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INFORME ALTERNATIVO SOBRE LA SALUD EN AMERICA LATINAthe core of all matters related with violence.Thereis a gap between social values and current problems,especially violence. Even the primacy of life asa value is commonly underestimated or ignored[De Currea-Lugo, 1999]. The second aspect refersto education. It includes both the extent of coverageand the contents of the country’s public educationsystem. 83% of the Colombian population hasaccess to primary education, 63% to secondaryeducation and only 15% to higher (professional)education.There is a clear discrimination against thepoorer populations [Colombia. ContraloríaGeneral de la Nación, 2002].The third aspect refersto the psychological components of the origin anddynamics of violence. It involves the chronic accumulationof feelings of hatred and revenge betweenindividuals and groups. It also includes the individualand collective psychopathologies behind certainforms of cruelty and the behavior of some paidmurderers.● Legal context. It is closely linked to the political andcultural contexts of violence and involves two mainaspects: the inadequacy of the country’s legal structurewith respect to the type and magnitude ofpresent violence and the inefficacy of the judicialsystem. Its clearest indicator is the lack of legalaction taken against criminals, which has worsenedover the past four decades. According to officialestimates, "while the probability of charges for acrime in the mid-1960’s was 20%, this number wasdown to 5% in 1971 and has decreased continuouslysince to the current 0.5%" [Comisión deRacionalización del Gasto y las Finanzas Públicas,1997]. According to the NILMFS, 75% of homicidesin 1999 [Colombia. Instituto Nacional de MedicinaLegal y Ciencias Forenses, 2000] and 89% in 2001were unsolved. Figure 2 portrays the inverse relationshipbetween the number of homicides committedper year versus Colombian penal capabilities.As homicide rates increase, the capture andconviction of murderers decreases.This also exposesthe negative effect impunity can have on violencein Colombia..In summary, there are three structural conditions andthree transitional situations that affect the origin anddynamics of the current cycle of violence inColombia. Inequality, intolerance, and impunity arethe three structural conditions, while the internalarmed conflict, drug trafficking and the progressiveweakening and neoliberalization of the governmentare the three transitional situations that contributeto violence.ConclusionsMany conclusions can be drawn from this socialmedicalapproach to violence in Colombia, but thereare three that are particularly important.● First, homicidal violence in Colombia is a severe andcomplex process. Colombia is a country of slightlyover 40 million inhabitants, where homicide ratesremain above 60 per 100,000 and over half a millionhumans have been murdered in the past 27 yearsalone.The structural conditions and transitional situationsthat generate violence in Colombia interlink;new actors appear and combine, and conflicts ofinterest involved are increasingly strong. The caseappears to deserve a greater degree of attentionfrom Colombian society, its Government and theinternational community.● Secondly, the social-medical approach to Colombianviolence has possibilities and limitations.With such acomplex problem any single discipline, theory or54