Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T15:23:06.226Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“The Criminal Actors Have a Social Base in Their Communities”: Gangs and Service Provision in Medellín, Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2020

Caroline Doyle Open the ORCID record for Caroline Doyle [Opens in a new window]
Caroline Doyle*
Affiliation:
Caroline Doyle is a lecturer in the School of Business at the University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia.
*
[email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the last ten years, Medellín, Colombia has undergone significant socioeconomic improvements and a reduction in homicides. By drawing from qualitative data collected in Medellín, this article shows how, despite these improvements, residents in the marginalized neighborhoods maintain a perception that the state is unable or unwilling to provide them with services, such as employment and order or social control. Criminal gangs in these neighborhoods appear to rely on, and even exploit, the weakness of the state, as they are able to get citizens to perceive them as more reliable and legitimate than the state. This article argues that it is important for Latin American policymakers to promote citizen engagement in the design and implementation of policies to reduce current levels of violence.

Keywords

MedellínColombiagangscriminal governanceLatin Americaurban violence
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 27 - 47
Copyright
© The Author, 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: Caroline Doyle declares none.

References

Abello-Colak, Alexandra, and Guarneros-Meza, Valerie. 2014. The Role of Criminal Actors in Local Governance. Urban Studies 51, 15: 3268–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abello-Colak, Alexandra, and Pearce, Jenny. 2015. Securing the Global City? An Analysis of the “Medellín Model” Through Participatory Research. Conflict, Security & Development 15, 3: 197–228.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 2005. Colombia: The Paramilitaries in Medellín: Demobilization or Legalization? August 31. www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr23/019/2005/enGoogle Scholar
Pablo, Angarita. 2003. Conflictos, guerra y violencia urbana: interpretaciones problemáticas. Revista Nómadas (Universidad Central de Colombia) 19, 20: 96–104.Google Scholar
Arias, Enrique Desmond. 2006. The Dynamics of Criminal Governance: Networks and Social Order in Rio de Janeiro. Journal of Latin American Studies 38, 2: 293–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arias, Enrique Desmond. 2014. Gang Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In Global Gangs: Street Violence Across the World, ed. Hazan, Jennifer and Rodgers, Dennis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 237–54.Google Scholar
Arias, Enrique Desmond, and Goldstein, Daniel M.. 2010. Violent Pluralism: Understanding the New Democracies of Latin America. In Violent Democracies in Latin America, ed. Arias and Goldstein. Durham: Duke University Press. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baird, Adam. 2011. Negotiating Paths to Manhood: Violence Reproduction in Medellín’s Periphery. Ph.D. diss., University of Bradford. https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/bit-stream/handle/10454/5246/BAIRD,%20Adam%20Full%20Thesis.pdf?sequence=1Google Scholar
Baird, Adam. 2018. Becoming the “Baddest”: Masculine Trajectories of Gang Violence in Medellín. Journal of Latin American Studies 50, 1: 183–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagley, Bruce. 1988. Colombia and the War on Drugs. Foreign Affairs 67, 1: 70–92.Google Scholar
Benincore, Agudelo, Mariana. 2018. Encontraron quinto cuerpo envuelo en sábanas en menos de un día en Medellín. El Colombiano, February 1. www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/homicidio-en-robledo-aparece-quinto-cuerpo-AF8117244Google Scholar
Bonello, Deborah. 2018. Extortion Drives Displacement of Victims and Perpetrators Alike in Honduras. Insight Crime, August 2. https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/extortion-drives-displacement-victims-perpetrators-hondurasGoogle Scholar
Bourgois, Philippe. 1995. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, Peter, Lutz, Karin, Grant, Wyn, and Layton-Henry, Zig. 2008. Research Methods in Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Butler, Michelle, Slade, Gavin, and Dias, Camila. 2018. Self-Governing Prisons: Prison Gangs in an International Perspective. Trends in Organized Crime, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-018-9338-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buur, Lars, and Stefen, Jensen. 2004. Introduction: Vigilantism and the Policing of Everyday Life in South Africa. African Studies 63, 2: 139–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campana, Paolo, and Federico, Varese. 2018. Organized Crime in the United Kingdom: Illegal Governance of Markets and Communities. British Journal of Criminology 58, 6: 1381–1400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cerdá, Magdalena, Morenoff, Jeffrey, Hanson, Ben, Tessari, Kimberly, Duque, Luis, Restrepo, Alexandra, and Diez-Roux, Ana. 2012. Reducing Violence by Transforming Neighborhoods: A Natural Experiment in Medellín, Colombia. American Journal of Epidemiology 175, 10: 1045–53.Google ScholarPubMed
