Violence in modern Colombia takes place in many forms. The three major categories are crime, guerrilla activities, and attacks committed by drug traffickers. Violence has become so widespread and common in Colombia that many people have now become numb to it. The Colombian economy has also benefited from the illicit drug trade; however violent it may be. During the 1970s, Colombia became well known, as one of the world’s most important drug processing, production, and distribution centers for marijuana and cocaine.
The shrubs and plants from which both drugs are derived from and processed has been well known in Colombia for centuries, but until the 1970s drug refiners and traffickers had not taken full advantage. The chewing of coca
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During this time, the levels of violence were lower than many European and American Countries. Colombia has gained international fame as one of the major centers in the world for drug trafficking. Anytime a country has a problem with drug trafficking, crime is always high.
In 1973, homicide was the seventh highest cause from death, but since has become the first since 1990. More than 165,000 have had a violent death between 1980 and 1990. During this decade, the homicide rate was 77.5% per 100,000 people. In comparison, the United States has been regarded as a violent country, but yet the homicide rate was only 8.0%. Contributing to this violence in Colombia is the possession of firearms. Colombians possess more than three million firearms, and more than half is possessed illegally.
This adds greatly to the crime and violence in Colombia (Posada-Carbo). It is extremely difficult to measure the magnitude, type, and location of violence in Colombia. Another problem in measuring the amount of violence is that not all violent cases are reported. It must also be noted that any media report of violence must also be read with caution; for it may or may not have occurred.
Violence seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. Almost all aspects of the Colombian population experience some degree of violence. Almost everybody is a potential victim; violence does not prefer a particular socioeconomic class, profession, race, or
Colombia was one of the three original countries along with Ecuador and Venezuela that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Over the last 40 years, there has been a campaign to overthrow the government partially because of the drug trades throughout Colombia. The movement does however lack support from military and support from the necessary influences. In recent years, there have been challenges for control of the territories throughout Colombia and also for the drug trade.
Most of us are familiar with these global terms “American dream” and “drugs cartels”. These thoughts exemplify one the differences between United States of America and Colombia. Despite United States of America and Colombia are located in the same hemisphere significant differences in food, natural resources and tourist attractions make each country quite distinct from the other.
Columbia is historically the most impacted nation of narco-terrorism. Columbia was first declared an independent nation after the fall of Gran Columbia along with Ecuador and Venezuela in 1830. As of July 2011, CIA World Factbook has estimated its population to be about 44,725,543. Columbia has 1,138,910 sq km of land, approximately three times the size of California. However, according to the CIA World Factbook it is estimated that only 2.1% of the land is arable, 1.37% is already used for permanent crops, and the rest of its 96% is used for “other” reasons. According to the 2008 World Drug Report, over 99,000 ha of Columbian land is used for cocaine cultivation. Due to its ongoing civil wars and weak democratic government, Columbia has become a haven for narco-terrorism. Insurgent groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation Army (ELN), and United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) have been known rely on drug trafficking to carry out bombings, extortion, kidnapping, and assassination.
Chon reviews and tests Neapolitan’s Regional Subculture of Violence Thesis (1994). The finding from this study suggested the current multiple regression analysis did not support Neapolitan’s argument. However, structure factors are more of a predicator in determining high homicide rate in Latin America. Chon explains the nation’s high homicide rate comes from a multitude of sources. One explanation is constructed on the regional violent culture theory. The other explanation is structure factors, which are (a) poverty (GDP per capita), (b) income inequality, (c) literacy rate, (d) alcoholic consumption level, (e) age distribution. The researcher uses published reviewed sources to support the main argument as well as used Neapolitan’s Regional Subculture of Violence Thesis (1994). This journal article will serve to be useful for answering my research question because it uses structural factors in determining the cause of homicide rate. Also, this article focus specifically on Latin America and the countries I am studying are in Latin
Since the 1970s, Colombia has been home to some of the most violent and sophisticated
During this time, the illegal drug trade in Colombia grew immensely with an emphasis on cocaine trafficking. The most notable drug trafficking organizations, the Medellin Cartel and the Cali Cartel, grew until they had enough money and military power to have a strong influence on politics in Colombia. Newfound political sway on behalf of the cartels contributed to a notoriously corrupt Colombian government. Violence in the country increased as opposing drug cartels engaged in intergroup fighting that would eventually lead to the collapse of both the Cali and the Medellin
