Colombia Still a Country Plagued with Violence

Mike Ceaser has published an interesting article about violence in Colombia. The article appears in the most recent issue of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet.

In his article he contends that violence continues to be a major public-health problem in Colombia and much of the Latin American region. That is why this article has been published by a medical journal.

Previous investigations had shown that the 90s was a decade plagued with homicides in Colombia. As a matter of fact, homicide was the number one cause of death among all age groups except in children aged 0 to 4 years.

According to the article, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) released (in October 2007) a world report in which it can be seen that the murder rate in Colombia (which has more than 44 million inhabitants) is 38 per 100000 people in 2005.

The murder rate has dropped significantly from the 2001 figure, which was 64 per 100000 people in 2001. However, when compared with other places around the world it is still on the high end (5·6 per 100000 in the USA or 0·6 per 100000 seen in England).

Colombia has had a history of violence from long time a go. First, after World War II, civil unrest and fights among people groups have had an impressive drainage due to killing and death. It has been estimated hat more than 200000 people died from 1948 to 1956 due to a civil war inside the country.

In the 1960s leftist guerrillas and movements took part in the country and the killing continued. During the 1970s murders continued due to cartel drug fights. Then, emergence of right-wing militias and police death squads have contributed to the violence in this country.

Gang violence continue to be a major problem not only in Colombia but also in all Latin America. The PAHO reports estimates that 20% to 50% of all violent crimes are caused or related to gang activity. Drug and gun trafficking and inefficient or corrupt police contributes to the problem according to the report.