Micropolitics in a Caracas Barrio: The Political Survival Strategies of Mothers in a Context of Armed Violence

Venezuela has one of the highest rates of homicide in the Americas. Those who are dying are mostly men, and most are shot. Based on ethnographic research in poor, urban neighborhoods in Caracas, where guns are abundant and the state is absent, this article focuses on the repertoire of responses of mothers of armed young men toward violence. How are mothers responding to meet the extreme challenges of safeguarding the survival of their families? In what ways do they participate in the containment but also in the dissemination of violence? We describe the safeguarding practices deployed by women, which we interpret as political survival strategies. Drawing on women’s narratives, we have identified four strategies that contribute differently to the containment and reproduction of violence: submission and taking refuge, collaborating, resisting, and negotiating or forging of pacts. Resumen Venezuela tiene una de las tasas de homicidio mas altas de America. La mayoria de las victimas son hombres que han recibido disparos. Basado en una investigacion etnografica en barrios pobres caraquenos, donde hay abundancia de armas y ausencia del Estado, este articulo se enfoca en el repertorio de respuestas a la violencia de madres de hombres jovenes armados. ?Como responden las madres a los desafios extremos de cuidar y procurar la sobrevivencia de sus familias? ?De que maneras participan tanto para contener la violencia como para estimularla? Describimos las practicas de salvaguarda utilizadas por las mujeres que interpretamos como estrategias politicas de sobrevivencia. Utilizando las narrativas de las mujeres hemos identificado cuatro estrategias que contribuyen de manera distinta a la contencion ya la reproduccion de la violencia: someterse y refugiarse, colaborar, resistir y negociar o forjar pactos.