Civico, Aldo. 2012. “We Are Illegal, But Not Illegitimate”: Modes of Policing in Medellín, Colombia. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 35, 1: 77–93.Google Scholar
El Colombiano (Medellín). 2002. AUC Aprueba el proyecto urbano en el Valle de Aburra. www.elcolombiano.comGoogle Scholar
El Colombiano (Medellín). 2014. El listado de los combos que azotan a Medellín. El Colombiano, June 27. www.elcolombiano.com/blogs/revelacionesdelbajomundo/el-listado-de-los-combos-que-azotan-a-Medellín/7180.Google Scholar
Community Leader a. 2015. Director of a cultural center. Author interview. Medellín, May 21.Google Scholar
Community Leader b. 2015. Community center worker. Author interview. Medellín, July 20.Google Scholar
Dávila, Luis Felipe. 2018a. Reglas, crimen y orden: un estudio sobre la seguridad en Medellín. Medellín: La Carreta Editores EU.Google Scholar
Dávila, Luis Felipe. 2018b. Prevenir para castigar menos. El Mundo, November 19. www.elmundo.com/noticia/Prevenir-para-castigar-menos/375190.Google Scholar
Dixon, Bill, and Johns, Lisa-Marie. 2001. Gangs, Pagad and the State: Vigilantism and Revenge Violence in the Western Cape. Violence and Transition Series 2: 1–7. Cape Town: Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/103422/gangspagadstate.pdfGoogle Scholar
Doyle, Caroline. 2019. “Orthodox” and “Alternative” Explanations for the Reduction of Urban Violence in Medellín, Colombia. Urban Research & Practice 12, 3: 211–29. DOI 10.1080/17535069.2018.1434822CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, Caroline, and McCarthy-Jones, Anthea. 2017. Researching in Volatile Environments and the Importance of Adaptive Methods for Junior Researchers. Qualitative Research Journal 17, 4: 335–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, Gustavo, and Tobón, Santiago. 2018. Presentación: combos de Medellín. ¿Cómo resolver el problema de grupos armados y violencia en contextos urbanos? Medellín Como Vamos, August 29. https://www.medellincomovamos.org/node/23329Google Scholar
Echeverri, Alejandro, and Orsini, Francesco M.. 2011. Informalidad y urbanismo social en Medellín. Sostenible? 12, 11–24. https://www.eafit.edu.co/centros/urbam/articulos-publicaciones/Documents/111103_RS3_AEcheverri_%20P%2011-24.pdfGoogle Scholar
Fajardo, Alejandro, and Andrews, Matt. 2014. Does Successful Governance Require Heroes? The Case of Sergio Fajardo and the City of Medellín: A Reform Case for Instruction. WIDER Working Paper 2014/035. World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University. https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2014-035.pdfGoogle Scholar
Former Government Official. 2014. Author interview. Medellín, May 20.Google Scholar
Franco García, Daniela. 2015. “Están asesinando a nuestros defensores de derechos humanos.” El Espectador, May 29. https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/estan-asesinando-nuestros-defensores-de-derechos-humano-articulo-563430Google Scholar
Gambetta, Diego. 1993. The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gil Ramírez, Max Yuri. 2013. Medellín 1993–2013: una ciudad que no logra encontrar el camino para salir definitivamente del laberinto. Paper presented at the seminar “What Happens When Governments Negotiate with Organized Crime? Cases Studies from the Americas.” Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center, October 30. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/GilRamirez-Colombia-2013.pdfGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, Daniel. 2003. “In Our Own Hands”: Lynching, Justice, and the Law in Bolivia. American Ethnologist 30, 1: 22–43.Google Scholar
Government Official. 2015. Medellín government. Author interview. Medellín, June 15.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, Francis, and Jaramillo, Ana María. 2004. Crime, (Counter-) Insurgency and the Privatization of Security: The Case of Medellín, Colombia. Environment and Urbanization 16, 2: 17–30.Google Scholar
Hauck, Pierre, and Peterke, Sven. 2010. Organized Crime and Gang Violence in National and International Law. International Review of the Red Cross 92, 407–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, Mo. 2004. Armed Violence and Poverty in El Salvador: A Mini Case Study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative. Report. Center of International Cooperation and Security, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford. AVPI Case Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/994Google Scholar
Hylton, Forrest. 2007. Medellín’s Makeover. New Left Review 44: 66–85.Google Scholar
Jaitman, Laura, and Roberto, Guerrero. 2015. Closing Knowledge Gaps: Toward Evidence-Based Crime Prevention Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Report. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank. https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7240CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaramillo, Ana María, and Gil Ramírez, Max Yuri. 2014. Ciudades en la encrucijada: violencia y poder criminal en Río de Janeiro, Medellín, Bogotá y Ciudad Juárez. Medellín: Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Relaciones Internacionales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.Google Scholar
