The colombian state and the criminal gangs

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate the impact and interference generated by the Criminal Gangs (BACRIM) at national and international levels, with the aim of proposing a restructuring of the roles and functions of the Military Forces and the Colombian National Police, which will weaken and neutralize the criminal actions of this type of criminal organizations. To this end, the emergence of the BACRIM is identified after the processes of disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion of the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia, from which they inherited their criminal actions, focusing mainly in drug trafficking, extortion and the implementation of new financing mechanisms such as the illegal extraction of mining deposits, which represents a serious problem for national and regional security. The criminal modality of these gangs has evolved to the point of being consolidated into criminal organizations with territorial control inside and outside the country. It would be appropriate to modify the military doctrine according to the actual process of transformation of the Military Forces, which would allow the preservation of the sovereignty of the national territory, making them guarantors of the country´s external security, while the National Police must increase their capacity for deployment and maneuver, focusing exclusively on internal security. The above, in order to avoid that in a post conflict scenario, the demobilized are part of the common crime and criminal gangs. It is therefore important to ensure that the Military Forces and the National Police are prepared and trained to deal with new phenomena such as the BACRIM.