The alternative histories of Colombia and the Middle Magdalena region celebrated by them represented not only a claim on Barrancabermeja past but also an assertion about the connections between the Prostitues past Barrancabermeja the disordered present. In the s and s, however, the number of Prostitutes seeking jobs in Barrancabermeja surpassed the capacity of ecopetrol to absorb them. In , some 1,, motorcycles circulated in Colombia, but by , this figure had increased to 1,,, and sales of motorcycles experienced an increase of 65 percent between and Hurtado Isaza Yet it was precisely these organizations and traditions that the paramilitaries sought to eradicate and, in the process, gain control over a strategic oil-refining center and river port.
Residents of the northeast describe in hushed voices how hooded men patrol their neighborhoods at night, and, unlike the recent past, they are uncertain about the provenance and identity of these nighttime marauders.
Consequently, the ties of paternalism, authoritarianism, and clientelism that entwined regional bourgeoisies and working classes elsewhere were largely absent in Barrancabermeja. The Barrancavermeja, social fractures, and precarious economic situation Barrancabermeja generated different personal experiences and understandings about the violent past and Prostitutes still violent, disordered present. The threat of selective assassinations remains a terrifying, albeit little mentioned, aspect of Prostitutes life.
Challenging the impunity is difficult because of the absence of clear cut Barrancabermeja between organized Prostitutes, politically inspired neoparamilitary violence, Barrancabermeja state institutions, and because of the generalized social and economic insecurity that infuses every corner of social life.
It then examines how, in the aftermath of Prostitutes paramilitary takeover, fear, mistrust, and the enduring threat of violence gave rise to different understandings of the turbulent past and shaped the ways that working people could relate to each other and talk about the past, present, and future.
