Medellin Reports

[JjBee62]

Where a small percent of violence gets over publicized to give vast contrast of what the community is really like. Theres 365 days in a year..

This too shall pass.

Twice a year we go through the "Medellin is perfectly safe and anyone who says otherwise is a paranoid coward"If you step outside you're going to die" cycle.

Everyone would rather hold to their misconception instead of accepting reality.

[JjBee62]

I'm just curious no one has ever gotten robbed in the States? How do you handle any densely populated areas? With some caution.

Not really comparable. There's no city in the US with a population density close to Medellin and most of us, while in the US aren't spending much time walking around in areas comparable to El Centro, especially at night.

There are several ways to avoid being a victim.

1. Be aware of your surroundings. For someone to rob you they have to get close.

2. Walk with confidence. If you're wandering around lost you look like a victim.

3. Don't flaunt it. Keep the phone and money out of sight. Leave your jewelry and wallet at home.

4. Limit your exposure. If you have no need to be there, don't go there.

Number 4 seems to apply. Other than moving between strip clubs or bars, there's no reason to be walking around El Centro after midnight. What purpose does it serve? The stores are all closed. The hookers are all staying in just a few small areas. There are no real sights to see.

You might have no problems. But you travelled thousands of miles, spent hundreds of dollars, just to walk around grubby, mostly deserted streets after midnight? You could be in your room fucking, or in a club partying. But you want to spend your time proving that thieves are basically decent people who won't hurt you as long as you tell them you didn't bring any money?

I guess everyone has a different definition of "enjoy yourself."

[Incrociatore]

I don't speak that way. There is literally not a single time of the day when I haven't been walking in Medellin. I've walked from El Centro to Laureles after 10 pm. I've walked the length of Poblado after 4 am. I've walked around carrying 6 million pesos (furniture shopping) along with my $1,000 laptop. I've walked Bello, Manrique and Paris. I averaged 50 miles walking a week for a year. I have no problems walking around or being out after 6 pm.

You don't seem to understand how robberies work in Medellin.

2 guys come around the corner on a motorcycle and see someone walking alone. They stop. The passenger is already pointing a gun at you. As he approaches you, the driver pulls a gun. If you run, they shoot. If you don't immediately start handing stuff over, they shoot. They don't spend 5 minutes negotiating or searching you. 5 seconds after the motorcycle stops, it's driving away. You're either standing there with empty pockets, or you're lying there bleeding. If they have knives instead of guns, the results are the same..

So your point is that I should carry my phone and 1 million so if they rob me, they are going to be happy and they leave me alone? Because this is what you have just said. Instead I'm doing the exact opposite. I'm not carrying my phone and I'm carrying what I'm going to need for the hours I'm in el centro. Carrying 6 millions is not really smart, isn't it? There is no reason for that. Credit and debit card are accepted everywhere. And if I'm carrying such an amount, which is not going to happen, I take a taxi. It's not even smart doing your errands "en el centro" with your $1000 phone. If you know you can get robbed, you go around with nothing, so that's what they are going to rob, just the cash you have with you. If you don't have an expensive watch, you don't have to worry when your arm is outside the window of car, because no one will try to take it from you. People are not shooting at you because you don't have nothing. It happened, but it's not the rule for sure. It might happen if you are opposing resistance that you get stabbed or shot, and I don't even think it's going to happen all the time. Most the time, if there are people around, they will just walk away. Yours are just fantasies. You should do some days in a prison here in Colombia to understand why people don't get stabbed any minute. If you hand over what you have and you show you don't have nothing else, there is no reason they should hurt you. If it happens, then it was your destiny. They take what you have, as fast as they can and they run away. Please get back to reality.

[Ewe52]

Hey guys the locals in Colombia get Robbed too. It's not just the tourist. If There is a higher incidence of foreigners getting robbed, It could be, but I'm not aware. It's probably because the thief knows tourist usually have money to spend.

