Abstract

COLMENARES OLIVAR, Ricardo. The System of Formal Penal Justice and the Wayuu Consuetudinary Law. Frónesis [online]. 2006, vol.13, n.1, pp.57-69. ISSN 1315-6268.

This paper determines certain guidelines as to the function and relations between the formal Judicial Penal Reform System and the Wayuu consuetudinary law (Guajira law) as a concrete social reality. The Wayuu people have their own consuetudinary law which is historically recognized , and which forms part of the collective rights of their culture: it is called wayuu (guajira) law and its conception of criminal justice. The principles of guajira criminal justice is developed in the following manner: when a criminological (putchi)conflict is produced that causes material damage to a victim (asiruu), the payment of an indemnification (maunnaa) occurs, and by means of compensation and its peaceful resolution, it is generally left in the hands of an intermediary, called a putchipu’u or “guajiro speaker” who belongs to a different group or clan, in order to avoid immediate acts of vengeance.

Keywords : Formal penal justice; Wayuu consuetudinary law; legal pluralism.