The Colombian Mafia, under the microscope
El confidente de la
mafia se confiesa*
Gustavo Salazar Pineda
El Tercer Nombre • 2006
Javier Sánchez
Zapatero
Translation: Helen O'Sullivan
As its title indeed indicates, El
confidente de la mafia se confiesa (Confessions of a Mafia confident) is the
account of a man who was once the lawyer of some of the most famous
and powerful Colombian Mafia dons. However, there is not a trace
of fiction in the work, for, as the author points out in the prologue, "when one has
experienced so much in life, there is no place for invention".
Although this is also a personal story, made up of memories, experiences
and opinions, the author's driving force is to produce a faithful
account of one of the most powerful networks of organised crime and
extortion in the world. It is this determination that provides the
constant backbone of the work, structured like a collection of stories,
experiences and essays, giving the reader a more vivid and less stereotypical
image of the drug barons.
Due to constant, if somewhat unjust,
comparison, as their titles are eminently different, it is difficult
to read the book without thinking of Noticia
de un secuestro (News
of Kidnapping), which, due to the fame of its author, has probably
become the most well-known of all literary works about the Colombian
Mafia. Gabriel García
Márquez's imaginary, fictionalised account offered one part
of the violent and threatening workings of the drug-trafficking world,
whilst Gustavo Salazar Pineda's work shows a comprehensive overview
that attempts to give the reader some of the clues to uncover the
immense power that drug barons had in the South American country.
The depiction of the situation is so close to the mark that, at times,
morality seems blurred by the author's documentary-making aims, which
are more in favour of acting as a witness than passing judgement.
When he does this, Salazar Pineda makes clear the guilt of society
as a whole and also that of all of the mechanisms of power in the
entire drug-trafficking industry. Whilst continuously highlighting
the accountability of those he once defended, the author attempts
to demonstrate that the Mafia is a product of very specific and defined
political and social circumstances. In this way the book places the
current contradictions in Colombia under the microscope for all to
see.
* Confessions
of a Mafia confident.
