How U.S. Policy Drives Latin America's Homicides

The United States is hurting instead of helping.

The Washington Post published this interesting editorial yesterday about Latin America's homicide plague: It is the planet's most homicidal region, a problem which the author blames on poor governance.

The editorial board is half correct. When parties in dispute lack confidence in the legal system, or

A homicide scene in Mexico, where much of
the violence is driven by the illegal drug trade.
(Photo: The Economist)

when the legal system doesn't fulfill its role of punishing criminals, then its more likely for people to turn to violence.

But the people in dispute also need a motive to turn to violence, and the commentry left out that part. After all, large parts of Africa and Asia also lack rule of law and functioning legal systems, but generally don't suffer from the same levels of violence as Latin America. What's the difference?

The difference is that Latin America is ground zero for much of the world's illegal drug trade. Narcotraffickers by nature cannot use the legal system, so they often turn to violence. Needless to say, if buying and selling cocaine and marijuana were not illegal, then they'd be traded by legal companies, which would sue each other instead of shooting.

Add in the fact that Latin American criminal groups have relatively easy access to firearms purchased in the United States and you have a lethal mix.

Before trying to help Latin America, the United States could stop hurting the region.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Sad End for Samurai

A search rally for Samurai in the Parque Nacional. He had lots of friends.

You might have noticed the posters around town, or even encountered one of the search rallies. But no, Bogotanos are not taking up the ancient Japanese sport. Rather, 'Samurai' is the stage name of Hernández Beltrán, a prominent Bogotá hip hop musician who disappeared in mid-December.

Samurai's fans held on to hope and carried out a massive search. Fate was against them and Samurai, however. A few days ago, a badly decomposed corpse discovered Jan. 4 was identified as Samurai's. He had been murdered with blows to the head with a blunt instrument - perhaps in a fight.

Samurai became one of Bogotá's last homicide victims of 2018, in a city which still has way too many of them.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Crack Down on Guns!

'Popeye,' one of Pablo Escobar's killers, shows off a tool of his trade.

Years ago, working on a construction site in Texas, I met a tall Texan in his 50s who had just gotten out after ten years in prison. He was a good-natured man who I doubt would have stolen a wallet if he'd found it on a park bench. Rather, he'd gone to prison for killing a stranger.

Homicides in Colombia by guns
(light blue) and knives (dark blue).
Altho knives are much more common,
guns kill many more people.
(Source: El Tiempo) 

He told me that he and his father had pulled into a gas station somewhere in Texas and started filling their tank. Unbeknowest to them, the rule was 'pay before you pump,' and another man was in the office paying for the gasoline that my acquaintance and his father were pumping.

The other man, believing that these two were stealing his few dollars worth of fuel, did what Texans do: He pulled out his gun and ran toward them. My acquaintance, seeing the stranger coming at him with pistol pointed, pulled out his own gun and shot the other man dead.

One man died and another did ten years in prison - at huge cost to society - because of a misunderstanding over a few gallons of gasoline. If they had not been armed, they would have argued briefly and resolved the situation with a handshake.

Those sorts of routine, deadly confrontations - even more than mass shootings like the recent ones in Texas and Las Vegas - are why Colombia is right to tighten its gun control laws.

The correlation is clear: Number of guns and number of
gun massacres, the U.S. is in a class by itself.
(Source: New York Times)

According to a recent study by the Fiscalia, reported by El Tiempo, 7 out of 10 homicides in Colombia are committed by firearms.

"Firearms have a preponderant role in lethal violence in Colombia," the report said.

Bogotá can add one more fatality with the death this week of Daniela, a university student shot in the head by a mugger on her way home in April. She lingered in a coma for seven months while her family and friends agonized. The killer has not been caught.

Firearms are smuggled illegaly into Colombia from the United States, Central America and Europe. But others are purchased here legally, only to be used criminally. Of the almost 86,000 firearms seized by authorities between 2014 and '16, almost 20% had been purchased legally in Colombia but made their way to criminals.

