Thursday 9 January 2014

Gang says helped reduce Medellín crime, murders increased in Cali in 2013

The Colombian city of Cali, one of the country's most violent, countered the downward trend in violent crime authorities reported for 2013, while gangs claimed in the city of Medellín that they rather than police had curbed violence there in 2013. In Medellín officials counted 920 murders for 2013, 331 less than in 2012, which reduced the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants from 52 in 2012 to 38 in 2013, El Tiempo recently reported. The city witnessed 37 days with no murders that year, compared to 13 in 2012, El Colombiano reported on 9 January, citing a deputy-mayor Luis Fernández Vélez Suárez. The daily cited the head of a local NGO, Corporación para el Desarrollo y la Paz, as saying that one of Colombia's main criminal gangs, Los Urabeños, distributed pamphlets in parts of the city last November stating that "in spite of what officials say," the reduction was for the "efforts" made by several gangs to give residents some "peace and quiet." This was apparently a reference to a ceasefire in place since July 2013 between the Urabeños and the rival Oficina de Envigado, activists were cited as saying. Deputy-mayor Fernández said violent crime has steadily declined in Medellín since 1991, and fell sharply in 2012, regardless of any pact. Reported murders increased however in the south-western city of Cali, and officials have asked the local military to extend provisional restrictions on carrying arms, due to end on 31 January 2014. City Ombudsman Andrés Santamaria said the arms ban that began on 13 December was clearly effective as December murders had dropped from 236 in 2012 to 136, the Cali newspaper El País reported on 9 January. It observed that the local garrison, which emits arms permits, was reluctant to extend the ban, going against the trend in Bogotá and Medellín. There were 1962 reported killings in Cali in 2013 - 89 per cent being shooting deaths - 123 more than in 2012, El País reported.