Johnson, Andrew, and James, Densley. 2018, Rio’s New Social Order: How Religion Signals Disengagement from Prison Gangs. Qualitative Sociology 41, 2: 243–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Gareth, and Dennis, Rodgers. 2016. The Violence of Development: Guerrillas, Gangs, and Goondas in Perspective. In The Palgrave Handbook of International Development, ed. Grugel, Jean and Hammett, Daniel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 415–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalyvas, Stathis. 2006. The Logic of Violence in Civil War. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, Malcolm. 2005. The Value of Comparisons in Street Gang Research. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 21, 135–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koonings, Kees, and Dirk, Kruijt. 1999. Societies of Fear: The Legacy of Civil War, Violence and Terror in Latin America. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Lamb, Robert. 2010. Microdynamics of Illegitimacy and Complex Urban Violence in Medellín, Colombia. Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland. https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/10242Google Scholar
Laverde Palma, David. 2015. Ana Cristina Restrepo, la última periodista que los violentos intentan amedrentar. El Espectador, March 16. www.elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/ana-cristina-restrepo-ultima-periodista-los-violentos-i-articulo-549726Google Scholar
Lessing, Benjamin, and Graham, Denyer Willis. 2019. Legitimacy in Criminal Governance: Managing a Drug Empire from Behind Bars. American Political Science Review 113, 2: 584–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitt, Steven, and Sudhir, Venkatesh. 2000. An Economic Analysis of a Drug-selling Gang’s Finances. Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 3: 755–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liamputtong, Pranee, and Douglas, Ezzy. 2005. Qualitative Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maclean, Kate. 2014. The “Medellín Miracle”: The Politics of Crisis, Elites and Coalitions. Research report. Developmental Leadership Program, University of Birmingham/La Trobe University. https://www.dlprog.org/publications/research-papers/the-medellín-miracle-the-politics-of-crisis-elites-and-coalitionsGoogle Scholar
Manwaring, Max G. 2005. Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency. Report. Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/1702.pdfGoogle Scholar
Marinho, Michelle, and Dandara, Tinoco. 2017. A New Campaign Against Latin America’s Epidemic of Homicide. Report. Washington, DC: Open Society Foundations. www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/new-campaign-against-latin-america-s-epidemic-homicideGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Jeremy. 2014a. The Changing Face of Colombian Organized Crime. Perspectivas, September 20. http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/la-seguridad/11153.pdfGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Jeremy. 2014b. The BACRIM and Their Position in Colombia’s Underworld. Insight Crime, May 2. www.insightcrime.org/investigations/bacrim-and-their-position-in-colombia-underworldGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Jeremy. 2018. Game Changers 2017: What to Watch For in 2018. Insight Crime, January 17.www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/gamechangers-2017-what-to-watch-for-in-2018Google Scholar
Medellín Como Vamos. 2007. Socialización: encuesta de percepción ciudadana, 2007. https://mcv.proantioquiaserver.com/presentaci-n-de-resultados-encuesta-de-percepci-n-ciudadana-2007Google Scholar
Medellín Como Vamos. 2017. Índice de progreso social. Comunas y corregimientos de Medellín, 2013-2017. https://www.medellincomovamos.org/calidad-de-vida/indice-de-progreso-socialGoogle Scholar
Medellín Como Vamos. 2018. Presentación: informe de calidad de vida de Medellín, 2017. https://www.medellincomovamos.org/informe-de-calidad-de-vida-de-medellin-2018Google Scholar
Medina Franco, Gilberto. 2006. Una historia de las milicias de Medellín. Medellín: IPC.Google Scholar
Melguizo, Ramiro, and Francine, Cronshaw. 2001. The Evolution of Armed Conflict in Medellín: An Analysis of the Major Actors. Latin American Perspectives 116, 28: 110–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moncada, Eduardo. 2016. Urban Violence, Political Economy, and Territorial Control: Insights from Medellín. Latin American Research Review 51, 4: 225–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muggah, Robert. 2012. Researching the Urban Dilemma: Urbanization, Poverty and Violence. Canada: International Developmental Research Center. https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/sp/Images/Researching-the-Urban-Dilemma-Baseline-Study.pdf.Google Scholar
Muggah, Robert. 2015. A Manifesto for the Fragile City. Journal of International Affairs 68, 2: 19–36.Google Scholar
NGO Worker. 2014. Author interview. Medellín, June 30.Google Scholar
NGO Worker. 2015. Author interview. Medellín, May 25.Google Scholar
Panting, César André. 2018. San Pedro Sula ya no está entre la ciudades más violentas del mundo. La Prensa (Honduras), March 7. https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1158598410/san_pedro_sula-ciudades-violentas-honduras-homicidios.Google Scholar
