level of violence, most of my colleagues in Peace Corps have never been victim of anything worse than a robbery. There have been some more serious incidents, however, and a volunteer was shot in Honduras while riding a bus this month. This has led Peace Corps to temporarily evacuate the volunteers in Honduras and cancel the new groups of trainees who were scheduled to arrive in El Salvador and Guatemala in January. Here is a link to an article in the New York Times about the situation.
Like I said, I am not in any danger personally and do not feel unsafe in El Salvador. This will probably not affect my service. As I was originally scheduled to end my service on the 30th of March, the only likely change for me is that I might be coming home about a month before I originally expected, as the staff here is considering allowing more flexibility in our departure dates due to the security situation. Hopefully Peace Corps will find a way to continue working in Central America and, more importantly, that El Salvador and Central America will find a way to end the violence that plagues the region.
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