Destruction is my middle name

La virgen de los sicaros was a film about Colombia, specifically the town of Medellin, and uncovered the drug wars. It displayed many of the terrible things happening then through a love story, backed with unabashed destruction and killing.

According to the documents gathered from the National Security Archive, the US is essentially in hot water from our involvement with everything going on in Colombia, and according to the editor, could be facing the consequences very soon.

Many groups were created in Colombia in the mid 1900s, such as the PCC and the CTC. Law’s were being created as well. One that is noteworthy is “Revenge”. This law prevented competitive crops, among other things. It’s kind of funny that the creators saw no problem in naming it that, very sassy of them. It seems drugs weren’t the only things that were leading to killings. In the major coffee areas, tension lead to multiple murders, according to Hylton. As a matter of fact, violence eventually became part of the government policy. With different leaders came different plans to resolve issues, most to no avail. Things started to change in 1957, when the goal was to try to forgive and forget. In 1988, they had a public voted election, hoping that with more choices and competition the government would get better.

Ricardo Vargas began his article by defining new terms that are associated with the mafia. This author also spoke about the issues in Colombia that lead to a decrease in power. One mention, the often difficult geography, was well portrayed in the film. Fernando couldn’t even get the cab driver to drive him all the way up a certain mountain because of fear of impeding danger. Also mentioned were the struggles with controlling the violence. This is a valid point because people were just running around shooting and killing without consequence. This lead to the growth of their marijuana economy, which exploded in the sixties. The author states that without a quality justice system there were elevated levels of conflict, and the people resolved it in the only way they saw fit: killing. The author also mentions a parallel to the last film; many of those involved in politics were also active in drug trafficking. As long as they were pouring money into the system, they would get special treatment. Poor people got the shaft in law making was also mentioned. They have little money to pay into the government so they are ignored. There was an almost “positive” aspect to the drugs; many jobs, or at least a source of income, were supported without having to set them up, which would have cost the government a lot of money. But at what cost is this? Are the human lives lost worth the under the table money? Those are questions that should also be considered.

Even in present day, Colombia is still struggling to gain control over this issue. Hopefully progress will be made under the current regime.