El Salvador is currently on the brink of overtaking Honduras as the country with the highest homicide rate in the world. This year alone saw over 5,700 murders and with a population of just over six million people that figure truly is a scary one. This now puts El Salvador’s murder rate at the highest it’s ever been since the end of the country’s brutal civil war. On average there is nearly one murder ever hour.

This incredibly high death toll is the result of a truce between rival gangs and the government falling apart. In an effort to control the violence the government is now attempting to fight fire with fire and combatting the gangs head on, as part of its so called “iron fist” strategy. With this new policy comes a new type of crime, you can now be arrested for being part of a gang or rather a terrorist organisation.