CRIMINAL AGENDAS AND PEACE PROCESSES IN COLOMBIA: THE CASE “DONBERNABILIDAD” IN MEDELLIN

Abstract

The widespread impact of criminal violence in Latin America, has led it to be ranked as the most dangerous region in the planet by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This situation, combined with the ineffectiveness of the policies implemented so far to mitigate it has generated an intense debate about how, some classic conflict resolution tools as mediation could be explored to contain the violence associated with drug cartels, militias and gangs. However, which are the principal risks to mediate with criminal groups? This article aims to answer this question, using as a case study the city of Medellin. In 2003, the Antioquian capital experienced a dramatic drop in homicides product of aka Don Berna hegemony over all the armed actors operating in the city and subsequent demobilization of his paramilitary group Cacique Nutibara Block, period best known locally as Donbernability. In this way, based on the Colombian case, this work analyzes, under a qualitative approach, the main constraints faced by Governments to mediate with criminal actors to reduce the levels of lethality, usually in exchange for judicial benefits.