Medellin again enforces police after yet another violent weekend

1,300 policemen are expected to arrive in Medellin this week as part of an
effort to stop the ongoing wave of assassinations in Colombia’s second
largest city.

The increased number of police is a response to yet another violent weekend in the metropolitan area of Medellin. 22 people were assassinated since Friday. Five of them died in a massacre in Envigado, just south of the city. In Bello, north of Medellin, assassins killed a police inspector from Taraza, a town in north Antioquia known for its relations to drug trafficking and coca cultivation.

Medellin has been suffering a soaring murder rate since the beginning of the year. Police have increased the number of troops in the city a number of times already but without any visible effect.

Authorities blame a war between drug gangs for the high numbers of murders, but the local opposition denounced the violence is seriously affecting the daily life of those living in the city.