El Salvador gangs celebrate a day without murders - in pictures

A Mara 18 gang member attends a press conference of his leaders at a prison in Quezaltepeque. Imprisoned gang leaders announced in a press conference on Wednesday that they have declared Salvadorian schools as peace zones Photograph: Luis Romero/AP

Members of the 18th street gang gather in the yard of the Quezaltepeque jail Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

A gang member and inmate talks to his partner inside the prison in Quezaltepeque. The murder rate in El Salvador has fallen recently because because the most powerful gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Mara 18, have called a truce Photograph: Reuters

Members of the 18th street gang gather in a yard during a press conference. The small central American country had become accustomed to about 15 murders a day Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

An inmate and member of a gang holds his son at the jail in Quezaltepeque. Rival Salvadoran gangs announced an expansion of the terms of a truce as the central American country grapples with a plague of violent crime that threatens to sweep the nation Photograph: Reuters

Members of the 18th street gang sing during a press conference at the Quezaltepeque jail Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

Members of the 18th street gang in a cell in Quezaltepeque. On Saturday 14 April nobody was murdered in El Salvador, a fact greeted with astonishment in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

A gang member and inmate sits inside the jail. The murder-free day reflected a dramatic fall in gang violence, beginning in early March. Last week there were about five killings a day Photograph: Reuters

A hooded police officer stands near gang members inside the jail in Quezaltepeque Photograph: Reuters

A gang member and inmate stands near masked police officers inside the jail in Quezaltepeque. Central America has struggled to tame gangs since the 1990s, when the US started deporting Los Angeles-based Latino convicts to their home countries Photograph: Reuters

A member of the 18th street gang remains in a cell in Quezaltepeque jail. The situation is still tense and many expect the violence to resume Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

A prisoner pushes his arms through the wall of his cell in prayer during a mass for prisoners in the courtyard of La Esperanza penal centre. "Don't even call it a truce; this is just gang chiefs making deals for themselves," one senior Mara 18 member said Photograph: Luis Romero/AP

Inmates sit in the chapel of La Esperanza Jail in San Salvador. Prisoners in El Salvador's biggest jail declared their intent to stop making extortions from citizens from inside the jail Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

Members of an anti-gang police unit gather during a deployment at the Gerardo Barrios Square in downtown San Salvador after a official deployment Salvadorean goverment is enforcing their effort to fight gang activities. The government has announced the formation of a 300-strong, FBI-trained unit dedicated to rooting out gangsters in the most volatile neighbourhoods Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

Inmate Ronald Marinez, centre, prays with other prisoners at a Catholic mass in the courtyard of La Esperanza penal centre in San Salvador, El Salvador. The prisoners had asked for Monsignor Fabio Colindres to hold a service for them at the prison Photograph: Luis Romero/AP

Prisoners gather for a Catholic mass in the courtyard of La Esperanza penal centre in San Salvador, El Salvador Photograph: Luis Romero/AP