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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"news",<br>"author":"escapeamericanow",<br>"permlink":"gang-violence-in-chile",<br>"title":"Gang Violence in Chile",<br>"body":"<p>Some things just never stay the same. For years I had been pleased to report that #Chile was mercifully free of violent #gangs,<br> commonplace in the United States and elsewhere. There were (and still are) groups that "hang out" together,<br> called <em>tribus urbanas<\/em>,<br> and that sometimes have tussles with the police. However,<br> USA-styled gang "warfare" simply has not been widespread in Chile.<\/p>\n<center>http:\/\/www.chilevision.cl\/noticias\/site\/artic\/20150305\/imag\/foto_0000001020150305141847.jpg<\/center>\n<p>Now we hear news reports about a pistol-toting gang in Northwestern Santiago known as <em>Los Chubis<\/em>. News cameras have recorded their members,<br> which are also involved in drug trafficking,<br> shooting up the neighborhood,<br> leaving bullet holes everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The gang is located in the Parinacota neighborhood of the Quilicura <em>comuna<\/em>. The area is quite poor,<br> but by no means the poorest part of Santiago. Now residents are quite scared.<\/p>\n<p>Gang members are largely made up of convicted felons that speak <em>coa<\/em> or <em>flaite<\/em> dialects. One can hardly understand them when interviewed. What one can readily perceive in the news reports is building walls,<br> inside and out,<br> riddled with bullet holes. Moreover,<br> members of both gangs sport many surgery scars and bullet holes in the bodies that they readily show to news reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Worse yet,<br> <em>Los Chubis<\/em> apparently now have a rival gang to contend with: <em>El Barza<\/em>,<br> led by a guy known as "<em>El Polaco<\/em>." One result was the October 31,<br> 2015 (Halloween) murder of a neighborhood youth on his birthday (apparently by a\u00a0<em>Chubi<\/em>),<br> Arnaldo C\u00e9spedes,<br> age 14,<br> cousin of one of the <em>El Barza<\/em>\u00a0gang. This act incurred retaliation by intentionally burning down the house of the "mother" (gang leader) of <em>Los Chubis<\/em>,<br> Mar\u00eda Vilches. So far,<br> four homes have been burned down due to gang violence,<br> which continues to escalate. For instance,<br> the body of a boy,<br> Isaac Pardo,<br> known as <em>El Palta<\/em>,<br> was burned beyond recognition and dumped up the road in the <em>comuna<\/em> of Lampa.<\/p>\n<center>https:\/\/youtu.be\/_7Lug3P67mg<\/center>\n<p>For a country not known for its #violence,<br> this gang activity has been shocking. Although it is not widespread in Chile,<br> and certainly has not attained anything close to the level of gangsterism in the United States,<br> obviously the idea of violent gangs has become a reality in some places and,<br> unfortunately,<br> may tend to spread.<\/p>\n<p>This change marks a difference from when I first introduced largely peaceful\u00a0<em>tribus urbanas<\/em> in <a href=\"http:\/\/escapeamericanow.info\/violent-university-students-in-santiago\/\" rel=\"noopener\">an April 2010 blog entry<\/a>.\u00a0Of course,<br> all of this sad crime does not affect the upper-class areas of Northeastern Santiago,<br> or nicer regional communities like Vi\u00f1a del Mar,<br> Conc\u00f3n,<br> Zapallar,<br> La Serena,<br> etc. But newcomers to Chile would be well-advised to steer clear of the Parinacota barrio of Quilicura. Doing so should be easy to do,<br> since they would normally have no reasons to go there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Until next time,<br><br \/>\nJohn Cobin<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/972617312.r.lightningbase-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/EAN_logo-728x90.jpg<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/escapeamericanow.info\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Escape America Now<\/a><\/p>",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"news\",<br>\"warfare\",<br>\"Chile\",<br>\"gangs\",<br>\"violence\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"http:\/\/www.chilevision.cl\/noticias\/site\/artic\/20150305\/imag\/foto_0000001020150305141847.jpg\",<br>\"http:\/\/972617312.r.lightningbase-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/EAN_logo-728x90.jpg\" ,<br>\"links\":[\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_7Lug3P67mg\",<br>\"http:\/\/escapeamericanow.info\/violent-university-students-in-santiago\/\",<br>\"http:\/\/escapeamericanow.info\/\" " | | vote | "voter":"escapeamericanow",
"author":"escapeamericanow",
"permlink":"gang-violence-in-chile",
"weight":10000 |
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