Gangs in Colombia
The importance of the public attention to the “ganger” phenomenon is out
of doubt. There is a part of the violence that can’t be included in the
strategies of the armed organizations. The city gives attestation of that, and
there, the gang makes an important role. Any purpose of peace must pass by the war actors; all thought, the peace
process of Colombia has to pass by a reconstruction of the coexistence in the
city, place where the 70% of the population lives and where the gangs are an
agent of the first order.
The investigations show that only in Bogotá,
Medellin and Cali, might be about 22 thousand young persons immersed in the illegal
activities that goes over the simple ganging. In the locality of Ciudad
Bolivar, there are 186, and 162 in Kennedy. There are some gangs in high
strata, but the most complex situation happens in Ciudad Bolivar, where about
186 gangs are registered, and some of them work not only with drugs, but also
with theft and murder.
The gangers fall apart of the family in the middle of a conflict, they retire
from the school at a young age, and they try not to be included in anything that
respect to the society. The empty made by the institutional poor, gets full of alternative
contents. The first is the group of friends where they invest more and more
time. A nearby and familiar group is a necessity,
especially if it is composed by people with similar life speciation.
The drug habit is decisive because it has consequences: the theft and violence
are the principal effects. Another is the feeling of necessity to look for the
resources to continue with the vice. The theft is part of the initiation rites
and is a power of the gang. In this way, the violence is necessary, the ganger
train in a violent conflict because the surviving of the group resides in him. The gangers use to use tattoos, the gang has a link with a specific
dominated territory which give them the identity; nobody pass through the
territory without the permission of the gang. They have a place in the street
for permanence and another one for meetings.
In Colombia, the gang has a marginal aspect because the armed conflict does
not let them more tan it. In the Colombian penal code, the gang is not
mentioned any time. It is considered like an administrative fail. The ganging
is not sanctioned officially, but the police hunt and punish the faults associated
with crimes against life, patrimony and punish too the crimes related to drug
traffic. In result, there is no any regional report of ganging in Colombia.
Normally, the gangs are discriminated by the use of drugs, tattoos and
the use of White armors. They walk in groups and they are recognized in the
neighborhoods because they are very violent. Is very understandable why these
groups named gangs are discriminated.
In my perception, these gang groups, are not treated as it should be,
the goberment and the society has left a lot of space to them, contribuding in
part to the increase of the guerrilla groups. These people are young colombians
that does not have a guide, with problems in their family, and the lack of
support of the society press them to go to the streets and take it out with
drugs and delincuence. I do not try to justify their acts, but I think that
these people just try to get respect of “the
other people”, “the ones who belong to the society”. Is very important to find
a balance between guide and punish to solve this problem and help these people,
and at the same time help the comunity and help Colombia.
