Born to Die in Medellin

A riveting insight into urban violence in Medellin, Columbia's second city. Alonso Salazar journeys into the jails, hospitals and shanty towns of Columbia's drug capital to interview teenage contract kilers, their families, priests and self-defence vigilantes. In the process, he brings alive the world of Medellin's youth gangs, those who, in their own words, are 'born to die' before they can have children or grow old. An introduction by Colin Harding, The Independent's Latin America editor, describes Medellin's criminal culture, and the young killer's place in Columbian politics. First published in Columbia in 1990, the book rapidly became a best seller as a graphic exploration of one of the most violent societies in the world.