HomeNewsBriefOver 500 Street Gangs Terrorize Colombia's Biggest Cities
BRIEF

Over 500 Street Gangs Terrorize Colombia's Biggest Cities

COLOMBIA / 7 APR 2015 BY JAMES BARGENT EN

There are over 500 street gangs in Colombia's six biggest cities, according to information collected by local authorities, highlighting the scale of a security threat intrinsically linked to wider changes in the Colombian underworld.

According to El Tiempo, police and local governments in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cartagena have identified 517 gangs operating in these cities.

Bogota has the highest number of gangs with 107, although police say just 30 of these are involved in serious crimes, while the rest are predominantly youth gangs dedicated to petty crime. 

Perhaps the most significant gang problem is in Cali, where police have identified 105 gangs, and Medellin, where they have counted 90. The gangs exert strong territorial control and are dedicated to extortion, drug sales, and assassinations, among other illicit activities, and many of them provide services to large scale criminal organizations.

In contrast, in Colombia's smaller cities -- including Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cartagena -- police say the gangs they have identified are mostly adolescents dedicated to petty crime, and have few ties to larger criminal groups.

InSight Crime Analysis

The proliferation of street gangs in Colombia's major cities is illustrative of wider changes in Colombia's underworld. Links between petty urban gangs and larger organized crime networks dates back to the era of Medellin Cartel leader Pablo Escobar, who hired youths from gangs in order to plant bombs and carry out killings. 

Since then, however, Colombia's criminal structures have steadily fragmented, breaking down into ever smaller, more localized cells. This model lends itself to the sort of criminal outsourcing pioneered by Escobar, as it is often easier and safter for these criminal cells to hire urban gangs to do their dirty work -- like storing drug shipments or carrying out assasinations -- for them. 

Similarly to Escobar's era, these recruits from working class neighborhoods are also considered appealing as they are viewed as expendable -- and as they typically don't know a lot about who hires them, if caught, they can provide little useful intelligence to police. 

SEE ALSO: Colombia News and Profiles

Today's urban gangs -- especially in Medellin and Cali -- pick and choose their alliances with larger criminal groups like the Urabeños largely based on the economic benefits involved. In the past, shifts in these allegiances have contributed greatly to violence in these cities (although, for a mix of reasons, homicides in urban Colombia dropped significantly last year). 

There have been a few signs that Mexico's underworld is evolving into something akin to the Colombian model -- should this continue, street gangs in that country will also likely proliferate and become the major threat to citizen security, rather than transnational organized crime.   

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.

Tags

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

COCAINE / 17 FEB 2023

Wilder Emilio Sánchez Farfán, alias “Gato Farfán” helped develop Ecuador's credentials as a drug trafficking hub.

BOLIVIA / 8 MAR 2023

InSight Crime reviews Latin America and the Caribbean's cocaine seizure date from 2022 to find out what it reveals about…

COCA / 14 JUL 2021

Recently published data has shown that deforestation in Colombia soared last year, as a number of illegal activities drove forest…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…