Since the COVID-19 outbreak, scholars and journalists have spread anecdotes of gangs and criminal organizations coming to the aid of citizens, governing in place of the state. Researchers studied if gangs respond to COVID-19 in Medellín. Despite the headlines, gang involvement in pandemic response is exceptional and mostly idiosyncratic. Surveying every low- and middle-income neighborhood in Medellin, they find that most of the support for civilians comes from state authorities and not from gangs.

To read more about this project, click here to read the publication (in Spanish), Covid-19: consecuencias y desafíos en la economía colombiana: Una mirada desde las universidades (please refer to the chapter that starts on page 243).