Narcotrafficking, Informal Work and Food Security

In this video blog, I examine the case of “La Fantástica," one of the several neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Cartagena, Colombia, where state institutions have relocated thousands of internally displaced people in the last twelve years. Poor urban infrastructure, lack of state economic support and few sources of jobs have created the conditions for narco-paramilitary groups to develop an unregulated credit system. The narco-paramilitary credit charges high interest rates exploiting people who make a living in the informal economic sector and yet, such credit is often the only source of cash that permits these workers to put food on the table.