The city of Buenaventura will see the demolition of a number of recently discovered “chopping houses,” used by drug gangs to mutilate their victims’ bodies and make them disappear.
The mayor of the seaport of Buenaventura, west Colombia, on Monday ordered the demolition of at least four recently discovered “chopping houses,” in which local criminal drug trafficking organizations would torture and dismember their victims.
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Mayor Bartolo Valencia demanded that the “Machiavellian handiwork” be brought down after President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday called for actions to be taken, Colombian radio station W Radio reported.
The reported motives for their removal are that the buildings are located poorer stilt-house neighborhoods of the Pacific port town, and that they were vacated by their owners as a result of displacement by armed groups.
Acording to W Radio, at least 12 dismembered victims have been washed up in Buenaventura’s coastline since January 2013.
The houses of horror were discovered last week by various investigation units of the police. It is suspected that they were being used by the main criminal actors in the area: “Los Urabeños,” which is the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, and the local gang “La Empresa,” which is allied to the former’s deadly rival organization, “Los Rastrojos.”
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The coastal city in the state of Valle del Cauca has long been plagued by extreme violence, with its strategic location for cocaine traffickers fuelling territorial gang wars and keeping the murder rate sky-high.
MORE: Journalist assassinated in western Colombia
Sources
- Alcaldía de Buenaventura demolerá casas usadas por “descuartizadores” (W Radio)
- Puerto colombiano Buenaventura demolerá casas usadas por “descuartizadores” (Prensa Libre)
- Colombia ‘Chopping Houses’ Highlight Forced Disappearance Methods (InSight Crime)
- Renacen las “casas de pique” en Buenaventura (El Espectador)
