I have a close friend, 25 year old COLOMBIANO. He called me today and was drugged and robbed in Parque Llares on Friday night.
Actually, I like a little uncertainty, but Medellin is not a joke.
Since there were so many murders that happened to my ex-wife's family over the years, she was super paranoid about my safety when we lived there together. She didn't even tell her own family where our apartment was. She used to say that word travels fast, and it might travel to the wrong person.
reminds me of my 1st girlfriend in medellin. she had two small scars on her breasts. I didnt ask her for a while what happen, but she finally told me. She was in a car with her novio at a stop light when a guy pulled up and started shooting. the guy shot her novio in the head and killed him. One of the bullets just missed her and grazed both her breasts, leaving the scars. When driving in medellin, she would start to have a panic attack if we stopped at a light for more than 10 seconds. Was really sad to see her in such a mess because she was a really nice person, but will always have mental problems, and who wouldnt experiencing something like that.
Once you have a steady girlfriend or wife, your safety goes up dramatically in my opinion. You are not out on the town late at night on dates with new girls, you are mostly flying under the wire.
For the guys with experience in Medellin AND Cali, which one do you think is more dangerous (now)?[/size] Too close to call or Medellin by a long shot?
Thanks MUDD and Vikingo for the reply.
I read the crime stats on Cali and Medellin, actually homicide rates.
I don't know how good the official stats are but I figure a murder is a murder.
Cali's homicide rate in 2010 was 71 per 100,000 residents. Medellin's homicide rate was 110 per 100,000 in 2009 (the most recent year I could find).
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1967232,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1967232,00.html)
Thanks MUDD and Vikingo for the reply. I read the crime stats on Cali and Medellin, actually homicide rates. I don't know how good the official stats are but I figure a murder is a murder. Cali's homicide rate in 2010 was 71 per 100,000 residents. Medellin's homicide rate was 110 per 100,000 in 2009 (the most recent year I could find).
It would be interesting to see a chart depicting homicides in US cities of similar seize to major cities in Colombia to get a true picture about Colombias crime rate. It is common belief though that crime increased significantly in and around Medellín since Uribe left the presidency. What has a large effect on crime in Colombia is the presence of former members of the paramilitary (paracos), common in Antiochía (Medellín), and the presence of former members of the FARC around Cali, people who are most generally fearless and familiar with handling hand guns and who still pocess them in large numbers. While the FARC mainly consists of disgruntled peasants, many paracos with once noble intentions turned over the years into a ruthless gang of cold blooded criminals, surviving by the drug trade and kidnappings, just like the FARC. I can't imagine there are many jobs waiting for them as most have no training or schooling for civilian life of any kind nor do the former FARC have any land to gop back to and farm it, so some of them resort to crime to feed themselfes or their families. Now add to this scenario millions of displaced people, headed for the cities to escape the atrocities of either rebel roup and many of them also turned to crime out of sheer desperation to feed their families. What is needed desperately in this country is a wellfare system and government programs to help the very poor and downtrotten. Maybe when the war with the remaining 9000 FARC is over some day, moneys can be channeled into such government programs, but this country has a long way to go to solve it's problems with crime and poverty.
The point is Colombia is a dangerous country and one needs to be carefull. It does not mean you can not live there, it just means BE CAREFULL, what i find rather odd is the guys who peddle how safe the country is, and how protected you are in el poblado, and some throw comparisions of apples and oranges just to convience some "horny guy" to buy a over priced condo, GUESS WHAT hes going to buy ANYWAZ!!!!!!!!!!! i have met guys who have been REPEATDLY robbed, drugged, cars stolen, held at gun point. AND THEY ARE STILL THERE!!!!!!! why becuase getting laid is worth the risk.
I'd be very interested in seeing the same statistics. I've never been to Medellin but I've spent significant time in almost every other city in Colombia, and I'm sorry...I've just never felt that unsafe. I've been to a lot of areas and neighborhoods that I've been specifically instructed to stay away from in Colombia, and I've never felt anything but comfortable and welcomed. Although I don't have the numbers to prove it, it's hard for me to believe that a significant percentage of the homicides in Medellin are happening to innocent bystanders. I think a lot of it has to do with drug trafficking, personal vendettas, and people placing themselves in bad situations as previously stated.
When you start talking about danger in different cities I don't think overall statistics are too meaningfull until you break them down geographically in those cities. This is equally the case with US cities
One thing i picked up from jamie was the observation that the crime stats are worthless in colombia. They're cooked to a certain degree in US cities but there's probably an order of magnitude difference. I'd looked at murder rates and comforted myself with the fact that there were similar stats in US cities, but the reality is that there is so much other crime that just goes unreported that it doesn't come close to painting the whole picture. We're so often focused on the worst crimes, but tons of petty crime never even gets reported because colombians hold the opinion that reporting it is pointless. The situation is very different in the states where people report the tiniest little things that happen to them.
i guarantee Colombias and Medellin's crime rate is way off the publicized chart because a majority of it is never reported. Why you might ask....... many reasons. fear, retaliation, cops are crooked so why bother, dont want to look stupid, embarrassed, its how life is there, deal with it. Unlike the US where most crimes are reported because we expect to get results, in colombia they know its a waste of time to report it.
just in my novias family in medellin , i can think of 4 crimes in the last 2 years that were never reported, 2 minior 2 pretty major crimes. its just life there, life is cheap and they deal with it every day.
Then compare with places that gringos do regularly visit like Comuna 2 which inludes Chipichape which had 34 and the lowest of all 24 in Comuna 17 which includes Unicentro.
These asassinations hardly ever involve a foreigner, unless they stole somebody's girlfriend.
from a girl i know in medellin, brother was robbed today by three guys on calle 10 near poblado.$1,000 peso each, 50 cent, 30p each !!!!
3 guys with knives, just for a phone and little money.
el sali de la universidad[/l]
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y 3 hombres lo cojieron con cuchillos
y le robaron 3000 pesos y su blackberry
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Of course an exception was Robert Vignola:
http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=1775.0 (http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=1775.0)
1,000 peso each, 50 cent, 30p each !!!!
They paid 18,000,000 to have themselves killed? Or to have Walter and Robert killed?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17032567 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17032567)
Walter owed money to the "guys" and was not paying back.
Micky
How will they get their money back when Walter is killed plus they also lose money on hiring these "hitmen" ?
This thread is about being careful in Colombia. It is NOT Kansas or Yorkshire. The culture of violence here is decades old. Things are better now, but it will take generations and improvement every step of the way to get there. Until that time, one has to be cautious here. Mudd said it, and it is very true, people here are robbed here EVERYDAY for cell phones and chump change, it IS the reality of Colombia.The part about how much it costs for a hit. There was an article where a pro hitman was interviewed (from Medellin). Just from memory (old and bad), he was on a retainer of approx. 800,000 COP a month and was paid approx. 3,000,000 when he had to do a job. This is pointless as I am sure that you can pay more and you can pay less.