Because the armed groups in Latin America Enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns

In spring, when Colombia in a constant state COVID-19 block, some Colombians received new policy and not worrying the government. In remote parts of 11 of the 32 states of the country, armed groups have begun to assert its quarantine measures, according to a report released on 15 July by Human Rights Watch. Brochures and WhatsApp messages of groups curfews, restrictions on movement, the visitors provided essential work and much more. These restrictions are sometimes more stringent state standards and penalties for breaking them much more serious. A brochure HRW seen in early April released by the Marxist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in northern Bolívar department, warned that fighters would “kill people forced to preserve life” is because residents did not ” the orders of compliance to avoid Covid-19. “Latin America is the current center of the pandemic, with more than 3.5 million cases in the region and figures in many countries still sharp increase. Analysts say COVID-19 is the problem with the deterioration region “criminal government” – in which the state loses control over a part of its territory as armed non-state groups such as drug gangs and guerrilla forces take over and effectively govern small areas. added groups in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere in the fight against COVID-19, so that an interest in the public good maintain and strengthen its violent grip on the local community in a way that could be permanent. Which armed groups control territory in Latin America? The type of criminal government varies greatly between regions and countries in Latin America, according to Chris Dalby, Site News Editor investigative InSight crimes investigated in the field of organized crime. But it tends to grab, says, in poor or remote areas where the presence of the state is weak; that is, where the government has failed the effective legal enforcement, public services and economic opportunities. In Colombia, armed groups are mostly a legacy of decades of the country’s conflict with rebel groups. The Colombian government has Friedensabkomme reached a milestone with the Armed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, other guerrilla groups, including the ELN and paramilitary forces remain strong in some rural areas. In Brazil, drug traffickers more influence how the police in some of the favelas that have settled to the outskirts of town to be with the largest passage of the First Capital Command (PCC) in Sao Paulo. In Mexico, drug cartels, such as the Sinaloa cartel in the northwest of the country, have similar control on poor communities. use these various groups for their territories for a number of illegal activities: drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal mining, extortion rackets, and much more. But they also often offer resources and public services for the community as a way to legitimize its control and loyalty of purchase. perform during the pandemic with many activities to make money more difficult by national restrictions on movement and businesses have folded many groups in this role to govern, says Dalby. “They took the opportunity to reiterate that control.” How did the armed groups have sought COVID-19 to attack? In March, after COVID-19 spread through Brazil began gangs in Rio de Janeiro favelas drove through the streets to say that they have put a curfew in place and threatens a speaker with violence the residents if they are not met, according to the Brazilian newspaper UOL, it reported the traffickers also distributed hand soap, and issued edicts tourists entering the area in the event that prohibit infect the inhabitants. In Mexico in April drug cartels boxes distributed to struggle with food and other basic services for people with the economic impact of the pandemic. Images circulating in Latin American media showed the names of the signs of branded packages. In Colombia, armed groups implemented more stringent restrictions of the popular movement governance, humanitarian workers and community leaders told HRW, so no exceptions to access health services or the banks during the curfew, for example. The persons who do not confront the brutal punishments rules: HRW documented at least eight killings of civilians, apparently not COVID-19 measures that have maintained imposed by armed groups between March and June. Because gangs and armed groups in the fight against COVID-19? In part, armed groups are concerned about losing 19 COVID and damage to their business if the disease spreads widely in their area of ​​Juan Pappier, an expert at Columbia HRW. About their fighters But the pandemic is also an opportunity for a PR boost that could win the loyalty of the local communities. “It gives the impression that they are not just there for drug trafficking or illegal mines or crime, and take care of the public interest”, which provides for measures against COVID-19 Pappier says. “It also shows that they are responsible and are the ones whose rules you must follow to have.” While the pandemic these armed groups for future work? could result in the loss of income during the turmoil pandemic among organized crime groups in Latin America, says Dalby. “The larger groups, as larger companies are better built [resist] this time.” Smaller groups, struggle without diversified revenue streams, have to pay their members and allies if they can not make money soon, leading to quarrels and fragmentation could. But the government’s efforts to control Wrest of the territory by armed groups, long hampered by lack of resources, can still weaker amid the chaos of the get pandemic. In Brazil, Mexico and Colombia have offered armed groups take charge “very little in the way of an effective response” national governments to lockdowns during the pandemic, to comment about their actions to condemn, says Dalby. And, he adds, the COVID-19 application may allow armed groups measures entrench deeper into communities that control how civilians are forced to get used to their life to a greater impositions. “Once the device is constructed so that it is difficult to remove” To Pappier the major impacts of COVID-19 is long-term: the grow pool of potential recruits for armed groups. “The level of poverty that we see makes people for illegal activities very easy to go after the pandemic,” he says. “This is the best environment to thrive for these groups.”
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