Spaces of crime: homicides, drugs and spatial dependency in three Latin American cities. National crime statistics in Colombia, 2024 – National Police

This article analyses the spatial relationship between homicides and drug seizures in three Latin American cities: Cali (Colombia), Curitiba (Brazil) and Monterrey (Mexico). Through a comparative approach and the use of spatial econometric models (SLM and SEM), differentiated patterns of concentration and spatial dependence are identified. The results show that seizures, as a proxy for the drug market, are positively associated with homicides, although the type of spatial dependence varies by city. In Curitiba, a territorial spillover effect is observed, while in Cali and Monterrey unobserved structural influences predominate. These findings confirm that homicidal violence is deeply territorialised and linked to local criminal dynamics. As a complementary input, a statistical annex is presented at the end of the article with a national overview of crime in Colombia for the year 2024, based on the records of the National Police, which allows us to contextualise the specificity of the homicide phenomenon in relation to the broader set of crimes recorded in the country.