If some thief stops me in the street just give him the wallet and the phone. In all honesty I think the criminal will be happy with 50,000. Practically nobody walks around with more money unless they just came out of the ATM Right after payday. wORST-CASE SCENARIO give the assailant you shoes or something.

There are some other Colombian scams:

-be careful after leaving the ATM. Some criminal may be waiting for you and will ask the Victim for all the cash They just withdrew.

-Don't wear a watch and don't take your phone out in public like it's your girlfriend or something. Keep your cheap watch in your pocket.

-Don't wear any cheap hippie bracelets because people may think it's an expensive bracelet and try to steal it from you.Make sure at least the bracelet is just s string without anything yellow or Silver..

One of my girls said her watch was taken riding the metro when the train stopped two guys leaving trapped her arm stripped off the watch and ran off. All happened I'm seconds from what I was told.

[Lucky Nuts]

The location of your home would not be difficult to discover via that number. That doesn't necessarily matter but we all need to aware.

Agreed the FBI woul be able to locate my anonymous tracphone using triangulation. But I'm not worried about scammers in foreign countires.

Laugh now! But just wait until someone hacks in and you wake up in the morning with frozen nuts.

Shit I would need to change my name to Frozen Nuts LOL. Good one JjB. For anyone seriously paranoid about giving out your whatsapp number just get a 5 minute SIM card. I've done this as well with my real telephone. Walk into the phone shop next to the church on 43 & calle 10 and buy a SIM card without any data plan for a couple dollars. Load whatsapp and get it verified via text message. As soon as your whatsapp is up and running pull out that SIM card and throw it away. You are now anonymous and can give your whatsapp number to anyone without hesitation.

The real point I was originally trying to make is that I would never use my own normal USA phone number for whatsapp. Not saying it's a big mistake to do so but by using other phone numbers it provides another layer of privacy.

Besides that I'd have to put up with messages from my friends at home asking for pictures of the girls I'm meeting. I prefer to not be disturbed by such requests during my travels.

[Surfer500]

It looks like you are all expert here about robberies and crimes. Once again, if you are so afraid, stay home. I do what I fuckin want and I take my risks. You should all stop to scary people, because crimes happen all over the world. A guy run over a police officer just today in London. And today in a city in Italy, one of the most secure, a guy opened the fire with a stolen gun after a fight, 5 got shot, one is serious. So please stop, and I say to everyone of you, to scare the shit out of people, because 1) you don't know a shit; 2) crimes happen everywhere, especially in US.

Perhaps you ought to look at all of these posts in a different light. It's not that the board members with lot's of time spent on the ground in Medellin are trying to scare anyone with what they have witnessed / experienced, but more to warn others of the dangers that lurk, and hopefully provide some advice and things to be aware of so that other board members avoid becoming a victim.

[Member #4665]

Hey guys the locals in Colombia get Robbed too. It's not just the tourist. If There is a higher incidence of foreigners getting robbed, It could be, but I'm not aware. It's probably because the thief knows tourist usually have money to spend.

If some thief stops me in the street just give him the wallet and the phone. In all honesty I think the criminal will be happy with 50,000. Practically nobody walks around with more money unless they just came out of the ATM Right after payday. wORST-CASE SCENARIO give the assailant you shoes or something.

There are some other Colombian scams:

-be careful after leaving the ATM. Some criminal may be waiting for you and will ask the Victim for all the cash They just withdrew.

-Don't wear a watch and don't take your phone out in public like it's your girlfriend or something. Keep your cheap watch in your pocket.

-Don't wear any cheap hippie bracelets because people may think it's an expensive bracelet and try to steal it from you.Make sure at least the bracelet is just s string without anything yellow or Silver.

- If you go to a bar they may spike your drink take a taxi to yoour place get you to give them all your belongings and then they will leave you sleeping in some park. The victims wake up without Shoes. According to the nnewspaper.

