Resumen

CARDONA, Marleny et al. Homicidal scenarios in Medellin, Colombia from 1990 to 2002. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2005, vol.31, n.3, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

This paper is aimed at characterizing the homicidal violence scenarios in Medellin, Colombia from 1990 to 2002. A retrospective, longitudinal and descriptive study on 55 365 homicides committed in this city during 13 years, with a sample of 1 394, was made. The Institute of Forensic Medicine provided information on circumstances, reasons and actors of the homicides, then a document review of violence in Medellin was made and then the components of the homicidal scenarios (HS) were defined: circumstances at which the event occur, reasons, homicidal intentionality, objects in dispute, situation of the city, proximity among actors, level of organization and rationality, condition of the victim and third party interests. A HS was defined for each homicide, being placed in time within the 13 years-period and spatially in the slum quarters. HS were called: territorial violence (organized groups fighting each other for territorial control), ideological and political violence (search for state power or for some ideology prevalence), violence caused by social intolerance (against persons who do not fit a social pattern), violence linked to illegal substances activities (drug traffic, procuring, kidnapping); violence from goods appropriation (associated with economic struggle), violence caused by personal conflicts (impulsive, not resulting from rational acts), violence from moral or economic revindication (to revindicate any moral or material interest between two actors who have previously met), violence due to indiscriminate aggression (accidental death) and undetermined. In the first six years, HS associated to illegal activities prevailed, from 1994-1998 violence caused by revindication struggles overlapped the former and in the end, territorial violence predominated (fight between the paramilitary forces and the guerilla). Throughout the whole period, violence due to clashes and violence associated with personal conflicts were also present. The results similarly show the polymorphic character of homicide in Medellin and also the mobility of both individual and collective actors

Palabras clave : violence; homicides; homicidal scenarios; forensic medicine; Colombia.

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