The subject of this monographic issue is the lethal violence in Latin America, the region with the world's highest incidence of homicides. Experts do not agree on the explanation for this phenomenon, while the interventions aimed at reversing it are scarce and poorly targeted, as well as only rarely being subject to rigorous evaluation. This volume seeks to contribute to understanding the phenomenon as well as to the debate on the means of controlling it. The issues addressed by the articles include, among others, the causes of the lethal violence, the description and evaluation of national and local homicide prevention programmes, and the role of international institutions in this field. The studies use both quantitative and qualitative methodology. The countries analysed include Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Honduras, all of which have high homicide rates. We hope to leave the reader of these pages with a deeper vision of the problem of homicide in Latin America and the ways of tackling it.
Introduction: the singularity of lethal violence in Latin America
Ignacio Cano and Emiliano Rojido
Multilateral agencies and “citizen security” approach in Latin America
Katherine Aguirre and Robert Muggah
What does the failure to reduce homicides in Venezuela teach?
Roberto Briceño-León
Do heavy-handed tactics reduce homicides? The case of Venezuela
Andrés Antillano and Keymer Ávila
The effects of prevention of crime and violence policy in Mexico
David Ramírez-de-Garay and Mario Pavel Díaz Román
Homicide reduction in Minas Gerais: an analysis of the “Fica Vivo!” programme
Cláudio Chaves Beato Filho, Ludmila Mendonça Lopes Ribeiro, Valéria Cristina de Oliveira and
Sara Carla Faria Prado
The effect of controlling organised crime on homicidal violence in Cali (Colombia)
Andrés Fandiño-Losada, Rodrigo Guerrero-Velasco, Jorge H. Mena-Muñoz and María Isabel Gutiérrez-Martínez
The Cure Violence model: violence reduction in San Pedro Sula (Honduras)
Charles Ransford, R. Brent Decker, Guadalupe M. Cruz, Francisco Sánchez and Gary Slutkin
OTHER ARTICLES
The role of intelligence in the fight against Salafist jihadist terrorism
Gustavo Díaz Matey
BOOK REVIEWS (SUBJECTS)
Predisposed to violence: fighting the origin of our species
J. Andrew Carter, Jr.
Analysing the violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: an integrated and systemic approach
Tatiana Guimarães Sardinha Pereira
Trends in violence and crime: from the civilising process to the control society
Vinícius Pinheiro Israel
Rethinking the third wave of political violence
Salvador Martí i Puig
Germany faces the future under the influence of its recent past
Alfredo Crespo Alcázar
Algeria: “human dust” proves extraordinarily resilient
Francis Ghilès
