Guatemala

Thursday 22nd December

In the shadows of globalisation: drug violence in Mexico and Central America

Benedicte Bull, 22 December 2011

The wave of violence afflicting Mexico and the northern triangle of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) is caused by three developments: changes in the global drug market, the effect of the war against organised crime and the international financial crisis, making the problem not just a criminal one.

Friday 14th October

Stay alive: turning around a failing war

Robert Muggah and Erwin van Veen, 14 October 2011

A deep strategic rethink is needed to reverse the dismal failure of the war on drugs and gangs, particularly in the way this has been fought across Central America and the Caribbean. Intimate community engagement and integral policy approaches are crucial steps in moving on from the bankrupt iron fist.

Thursday 13th October

Fortress elite: criminal revolt and civil resistance in Guatemala

Martín Rodríguez Pellecer, 13 October 2011

Guatemala’s elite, which has tried since 1996 to engage in politics to ensure that democracy produces conservatism and economic libertarianism, is now expressing some unorthodox ideas. The most radical will say over the dinner table that the answer to the security crisis is more violence.

Wednesday 12th October

Gangs and wolves: violence and vulnerability in a global economy

Peadar Kirby, 12 October 2011

Forces of globalization provide the link between the areas of extreme criminal violence in poorer countries and the random attacks carried out by fundamentalists in the west. On all sides, economic interconnectedness has brought wealth to some, criminal opportunities to others, and vulnerability to everyone.

Tuesday 24th November

Border zones and insecurity in the Americas

John P. Sullivan and Adam Elkus, 24 November 2009

Border zones are potential incubators of conflict. Criminal gangs exploit weak state presence to forge a parallel state and prosecute their criminal enterprises sustained by fear, violence and brutality.