Contigo en la distancia: Colombia, Galicia y el negocio narco entre la realidad y la ficción; entre el humor y el dramatismo

Abstract

In his 2015 book Fariña, Nacho Carretero utilizes a sarcastic tone when detailing the criminal landscape that reigned in Galicia, Spain, for decades. This particular satirical wit is also seen in La virgen de los sicarios (1993), by Fernando Vallejo, which explores the cycle of violence and death in Colombia during drug-related violence. The narrator and main protagonist, Fernando, gives an account of the crime and injustice he witnesses with much sarcasm and irony, which leaves the reader perplexed. In this article, I examine the juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy, reality and fiction, represented in Spanish and Colombian narrative. The article questions whether literature, cinema, TV, and more recently, streaming services, are to be blamed for trivializing the crime and the violence that surrounds drug trafficking in all its various shapes and forms, or whether these cultural agents act as social agents promoting positive change by raising awareness of the undeniable and unavoidable deep connection between drug trafficking and violence.