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some interesting statistics I found in the El Tiempo 29th of July edition

had some numbers for crime in some different cities

bogota rate per 100,000 of homicides 18.7
bogota (not sure this is a rate, but rather a specific #, was not clear) hur
tos a personas 11,853
bogota hurtos a residencias 4,793

cali rate of homicides 70
cali hurtos a personas 5,957
cali hurtos a residencias 1,548

medellin rate of homicides 28.6
medellin rate of hurtos a personas 1,445
medellin rate of hurtos a residencias 139

I have spent some time in Cali over the years and have never felt really safe.
I have been spending about two months now in Medellin, after four years (about six months per year) in Cartagena, and Medellin feels better than Cali for sure...........but many Colombians,and including the paper reminds of the danger at nite in all parts of the city....was an article the other day in the Colombiano that even Calle 33 between about 75 and 80 is dangerous later at nite and recomends not going out alone....and this, of course is being written to the Colombian audience

the thing that really struck me with these numbers is how much lower the numbers are in Medellin compared to Cali........especially house roberies

any thoughts from the experts????

By adventuro03 on Aug 2, 2008, 16:14 in Friendly Talkzone.

romy says on Aug 2, 2008, 16:33:

With the Rodriguez gone, chaos followed as battles for territory emerged. kind of what's going on in rural Colombia right now. Solutions for these problems have to be better thought out and more long lasting instead of the short-termed solutions that the country has been plagued with. Cali also has lacked the social investment that great mayors in Bogota and Medellin were able to put together.

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billyb says on Aug 2, 2008, 16:50:

More to the point, since in romy example the battles for territory meant killings amongst themselves. I think you are speaking more to the "common' crime stats in Cali, and they indeed shot up, but not due to turf battles between traquetos, but because of the fact that when the Cali Cartel was "dismantled", that put 5,000 thugs whose only skills were with a gun, out of being "gainfully" employed. The same thing happened in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. When their wars ended it put thousands of fighters from both sides out on the streeets to fend for themselves and their commn crime stats s went through the roof, still are.. And as romy correctly points put, Cali suffered from a deficit of honest politicians that could have mitigated the problem to some extent, as the mayors of Bogota, medellin and Pereira have done.

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billyb says on Aug 2, 2008, 16:50:

.....dup.

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august says on Aug 4, 2008, 09:36:

Interesting stats indeed. It seems like people have a lot of hope in the current mayor of Cali. I don´t know too much about him, but who knows?

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romy says on Aug 4, 2008, 09:56:

I'm being told I might get to see a functioning MIO by the time I get to Cali, if that means anything...

BB- I gave an opinion... what gives you the authority decide correct and incorrect?

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billyb says on Aug 4, 2008, 10:43:

what? you whining again? You gave an opinion and I gave mine. I never used the words "inocerrect" regarding your post, I even said you were correct one point.

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romy says on Aug 4, 2008, 11:01:

pointing something out as correct means you also have the ability to point something as incorrect, no?

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billyb says on Aug 4, 2008, 12:40:

Yes, I have the ability to do both ;)

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