Medellin's rise in forced disappearances overshadows drop in homicides

by Adriaan Alsema July 24, 2020

Medellin‘s local rag on Thursday rejoiced that the rich part of Colombia’s second largest city saw no homicides so far this year, ignoring a rise in forced disappearances.

The war crimes tribunal is investigating the city’s history of manipulating statistics to be able to boast of improved security while becoming what could be Latin America’s largest mass grave.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace earlier this month gave Medellin authorities’ five days to provide information on 108 of 435 people who were forcibly disappeared between 1978 and 2016, blasting their “unacceptable” failure to cooperate with justice.

Mayor Daniel Quintero expressed his concern that forced disappearances had gone up again to 160 in the first half of this year, according to Bogota newspaper El Espectador.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/medellins-rise-in-forced-disappearances-overshadows-drop-in-homicides/