A Human Tragedy

Posted: February 24th, 2016

By Roberto Palomo-Silva

Ambassador Roberto Palomo-Silva is the former Guatemalan Ambassador to Germany, The Netherlands, Israel, and the Helvetic Confederation, and served as the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He was the Chief Negotiator for the Special Agreement between Belize and Guatemala and is a professor of philosophy and international law.

The so-called Northern Triangle in Central America—namely, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—has been depicted as one of the must dangerous and violent regions in the world. International organizations, human rights groups, politicians, and even churches and other religious entities, not to mention journalists and members of academia, contribute extensively to this narrative. And from social scientists to politicians, everyone wants to provide a solution to this enormously complex controversy.

One approach that is not often used is Marcelo Daskal’s models for understanding controversies, which help us differentiate between strategic and tactical controversies. Indeed, the Northern Triangle is undergoing a strategic controversy, but everyone is focusing on the tactical aspects of it. In line with Daskal’s models, the Northern Triangle controversy involves more factors than those being used to understand it.

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