Silver or Lead: A Difficult Summer

El Líbero, January 29, 2022

The increase in crime in Lima, the relentless violence in Mexico, organized crime in Brazil complicating authorities, and a series of murders in Chile complete a complex picture of public security in Latin America. For decades, this region has shown concerning homicide rates. Our country was an oasis of tranquility. It is no longer so. Murders, extortion, and kidnapping have come to stay.

Much has been said about the large drug seizures, Mexican cartels seeking to operate in Chile, and the consolidation of a creepy marijuana trafficking route from Colombia. However, the intensity of the crimes is only now being discussed. So far this year, El Mercurio has reported 22 homicides. Only 4 of them in the Southern Macrozone, the others in Iquique, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, and Santiago. The north and center of the country are witnessing an increase in a crime for which we were unprepared.

The Tarapacá region has the highest homicide rate in Chile at 6.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, more than double the national average. It is followed by Arica and Parinacota, Valparaíso, and the Metropolitan region. While these figures are significantly lower than those observed in other countries on the continent, they are concerning for a country with one of the lowest homicide rates in the region.

In the north, Iquique faces the most complex situation: a migration crisis in Colchane since 2020 has collapsed camps, squares, and areas like Alto Hospicio, where there have been episodes of violence against Carabineros and barricades to prevent foreigners from arriving or to force vehicles to take those crossing irregularly to Santiago. The icing on the cake was the murder of a businessman from Iquique involving a Venezuelan linked to a group from the Bolivarian National Police. Thus, migration flows have allowed those engaged in crime in other countries to come to ours and transfer their knowledge.

Just as Central American gangs have their origins in the United States before reaching El Salvador or Honduras, and the know-how of Chileans in the mid-20th century contributed to the creation of Colombian cartels, the expertise that others have in the crime of murder was bound to arrive in our country sooner or later.

It is naive to think that we connect with legal activities while remaining aloof from illegal ones. Both good and bad ultimately arrive. It is impossible to deny globalization. The important thing is to have tools to confront the bad and enhance the good. In the latter, we have done well, but in the former, we are lacking.

Intelligence, technology, and police training must align with new challenges. The rules of the game have changed; the criminal fears neither authority nor prison. A period behind bars does not impact their business; from within, the hierarchy replicates, leadership is maintained, and crimes do not stop.

We are rapidly moving toward a security dilemma unlike anything known before: organized crime, fueled by irregular migration flows, has changed the face of national crime. Therefore, the state must rise to the occasion, modify its procedures, and incorporate cutting-edge technology into crime analysis. We require appropriate legislation, swift judicial procedures, and political will from all sectors. But we need it yesterday!

Our security strategies must be capable of integrating all factors influencing crime, threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. Only then will we be able to meet the circumstances.

Pilar Lizana
Researcher, AthenaLab