members, while the police would end night-time operations and the government would implement programs to support gang members by providing them work. Some gang leaders accepted the proposal and even proposed ten municipalities where the peace should be established. The peace zones would affect around 900,000 people. The peace zone project formally began on 22 January 2013 in the city of Ilopango. Quezaltepeque, Santa Tecla, and Sonsonate became peace zones soon after. Additionally, Minister of Defense José Atilio Benítez Parada announced that the military would withdraw its forces from the peace zones after confirming that MS-13 and Barrio 18 were surrendering their weapons and ceasing criminal activities. By May 2013, the country had 19 peace zones. Further fracturing in 2013 Homicides once again began to increase in February 2013, rising from 5.3 homicides per day at the end of 2012 to 6.6 homicides per day in mid-February 2013. A shootout between rival gang members occurred in San Miguel on 1 February resulting in four deaths, and in mid-February, three homicides occurred in Ilopango despite the city being a peace zone. Munguía described the shootout in San Miguel as "a chain of revenge" and denied that the homicides in Ilopango undermined the truce, stating that they were committed by a gang which was not involved in the deal. In March 2013, Salvadoran authorities admitted that the truce was not working in some parts of the country, and that the gangs were unable to enforce some cliques of members to abide by it, especially in La Unión. According to Munguía, the mayor and police chief of La Unión stated that the truce was not in force in the city with 31 homicides being recorded since the start of the year. In April 2013, Salvadoran officials requested financial assistance from the United States to fund the truce, which they estimated as requiring US$150 million. In June 2013, the US announced that it would spend US$91.2 million to fund El Salvador's security programs, but not the truce. In regards to the US, Mijango stated that "the US has not only decided to maintain their distance, they have begun a strong campaign to try to destroy this process". Mauricio Ramírez, the sub-director of the PNC, stated that some arrested gang members have argued that they should not be arrested because they were participating in the truce. Despite the gangs' opposition to the Gang Prohibition Act,