-If you're driving a car don't swing your arm outside your window they will burn you with a cigarette and when you say ouch and reach for the pain with your other arm they will take your watch. Actually this 1 may be urban myth?

Tourist can stay safe and nothing will happen to. Just take precaution and don't do anything stupid that the locals would not do.

[PolloNegro]

And continue to take the wrong route regardless. If you are in Centro and you are not able to spend $13.00 usd on sex, my suggestion is just stay away from the park, I have seen guys tell me straight up that they will not pay any girl in the park $50,000 pesos, but turn around and complain that the chic at the casa was horrible for $60,000 pesos, I telling you now, you are giving foreigners a bad name when you are too cheap to spend $13.00 usd on the girls, your choice, your money, but you know right from wrong. Pollo Negro is out!

[PolloNegro]

I will continue to tell any monger who wants to venture into Park Botero, Vera Cruz, and Park Berrios, have your wits about you. I have been in Medellin for 8 months, Centro is the place that I spend most of my time, if there was ever a target to rob, they would have robbed me by now. Do not make yourself a target, I can only give you warnings, if you have no street sense and you have never been in a scuffle, stay away from Centro at the current time. I have met about 8 Mongers in the past 8 months and everyone of them were older than me and everyone of them were not happy with what Centro offered them. If you know you want 18-20 year skinny chics who could pass for European, please stick with the agencies. I will leave it at that, you mongers know who you are and what you want, Centro may not be the place for you if you have very specific wants and needs, and the mongers I have met, really were particular on age, look, and weight! Centro is very dangerous if you do not speak Spanish, you have no street sense, and you are in Centro alone. You have heard my speech, to each their own! Pollo Negro is out!

[Blakman]

Where a small percent of violence gets over publicized to give vast contrast of what the community is really like. Theres 365 days in a year.

It's not dangerous if you know what you aredoing. If you walk around like Elmer Fudd like I did it is dangerous.

.

[JjBee62]

I read the article. But I also read this:

"Jeff is the founder and editor-in-chief of Medellin Guru. He first discovered Colombia back in 2006 and has traveled to all the major cities in Colombia. Jeff is fortunate to have lived over eight years in Medelln."

He has been robbed once in 8 years! I mean, statistically it's nothing really. A friend of mine in Turin has been robbed 3 times at the station by junkies using a syringe. 3 times in 2 years. Watching at the data the probability to get robbed in Laureles is really low. I'm sure it's much easier to get robbed en el centro at night. During the day there is so much police. I mean today I have seen at least 20 soldiers with automatic rifles.

And, look at him, he is a the perfect target. You can see he is a gringo from 1 km, and you know he will not do any resistance. Robberies happen all the time in all the big cities. You can't be safe in New York, London or Paris.

There were over 40 thousand robbery offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police in London in 2019/20, an increase of almost six thousand when compared with the previous year, and a peak for this type of offence in the provided time period. Did you read? 40 thousands. Yes, London is bit, but it's still much more than in Medellin with all the neighborhoods combined. In Laureles it happens not even 1. 5 times a day. Why it should be me? Most likely is going to be a monger from USA or Canada, with blue eyes, in his 60.

At least 90% of robberies in Medellin go unreported. Instead of basing your opinion on the experience of 1 gringo, ask the chicas how many times they've been robbed. Ask how many cell phones they have had stolen. Ask how many people they know who have been stabbed or shot.

Your point about only carrying what you can afford to lose is a good one.

Your thoughts about what will happen if you don't have anything to steal are potentially fatal.