Duran-Martinez article addresses the question of the wide range of variation in drug violence found in countries associated with drug trafficking. She argues that the interaction between cohesion of state security and criminal competition in the illegal market can be used to determine incentives to use violence. The author conducts case studies to compare the patterns of drug violence from 1984-2010 in five cities in Mexico and Colombia including Cali, Medellin, Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan, and Tijuana. The results show that “frequency of violence increases as
According to the U.S. Department of State, coca growth and cocaine production in Peru started in the 19th century, when profits were high from exporting to the United States. In 1948, Peru outlawed cocaine and the production of it, prompting illegal growth in the largely uninhabited Hullaga Valley. The Hullaga Valley consists of incredibly rugged terrain, making it difficult for the government to control the growth of coca, ultimately leading to an increase in cocaine production in Peru. A large proportion of this cocaine was shipped southward out of Peru, through Chile, until roughly 1970 when an increased military presence near shipment routes caused a reroute through Colombia. By 1980, Peru was considered to be the world’s
Historically, the relations between U.S and Colombia have been marked the foreign policy and the international trade. Nevertheless, the civil war in Colombia have shifted this relation. In Colombia, the establishment of The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) during the 1960s created the beginning of an era of terrorist and drug trafficking. The FARC began forming in 1966 inspired by the Cuban Revolution with a left-wing nationalism and Marxism-Leninism. FARC’s actions trough the history has been involved with terrorist against of the population in Colombia. As well, thousands of peasant farmers that have been obligated to produce illicit drugs in their own properties controlled by the guerrillas. Nowadays, the FARC has been the largest and oldest insurgent group in the Americas. The FARC has been roundly criticized for initiating
Colombia is a Latin American country located in South America that has been ravaged by violence, starvation, and large-scale inequality between higher and lower classes. The chaos in Colombia has been between rebel forces and the government and has lasted for over fifty years. These rebel forces have fought to achieve their Liberalist lead goals of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a communist government. La Violencia was the main contributor to the conflict between the resistance fighters of Colombia and the Colombian government that has brought on violence and terror from the violent actions between the Liberal and Conservative parties in the 1950’s. , which has directly brought on the violence and terror from the guerrilla groups.
The drug dealers have captured a great deal of power in Colombia, and have adopted the position of the government in many instances. The drug trade has ruined the image of Colombia, and has caused the world to forget about the other goods produced in Colombia, like coffee, flowers, oil and gas for instance. As the website put out by the Colombian Government Trade Bureau entitled “Colombia Trade News” states,
Throughout Colombia’s history there has been two very violent groups of people who do not like each other. This caused the War of Thousand Days and The Violence,
Currently, increasing frequency of incidents related to substance addictions is a worrying issue. It shows that in Colombia there is a wide availability of psychoactive substances reinforced by the inequities of social and economic factors that have precipitated the increased incidence and prevalence of drug use, predominantly in young population groups. (Silva, Simich, Strike, Brands, Giesbrecht & Khenti, 2012). It was determined that incidence of consume of any illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine or heroin) was 5.9% of population, estimated at over one million one hundred thousand men (11.4% from the consumer percentage) and nearly three hundred thousand women (1.9% from the consumer percentage). There is a steady increase in
Drug cartels have grown and expanded throughout the interior and exterior of states for many years. The way drugs started to be introduced to Mexico, Colombia, and other places around the world was believed to be a myth. It was a tale that was known by many through storytelling, which over the years turned into an actual realistic issue. One of the most known cartels that existed for a long time was The Medellin Cartel. It became a subculture of its own, creating a world full of violence, women, money, firearms, death but most importantly power and fear. Located in Colombia this brutal subculture will show how they become one of the wealthiest subculture in the world surpassing even its own country’s riches.
Crime, death, and destruction in Latin America is a big issue that’s spreading around the whole world. It’s becoming a worldwide problem and it needs to be fixed. Trafficking drugs to other countries and what not, are the main cause of crime, death and destruction of property in Latin America. “According to police data, these countries collectively saw 17,422 murders in 2015, 11% more than in 2014. However, there are signs the security challenges are changing, both in Northern Triangle and across Central America as a whole.” This shows that murders are occurring more often than they should. El Salvador is increased in murders between 2014-15 and its one of the highest in the world. The