Pluralismo jurídico y político en Perú: el caso de las Rondas Campesinas de Cajamarca

The article analyses, from an anthropological approach, some challenges of political and legal pluralism in the case of ‘rondas campesinas’ at Cajamarca (Peru). Peasants patrols of the North Peru, social organizations created by peasants in order to protect themselves from robberies of cattle, became a space of administration of justice and communitarian politics. Legally, although the Peruvian law recognized Ronda’s administration of justice, we’ll show that there are important contradictions that local actors must solve pragmatically. At a political level, our analysis will emphasize that ‘rondas’ found themselves in a scheme of relationships with the state that separates local levels of politics from regional and national levels.