Armando Paz: Caring is the only option ...

• Author: Uribe, Juanita
• Position: Youth in the Americas - Essay

Central American countries today are experiencing increasing levels of crime and violence, a difficult situation that is related to a number of factors, including drug trafficking. Unfortunately, in the past decade, more young people have joined gangs and have begun to participate in criminal activities. Just as often, young people are also the victims of crimes.

For every young man or woman who ends up in a gang, however, thousands of young people do not. And if those who ended up in gangs had had a family that loved them and instilled values in them. and if they had had an opportunity to access quality education that could have given them a life of dignity and a promising future, they would probably be in school or working at a job today.

Youth People in a Situation of Opportunity

Often. people talk about at-risk youth as if youth were only part of the problem and not part of the solution. In the next few years, the countries of Central America will have a "window of demographic opportunity." They will have the largest population of young people that they have ever had in their history.

If governments invest in education, health, and job opportunities for young people during this time, they will have a properly prepared labor force at the end of that window period, and they will be able to decrease some of the factors that generate violence and contribute to the scourge of criminal gangs and drug trafficking.

If, .on the other hand, they do not take advantage of this favorable demographic situation, today's problems will worsen, and they will have lost a golden opportunity for their development and the development of the region in general.

Not much has been done to involve those who say they are "bored" by politics. Unfortunately, many young people believe that "politics" is only related to political parties--something they say involves "a lot of talking and not much doing." Others may be seduced into politics because of a desire for power. But the great majority of youth understand that participation goes beyond political parties to include activities in neighborhoods or community organizations, clubs, churches and other places.

Young people need to belong to a group. This is essential. They need to be able to identify with something or someone in order so grow and develop. If they aren't spending time in spaces where constructive things are happening, and if the family and the law are not very present in their lives, the gangs begin to...