The Colombian Association of Capital Cities (Asocapitales) issued a national alert regarding the sustained increase in the circulation of firearms, ammunition and explosives in urban areas of the country, a phenomenon that, according to the union, is intensifying violence and increasing the severity of crimes in the main capitals.
The statement comes amid a series of recent high-impact events and after a technical analysis based on official figures consolidated at the end of 2024. According to the union organization, capital cities concentrate a significant portion of the illegal weapons market and the use of this type of elements in common and high-impact crimes.
The statistics cited by the association indicate that Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Bucaramanga account for 23.8% of the weapons seized throughout the country. In these same urban centers, firearms are present in 60.7% of thefts from people, 44.33% of thefts from commercial establishments and in 20.65% of intentional homicides, which shows a high dependence on illegal weapons to commit crimes.
One of the aspects that most worries the organization is the presence of explosives for military use in residential and commercial environments, a situation that reflects, according to the analysis, an increase in the operational capacity of criminal structures that operate in cities. For Asocapitales, this scenario confirms that urban violence is incorporating dynamics typical of armed conflicts, driven by failures in the control and traceability systems of illegal weapons.
The rates of crimes committed with firearms per 100,000 inhabitants reinforce this concern. Bucaramanga registers a rate of 834.5, followed by Bogotá (581.7), Medellín (507.1), Barranquilla (301.8) and Cali (297.1), figures that reflect a high availability of weapons in densely populated areas and greater exposure of citizens to violent events.
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Medellin City
The report also warns about the transformation of the illegal arms market. According to Asocapitales, supply no longer depends solely on theft from official warehouses, but transnational smuggling, the manufacture of artisanal or witchcraft weapons—lower cost and difficult to trace ballistics—and the use of digital platforms and social networks to facilitate illegal marketing have gained strength, which has made control and seizure tasks more complex.
Added to this panorama are the confrontations between different illegal armed groups in regions such as Antioquia, Cauca, Nariño, Arauca, Chocó and Putumayo, disputes that, according to the union, generate constant flows of weapons and explosives towards the cities, transferring violence from rural to urban areas.
Asocapitales reiterated that, although capital cities assume the direct impacts of this problem in terms of citizen security, they do not have comprehensive jurisdiction over the control, registration and traceability of weapons, ammunition and explosives, responsibilities that fall to national order entities. For this reason, he insisted on the need for a stronger, sustained and coordinated response between the national government and the territories.
Finally, the association indicated that it will continue the technical and systematic monitoring of this situation, with the aim of warning about risks, anticipating scenarios of violence and providing evidence for the formulation of public policies that allow stopping the expansion of illegal arms markets and protecting life in the country’s cities.