COLOMBIA is cracking down on gangs in the burning city of Bogotá after a series of mafia-style attacks ravaged the city ahead of Prince Harry and Meghan’s visit this week.
The haunting legacy of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar still looms large over the capital, with police battling gangs to prevent the city from falling back into a place of violence, bloodshed and crime.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are set to jet off to Colombia for a four-day tour of the country, starting in Bogotá.
The planned trip has been widely scrutinized, with a number of significant security fears in the country for the world-renowned couple.
The country has a reputation for being unsafe, with official British channels warning that it is plagued by kidnapping, drugs, organized crime and terrorism.
Bogotá is currently filled with police sweeping the streets to ensure the safety of residents following a series of deadly gang-coordinated attacks over the past decade.
The city has always been known for its high number of street crimes, from robberies to assaults, but the situation has seriously worsened in recent times.
It is said that bodies are being discovered on the streets at an alarming rate, many of them covered in signs of torture.
In just one month of 2022, police found 15 corpses in Bogotá, allegedly linked to trafficking networks controlled by several gangs.
Bogotá’s chief prosecutor told El Tiempo that the victims were Venezuelan migrants caught in the Camilos and Aguaceros destined to control the city.
A chilling court case later revealed that one of the gangs used a “massage parlor” to commit torture.
Before taking the victim to the street and shooting a bullet into the head and dumping the body.
A deployment of 3,000 extra police officers was sent to Bogotá last year, says Mayor Luis Carlos Galan, in an attempt to contain gangs.
Murders, armed robberies and drug-related violence have caused problems in the capital, with 13,500 people losing their lives in 2023, says Insight Crime.
The problems are said to be equally severe across the country, with many of the deaths linked to the 23 gangs that rule the country.
It is believed that almost 18,000 people make up the four largest gangs in the country. Colombia.
This worrying number has put the Colombian government on the path to eradicating gang violence through peace and surrender agreements, a report from the Reuters said last year.
Police began to crack down on street violence, with arrests being made at an enormous rate.
One of the most feared gangs being stopped in their terrifying ways is The Satans – known as “Los Satan”.
The second-in-command of the notorious street gang, Aderbiss Pirela, has been terrorizing business owners and local residents for years.
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Gang bosses are known to order hitmen to kill any enemy or even local residents in order to prove their sick mentality.
Pirela himself was considered one of the seven most wanted murderers in Bogotá, according to Colombian authorities.
He was finally arrested earlier this year in Texas, where he was hiding on drug trafficking and racketeering charges.
Several attacks on the group over the past 12 months have seen 18 gang members behind bars, with another nine fleeing the country.
Researchers and security experts say violence has increased since the Covid pandemic in 2020.
The gangs were left severely out of money, with businesses closing and trading suspended for months.
Andrés Nieto, a security expert at the Central University of Colombia, says criminal groups were shaken by the confinement and as soon as things reopened, they sprung into action.
He said Private Thread: “Today we see criminal gangs seeking to reactivate their businesses and revenues at any cost.”
An apparent increase in the amount of drugs consumed during the pandemic is also said to have resulted in a spike in violence.
A local councilor in Bogotá revealed the El País that fighting can be fueled by cocaine consumption.
Drugs, organized crime and terrorism are intrinsically linked in Colombia
UK Government
Graffiti of cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar is still scrawled on the walls of many of Colombia’s major cities, while the notorious drug lord’s legacy lives on through new gangs.
According to the British government website, it is “very likely” that terrorists will attempt attacks in Colombia and many “armed groups remain active throughout” the country.
And kidnapping rates “remain high in Colombia”, with illegal armed groups taking hostages for both ransom and political purposes, according to Gov.uk.
“Drugs, organized crime and terrorism are intrinsically linked in Colombia”, warns the official website.
It adds: “Robberies, robberies and armed robberies are a problem, especially in large cities, including Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and the Caribbean coast.
“British citizens were robbed at gunpoint in the Candelaria area of Bogotá and in many cities in Colombia.”
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of Colombia.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
