Formal complaints for the crime of extortion reached an all-time high in the last decade in Colombia. According to the Ministry of National Defense, The figure reported in the first four months of 2024 exceeds the equivalent periods since 2014: 3,546 recorded events.
Although it is widely known that underreporting in this type of crime is high, because a high proportion of victims do not file complaints, the official data is still worrying.
Between January and April 2014, 1,824 cases were reported, and in 2019 there were 3,086. Complaints fell during the covid-19 pandemic and in 2020 2,072 were documented.
From there it was sustained growth in the first four months of each year: 2,316 in 2021, 2,482 in 2022, 3,042 in 2023 and 3,546 in 2024.
In addition to the criminal gangs that extort in the streets, the phenomenon of prison extortion has been increasing, in part thanks to failures in containing illegal activities by Inpec.
It must be remembered that with the failure of coercive measures such as increased surveillance by cameras, changes in guard schedules and supposedly maximum security pavilions, In 2011, that entity began installing cellular signal inhibitor devicespreventing calls from leaving or entering the cells.
The project has failed for several reasons: in some cases, the machines also block the cell phone signal of the surrounding neighborhoods, harming the community and generating an avalanche of guardianships; Added to this are high costs of acquisition, maintenance and updating of software and hardware.
In January 2024, the Attorney General’s Office reported that Of 22 signal jammers installed in prisons, only two were half-functioning. The Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, announced that he would explore new technologies with the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Police, which to date have not been implemented.
According to the study Radiography of Extortion in Colombia, by the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, which analyzed the consolidated data for all of 2023, “The departments where this crime occurs the most are, in order, Antioquia with a total of 1,797 (per year), followed by Bogotá DC with 1,626, Atlántico with 1,303, Valle del Cauca with 1,100 and Norte de Santander with 549 cases.”
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