Global Courant
On the slopes overlooking the center of Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, armed gangs rule sprawling neighborhoods, monitor the local drug trade, exact extortion money from businesses, and enforce rules about who comes and goes on their property .
Now such gangs, employing up to 14,000 people, have declared their willingness to give up everything. On June 2, after nine months of secret meetings with officials, 16 gang leaders – imprisoned in a maximum security prison outside Medellin – announced they would officially begin a dialogue with the government to discuss their disarmament and reintegration into society.
“We want to take a different path: one of peace, of forgiveness and of reconciliation,” said Sebastian Murillo, a spokesman for the gangs and an imprisoned leader of La Oficina, a drug trafficking group originally founded as part of Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel .
Since the 1980s, Colombia has engaged in talks with the politically motivated rebels and paramilitary groups that fueled a nearly six-decade-long conflict in the countryside. But for the first time, Colombia is now using a similar approach to dismantle urban gangs seeking to end criminal rule in the cities.
“One way Colombia has learned to reduce violence is through peace processes,” said German Valencia, a researcher at the University of Antioquia’s Institute of Political Studies. “But a peace process does not necessarily have to be political.”
President Gustavo Petro campaigned for office in Medellin, Colombia, on a platform to bring “total peace” to the country (File: Fredy Builes/Reuters)
In the wake of a 2016 peace deal between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government, violence has returned to parts of the country.
More than 50 armed groups now compete for lucrative drug routes and illegal mining networks abandoned by the FARC. President Gustavo Petro has promised to reduce the number of groups through dialogue and negotiation as part of his “Total Peace” strategy.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), a left-wing rebel organization, and a dozen other groups now control large swaths of rural Colombia. On Friday, the ELN signed a temporary ceasefire with the government – an important milestone – while the other armed groups have also expressed interest in government dialogue.
But to curb the proliferation of violence, Medellin is key, experts said. About 40 percent of Colombia’s armed groups are present in the city.
“It makes no sense to think of ‘total peace’ if the dynamics of urban violence in Colombia are not taken into account,” said Mariana Duque, a political scientist at the Pontifical Bolivarian University in Bogota.
Comuna 13, a neighborhood on the slopes of Medellin, Colombia, was once associated with violent crime but has since been held up as evidence of the city’s transformation (File: Fredy Builes/Reuters)
Due to the armed conflict and the mass displacement of more than eight million people in the country, a majority of Colombians – about 80 percent – now live in cities. There is still a conflict there, with gangs recruiting young people, extorting companies and dealing drugs.
As violence in Medellin has dropped, a city once known as the murder capital of the worldexperts said non-violent crimes like racketeering have actually increased as gangs proliferate throughout the city.
“It’s more psychological violence that they control through fear and no one dares to talk about,” said a community leader, “Ciro,” who spoke on condition of anonymity. His neighborhood, Comuna 13, has been further praised as an example of Medellin’s positive transformation.
But studies have shown that between 350 and 400 street gangs, organized in larger mob-like alliances, exert influence in virtually all low- and middle-income neighborhoods. With offers of money, security and prestige luring young people into their ranks, the Medellin gangs now have more members than many armed groups in Colombia’s conflict-ravaged countryside.
Anti-gang protesters in Bucaramanga, Colombia – some 380 kilometers (236 miles) from Medellin – hold up a banner reading ‘Respect the right to life of our police and military’ (File: Mariana Greif/Reuters)
To weaken the influence of the gangs, government dialogues are designed to reduce the number of people participating in their activities, said Valencia, the political studies researcher.
According to government officials, about 90 percent of Medellin’s gangs have confirmed their interest in dialogues, but whether they will actually demobilize remains to be seen. Despite pledges to call a ceasefire and halt the sale of fentanyl and heroin, experts worry criminal groups have little incentive to disarm.
Because the criminal organizations in Medellin are generally not motivated by political ideology – unlike rebels in the ELN and other groups – the government has decided to frame the dialogue with them differently.
Congress is currently working on a set of non-negotiable terms for members of the criminal organizations to accept without presenting their own demands.
So far below the proposed bill, gangs and cartels that demobilize, disclose information about criminal networks and compensate victims receive reduced prison sentences. They are also allowed to keep up to 6 percent of their illegal assets, capped at about $2.7 million.
Colombia’s Congress has debated terms for the government to enter into peace talks with urban gangs (File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters)
Still, experts doubt the proposed benefits will be attractive enough for thousands to disarm. Top gang leaders who are in prison may be motivated by reduced sentences. But less clear is what will attract middle and low-ranking gang members, whose criminal activities may not be known to authorities – and whose livelihoods are at stake.
“A street gang leader earns between five and ten million pesos (about $1,200 to $2,400) a month,” says Duque, the political scientist. “What needs to change for a person like this to move away from the illicit economies?”
Experts agree that the dialogues should also lead to increased employment and access to health care and education in the peripheries of the city, where the state has less presence. These measures would help ensure the long-term reintegration of young people into society.
Otherwise, the talks risk exacerbating the conflict, Valencia said.
Gangs in Medellin have formed alliances and treaties over the decades to decide who controls which area. According to Valencia, the talks could lead to one of two outcomes. Either the talks are a success, reducing violence and crime in the city, or partial demobilization will unravel the gangs’ treaties and spark more violence.
“We hope the talks will become an example of how the country can achieve urban peace,” he said.
