{"id":5696,"date":"2016-07-22T20:19:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T18:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interpeace.org\/?p=5696"},"modified":"2017-05-04T18:58:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T16:58:43","slug":"violence-and-insecurity-in-central-america-failure-of-the-hard-fisted-policies-and-its-democratic-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interpeace.org\/fr\/2016\/07\/violence-and-insecurity-in-central-america-failure-of-the-hard-fisted-policies-and-its-democratic-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence and insecurity in Central America: Failure of the hard-fisted policies and its democratic alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

On July 5th\u00a0<\/sup>2016, the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Foundation<\/a> invited Ana Glenda Tager, Interpeace\u2019s Regional Director\u202ffor Latin America<\/a>, and Jos\u00e9 Luis Sanz, Director of the Salvadoran newspaper El Faro<\/a><\/em>, to participate in a public debate entitled: \u201cViolence and Insecurity in Central America: The Failure of the Hard-Fisted Policies\u00a0and the Debate on Alternative Democratic Concepts.\u201d Bernd Pickert, journalist of the German Newspaper Die Tageszeitung<\/em>, moderated the debate, which took place in Berlin.<\/p>\n

\"Para<\/a>

Ana Glenda Tager, Interpeace\u2019s Regional Director\u202ffor Latin America; Jos\u00e9 Luis Sanz, Director of the Salvadoran newspaper El Faro; and Bernd Pickert, journalist of the German Newspaper Die Tageszeitung.<\/p><\/div>\n

A third of the world\u2019s overall homicides occur in Latin America. The Northern Triangle of Central America, conformed by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, have the highest murder rates in the world. The homicide rate in El Salvador in 2015, was of 116 for every 100,000 people. And in Guatemala and Honduras, the homicide rate was 60 for every 100,000. In contrast, the world\u2019s average homicide rate is 6.2 for every 100,000 citizens.<\/p>\n

According to the Organization of American States<\/a>, victims are mostly men between the ages of 20 and 30. However, the number of femicides and homicides of members of the LGBT community are increasing.<\/p>\n

These issues have led to a series of unfortunate consequences within society. They have generated mistrust, broken social cohesion and have imposed a social order, were violent reactions are encouraged in a vicious cycle. At the same time, they have raised social tolerance to violence, illegal forms of economy and the loss of thousands of lives.<\/p>\n

So far the problem has been tackled through repressive means, using the so-called Mano Dura<\/em> or Hard-Fisted policies. The State\u2019s indifference to solve these social issues has led to an excessive involvement of the Army in public security. Interpeace\u2019s experience shows that a preventive approach to these issues is necessary to transform violent dynamics, from a peacebuilding perspective. However, this preventive focus must be placed on all the actors involved in violence and not only on young vulnerable adults, as it is usually done.<\/p>\n

At the same time a tertiary prevention is also pivotal, which would focus on the work done with prisoners, given the direct relation between the detention centers and criminal dynamics.<\/p>\n

Through dialogue, Interpeace seeks to strengthen the bonds of trust, shorten the distance between all actors of society, including the most marginalized and stigmatized and therefore stimulate the development of non-violent and collaborative solutions to the challenges faced by society.<\/p>\n

Parallel events to the Public Debate <\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of Ana Glenda Tager\u2019s visit to Berlin, she participated in a series of meetings organized by the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Foundation:<\/p>\n