What's more, the proportion of firearms confiscated from members of criminal organizations captured or killed has plummeted in recent years, from 94 guns for every 100 members of such organizations in 2010, to only 19 per hundred in 2015. That might mean that the organizations are getting better at hiding their guns, switching to other weapons, such as knives, or that corrupt police are confiscating but not reporting weapons in order to sell them on the black market - and back to criminals.

And that happens frequently. I once covered the crime beat for a small town newspaper in Mississippi. One of the most frequent items stolen in home burglaries were guns - perhaps legally purchased, but now in criminal hands.

As in the U.S., the large number of firearms in private hands in Colombia turns minor confrontations deadly. In the city of Cali, 42% of homicides result from such confrontations rather than contract killings. In Bogotá, the proportion is 21%, in Medellin, 14%, according to El Tiempo.

To tighten up access to firearms, the Fiscalia offers the example of Japan, which has only a tiny number of gun homicides. There, in order to obtain a permit to own a gun, a person must pass a written test, a gun handling test and a psychological examination.

In Colombia, a person must, among other things, show the results of a psycho-physical evaluation and explain why he or she needs the weapon for protection from threats.

Related: 

The Axis of Killing

A Gun Sale Gone Wrong

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Our Homicide Epidemic

Last weekend, nine people were murdered in Ciudad Bolivar, in southern Bogotá.

In the port city of Buenaventura more than 2,500 people have been forced from their homes recently by fighting between the bands Los Urabeños y La Empresa. Buenaventura is an important route for smuggling cocaine north toward the United States.

And in the town of Sincelejo on Bogotá's Caribbean coast the mayor just announced that the traditional correlejas will be canceled next year because the city doesn't have enough police to keep the event safe and also fight a crime wave across the city.

According to a new report by the United Nations Development Program, Latin America is suffering a violence epidemic.

'Most of the region's nations suffer violence rates considered epidemic by the World Health Organization,' the report says.

Ten murders per 100,000 people per year is defined as epidemic. During the cartel wars of the 1980s Colombia's murder rate hit 57 per 100,000 and then soared to 95 per 100,000 by 1993, according to this paper from the University of San Francisco. (During that period, when Pablo Escobar was paying his assassins $1,000 for each police officer they killed, Medellin's homicide rate was a terrifyingl astronomical 350 per 100,000 people.)

Of course, we all know that that violent scourge has passed into history. Except that Colombia's homicide rate seems to have stabilized in the low 30s per 100,000, still epidemic and much higher than the rate in Mexico, which has been scourged by drug-related violence, where the rate is 22 per 100,000. But small, poor, corrupt nations with weak institutions are doing even worse. Nicaragua and El Salvador have homicide rates of 64 and 77 per 100,000 people respectively.

The region's homicide epidemic has many causes, including poverty, unequal income distribution, and easy availability of firearms. But the huge driver is undoubtedly the illegal drug trade, which channels huge amounts of money to violent, illegal groups which practice dispute resolution policies of 'shoot first, talk later.'

 In fact, 11 of the region's 18 countries have homicide rates considered 'epidemic.' And, in addition to homicide's human costs, it also takes a huge bite out of the economy, of 2-3% in relatively peaceful nations such as Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica, and as much as 10% in the most violent nations.

Most of the possible solutions, such as increasing security and the rule of law, are difficult and will take a long time to implement. But one solution could be implemented relatively quickly.

'Legalize and regulate drugs,' recommends the University of San Francisco paper. 'If drugs are legalized and regulated, they will be taken off the black market and out of the domain of violent insurgent groups. These groups will stop being able to fund themselves,' and presumably lose the motive and capacity to wreak havoc.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Fatal Passion for Street Art

Graffiti artist Diego Becerra, left, shot by Bogotá police in 2008, and Israel Hernandez, right, killed two weeks ago by police in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo: El Tiempo)

The killing of a young Colombian-American graffiti artist by Miami Beach, Florida police last week recalls the killing five years ago of a yong grafitero in north Bogotá.

