The Evolution of Armed Conflict in Medellín An Analysis of the Major Actors by

edges the support of the Corporaci6n Regi6n group (Medellfn), which conducted a larger study of urban conflicts in Medellin in which he participated 1996-1997. Francine Cronshaw has graduate degrees in Latin American history, specializing in twentieth-century Colombia. The evolution of the criminal gangs and militia groups operating in Medellin, Colombia, today mirrors the evolution of tensions and disputes in the city over time. Research on their origins and dynamics reveals the bor-rowing of revolutionary ideology from the guerrillas and the emergence of groups that combine the features and behaviors of the two kinds of groups. Reporting on this research, this article briefly outlines the background to armed conflict in Colombia, presents an analysis of Medellin as an instance of widespread armed conflict, outlines the collective actors at the barrio level from an evolutionary perspective, and then examines the recent changes among these actors and discusses the future directions of armed conflict in Medellin. THE NATIONAL CONTEXT OF COLOMBIAN VIOLENCE Daniel P6caut (1998) has summarized the current Colombian violencia (or violencias) as follows: Since 1980, Colombia has once again been the theater of exceptionally intense violence. The national homicide rate often exceeds 70 per 100,000 inhabitants and is one of the highest in the world. In some Colombian regions or cities the average rate exceeds 400 per 100,000. Between 1980 and 1995 the number of victims was more than 300,000. Collective killings of five or more persons are countless; just between 1988 and 1993, more than 900 of them were counted, leaving in their wake more than 5,000 victims. Many other indicators point in the same direction: thousands of political and labor activists murdered; a politi-cal party, the Union Patri6tica (UP), decimated and practically wiped off the at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 10, 2016lap.sagepub.comDownloaded from 111 map; an annual number of kidnappings officially recorded of between 1,000 and 1,717 (the highest point being in 1991); more than 500,000 displaced per-sons; and routine practices of extortion and blackmail throughout most o