Rosario and its 1.3m residents have in recent years been
notorious for a nasty reason: a crime rate that far exceeds that of other
Argentine cities (see chart). The frequency of murders is nearly triple the
national average; 137 people have been killed so far this year. On August 25th
more than 20,000 Rosarinos marched through the streets demanding action. Half
of residents surveyed in a recent poll said they or a family member had been a
victim of crime in the past year.
Other parts of the country can be rough, too. Two-thirds of
Argentines say they feel unsafe walking in their neighbourhoods or cities,
according to Isonomía, a consultancy. Insecurity is top of the list of national
worries, ahead of inflation, poverty and unemployment. But Rosario, located at
one of the country’s nodal points, stands out.
Santa Fe, the province which governs Rosario, is home to a
network of 32 ports which export grain and soya around the world. That, of
course, is an economic asset. But those commercial facilities make Rosario an
ideal staging post for transporting drugs to Europe, typically via west Africa.
Bolivian cocaine arrives in the city by road; Paraguayan marijuana by river.
Most is shipped abroad, but some is distributed in Rosario’s villas:
poverty-stricken districts on the city’s outskirts where local gangs fight an
increasingly brutal turf war. “Problems used to be resolved through insults or
a punchup—now it’s with bullets,” says Gerardo Bongiovanni, who runs Fundación
Libertad, a think-tank.
Rosario’s poorest neighbourhoods are most affected, but the
spread of violence to richer parts of the city has pushed the issue up the
political agenda. Last year Sandro Procopio, a 48-year-old architect, was slain
by a bullet outside a construction site. On August 15th Nahuel Ciarrocca, a
28-year-old athlete, was shot dead during a robbery. His murder proved to be a
tipping point. “Nahuel awoke the collective conscience,” says Diego Giuliano,
president of Rosario council’s security committee. After his death a protest
named “Rosario Sangra” (Rosario bleeds) was organised through Facebook.
Santa Fe’s provincial police force, tasked with protecting
Rosario’s residents, is clearly part of the problem rather than the solution.
Many in its ranks are thought to have close links with the city’s narco gangs.
Around 200 are currently under federal investigation. The rot extends to the
very top: last October the provincial chief of police was sentenced to six
years in prison for involvement in drug trafficking. Miguel Lifschitz, Santa
Fe’s governor since December, has struggled to find a replacement: the current
chief is the third to hold office so far this year.
The judiciary is in disarray. Provincial judges hand down
lenient sentences and allow dangerous criminals out on probation. One reason
for this is an overburdened prison system. A fifth of Santa Fe’s 5,000
prisoners are held in police stations because prisons are too full to accept
them. In the absence of state justice, some of Rosario’s residents have taken
the law into their own hands. After detaining a mugger in February, a group of
vigilantes stripped him naked before calling the police. He was fortunate: an
18-year-old was lynched after robbing a pregnant woman in 2014.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government did little to
address the concerns over security. Since replacing her as president in
December Mauricio Macri has tried to make up for lost time. In January he
declared a national “security emergency” and authorised the air force to shoot
down aircraft suspected of flying drugs across Argentina’s borders. In April
his government published the first crime statistics since 2008. The figures
show that crime has increased by 10% since then. On August 30th Mr Macri
announced a new national strategy to “defeat narcotrafficking”. Although thin
on detail, the plan aims to tackle both addiction and dealing.
Although likely to benefit from such measures, Santa Fe is
recognised as requiring special treatment. On September 12th the national
government agreed to post federal police officers to the province until the end
of next year. This was last tried in 2014; it had some effect on the murder
rate, as the chart shows, but the root problem was left unsolved. This time
both federal and provincial forces will be co-ordinated by a “strategic
committee” which will evaluate progress every three months. Some doubt whether
the policy will work. Mr Bongiovanni reckons its ministers should seek foreign
expertise. While Argentina’s politicians scramble to find a lasting solution,
Rosarinos will continue to watch their backs.
edited from The Economist
