HomeNewsLand Thieves Drove People From Their Homes in Rosario, Argentina
NEWS

Land Thieves Drove People From Their Homes in Rosario, Argentina

ARGENTINA / 29 JUN 2021 BY PAIGE BOWMAN EN

While the underworld in Rosario, Argentina, is dominated by large criminal groups like the Monos, a lower-profile group carved out a profitable land-grabbing scheme in the city over several years.

The case of a group, known as the Colorados, is a strong example of this. On June 25, three members of the Colorados were charged for operating a long-running property theft scheme in the city.

They were arrested after a lengthy investigation into the group’s forceful seizures of homes and land in Nuevo Alberdi, a district within the central city of Rosario, as well as ties to the local police force.

In order to seize properties, the group reportedly first sent intimidating messages to those living on plots they had targeted. Then, members of the Colorados would try to force people to flee by opening fire or throwing Molotov cocktails at the houses. Once residents had fled, they moved in. The group then illegally rented out or sold the properties, or even turned them into drug trafficking safehouses, Argentine newspaper La Capital reported, citing sources within the investigation.

SEE ALSO: Los Monos Defending Their Territory in Rosario, Argentina

While the timeline of the group’s creation is unclear, the Colorados have been known since at least 2015. However, their activities seem to have escalated in recent months, with multiple individuals reporting that their properties in Rosario had been taken over.

Besides the use of certain properties as drug trafficking safehouses, there is no information as to whether the Colorados were involved in other criminal economies.

InSight Crime Analysis

Rosario has a long and complex criminal landscape, mostly dominated by the Monos, a large, family-run criminal gang connected to drug trafficking, murder, child recruitment and corruption. But a focus on a single, larger gang may have allowed smaller groups, with a more focused modus operandi, to operate under the radar.

The relations Rosario’s police maintain with criminal groups may also have helped. In addition to the three arrests within the Colorados, a Nuevo Alberdi police chief was arrested on suspicion of having solicited a bribe of 50,000 Argentine pesos (around $520) to free a member of the Colorados from prison. Rosario police officers have been alleged to turn a blind eye to local drug trafficking in the city and have been found guilty of membership in criminal organizations in the past.

SEE ALSO: Police Corruption Blamed as Bodies Pile Up in Rosario, Argentina

The Colorados may have also benefited from the weakening of the Romero Clan, also based in Rosario, according to police investigators cited by La Capital. While the Romero Clan received significant attention for its clashes with Los Monos for control of microtrafficking in Rosario, the group has also been a rival of the Colorados, carrying out similar land seizure schemes in Nuevo Alberdi, according to El Ciudadano. 

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

ARGENTINA / 1 JUN 2023

Ransom kidnapping became a lucrative criminal economy in Argentina. But since 2015, they've nosedived. Why?…

ARGENTINA / 12 SEP 2022

The consequences of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are immediate and enormous across Latin America and the Caribbean.

BARRIO 18 / 30 JAN 2023

While thousands of gang members have been arrested in El Salvador, some may have moved their activities to Mexico.

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…