decrease of 1,795 (or 41 percent) from 2011, when 4,371 were killed. Additionally, a few days without a homicide were reported in 2012, something which had not occurred in El Salvador in over thirty years. From January 2013 to April 2013, the government recorded 694 homicides, a 45 percent decrease from the 1,224 homicides recorded in the same period in 2012. The figures did not include the number of people recorded missing. In the first eight days of May 2013, however, a spike of 65 homicides was registered which seemed to be gang related, and the homicide rate continued to steadily increase throughout May and June 2013. In the first three days of July 2013, 56 homicides were registered. In the first six days of August 2013, 69 homicides were registered, with 29 of them being linked to gang violence; by late August, 208 homicides were registered in the month, a 45 percent increase from August 2012. A total of 176 homicides were registered in the first 17 days of November 2013, compared to only 91 homicides recorded in the same period in November 2012. According to the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML), the Salvadoran government forensic institute, a total of 2,492 homicides were registered in 2013, a 4 percent decrease from 2012 for an average of 7.1 homicides per day. By the end of the truce in May 2014, the country was experiencing an average of 14 homicides per day. El Salvador recorded 3,912 homicides in 2014. The following graph visualizes the number of homicides recorded in the three calendar years the truce was in force. Other crimes Although the number of homicides recorded decreased during the truce, the number of missing persons increased. In the first two months of 2012, 99 people were reported missing, while in the same period in 2013, 150 were reported missing. Meanwhile, the police reported an 81 percent increase in the number of bodies found in shallow graves, with all 20 discovered bodies having been killed in 2012 or 2013. By August 2013, the country registered 949 disappearances; 49 percent were later found alive, 6 percent were later found to have been killed, and the remainder were still missing. A total of 97 bodies were recovered from shallow graves between August 2012 and August 2013. Despite the decrease in homicides, extortions increased during the first month of the truce. According to gang member