Human rights groups denounce displacement in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Human rights activists in El Salvador say more than 1,000 people have been internally displaced by threats from gangs and, in some cases, from authorities since the beginning of 2015.

Celia Medrano of the Civil Society Roundtable against Forced Displacement in El Salvador said Monday that the group had documented 623 victims in 2015 and 396 through August of this year. She says the actual numbers are likely much higher.

Also, the figures do not include thousands who have fled El Salvador in recent years as gang violence intensified. Most of those have migrated to the United States.

Medrano says threats from gangs and occasionally from the police and military force entire families to pack up and flee.