Crime, Irregular Warfare, and Institutional Failure in Latin America: Guatemala as a Case Study

Brands, Hal

doi:10.1080/1057610x.2011.545937

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…In Guatemala, direct state-sponsored violence along with organized crime and gang violence is pervasive. Cocaine and heroin trafficked from South America to the United States make Guatemala a major transit country with the corresponding high levels of drug-related crimes [28,32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalized Violence as a Threat to Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Youth Living in Urban Settings in Central America’s “Northern Triangle”

Jesús

Hernandes

2019

IJERPH

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El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras rank among the top 10 countries experiencing violence in the world, despite not being at war. Although there is abundant literature on generalized violence in this “northern triangle” of Central America as a driver of out-migration to the United States, very little is known about the perspectives and experiences of youth who do not migrate. This study aimed to elicit the emic perspectives of youth residing in the region on how the day-to-day generalized violence produces a pervasive threat to the overall health and human security of youth as well as the key protective factors and resiliencies at work. We conducted two separate waves of qualitative research in 2015 and 2018 over a 6-month period, which included 60 in-depth interviews and six focus groups among Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Honduran youth living in urban areas. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed two meta-themes: (1) ‘Lack of health,’ defined as not experiencing peace within the family, the community, and the country’ and (2) ‘Resilience.’ Thematic clusters that reflect the first meta-theme are: (1) violence as a common occurrence; (2) living in fear and insecurity; (3) victimization; and (4) lack of state protection and services. Thematic clusters for the second meta-theme are: (1) a positive future outlook and a commitment to education; (2) transnational and local family network support; and (3) engagement in community-based youth groups. To interpret the findings, we adopt the Latin American Social Medicine and Collective Health (LASM-CH) approach that prioritizes perspectives from the region. Generalized violence is conceptualized as a systemic phenomenon that is generated and reproduced through the complex interactions of structural inequities and unequal power relations. The findings of this study provide new insights into the implementation of a different approach to address the generalized violence, insights that may guide multi-sectoral health policies and interventions both in the region and transnationally.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalized Violence as a Threat to Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Youth Living in Urban Settings in Central America’s “Northern Triangle”

Jesús

Hernandes

2019

IJERPH

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“…Almost three decades after the LACPR, Latin America experienced a dramatic rise in crime (Bergman 2006(Bergman , 2018Brands 2011;Malone 2010;Müller 2018). Although the literature identifies Latin America as an exceptionally violent region prior to the reform, the nature of its violence changed after the implementation of the LACPR.…”

Section: [Figure 1 Here]mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unintended Consequences of the U.S. Adversarial Model in Latin American Crime

2020

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“…This mainly refers to the impact of transnational organized crime, which has successfully usurped state structures over the last years. Guatemala is seen as incapable of providing security in the face of organized crime and exercising the state monopoly of violence (Brands, 2011;Isaacs, 2010). Yet the country has seen individual judicial leadership as well.…”

Section: Guatemala As a Showcase Of Impunitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Intervention by Invitation? Shared Sovereignty in the Fight against Impunity in Guatemala

Maihold

2016

ERLACS

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Crime, Irregular Warfare, and Institutional Failure in Latin America: Guatemala as a Case Study

Cited by 27 publications

References 4 publications

Generalized Violence as a Threat to Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Youth Living in Urban Settings in Central America’s “Northern Triangle”

Generalized Violence as a Threat to Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Study of Youth Living in Urban Settings in Central America’s “Northern Triangle”

The Unintended Consequences of the U.S. Adversarial Model in Latin American Crime

Intervention by Invitation? Shared Sovereignty in the Fight against Impunity in Guatemala

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