Mexico to Brazil

Comuna13 is a district of Medellin, a city of 4 million in Columbia. It is famous for two reasons. First it was one of the most dangerous places on earth. Second, it managed to turn this around and is now safe.

We have just taken a 3 hour walking tour with a local lady who grew up and lives here and I will share some of what she told us. Here (like El Salvador) is a place where the history is very recent.

When drug cartel lord Pablo Escabar ruled this part of Colombia he offered a 2 million pesos reward for anyone who killed a police officer (£400) in this part of town so the police abandoned it. He was killed in the city in 1993 but this didn’t end their problems.

Comuna13 instead became a battle ground between far right paramilitaries and the dominant left wing (FARC) guerrillas. The guerrillas held the comuna as their territory until 2002.

At this point the government military sided with the paramilitary groups to cleanse Comuna13. During Operation Orion which involved 1500 soldiers supported by Black Hawk helicopter gunships. Over 3000 people were killed in 4 days.

As the people were beginning to go without food and water they all took sheets from their house and climbed onto their roofs to say enough was enough and the action was stopped. The Guerilla’s hold on Comuna13 was weakened but not broken,

In 2011 outdoor escalators were built providing access into the comuna for the first time. This enabled people to access work opportunities instead of climbing the equivalent of 28 stories each day.

A peace deal was also signed in 2011 but in the years that followed ex-guerrilla members who returned to their homes often disappeared. It later became clear that they had been kidnapped and killed by the government supported paramilitaries with an estimated 3-4,000 victims buried in a mass grave outside the Comuna between 2011 and 2016.

In 2016 another peace deal was signed and this time it was mostly honoured by both sides.

The local community also started using street art to brighten up the community, and as a form of political protest but ultimately this served to attract tourists. The first walking tours began in 2017 and involved armed guards and paying for protection from the local mafia.

Quickly business began to grow to provide the tourists with drinks, food, souvenirs etc. For the last 7 years a virtuous circle has helped turn the comuna around - with art leading to tourists leading to money in businesses leading to more art. Today companies such as Coke and Amazon are now even paying for product placement in the art, as photos are shared via social media around the world. See if you can spot one from Coke in my photos to prove the point.

At the end of the tour a lightning storm hit so we took refuge in the guide’s home who offered us food. After the storm finished we returned to our accommodation via escalator, bus, and the very modern metro.Read more