Both Diego Becerra,17, and Israel Hernandez, 18, were talented graffiti artists. Both were surprised by police while painting walls and killed soon after. Unfortunately, their art is looked upon negatively by many people, and often associated with crime.

Becerra's case has become something of a cause celebre in Bogotá. Initially, police charged that the youth had committed a robbery before they pursued him. But it soon became clear that police had framed Becerra in order to cover up the killing. Since then, three police officers have been charged in the killing and cover up, and two police colonels put under investigation.

For his part, Israel Hernandez was allegedly killed by a Miami Beach taser, a weapon which emits a supposedly paralyzing but non-harmful electric shock. Hernandez's father, who is also named Israel, told W Radio that his son had also been hit on the head. The elder Hernandez vows to see his son's death will be investigated and the guilty punished.

Ironically, the Hernandez family moved to Miami from the sometimes violent La Guajira region because the elder Hernandez had experienced threats, he said. Somewhat ironically, in the radio interview, Hernandez called Miami a city 'where rights are respected.' It will be interesting to see whether Hernandez's case is pursued as thoroughly as Becerra's has been.

Also this week, in the state of Virginia a Colombian woman was also allegedly strangled to death by her American husband, who is now in prison.

The United States was once the land of opportunity for many Colombians: a place where Colombians went to escape their own nation's violence. Today, as Colombia's rates of violence drop and its economy grows, that historic relationship may be shifting.

It's time to change the traditional view of graffiti artists as probable delinquents and criminals. Some people who paint walls are just gang members vandalizing public space. But Hernandez had won awards for his artwork and exhibited in Miami art galleries. While not everything painted onto walls is attractive, or even art, good street art contributes a lot to a city. Putting them into the same category is like
And, I'm certain, many more people get to enjoy a piece of street art than do a painting hidden away in a museum.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Where Killing Has Turned Routine

Two of the rappers in
Bogotá's Central Cemetery.

Two of the teenagers who often perform anti-violence rap songs for our bike tours in the Santa Fe neighborhood made a spur-of-the-moment decision the other day: to attend the funeral of a 15-year-old boy who'd lived in their house until he was murdered a few days ago.

The boy had been stabbed to death, my friend told me, on Calle 15, after supposedly stealing a pair of sunglasses. My friend's decision to attend the funeral the other day in the Central Cemetery seemed like an afterthought: "We're taking off," one said, "to a funeral. But we'll catch up with you in a little while."

In fact, they stayed at the funeral longer than they'd expected. The victim had had many friends, who tossed flowers and baseball caps into his grave, as a sort of tribute. Even tho police also attended the funeral to monitor things, some of the mourners fired guns into the air during the service - indications to me that the victim's associates were not all choir boys, and that there was more behind the killing than just some sunglasses. Apparently, the killer's identity is common knowledge, except perhaps to the police, who only have a general description. He's fled to some small town to hide from the law - and from his victim's buddies. I suspect that the killer has more to fear from his victim's friends, who probably won't respect any due process if they catch him - perpetuating the cycle of violence.

My friends told me that this was their third acquaintance who's been murdered during their lives, which have lasted barely a decade. One friend, addicted to glue, was burned to death with the glue he consumed. Another, also a drug abuser, was discovered strangled under a bridge, the marks of the chain still on his neck. And, the other day, a loan shark was shot dead on the corner by their home in the Santa Fe neighborhood.

I'm lots older than these kids, but I can't think of any person close to me who's died violently. I pointed out to the boys that in many other nations the sort of routine violence which seems to surround them doesn't exist, or in a much lower degree.

Why does this violence happen in Colombia? How can it be reduced? The boys didn't know.

A stronger respect for the law would help. And a reduction - or legalization - of now illegal drugs would take away money from gangs and give them less to fight over.


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Enough Already About Colmenares!

