Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia

Órgano: Delegación Por la Paz de Sur América.

Tema de Debate: El flagelo de le violencia en los jóvenes y
adolescentes en el Choco, Colombia.
Universidad: Universidad Tecnológica del Choco “Diego Luis Córdoba”

Bolivia (/bəˈlɪviə/ ( listen), Spanish: [boˈliβja] ( listen); Guarani: Mborivia [ᵐbo

ˈɾiʋja]; Aymara: Wuliwya [wʊlɪwja]; Quechua: Puliwya[pʊlɪwja]), officially
the Plurinational State of Bolivia (Spanish: Estado Plurinacional de
Bolivia Spanish pronunciation: [esˈtaðo pluɾinasjoˈnal de βoˈliβja], is a landlocked
country located in western-central South America. The capital is Sucre, while
the seat of government and financial center is located in La Paz. The largest city
and principal industrial center is Santa Cruz de la Sierra, located on the Llanos
Orientales (tropical lowlands), a mostly flat region in the east of the country.
The sovereign state of Bolivia is a constitutionally unitary state, divided into nine
departments. Its geography varies from the peaks of the Andes in the West, to the
Eastern Lowlands, situated within the Amazon Basin. It is bordered to the north
and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the
southwest by Chile, and to the northwest by Peru. One-third of the country is within
the Andean mountain range. With 1,098,581 km2 (424,164 sq mi) of area, Bolivia is
the fifth largest country in South America,
after Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia (and alongside Paraguay, one of the
only two landlocked countries in the Americas), the 27th largest in the world, the
largest landlocked country in the Southern Hemisphere and the world's seventh
largest landlocked country,
after Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Chad, Niger, Mali and Ethiopia.
The country's population, estimated at 11 million, is multiethnic,
including Amerindians, Mestizos, Europeans, Asians and Africans.
The racial and social segregation that arose from Spanish colonialism has
continued to the modern era. Spanish is the official and predominant language,
although 36 indigenous languages also have official status, of which the most
commonly spoken are Guarani, Aymara and Quechua languages.
Before Spanish colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was part of the Inca
Empire, while the northern and eastern lowlands were inhabited by independent
tribes. Spanish conquistadors arriving from Cuzco and Asunción took control of the
region in the 16th century. During the Spanish colonial period Bolivia was
administered by the Royal Audiencia of Charcas. Spain built its empire in large part
upon the silver that was extracted from Bolivia's mines. After the first call for
independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the
Republic, named for Simón Bolívar. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th
century Bolivia lost control of several peripheral territories to neighboring countries
including the seizure of its coastline by Chile in 1879. Bolivia remained relatively
politically stable until 1971, when Hugo Banzer led a coup d'état which replaced
the socialist government of Juan José Torres with a military dictatorship headed by
Banzer; Torres was murdered in Buenos Aires, Argentina by a right-wing death
squad in 1976. Banzer's regime cracked down on leftist and socialist opposition
and other forms of dissent, resulting in the torture and deaths of a number of
Bolivian citizens. Banzer was ousted in 1978 and later returned as the
democratically elected president of Bolivia from 1997 to 2001.
Modern Bolivia is a charter member of the UN, IMF, NAM, OAS, ACTO, Bank of
the South, ALBA and USAN. For over a decade Bolivia has had one of the highest
economic growth rates in Latin America; however, it remains the second poorest
country in South America. It is a developing country, with a medium ranking in
the Human Development Index, a poverty level of 38.6%, and one of the lowest
crime rates in Latin America. Its main economic activities
include agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and manufacturing goods such as
textiles, clothing, refined metals, and refined petroleum. Bolivia is very rich in
minerals, including tin, silver, and lithium.

The violence scenario: a shallow tour

 It is often common to hear that the central triangle of South America is one of the
most violent regions on the planet. This violence is expressed in different ways, 1
is repeated and branched sadly. It severely erodes the ability to maneuver and
execute democratic institutions; affects the social fabric; it undermines all types of
trust (between individuals, sectors and groups) and dislocates, in a very deep
sense, the psyche of citizens. The figures and statistics have proved to be the help
mechanism to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem that is experienced.
According to the report for Central America of the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP, 2009), between 2007 and 2009 the number of violent deaths in
Bolivia has oscillated between 45 and 49 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, which
means that it is doubling "[...] the annual average number of victims during the
armed conflict." 2 The increase in violence has thus followed a course of ascent.
When living in a society used to settle their differences through the use of force,
violence becomes internalized and tends to naturalize as social behavior to some
extent accepted. What else can be said, for example, in the face of sexual violence
that is justified by machismo and patriarchy, or in the face of physical punishment
as a mechanism to "educate" children, under the protection of adultcentrism that
characterizes us? When living in a society where criminal violence assumes daily
faces of terror and extreme sadism, violence also tends to become invisible as a
defense and survival mechanism.

PROPOSALS

Strategy 1: Promote programs for the prevention and eradication of violence

against children, adolescents and youth.
Strategy 2: Promote school retention and alternative education for adolescents and
youth outside the school system.
Strategy 3: Promote art, culture and sports as elements of personal development
and as instruments to prevent violence.
 Strategy 4: Generate job training opportunities and job placement for adolescents
and vulnerable youth.
Strategy 5: Promote social insertion and re-insertion programs for people who
belong or belonged to a mara or gang to keep them from violent activities.
 Strategy 7: Increase and improve comprehensive care services for victims of
violence and promote the application of conflict management and transformation
mechanisms.