The last internal armed conflict in Central America ended more than 17 years ago. The peace accords reached in the three countries that suffered internal armed conflict succeeded in effectively integrating armed dissidents into the political process and consolidated democratic political frameworks that, notwithstanding their dysfunctionalities and limitations, respond to the basic principles of political democracy. Yet, almost two decades later, the region remains one of the most violent in the world. The peace accords and formal democracy have not brought an end to violence. In El Salvador and Guatemala, violence has reached levels higher than those that characterized the war years. In Honduras, no civil war has taken place, but the country has the highest murder rates in the region and violence has become a chronic occurrence of everyday life. Even in Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize, the indicators for violent deaths increased during the first decade of the century.