Caballistas (subculture)
Caballistas (lit. "Cavalrymen"), are a biker youth subculture that originated in Maracaibo around the mid-1970s. Mainly concentrated around urban centers, the phenomenon reached its peak in the early 1990s. The subculture is centered around motorcycle and moped customization and Alternative (and later punk) rock, as a form of rebellion against society. As of 2010, it is estimated that the scene has less than ten thousand active members.
Characteristics
Caballistas can be identified by their wear of leather jackets and denim pants, often paired with gelled hair, combat boots and sunglasses. From the mid 1980s onward, members of the subculture would also sport brightly colored and dyed hair. Members of a Caballista gang usually fall between the ages of 13 and 19, though records indicate that members as young as eleven have existed. While few gangs specifically preclude female membership, the subculture remains overwhelmingly male-dominated, though examples of female ridership do exist.
Clothing
Each Caballista gang, termed brigadas (lit. “brigades”) has its own set of ground rules regarding uniform clothing, but in general, a cabellista will be wearing a leather or faux leather jacket with a button-up shirt underneath (though recently these have given way dramatically to the much simpler graphic tee or polo shirt). Pants worn are usually denim jeans, and some brigadas have even taken to wearing overalls. Patches denoting the gang affiliation, colors, and other important demarcations and heritage are usually sewn onto the jacket, with particularly egregious examples extending to the pants as well. The vast majority of gangs also employ the use of sunshades to partially conceal identity, as well as emulate a certain aesthetic. Traditionally, this was done with aviator shades, but since the late 1980s, any kind of sunglasses may be employed in this style.
Vehicles
The most common vehicle in the employ of caballistas are inexpensive and/or secondhand motorcycles and mopeds. These are more often than not heavily modified with brighter or additional headlights, custom paint jobs, custom-built fairings, and louder and/or more powerful engines. The latter especially applies to moped owners, whose rides were often underpowered. The bike is often adorned with symbols and art denoting the brigada it is a part of, as well as personal touches imbued by the owner, or, more commonly, done by an elder sibling of the owner or a body shop.
Organization
Despite having exceedingly few adult members, each gang remains organized in a particular and practiced fashion. Most gangs are centered around a particular school, which usually belonged to a certain district of a city, making that district their “turf”. Membership is further subdivided into two “divisions”, led by a captain, which each control the older and younger portion of its members respectively. From that standard model, each gang has particularisms about how power is further split.
Hooliganism
Driven by their anti-authority lifestyle, some Caballista gang members often roam the urban centers either showing off or looking for trouble, especially with rival brigadas. Crimes that police have had to respond to include street racing, vandalism, theft, assault, and battery. It is not uncommon to see some Caballistas brandishing blunt objects like model swords, golf clubs, cricket bats or brass knuckles, either for self defense or for precipitating a fight.
The most infamous gang that partook in the more violent acts of this subculture was Tapas de Acero, Escuela 97, or TdeA. Known for their signature steel Adrian helmets, their members carried out a string of robberies in the Fall of 1999, culminating in the death of one elderly man. In response, the local police cracked down, and, after many arrests were made, the original gang dissolved, though copycats exist to this day.
Since the early 2000s, violent crime involving Caballistas experienced a sharp downturn, as new federal law reforms made it increasingly difficult for minors to dodge prison sentences for such offenses. As of 2010, crime involving Caballista hooliganism has dropped nearly sixty-five percent from its peak in the mid-90s.