An Intimate Pandemic

It’s said that violence is the social pandemic of the century in Latin America. But actually everyday life and social change in the region has never been immune to violence. The conquest, the slavery system, the independence, the land acquisition, the expropriation of natural resources and the political revolutions have been violent.

Violence continues to be a common denominator in the region, although now manifested in different ways. Today, the issue of violence and crime is not a result of politics, but devoid of any ideological end. Violence has become familiar and intimate, a trivialized routine in the region, while targets of violence have become so blurred they cease to make sense. The loss of social dialogue has made it so that acts of violence seem the only way to resolve conflicts within these societies. This process of criminal violence is accompanied by an increase in police violence, both of which have major psychological and economic consequences on the population; costs and damages which are exacerbated by mistrust and inefficiency of the existing criminal justice system in Latin America.