Enough already! The neverending parade of stories describing in minutiae the progress (and lack of same) in the legal procedures in the case of the death of Luis Colmenares have got me sick. His body was discovered --ñ years ago below a bridge in el Parque Virrey in north Bogotá. Did he just fall, or was he pushed? Probably, the public will never know for sure. Bogotá suffers thousands of homicides every year, as well as lots more fatal accidents, and most are simply forgotten.

But the death of Colmenares, a popular student at the elite Los Andes University, has fascinated the public, and the media, who have probably noticed that Colmenares case headlines sell newspapers.

Colmenares' death was a tragedy for his family and friends, as is every death. But it's beyond me why this one case has become a real-life reality show, with every new witness, each new arrest, each new lab test result, becoming 'news.' Sure, all of this probably does have some educational value, and it is arguably more important than another futbol game. But there's also a negative side to it. Maybe it produces a false public perception that all deaths are really taken seriously and investigated, when that's far from true. How about the people, especially the children, who get run over regularly by drunk drivers? Each of those killings generates a day or two of public anger, and then gets forgotten. As far as I've heard, the driver gets usually sentenced to a period of home detention, which he may or may not carry out, and then keeps on driving. But those victims, and many others, are important, too. But they get forgotten because whatever Colmenares' latest ex-girlfriend told investigators the other day makes headlines.

Sure, Colmenares' death was a tragedy, but only one of many. It's time to move on.


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Massacres and Money Making

Demonstrating a shirt's bullet-stopping capacity.

United States massacres may turn into a business opportunity for a Colombian company.

Miguel Caballero makes children's vests, backpacks, t-shirts and other wearable things that are (supposedly) bulletproof. Remember how mom sent you off to elementary school with the admonition 'Keep your jacket on so you won't catch cold,' or 'Wear your raincoat so you don't get wet'? Well, now moms can add a third warning: 'Keep your bulletproof gear in case a madman with a high-powered gun bursts into your school (or house of worship, or shopping mall, etc) and starts blowing holes in people'.

It's only practical good sense, after all.

Armor your kids today!

Of course, the danger from shootings has been wildly exaggerated by the massive media coverage of the recent massacre in a school in Connecticut. I'd be willing to bet that children stand in far more danger from a traffic accident on their way to or from school than they do of getting shot. But, nevertheless, I'm sure that some psychologically vulnerable, overprotective parents will take money away from their children's schoolbooks and computer funds to buy V-Bags, Puffer Kids, T-Shirt Kids and Safety Vests which will make their kids feel embarassed and uncomfortable and little safer.

But the totally insane thing here is that, unlike cold and rain, this is a danger which shouldn't exist at all. It only exists because in the United States high-powered rifles are sold so freely violent mentally ill people can and do buy or steal them and then start killing.

I suppose there's nothing wrong with Caballero manufacturing wearable bulletproof accesories for children - except that it makes totally unnecesarry threat seem normal and acceptable, when instead society should be addressing the cause - too many guns. The social hysteria reminds me of the Cold War paranoia, when many people, including schoolchildren, lived in constant dread of nuclear annihilation from the Soviet Union. But the U.S.'s gun threat is a completely home-made danger.

The U.S.'s gun lobby is already very powerful, and thrives economically on these massacres, which cause booms in gun sales. (I just wonder whether, in their hearts of hearts, gun company executives felt a secret thrill when this latest massacre happened, because they knew it'd mean huge new Christmas sales). But a gun protection industry will create an even stronger lobby. I'm waiting for bulletproof pews for worshippers to take cover behind, bulletproof store windows in malls, and on and on, until everyday life is lived in a paranoid fortress and a multi-billion firearm-industrial complex has grown up which will defend to its last dollar of profit the right to commercialize high-powered murder machines.

During the 1980s and '90s feature stories about Colombians using bulletproof business suits were regular fare for the international media, and deepened the country's image as one big free-fire zone. Altho it still has a serious homicide problem, Colombia has changed profoundly since the Pablo Escobar days. Interestingly, according to news reports, the company now sells 95% of its products outside of Colombia.

