Youth, penal system and peace building in Central America Jóvenes, sistema penal y construcción de paz en Centroamérica

Abstract

This article analyzes the social, political and cultural particularities of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA), to identify the meeting points and differences of each one in the implementation of peace processes. After carrying out a documentary review of the studies and regulations issued between 2010 and 2020, advances, achievements, challenges that have been presented are recognized, but also, options are identified that allow us to continue contributing to the promotion of a new way of addressing the conflicts and their structural causes, to regulate and manage them from inclusive, critical and analytical education. In conclusion, this perspective would promote structural changes that denaturalize violence and allow the internalization of more dynamic, inclusive, empathetic, reconciling and peaceful forms that contribute to the transformation of the culture of violence (still in force in some instances), within the framework of the respect for the other, taking into account the multiethnicity and multiculturalism of the Central American population.