{"id":7155,"date":"2020-06-28T02:56:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T06:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7155"},"modified":"2020-06-28T02:56:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T06:56:26","slug":"coronavirus-narco-gangs-could-see-big-popularity-boost-from-helping-residents-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7155","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: Narco Gangs Could See Big Popularity Boost from Helping Residents in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"
Residents of the Dona Marta favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, work to clean up community areas. EPA-EFE\/Antonio Lacerda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Loma is an area of the city of Medellin, Colombia, which is divided into small neighbourhoods controlled by gangs known as \u201ccombos<\/em>\u201d. Each combo<\/em> is loyal to one or other of the country\u2019s organised-crime groups<\/a>. La Loma is also a main route for trafficking drugs, narcotics and weapons to different parts of the country. These \u201cinvisible borders<\/a>\u201d divide the neighbourhood into criminal territories.<\/p>\n

On March 24, when Colombia went into lockdown, all combos<\/em> in La Loma immediately ordered curfews and implemented ceasefires. As an extra precaution, the south and north combos<\/em> set up checkpoints in key places, demanding that local communities follow government restrictions and ordering people not to leave their homes outside of allocated times.<\/p>\n

After local people received little help from the city council, these gangs began to go door to door to distribute hand sanitiser, food parcels and medicines, while demanding that residents wash their hands. On April 19, the Colombian media began to report that the Medellin city council had negotiated with different combos<\/em> across the city on the best way to provide similar support to other neighbourhoods, coordinating on distributing<\/a> and supplying official assistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Not a Narco-fan, but they do "care" about people in their jurisdictions, pave roads, equip schools.<\/p>\n

Right now, for example, there's been cases of "Narco-despensas" (Narco-pantries), to aid the poor. pic.twitter.com\/EZqBilifqW<\/a><\/p>\n

— Jorge Paez (@JorjoWorks) April 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n