HomeNewsBriefMotorcycle Killings: Criminal Modus Operandi in LatAm
BRIEF

Motorcycle Killings: Criminal Modus Operandi in LatAm

ECUADOR / 9 AUG 2015 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

Over 1,500 Guatemalans have reportedly been killed by motorcycle assassins since 2012, highlighting the spread across Latin America of a murder tactic popularized during the era of Colombia's Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel.

According to the non-governmental organization Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM), 1,537 Guatemalans have been killed in the past three and a half year by motorcycle-born assassins, reported elPeriodico. An additional 699 individuals have reportedly suffered injuries as a result of these attacks.

According to GAM, the number of motorcycle killings in Guatemala is on the rise. The number of registered deaths increased by over 50 percent between 2012 and 2014, from 335 to 527, respectively.

To combat this crime, former President Alvaro Colom prohibited a second passenger from riding on the back of a motorcycle in 2009. However, current President Otto Perez Molina lifted this ban in 2013.

SEE ALSO: Guatemala News and Profile

Meanwhile, a recent study conducted by Ecuador's Judicial Police found that suspects on motorcycles in the city of Guayaquil have carried out an average of nine crimes per day this year. (See El Universo's graph below) The 1,876 crimes committed by individuals riding motorcycles represent almost 15 percent of the total number of criminal acts reported to authorities during the first seven months of 2015.

15-08-07-Ecuador-Moto-Crimes

InSight Crime Analysis

The use of motorcycles as a vehicle for assassination dates back to the 1980s, when Pablo Escobar ran the powerful Medellin Cartel in Colombia. On orders from Escobar, motorcycle assassins killed Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, setting off a war between the cartel and the state over the issue of extradition. The cartel emerged victorious in this war, and Escobar's use of motorcycle assassins catapulted him to international notoriety. 

Since that time, the use of motorcycle assassins has spread throughout Latin America. The tactic has become common in countries with a strong gang presence such as Honduras and Guatemala, but has also been seen in more peaceful nations like Uruguay.

Despite the prevalence of motorcycle assassins, many urban dwellers in Latin America oppose a two-passenger ban because they rely on motorcycles for transportation. Perez Molina's reversal of the two-passenger prohibition in 2013 attests to the unpopularity of this law, which often stalls efforts to cut down on motorcycle crimes. Medellin has restricted men from riding on the back of motorcycles for years, but a Colombian court recently overturned the ban. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CONTRABAND / 18 MAY 2022

Cattle from Mexico and the Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua help feed the domestic beef markets of…

HOMICIDES / 19 OCT 2022

Mothers searching for their missing loved ones in Mexico have been murdered, threatened, and ignored, despite government pledges to protect…

COCAINE / 23 MAY 2022

Killings linked to drug trafficking disputes are soaring in Costa Rica’s Caribbean province of Limón, as surging cocaine flows and…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…