La virgen de los sicaros

La virgen de los sicaros takes places in what is presumably the 1990s in Colombia, a country reeling from the drug cartels’ influence.  The film occurs after the cartels have left; this absence has an unexpected inverse consequence.  Whereas the reduction of criminal organizations should reduce crime significantly, armed conflict persisted.  The 1990s mark a distinct transition in Colombia.  In general, the conflict changes from drug trafficking, and the search for greater profit, to political killing aimed to influence voting results as well as maintain order.  The two articles by Ricardo Vargas and Forrest Hynton relate these ideas. 

            While the film provides a posthumous view of the conflict, Ricardo Vargas’s article highlights the cultural phenomena of life among drugs cartels.  He writes, “…there is the strongest development of private armed groups that act parallel to those of the state” in areas of agricultural production (110).  Their actions primarily involved killing or displacing individuals.  One instance, which took place in the Santa Marta area, involved the displacement of 4,000 peasants and the disappearance of 20 others (115).  These kinds of large scale crimes send a message to all of Colombia quickly; violence is not a bad thing, but a means to achieve success.  There is also a shift in norms among citizens of Colombia.  “When a trafficker attempts to ‘legalize’ his situation but buying land and acquire legitimacy by supporting those who promote ‘order’ in the community” as Vargas states his illicit activity is overlooked and accepted (123).  Ricardo Vargas even proclaims one drug trafficker, Jose Cuesta, “as someone willing to resolve disputes, filling the void left by an absent state” (113).  The results of years of economic benefit from drug trafficking are evident in the apartment left to Fernando by his relative who used to do drugs.  It is also evident in the number of out of work hired guns remaining in the streets of Medellin.

            Much of this drug trade killing was preceded by political killings.  Liberal/Conservative conflict escalated into violence, especially during La Violencia.  After the assassination of Jorge Gaitan, a president from the Liberal Party, the face of the police changed greatly.  Forrest Hylton’s writing states “that Conservative ‘civil police’ replaced Liberal police in 1947-48, and were then organized into a professional force of political assassins in 1949-1950” (43).  It is amazing that Colombia’s democracy survived for so long.  They elected presidents for years amongst assassinations and revolutions.  The election process stemmed from the electoral division of Colombian land.  The “conquest of territory – the accumulation of land, livestock, and coffee – was the goal, and killing obeyed a sinister calculus of pain and cruelty” (44).  This land-war translate into the 1980s and 90s as cocaine exporters take a informal control of Colombia.  To be blunt, the complete absence of any social power in La virgin de los sicaros is astonishing.  One would expect some police to intervene at some point; therefore this element is hard to believe.  

A Clear and Present Danger...to my grades.

Cocaine Cowboys, the story of cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Florida, details the techniques, reasons, and effects of the influx of drugs to Miami.  Now, this film only popularizes the drug dealing/trafficking lifestyle sought after by audiences.  Scarface falls into the category of this movie, but it offers a grounded, on-the-streets view of these criminal organizations.  The movie only mentions briefly action taking place in Latin America.  There lies the root of the issue of drug trafficking. 

During the early 1960s, the cocaine trade “consolidated itself into more systematic growing processing, and smuggling circuits” (Gootenberg 135).  The United States saw a shift from marijuana importing to cocaine.  In response, Washington began a “war on drugs” with the assistance of local armies.  The United States falls under criticism of “collateral damage” in Coletta A. Youngers’ article.  She says, “the counternarcotics mission provides the military with a task that is likely to lead to human rights abuses, and the “confidential” nature of counterdrug programs further exacerbates patterns of impunity” (127).  The United States’ method to combating the drug trade was to train and equip military groups.  Youngers highlights the issue of American-trained soldiers enacting tactical maneuvers, but the greater need was for human-rights training, as well as maintaining criminal rights and following proper investigative procedures. 

Delving further into the drug trade, we find heavy involvement by United States’ agencies.  The Department of Defense and Southern Command were creating stronger military control in these Andean countries; the same countries which were once under oppressive regimes.  These countries also relied heavily on the economic success of the cocaine trade.  This national view extended towards the drug cartel and counternarcotics.  In the film, we see reports of Colombian social order, specifically in regards to the Medellin cartel.  The narrator says towns in Colombia are filled with drug traders and facilitators.  Delegating the “war on drugs” is like leaving a child to babysit infants.  Combining the view of corrupt policemen from Cidade de Deus and the under-funded police from Bus 174, there seems to be a negative view of police in Latin America.  It seems causal that the U.S. was forced to enlist the assistance of Latin American militaries, as well as other gray line methods. 

The article “The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations” addresses instances of CIA involvement in the counter-revolution in Nicaragua, including funding through drug money.  These seemingly “guerilla” tactics are reminiscent of the Cold War era analyses.  There is an instance that a National Security Council aide wanted to use money from a cartel to fund the contras but failed to gain permission.  It is possible that the boom in drug traffic was allowed to progress for some time.  A tipping point, just as in the movie at the Dadeland Mall shooting, caused it to attract violence and further, more publicized control.

Bus 174

            Bus 174 is a documentary about a hostage taker in Rio de Janeiro and his life up to his death.  While the film seems a straight forward storytelling of a street kid and the horrors of his youth, adding historical context provides a glimpse into the reasons and social situations of Latin American cities in general.  The readings complementing Bus 174 are The Heart That Bleeds, which provides a cultural view of the arts in Mexico City during the late 1900s, I Saw a City Invincible, which steps back and views social change in major Latin American urban centers, and The Drive-by Victim, which tells the story of a theft in the streets of Bogota.

            The Heart That Bleeds is written by a traveler in Mexico who provides commentary on social issues.  Some of the essay may be utilized to explain the situation Sandro faces as a street kid in Latin America.  While there is little direct relation between the events of the film and Bus 174, the two timelines are contemporary and serve to generalize a social environment.  The Heart That Bleeds depicts living conditions of the, distinction here, renting people, who stay in “old-fashioned, high-ceilinged rooms…crowded with bunk beds stacked as many as five high” (241).  These cramped spaces are exponentially worsened in government funded spaces, such as the jail in which Sandro lived.  In addition to living quarters, the author’s study of mariachi and the impact of a modern subway line in Mexico City attributes itself to the life of a street kid.  Shown in Bus 174, a major source of income for these kids is performing on the streets of Rio de Janeiro for commuters.  This impact of modernization further restricts avenues for success just as the mass urbanization of the early 1900s did.

            I Saw a City Invincible’s greatest complement to Bus 174 is the social impact of the arts on inner city kids.  Capoeira, a form of martial arts similar to dancing, is mentioned in the film alongside the epidemic of huffing.  These two activities are far different in their purpose.   The author writes that dancing, in general, is “also one of the most inclusive activities in societies that for so long and in subtle ways have segregated the rich from the poor” (23).  Sandro’s participation is explained by a school teacher, who plays a drum in the instrumental portion of capoeira.  Accompanying this urban form of dancing is the practice of huffing glue.  These street kids are included in capoeira, yet they distance themselves from the wealthy involved through their addiction. 

            The Drive-by Victim is an alternate story of criminals which manages to pull at one’s heart strings.  Sympathizing with the criminals is a leap most are unwilling to take.  Bus 174 on the surface is a theft gone wrong and a lunatic seeking an audience.  Only through a deep history of the life of Sandra do Nascimento is insight gained to the horrors he has experienced.  The life as a street kid, including the Candelaria Massacre, his time in juvenile detention, as well as the cramped corners of prison, and the murder of his mother lend reasoning and justification to his actions, especially in Latin American, where the social structure does not provide as much assistance to the poor.