I’ve been trying for awhile to write a post about the impressive transformation of Medellin, and I always find I get stuck in the detail, trying to tell too much of the back story. It’s a complex back story that is not as simple as it first appears, but much has already been written about it. I’ll post some links below to articles that give more detail about Medellin’s past as well as its transformation.
Twenty-five years ago, Medellin was far and away the most dangerous city in the world, with a murder rate that was double that of the next city on the list. All of Colombia was being torn to pieces by fighting between left wing guerrilla armies, right wing paramilitary groups, brutal government forces and the private armies of wealthy drug lords. Medellin was at the centre of all of this, the Colombian headquarters for coca production and distribution and home base of drug lord Pablo Escobar, who controlled the city. Local government and law enforcement was too weak and too poor to compete with his wealth and might, and whoever didn’t play along was simply killed.
To some in Medellin, Pablo Escobar was a Robin Hood: supporting building projects, helping the communities he controlled to develop infrastructure and more.He built homes for displaced people, he built soccer pitches for youth, even built a local professional team into a national powerhouse. There was a suburb of the city that bore his name, Barrio Pablo Escobar. But he also carried on an urban war against rival drug lords, and either bribed or killed police, judges, politicians and anyone else who threatened his empire. He had many many people killed. In Medellin, he remains a hero to some, and a villain to many others.
Twenty five years after his death, Medellin is considered a trailblazing city that is held up as a model to the world of how urban transformation can occur. Prestigious international organizations are falling over each other trying to award Medellin prizes. It has been called “the world’s most innovative city”. Not only that, Medellin has become a magnet city for hipsters from around the world. It’s now a hot tourist destination and is in the process of becoming a “gringo retirement haven”. It’s fallen far off the list of dangerous cities, its annual homicide rate is now comparable to American cities like Atlanta or Cincinnati. It feels safe, vibrant, friendly and very livable.
The articles in the links below do a good job of describing the city’s transformation and the visionary projects that are believed to have inspired it.
Medellin’s political transformation
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/medellin-colombia-worlds-most-dangerous-city
The role of public policy and architecture in Medellin’s transformation
I’ve had some experiences that connect to Medellin’s gruesome past and to its bright shiny present.
Walking tours
I’ve taken two walking tours in Medellin. The first one was the “Real City” walking tour of the downtown area. Our tour guide was a young man named Milo who told stories of growing up in a violent city where nights were filled with gunshots, parents kept children home from school because of fighting in the streets, where children sometimes came across dead bodies in the streets. He was clear that he did not consider Pablo Escobar a hero, in fact, he refused to use his name at all because he didn’t want someone passing by to overhear the name and jump to conclusions about what we were being told. Pablo Escobar is a touchy subject in Medellin.
Milo also told us about the Pablo Escobar tourist attractions : the narco tour that is offered locally, the opportunity to play paintball in Escobar’s old mansion. But he talked about these “attractions” with disdain, and he hoped we would enjoy the new Medellin, not focus on its gruesome past.
My second walking tour here was in the Comuna 13 barrio, high up in the hills above the city centre. Comuna 13 was formerly one of the most dangerous parts of the city, now it has become a popular tourist destination, known for its murals and street art, and its public escalators. The tour guides live in the barrio, and their tour company contributes a portion of their income and they give a portion of their time to a community centre that focuses on giving the barrio youth opportunities and education so that they are not attracted by the “gangster” lifestyle.
Museums
I also visited two museums that focus on Medellin’s recent past. First was the House of Memory Museum, a relatively new museum developed to honour the victims of Medellín’s and Colombia’s decades of conflict. There were many displays that were informative, and many that were moving too. The most moving displays were videos of victims as well as of former perpetrators of violence, talking about their experiences. There were mothers of boys that had been “disappeared”, talking about their campaigns to confront the people responsible. There was a woman who had joined the FARC who was now talking about the difficulties of reintegration but also about realizing there was a better way to help poor and dispossessed people than fighting with the FARC. There was a former paramilitary member, talking about how youth simply ended up in the local militias, it was just what you did, it brought money and respect and, unless you fled, you had little choice to do anything else anyway.
Another item that was memorable and distressing was that the military, who was ostensibly protecting the Colombian people, would come upon innocent young men and women and abduct and kill them. Then they would dress the corpses up in clothing to identify them as guerrilla members, to collect a bounty and to make the anti-guerrilla campaign look more successful, which is what the government demanded, largely due to pressure from the American “war on drugs”.
Modern Art Museum
Another museum that presents a look at Colombia’s past is Medellin’s modern art museum.
The Museum of Modern Art had several temporary shows that I found especially memorable.
One was a black and white video of a man feeding pigeons in the centre of a square. Behind him, in the background, you can see a militia of some sort clearing people out, shooting some, carrying out bodies and dragging out prisoners. The man doesn’t look up and the pigeons are only focused on the bread on the ground.
A second video installation showed some young FARC guerrillas cleaning and grooming themselves on the banks of a river. They bathe, they shave (though they hardly need to, they’re just boys), they fashion their hair and preen, and all the while, they’re talking about dreams and what they would like to do. It’s hard to see them as anything but innocent victims of forces well beyond their control when you see them in a video like that.
A third installation displayed photos of family outings collected from the public by an artist. Each photo featured a Renault 4, a cheap and basic car popular in Colombia in the 70s and 80s. The photos showed picnics, young couples on dates, family outings, etc. And people were smiling and looked happy. Such a contrast to the stories of pain and horror that were being told about the same era, a reminder that life went on then (for most people) as it still does now.
My impression is that Colombians don’t want to dwell on their past and don’t want us, the outside world, to dwell on it either. There are too many other good things to dwell on.
Public Transportation
Many people believe that the transportation system is the one innovation that has had the greatest impact on the city. The hills surrounding Medellin are covered in neighbourhoods of small simple houses, some look like “slums”, but others are simply small well kept houses up in the hills. These communities used to be way above the city and not really connected to it — they got no services, the police didn’t go there, and it took people forever to go up and down the hills to go to and from the city proper. In the mid nineties, Medellin decided to build a metro, and to use it to connect the remote neighbourhoods to the city centre.
Medellin’s metro system is the pride of the city. It is an above ground rapid train that is fast, efficient, spotless, shiny and cheap to use. One ride costs just over a dollar CAD, and can take you all across the city and up into the hills, because there are cable cars going up into the barrios in the hills that are also part of the system. And in other parts, they have systems of escalators going up into the hills instead of cable cars. These escalators are used by workmen carrying tools and construction materials, they’re used by women carrying babies and bags full of produce, they’re integral parts of the local transportation system.
Education
Also part of the same innovative approach to “connecting” with a disaffected populace: Medellin started building schools and libraries in the distant barrios, and not just little nondescript buildings, but impressive structures, places where people would gather, where they can go to learn and to study, to use computers, etc.
According to stories I’ve read and heard, the libraries are community centres and they are places where people love to gather. Right beside the library on Comuna 13, was a local restorative justice centre where people could go to settle neighbourhood or community disputes. It wasn’t just a little nondescript building either, it had a presence and gave a sense of being “official”, important, permanent.
We were also told that there are funds available to small community groups to develop enterprises and community projects. In Comuna 13, we met a group of “break dancers” who were using funds to develop their skills and teach dancing to kids. I’ve also been reading about hip hop artists and street art painters who create art that is critical of gangster lifestyle, so contrary to so much of the pop art that is being produced in North America.
I’m sure it’s not all positive, and I’m sure it will require ongoing support and effort to keep these initiatives going, but it’s an impressive place with a wonderful spirit about it.