Now, the paranoia has shifted north, to the U.S. But, unlike the case of Colombia, which has long been victimized by global drug trafficking and drug prohibition policies, the U.S.'s mass murder problem is completely domestically-created.

Interesting Addendum:

The Canadian government made an awkwardly-timed announcement the other week celebrating "new market opportunities for its gun makers in the form of exports of assault weapons - which are banned in Canada - to Colombia. The announcement came the day before the assault rifle massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. Those "new market opportunities" for Canadian companies are evidently a result of the recent Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Since assault weapons are, thankfully, not available on store shelves here in Colombia, I assume that any "market opportunities" would be sales to the military or police. But those organizations have had serious human rights issues.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Lay Down Your Arms

A bad omen: An 11-year-old boy plays with a toy gun in Bogotá's Santa Fe neighborhood. 

Just-inaugurated Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro's most surprising announcement yesterday was that he'd promote a law banning the carrying of firearms in public. 

The wild west? El Mio tabloid
says so, reporting on a shooting death.

The idea is very imperfect, but worth trying, and a glance at today's El Tiempo shows why. Colombians celebrating the New Year by firing guns into the air injured at least five children and killed a six-year-old girl in Medellin. In Nariño Province, a mayor elect was assassinated by gunmen even before he could take office. And, in Argentina, the governor of Rio Negro province was killed by a gunshot in the face, apparently because of a domestic accident.

Guns make it much easier
for people to kill people. 

Obviously, if carrying guns is outlawed, only outlaws will carry guns. But, with fewer guns in circulation and a clearer law, police should be able to more easily identify the bad guys. More importantly, the no-carry law will prevent many good people from turning into bad ones thru stupidity, such as pulling out a gun and shooting someone during a drunken brawl. And, guns in good, law-abiding folks' hands get lost or stolen and end up in the hands of criminals.

'To love or to arms?' Asks this poster
hung on City Hall on Plaza Bolivar.

Back in the U.S., I once met a victim of such a stupid tragedy. I worked construction with a man in his mid-40s who had just completed a ten-year prison sentence. A decade before, this man had driven into a gas station in Texas and begun filling his tank. What he did not know was that the station required customers to pay before pumping, and it turned out that someone else was in the office paying for the gasoline which my acquaintance was pumping. The other customer thot my acquaintance was stealing his gas, and, being a Texan, he pulled out his gun to resolve the situation. My acquaintance then drew his own gun and shot the other man. The misunderstanding over a few dollars worth of gasoline killed one man and stole ten years from the life of another.

If they had not been armed, it would have all ended with a few sharp words. 

No guns allowed: On the
side of an OAS vehicle. 

At 38 per 100,000 people in 2010, Colombia has an inexcusably-high intentional homicide rate. And, in 2005, firearms caused 81% of those killings. Firearm accidents weren't even counted. (Look at the bloodiest nations on Wikipedia's list, incidentally, and you'll see a list of the countries which Colombia's cocaine is trafficked thru to the U.S., which may mean also something.)

In Bogotá, incidentally, the murder rate has dropped to a lower-but-still-way-too-high 21.5 per 100,000 people, and hopefully will continue dropping.

Non-deadly defenses.

Gun rights advocates will claim that no-carry laws leave them defenseless. But lots of other, non-fatal self-defense tools are available, such as stun guns, mace, tasers, pepper spray, electrocuting brass nuckles, and lots more. I carry around a pepper spray and have pulled it out several times in threatening situations, but never had to use it. The bad guys see the thing, think twice, and go away.

But if I did use it - perhaps mistakenly - I wouldn't be a killer.

In 1989, Petro and the rest of the M-19 guerrilla group lay down their guns and began participating in Colombian politics. The demobilization was a success. But today Petro may have a tougher time getting many thousands of armed Bogotanos to lay down their own guns.

Petro's plan to give away a free stipend of water to lower-income Bogotanos isn't so positive. The intention is good, but giving anything away promotes waste. Instead, the city could distribute low-cost water-saving devices such as low-flow shower heads and low-flush toilets. That way, they'd save both money and water.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours