Unidentified armed men on Sunday ordered at least 30 families in western Medellin to leave their homes within 48 hours, local media reported.
According to the reported claims, the families were threatened by members of an illegal armed group, who warned them that they had been living “very well”, but that the joy would soon end, giving them 48 hours to vacate the neighborhood.
MORE: Medellin violence statistics
One resident told El Tiempo “I was playing cards with some friends and a number of men approached us and said tomorrow we would have to leave and if not they would kill us all.”
The threatened families reportedly live between San Cristobal and Comuna 13, in the mountains between Medellin and the West of Antioquia.
On Sunday evening El Tiempo reported that over 30 families were threatened, whereas Radio Caracol on Monday reported 50 families.
According to Radio Caracol, Luis Fernando Quijano, the director of the corporation for development and peace, Corpades, said the two criminal groups “Los Urabeños” and “Los Pesebreros” are present in the area.
The Comuna 13 district became Medellin’s most violent areas in the late 1990s after a paramilitary incursion that meant to expel leftist militias from the city. A massive military operation succeeded in removing the leftist militias, but failed to lower the crime rates caused by the paramilitary-aligned militias that weren’t expelled.
Medellin’s Comuna 13 and San Cristobal neighborhood
Sources
- Bandas criminales dan 48 horas para abandonar sus viviendas a 50 familias en Medellín (Radio Caracol)
- Denuncian desplazamiento de 30 familias en zona rural de Medellín (El Tiempo)
