Abstract

VANEGAS, Gildardo; SALAZAR-TRUJILLO, Boris  and  CASTILLO-VALENCIA, María. Complex violence in a Network of Drug Traffickers and Politicians in Colombia. URVIO [online]. 2020, n.28, pp.47-61. ISSN 1390-4299.  https://doi.org/10.17141/urvio.28.2020.4405.

In order to show a complex violence process, we use the case of the murder of Elisabeth Montoya, known as the Monita Retrechera, accused of being the link between Ernesto Samper (president of Colombia 1994-1998) and the Cali and Norte del Valle drug cartels. The size of the violence triggered by her murder was proportional not only to the number of agents and links involved but to the magnitude of the coalitions activated and the number of offenders reachable through the paths that bound them in the networks to which they belonged. We found that a crucial feature of the process was the use of information by all agents involved. The activation of existing links in response to the triggering event enabled agents in the offended coalition to extract information regarding who their enemies were, where they were located, and what they were capable of, in order to deliver violent revenge.

Keywords : drug trafficking; murders; networks; politics; violence.

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