New and Old Violence in Guatemala: The Challenges of State Formation

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, Conference Room E/F

12:15 pm – 1:45 pm

According to the United Nations Development Program, Central America has the highest murder rate in the world, at 44 per 100,000 annually; while the figure for Latin America as a whole is 25. This is despite the fact that the last civil war in the region ended more than fifteen years ago. What are the roots of violence in Central America and in particular in Guatemala? How should governments, civil society, and the international community best seek to counteract and ultimately eradicate the violence; and in particular, what does the experience of previous recent efforts to stanch drug and paramilitary violence in Colombia tell us about what current approaches in Guatemala and Mexico should and should not comprise?

Bernardo Arévalo de Leon, Peace Scholar in residence at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, will speak to the issue from his experiences in security sector reform efforts in Guatemala.  Welcome and introduction will be given by Dr. David Shirk, Director of the Trans-Border Institute.  Commentary will be provided by Milburn Line, Executive Director, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) and director of the IPJ’s Legal Empowerment in Quiché Project and Octavio Rodriguez, Coordinator of the Justice in Mexico Project at the Trans-Border Institute

Sponsored by Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.  Co-sponsored by Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and Trans-Border Institute.

RSVPs are requested at: www.sandiego.kintera.org/peacescholar