Patiño, Jorge, Duque, Juan, Pardo-Pascual, Josep, and Ruiz, Luis. 2014. Using Remote Sensing to Assess the Relationship Between Crime and the Urban Layout. Applied Geography 55, 48–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posada, Juan Diego. 2018. Colombia’s Comuna 13 Sees Resurgence of Violence. Insight Crime, July 11. https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/medellin-violence-returns-old-haunt-comuna-13/#:~:text=Nightly%20clashes%20between%20criminal%20gangs,era%20of%20powerful%20drug%20cartelsGoogle Scholar
Pratten, David. 2008. The Politics of Protection: Perspectives on Vigilantism in Nigeria. Africa 78, 1: 1–15.Google Scholar
Research Center Director. 2014. Author interview. Medellín, July 25.Google Scholar
Restrepo, Vanesa. 2018. En dos horas aparecieron 4 cadáveres envueltos en sábanas en Medellín. El Colombiano, January 31. www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/asesinatos-y-cadaveres-embolsados-en-Medellín-CH8108664Google Scholar
Riaño Alcalá, Pilar. 2006. Jóvenes, memoria y violencia en Medellín: una antropología del recuerdo y el olvido. Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia.Google Scholar
Rodgers, Dennis. 2006. Living in the Shadow of Death: Gangs, Violence and Social Order in Urban Nicaragua, 1996–2002. Journal of Latin American Studies 38, 2: 267–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodgers, Dennis, and Baird, Adam. 2015. Understanding Gangs in Contemporary Latin America. In The Handbook of Gangs, ed. Decker, Scott and Pyrooz, David. New York: Wiley. 478–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodgers, Dennis, and Steffen, Jensen. 2008. Revolutionaries, Barbarians or War Machines? Gangs in Nicaragua and South Africa. Socialist Register 2009: Violence Today 45, 220–38.Google Scholar
Rosser, Emma. 2015. Medellín Gangs Use “Horror Houses” to Torture and Dismember Victims. Colombia Reports, October 8. https://colombiareports.com/Medellín-gangs-use-horror-houses-to-torture-and-dismember-victims.Google Scholar
Rozema, Ralph. 2008. Urban DDR-Processes: Paramilitaries and Criminal Networks in Medellín, Colombia. Journal of Latin American Studies 40, 3: 423–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salazar, Alonso. 1990. No nacimos p’a semilla. La cultura de las bandas juveniles en Medellín. Bogotá: Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular (CINEP).Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas. 1971. What Is the Business of Organized Crime? American Scholar 40, 4: 643–52.Google Scholar
Semana (Bogotá). 2016. En el 80% de los barrios de Medellín hay extorsión. August 2. https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/seguridad-medellin-en-el-80-de-los-barrios-hay-extorsion/459948Google Scholar
Skarbek, David. 2011. Governance and Prison Gangs. American Political Science Review 105, 4: 702–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarbek, David. 2014. The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Skarbek, David. 2016. Covenants Without the Sword? Comparing Prison Self-Governance Globally. American Political Science Review 110, 4: 845–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, John P., and Bunker, Robert J.. 2007. Third Generation Gang Studies: An Introduction. Journal of Gang Research 14, 4: 1–10.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 2005. Trust and Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN-Habitat. 2007. Report on Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007. United Nations Human Settlements Program. www.poaiss.org/CASAUpload/Members/Documents/22@Human_Settlements_2007.pdf.Google Scholar
Uran, Omar. 2010. Medellín: Participatory Creativity in a Conflictive City. In Participation and Democracy in the Twenty-first Century City, ed. Pearce, Jenny. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 127–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdez, Avelardo, and Charles, Kaplan. 1998. Reducing Selection Bias in the Use of Focus Groups to Investigate Hidden Populations: The Case of Mexican-American Gang Members from South Texas. Drugs & Society 14: 209–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winton, Alicia. 2014. Gangs in Global Perspective. Environment and Urbanization 26, 2: 401–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, Michael Jerome. 2015. Building Criminal Authority: A Comparative Analysis of Drug Gangs in Rio de Janeiro and Recife. Latin American Politics and Society 57, 2: 21–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Jock. 2007. Globalization and Social Exclusion: The Sociology of Vindictiveness and the Criminology of Transgression. In Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology, ed. Hagedorn, John. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 54–93.Google Scholar
Zambrano, Benavides, Diego. 2018. Hallan cadáver dentro de una maleta cerca al Parque Lleras. El Colombiano, January 15. https://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/cadaver-en-una-maleta-cerca-al-parque-lleras-en-medellin-EX8011978.Google Scholar
Zubillaga, Verónica. 2009. “Gaining Respect”: The Logic of Violence Among Young Men in the Barrios of Caracas, Venezuela. In Youth Violence in Latin America, ed. Gareth, A. Jones and Rodgers, Dennis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 83–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar