{"id":7486,"date":"2021-05-27T05:03:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T09:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7486"},"modified":"2021-06-01T05:05:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T09:05:09","slug":"colombian-city-beset-by-crime-declares-black-lives-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7486","title":{"rendered":"Colombian City Beset by Crime Declares \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
A demonstration for peace in Buenaventura, Colombia, where a cartel turf war has left at least 30 people dead since the beginning of this year. Luis Robayo\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chaotic and deadly protests<\/a> have for weeks rocked the Colombian port city of Buenaventura. In mid-May<\/a> some demonstrators stormed the airport, and riot police responded with force, killing three.<\/p>\n

Buenaventura\u2019s demonstrations are a part of the massive, violent national wave of protests<\/a> over increasing poverty and incessant violence in Colombia. But they actually began well before Colombia\u2019s broader upheaval.<\/p>\n

Since early 2021, people in this majority-Black coastal city<\/a> have been rising up peacefully but insistently against rampant drug trafficking, political violence and cartel infiltration.<\/p>\n

Organized crime and illicit economies are both national problems in Colombia. But in Buenaventura, a history of state neglect has allowed both to flourish unchecked, according to my academic research in the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For many Colombian<\/a> and international observers<\/a>, the government\u2019s apparent lack of interest in saving Buenaventura has a clear source: structural racism resulting from state policies that have long marginalized Black Colombians<\/a>.<\/p>\n