Escalating violence between rival gangs in Medellín is causing urban displacement within the poorer suburbs of the city.
Residents of La Avranzada, suburb in the Santo Domingo zone have been threatened and forced to relocate, others have done so of their own volition, frightened that they will be removed by force. Those displaced have moved to other poor suburbs in Medellín.
A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told El Mundo that her neighbour had been threatened with death if she and her family did not leave immediately.
El Mundo also reported 11 students from an educational institute in La Avanzada had withdrawn their enrollment for fear that they would be identified and targeted by paramilitaries on campus.
A spokesperson from the Medellín mayor’s office Jairo Herrán Vargas, said that there had only been two formal reports of urban displacement in Santo Domingo.
El Mundo believes this to be due to a culture of fear, in which no one wants to speak out, for fear of making themselves the next target.
