Violence in Chile exposes new crime dynamics
A series of murders, coupled with a wave of attacks on health workers in southern Santiago de Chile over the past two weeks, have exposed new criminal dynamics with potentially profound long-term consequences. Pablo Zeballos analyses them.
Text: Pablo Zeballos*
On Monday 7 October, a 21-year-old man was shot dead in his home in the Puente Alto district, hours after receiving threats. A day earlier, the remains of another man were found bound and burned, also in Puente Alto, La Tercera reported. Local authorities said they do not yet know who is behind the crimes, or their motivations.
In the early hours of the previous Thursday, four people fired at least 150 shots at a group organising a funeral in Bajos de Mena, another area of Puente Alto. A 17-year-old teenager died on the spot, while his 13-year-old sister, 11-year-old brother and a 23-year-old man were seriously wounded. When the three were taken to the local hospital, the gunmen came to threaten the staff. They said they would “blow up” everything if they helped the wounded, according to El País.
Authorities say they are trying to identify the motives behind the attack. President Gabriel Boric ordered a fixed Carabineros post to be placed outside the hospital. The mayor of Puente Alto, Germán Codina, said they are finishing building an external wall to shield the emergency care area. He also said that what the national government is doing is not enough to deal with what he called a security crisis facing his commune, and the country.
The problem is not new.
Chile is facing a significant increase in crime, illustrated by the rise in homicides and kidnappings.
Chile is facing a significant increase in crime, illustrated by the rise in homicides and kidnappings. In fact, the homicide rate rose from 4.5 to 6.7 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2018 and 2022, according to the first official report that includes data from various government agencies. Although a small drop was recorded in 2023, Chile’s Attorney General’s Office has documented a spike so far this year.
Pia Greene Meersohn, a researcher at the Centre for Studies on Security and Organised Crime at the San Sebastian University in Chile, recently told In.Visibles that the increase in cases of homicides of people who did not know each other and extortion speak of a profound change in criminal dynamics. “The way crime is carried out speaks of organised crime because its modus operandi is to sow fear,” she explained.
The increase in attacks against health professionals shows how crime is permeating new sectors of society. In fact, so far in 2024, 7,319 aggressions against people working in public hospitals or primary health care centres in Chile have been recorded, according to data from the Ministry of Health published by the newspaper La Tercera. This represents an average of more than 28 assaults per day.
The president of the National Confederation of Health Officials (CONFUSAM), Gabriela Flores, said in an interview with El País that they’ve been documenting these kinds of attacks since 2019.
“I would say violence has increased by 50% or more since then. What happened in Santiago [in Puente Alto] happens every day somewhere in Chile. In the north they work with bulletproof vests and helmets; we have problems in Alto Hospicio, in Arica and in Iquique. In the BioBío region there is also unleashed violence,” he explained.
Mayor Codina said the attack illustrates a new type of criminality.
He is right.
The violence in Puente Alto is the latest example of what happens when criminal organisations try to establish themselves in vulnerable territories.
The violence in Puente Alto is the latest example of what happens when criminal organisations try to establish themselves in vulnerable territories.
The firepower exhibited by the criminal group showed not only that they have access to a significant amount of ammunition, but also that they are prepared to spread terror, defying the State and society in general.
This is what I call the “first stage” of the settlement of organised crime, where groups consolidate their territorial control through high levels of violence and conflict, eventually seeking to exert total power.
They manage to use violence successfully, partly because the State is absent (as seen in the lack of access to essential services and justice) or unable to respond effectively.
Criminal structures may see health centres, schools and social centres, which in some way are the presence of the State or organised society, as a threat. In many cases, when they manage to control a territory, they also seek to supplant the presence of a logic of agreed harmony with others that are utilitarian, functional or controlled by them, including by inserting themselves in the social fabric, which is the next stage of control.
The proliferation of weaponry in vulnerable areas not only generates clashes or retaliation between gangs, but also puts communities caught up in these turf wars at grave risk. If this violence is not contained, we are likely to see an increase in the forced displacement of innocent families seeking to escape, thus increasing their vulnerability. In addition, the persistence of violence will increase cases of mental health disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as inaccessibility to health programmes.
If violent events continue without an effective response from the authorities, the perception of state neglect will increase, leading communities to develop greater degrees of distrust in institutions. This cycle of violence and self-defence could worsen, even to the point where people resort to paying criminal structures for protection, consolidating a parallel system of control that could perpetuate violence and further weaken the rule of law, as we already see in other Latin American countries.
*Pablo Zeballos is a researcher on organised crime and contributor to In.Visibles. He is the author of the book “Un virus entre sombras: La expansión del crimen organizado y el narcotráfico en Chile” (A Virus in the Shadows: The Expansion of Organised Crime and Drug Trafficking in Chile).