[JjBee62]

Here are the official stats on robberies, a person is 3 times as likely to get robbed in El Centro as they are in Laureles or Poblado but that does not mean you are exempt in Laureles or Poblado it just means it is less likely to happen there. The most likely way is as described in this article and that has been described in posts here in this forum, It is by the passenger of a motorcycle. I think they actually have term for these guys in Colombia but I cannot remember what it is. Looking at just Laureles and Poblado the stats average out to be like 5 per day that means 15 per day in El centro on the average - so like Nounce said robbery can happen anywhere -
https://medellinguru.com/medellin-robbery/

According to this other article the motorcycle rider thing started as a means for hitman (a method that is still around) of the Escobar cartel (it also says that the person who thought of it was eventually assassinated in the same way) so that it would be easier to evade the police through traffic, but also robbers caught on to this method, In 2014 Medellin even passed an ordinance banning male passengers of certain age group on the back of motorcycles. "motorcycle assassinations decreased by 39 percent, Robberies of cars and of motorcycles by motorcycle riders each fell by nearly 30 percent. " I do not know if that law is still in effect.

https://www.insightcrime.org/news/br...engers-hitmen/

Everyone in Medellin knows 2 guys on a motorcycle spells trouble.

[JjBee62]

If you have nothing with you, you have nothing. They can search you. You give them what you have. 50k for example, without any resistance, you show your pockets are empty and it's over. If you go there with your phone and 1 million, then they will pretend your phone and 1 million, but if you have 20 k for the taxi, they will take what you have. Or you think they are gone to cut in half and search if you have some money in your belly? Yesterday I didn't have my phone with me, and I was there with almost no cash. I was there in the dark, from 6 to 8:30. No one touched me. I tell you more, I was feeling more secure than in the afternoon, because less people, greater distance, I was much more in control. One guy approached me, he followed me for a 10/20 seconds, till I said him to fuck off. I never let him closer than 2 meters from me. I doubt the junkies of el centro have guns. Cartel has guns, not the junkies in el centro. If they had one, they would have sold to buy drugs. The risk to get robbed is real, but who gives a fuck if they still me 50000 COP, I don't really mind. You all speak about Medellin like you can't go out after 6, which is bullshit.

I don't speak that way. There is literally not a single time of the day when I haven't been walking in Medellin. I've walked from El Centro to Laureles after 10 pm. I've walked the length of Poblado after 4 am. I've walked around carrying 6 million pesos (furniture shopping) along with my $1,000 laptop. I've walked Bello, Manrique and Paris. I averaged 50 miles walking a week for a year. I have no problems walking around or being out after 6 pm.

You don't seem to understand how robberies work in Medellin.

2 guys come around the corner on a motorcycle and see someone walking alone. They stop. The passenger is already pointing a gun at you. As he approaches you, the driver pulls a gun. If you run, they shoot. If you don't immediately start handing stuff over, they shoot. They don't spend 5 minutes negotiating or searching you. 5 seconds after the motorcycle stops, it's driving away. You're either standing there with empty pockets, or you're lying there bleeding. If they have knives instead of guns, the results are the same.

It's hard to find a chica who hasn't been robbed multiple times. It's hard to find a chica who doesn't know someone who was killed by the robbers. They get killed for 1 of 2 reasons. Either they resisted, or they had nothing to steal.

You seem not to understand the situation. You are not a Colombian. Everyone in Colombia knows you aren't a Colombian. If you're in El Centro and you're not a Colombian, everyone knows you have money. Even if you're just walking around with 50 k and no phone, they know you have money.

Now you're facing 2 guys with guns or knives, they're panicked, because they know they need to get your money and get out quick and you expect them to listen calmly while you explain why you're only carrying 50 k? That's like going to Pamplona and explaining to the bulls that you don't eat meat.

If you want to go walking the deserted streets of El Centro after midnight, just to prove your point, at least carry enough to keep from getting killed.

[Kafka]

It's not dangerous if you know what you aredoing. If you walk around like Elmer Fudd like I did it is dangerous.

A very bad idea. I would call it "an excess of confidence". You know, you read here and there Centro is not dangerous, then someone believes it and gets harmed.

[Black Page]

Someone was saying he gave middle finger to the trans at Veracruz church recently.

A very bad idea. I would call it "an excess of confidence". You know, you read here and there Centro is not dangerous, then someone believes it and gets harmed.