Methodological considerations in conflict group research

There are lurid issues, and those related to social aspects of a conflictive nature are by nature so, both in reality and in the way they are dealt with. In a country like Guatemala, they are the daily talk of the news: written, televised, electronic and other likely ones. Violence and crime are on the daily menu, constantly lurking in the media and around every corner. It is a constant feature of violent-criminal activity, the lack of specific charges, let alone judicial sentences, reaching high levels of impunity. Conflict groups go beyond youth gang expressions. The term conflictive group encompasses more expressions of collective conformation than the concept of mara, which is specialised to name one of the possible forms to be considered within that which contemplates it. In Guatemala, one of the fifty most violent cities in the world, clandestine collective integration with illicit objectives is common. The city is also a cradle of thinkers, who, lacking opportunities, cohabit with criminals, with no hope of improving their way of life.