Buenaventura is deadliest large city

The full story plus a slide show:

www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/world/americas/22colombia.html

Excerpts:

-------------------

Killings in this city of about 300,000 climbed 30 percent last year, to 408, giving Buenaventura the nation’s highest homicide rate at 144 per 100,000, more than seven times the rate in Bogotá and four times that of Medellín. And this year, the police say, 222 people have been killed here.

---------------------

Security officials here say laws that are lax on minors, who carry out many of the attacks, make it difficult to reduce the killings.

“We have a justice system designed for Switzerland, yet we have no Swiss here,�? said Col. Yamil Moreno, the chief of police in Buenaventura. In the same breath, Colonel Moreno, who was transferred here from the north, callously described Buenaventura’s dying combatants.

“These vagabonds,�? he said, “are good only for drinking, dancing and killing.�?

-------------------

(I imagine Colonel Moreno is regretting his words right about now...)

By Tinto (Moderator) on May 22, 2007, 08:06 in Friendly Talkzone.

kalder says on May 22, 2007, 08:33:

Very interesting article. In light of jooker's thread on racial designation, the following quote intrigues especially:

“Nothing in this fight is about ideology,�? said Antero Viveros, the head of a community group in Lleras, a large slum controlled by the guerrillas. “It is about drugs, with members of one ethnicity killing each other.�?

Which ethnicity would be more likely to be with which faction? Afro-Colombians with the FARC; lighter-skinned with the paras...?

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

Mr. Hollywood says on May 22, 2007, 10:15:

Good quote The quote about the Swiss-styled justice system is pretty good, though. Col. Moreno can get a job writing for Jon Stewart next.

Kalder, in answer to your question, I've met with groups of demobilized FARC and AUC on several occassions and I couldn't begin to tell you if there's a racial divide. I was actually amazed by how much the rank-and-file of these groups resemble each other.

Maybe in that specific slum of Buenaventura it's different.

juancegomez says on May 22, 2007, 11:27:

kalder I agree with Mr. Hollywood, in that the ethnic composition of all the armed groups tends to vary a lot, from place to place, but it's actually one of the things that they all have in common, rather than something that separates them.

So I also have to say that I understood that phrase as referring to members of the same ethnicity killing each other, not as a battle between different ethnicities.

Btw, that Swiss quote, or variants using different terms, is actually quite popular around here...so Col. Moreno can't get all the credit. :P

kalder says on May 22, 2007, 12:45:

Yes JG, you're quite right It reads: "...with members of one ethnicity killing each other". Rather than 'one ethnicity killing an other'.

And Mr. H, I was always under the impression that all the different factions looked like one another too. I remember those Danish Marxists selling their pro-FARC t-shirts in Copenhagen last year. Their website carried some propaganda about the FARC being primarily made up of black and Indian Colombians- a fact any photos I've seen of the FARC gave particular lie to.

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon