HomeNewsBriefStudy: BACRIMs Continue Steady Expansion Across Colombia
BRIEF

Study: BACRIMs Continue Steady Expansion Across Colombia

COLOMBIA / 22 FEB 2012 BY CHRISTOPHER LOOFT EN

Colombia think tank Indepaz has released its 2011 study on the narco-paramilitary gangs known as 'criminal bands' or BACRIMs, arguing that the groups have expanded their activity across the country.

The study states that the BACRIMs are operating in about a third of Colombia's 1,103 municipalities. The relative amount of territory held by the main BACRIMs has remained roughly static, even as each group has grown slightly.

Los Rastrojos are still the largest of the BACRIMs, with a reported presence in 247 municipalities in 23 departments, followed by the Urabeños with 211 municipalities in 18 departments.

According to Indepaz's count, the narco-paramilitary groups have moved into 46 new municipalities since 2010, reflecting a steady expansion since 2008.

The study also noted that when coca cultivation data is matched up with its maps of paramilitary activity, the Rastrojos, Urabeños, and the now-dismantled ERPAC appear to be cultivating the most coca.

Another interesting assertion is that the Urabeños have moved into Tumaco, Nariño, Colombia's most embattled conflict zone and the traditional territory of the Rastrojos.

InSight Crime Analysis

Taken with a recent report that the Rastrojos, Urabeños, and Paisas have formed a non-aggression pact, the Indepaz study suggests that narco-paramilitary groups have consolidated their power in the country's west and north. This reflects a broader trend in Colombia as neo-paramilitary groups consolidate themselves as the primary drug traffickers and drivers of violence.

The report's assertion that the Urabeños have operatives in southwest Tumaco suggests that the group has expanded far outside its traditional territory along the Caribbean coast and north-central Colombian. It is also further indication of the importance of the port city as a hub for drug trafficking and the civil conflict, following a bombing by the FARC earlier this month which left 11 people dead.

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

COLOMBIA / 29 OCT 2021

The fascination with “narco-culture” has taken over the entertainment and media industries: documentaries, TV shows, movies, podcasts, even a dedicated…

COLOMBIA / 3 OCT 2022

While now comfortably established in two countries, the ELN have a chance to return to the negotiating table, according to…

BRAZIL / 4 APR 2023

In Leticia, a tri-border between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, Brazilian gangs are pushing up violence as the battle for control.

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…