The authorities of Rosario, Argentina, make the trumpet of record homicide rates in the eternally violent drug center, but the murders in progress in marginalized areas suggest that recent security initiatives have contained the violence of gangs rather than treating its deep causes.
Fighting between local criminal media have made Rosario the central point For violence in drugs in Argentina for more than a decade. However, recent reforms are credited for lowering the homicide rate, which has made the lowest level of 2024 in the city since it started collecting data in 2014.
The drop was the most notable in the city center, while violence continued in the peripheral areas of the city.
During the morning of Saturday July 5, unidentified shooters opened fire at the entrance of a school in the western area of Rosario, Argentina. The shooters would have left a written threat to the premises requiring changes under the conditions of the prison, according to local points of sale. Early in the morning of Sunday, July 6, another shooting in the southwest area, this time a house, struck two cousins playing in the front hall. The 13 -year -old was killed, while the eight -year -old is currently hospitalized with a ball injury to the leg and another in the jaw. Later in the day, a man opened fire on a bus in the southwest, leaving an injured.
Illicit economies and organized crime are the main causes Homicides in Rosario. The reasons for these attacks are still under determination, but they awaken memories of violence previously launched by city gangs.
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In March 2023, a shooting in a local school and a separate shooting that killed an 11 -year -old child and left three injured children fueled the indignation and led the president of the time, Alberto Fernández deploy Federal assistance to the city.
“Try to imagine it: they come to threaten the schools,” a resident of the western area of Rosario told Insight Crime. “Most schools have police officers at the entrance to children and at the exit because these threats are part of the walls. They are always afraid because of these shots. ”
To combat long -standing violence caused by organized crime, the authorities have increased police presence and accelerated the dismantling of “bunkers” where drugs are treated. Raids increase 25% in 2024, compared to the previous year, and the erased cases increased from 34% to 44%.
But these changes did not come without resistance from organized crime. A bus was shot in September 2024; The attack would have been condemned to intimidate the public. March 2024 saw several attacks, including threats to the family of the football star Ángel Di Maria.
“It was in March (2024), when the messages were clearly sent to the Minister and the Governor. And clearly, the request was: “Stop what you do, stop what you do in the prisons, stop what you are doing in the streets … If you don’t want more deaths, stop doing this,” said Esteban Santantino, Secratation of Information Analysis and Management for the Government of Santa Fe Criminal Center of Santa Center in an interview with the crime of government. “And that put us to the test.”
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The government has highlighted the low levels of global crime as a signal that policies work.
And while the reforms seem to have brought record levels of peace and security in the center of Rosario, turning its dark reputation, residents of its peripherals say that organized crime remains a constant threat.
“People are afraid and do not report anything either. My friend was killed and the family did not report it,” said the resident. “They are afraid because (the criminals) direct the whole neighborhood.”
Star image: Graffiti on the National University of Rosario Campus encouraging resistance in the middle of violence. Source: Christopher Newton
