Massacre in Envigado: Return to Bad Old Days?
Last Friday, just before 2 am, heavily armed “sicarios” (assassins), fired into a crowd at a bar in the Guanteros entertainment district of normally peaceful Envigado, a suburb of Medellin. The toll was eight dead and 23 wounded. None of the fatal victims had a criminal record and one was a US citizen who had recently moved to the area. Two off duty policemen were in the Guru bar at the time and were injured while returning fire. The perpetrators escaped from the scene on a high cylinder motorcycle, the preferred mode of transportation for killers in Colombia. Witnesses claim that the motorcycle was followed by a car with several male occupants, who may have been the enforcers, those ensuring that the job was done.
Shootings with more than one victim aren’t unusual in the Medellin area, where a war raging between drug trafficking gangs has pushed the numbers for the metropolitan area to over 2,000 fatalities in 2009 and well over 1,000 so far this year. Such figures are a stark reminder of the days when the cartels ruled Colombia and morgues were overflowing with corpses of young men. While recent statistics are still far from the record levels reached during that epoch, the rising tally is worrisome, reversing the previous trend which saw falling numbers, treading around 800 in 2007, a total comparable to any major American city.
What’s unusual about the Envigado massacre is the indiscriminate way in which the killers sprayed the bar with bullets, something not seen since the days of Pablo Escobar in this city, which had the dubious honor of being the drug kingpin‘s central during the 80’s. According to police, the intended target, a drug trafficker wanted by the law, escaped the scene unharmed and has apparently voluntarily surrendered to the police, seeking protection from those who wish him dead. Police say the Envigado shooting was part of the ongoing territorial war between “Sebastian” and “Valenciano”, leaders of two major gangs. US and Colombian authorities are offering multimillion dollar ransoms for their capture.
The incident has provoked a strong reaction from the president, Alvaro Uribe, who promised immediate action to hunt down members of criminal gangs in Colombia, particularly in the Medellin area.
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This is very bad for Colombia and Medellin in particular, especially since this incident involves an American which means it will probably get picked up by global media and seriously damage Medellin’s frail reputation just as it was beginning to start to turn itself around.
Andrew Campion’s comment and your article are mistaken and you should correct the error. There was no American involved. A Colombian who recently became an American citizen was involved.
Also, the shooting clearly is part of a turf war of a decapitated gange (Oficina de Envigado) whose leaders have been arrested and extradited.
Also, the two police are themselves suspects (why were they there? asked the head of the National Police).
Also, that section of Envigado is notorious. I would not go there, as I would not go to certain parts of NYC.
The response to this incident, moreover, was immediate and strong. Uribe personally convened a national security meeting of leaders — in Envigado. Hundreds of national police were re-assigned.
Most of these comments come just from reading the press. But I am a homeowner there too and closely follow this for my blog with many sources including inside the City government.
The more disturbing development was the targeted assasination attempts on the city council President John Jairo Moncada and a criminal court judge.
I happen to live 10 blocks from where it happened, Hunter! An American citizen is an American citizen, no asterisk needed, so I reckon I was being politically correct. The press here only said he was an American citizen of Colombian parents. True, the cops are being investigated, but that was only a rumor at the time I wrote that bit. I’ve spent a lot of time in Guanteros in some of the bigger venues with no incidents, but I think you mean that particular part of the district (not the main strip close to city hall). Really, I don’t think anybody’s completely safe anywhere in Colombia, because some of the most shady characters might be sitting at the table next to yours in the finest restaurant. If bullets start to fly, all you can do is duck!