Region

Violence and poverty do not go hand in hand, but in countries where inequality is high we also find armed violence.  The Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development inspired a
seminar on concrete practices and discussed strategies for combatting
armed violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Participants stressed
the role of research, monitoring and evaluation.

The regional consensus on the Drug Policy Reform is that it must mirror regional needs and experience, setting a tone for cooperation among nations. A meeting held last week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, brought together representatives of governments, scientific researchers,
judicial authorities as well as harm reduction and health care practictioners. Representatives of 13 countries met to take drug policy reform a step ahead in the direction away from mere prohibitionism: privileging science over prejudice.

Isabel Aguilar from Guatemala's Interpeace, an NGO devoted to violence prevention in Central America, denounces the branding of young gang members as responsible for all social violence. Aguilar believes they are more vulnerable and less dangerous than other actors, but lack the social policies that will put them on the path to peace, as she tells Comunidad Segura in an exclusive interview.

The desire to belong. To belong to a pandilla, a mara, a barra brava.
That is what drives Central American youths, as noted by filmmaker
Marco Nicoletti while recently shooting a documentary for the NGO Interpeace, that works with building lasting peace in various conflicted areas around the world.

Balance of the balance: Exports and imports of small arms, light
weapons (SALW) its parts and ammunition to Africa, Latin America, and
the Caribbean, from 2000 to
2007.

Public Security Programme Coordinator of the UN-LiREC, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, William Godnick gave InterCambio an exclusive interview on his new police training course and comments on the role of police training in lowering youth violence.

by Emilio Goubaud, Interpeace / APREDE

This article reflects on the mechanisms of integration and social control (family, school, work, police, and detention centers) for adolescents and young criminals coming to commit crimes, searching for an analysis of the structural factors with the subjectivity of the offenders.

by Gustavo Cifuentes Castellanos (MISH), APREDE

This article presents Gustavo Cifuentes Castellanos’ history, a Guatemalan youngster who tells his life story, telling about his past on the streets, on drugs, in the gangs and at juvenile detention centers, up to finally finding an exit opportunity that changed his life.

Violence in Central America cost approximately $6.5 billion in 2006 - equivalent to 7.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - according to the results obtained by a study called "The economic costs of violence in Central America "

The seeds have been sown, warns Sociologist Laura Etcharren, unless the government takes heed and security specialists act in time, maras present in Argentina in embryonic state will soon grow. More in an exclusive interview given to Comunidad Segura.