Colombia part 1; Medellín's remarkable history
Once the murder capital of Earth. Medellín is now Colombia's most vibrant tourist destination. This artsy valley, full of cafes, rappers, and bullet holes, shows what's possible in 20 years.
You may remember hearing about Medellín from “Narcos”, the sensational show about Pablo Escobar on Netflix. That was a show. Let’s move to real life.
Let me use this photo of a bullet riddled mural to tell you the even more fascinating story of the city of Medellín in 2 parts. (This is Part 1, Part 2 is here)
We probably would not have chosen to make Medellín our new year holiday destination 30 years ago. Especially not to visit this neighborhood - Communa13. If you showed up as a tourist here 30 years ago, you would 100% be kidnapped. In 1991, 16 people were murdered in Medellín every day, earning it the nickname "Murder Capital of the World".
As of 2022, Medellín's murder rate is about 15 deaths per 100,000 people, down 96%, and lower than many US cities. Communa13 is the number 1 tourist spot in Medellín. Show up as a tourist now and you’ll find incredible rappers and break dancers inviting you to sing and dance with them. You’ll find infinite artwork: Murals on the walls, tangy passionfruit popsicles, coffee, and fried snacks everywhere. Worst case - someone might pick your pocket if you show off your phone and wallet too much. Just like any other tourist hot-spot.
How did this transformation happen? It is a rich, complex story that I have had to write and re-write at least 8 times to do it a semblance of justice. Please do write me back or comment to tell me if I tell it well.
The story of Medellín
Medellín is now Colombia’s second largest city after Bogotá (the capital). It is home to 2.6 million people, with perfect weather year round. To understand it, I went to museums, took tours, chatted with historical guides, and most importantly spent time with a dear friend whose family had to flee the country when things were bad. I spent only 10 days in Medellín, so I’m no expert. As always, I shall try to tell this story in an honest way, maybe too honest.
For starters, it is not a simple story of good vs evil.
In a conflict lasting over 40 years, the lines between good side and evil side get blurry, especially with the cast of characters as complex as we’ll discover below.
These were people living with different ideologies, trying to provide for their families, with some chasing riches and fame. Normal people, just like you and me, dear Reader.
Let’s break this story down into a two part series.
Part 1
The Origin (up to 1875 AD)
Hypergrowth (1870s to 1950s)
Fracture and Kidnappings (1940s through 1960s)
The Drug Cartels (1960s to 1990s)
The Resurrection (2000s- now)
The Origin (up to 1870s)
Medellín was a tiny, inconsequential farming village for most of its history. The farmers ate what they grew. It was a valley surrounded by mountains, you couldn’t really get to it easily or transport things in and out. Then in the 1500s, the Spanish came here looking for Gold. Some Spaniards decided to settle here for the amazing Spring weather and the vistas, but there was no gold here so most moved on to neighboring areas that did have Gold deposits.
Spanish Jesuit priests originally brought Coffee beans to Colombia in the 1800s, this is how the world got to taste the heavenly Arabica coffee bean grown in Colombia. The missionaries went about the country evangelizing to great effect. Nearly everyone is Catholic now.
Up to 1875, this was basically a peaceful valley of no consequence.
Then, the first commercial batch of coffee was produced and a railroad line started to connect Medellín to a nearby river. Which led to a boom in exports and industrialization.
Hypergrowth (1880s to 1950s)
Before flying back to SF, I filled my backpack up with 5 types of coffee from various roasters and am writing this piece sipping on a spectacular cup right now; feeling especially grateful to a friend who introduced me to Colombian coffee 14 years ago. Colombia offers the perfect growing conditions for Arabica coffee.
The railroad allowed industrial machines to be brought into the valley, and the coffee to be exported out. Coffee demand exploded through the 1900s as the world got addicted to caffeine. Colombia emerged to produce 10% of global coffee supplies. This dynamic set off decades of hypergrowth which morphed this region from a sleepy village to Colombia’s second largest concentration of people.
As the people poured in, land owners and farming tycoons grew rich and influential. They filled up the base of the valley which is flat-ish and built roads, electrical lines, hospitals, etc. This formal city of Medellín became super successful.
The local government was used to peaceful views, and no growth. Then within a generation, the population grew 7x. No government can plan for that kind of hypergrowth. Bad management led to the bankruptcy of the railroad. Then bad city management led to a fracture of the city geographically and politically. Bad trade agreements made by politicians hurt the Colombian economy and concentrated wealth into fewer hands.
Capitalism and democracy led to this growth but also led to massive inequality and resentment. Resentment makes people seek to fix the injustice they face.
The Communist ideology emerged as a way to overthrow this unfair system. Multiple revolutionary groups started springing up trying different ways to gain support, fund their movement and arm themselves. They started kidnappings, and extortion across the countryside forcing people to flee the rural areas to the cities for some protection.
The Fracture
As the base of the valley got crowded and expensive, people started moving up the mountains, taking up space for their families wherever they could. Thus, Medellín fractured into two different worlds - the prosperous formal Medellín at the base of the valley - and the chaotic informal Medellín climbing along the mountains.
With no electricity lines or hospitals or water pipes, the people had to figure out their own paths along the mountain by cutting up stairs where possible. The newer people had to keep climbing higher up the mountains to settle and the hikes got ever longer.
Imagine living in the chaos shown above, hiking up and down incessantly to find food and water, and looking down at the city to see lovely roads and cars and people with jobs that you can’t have because you can’t commute to work there.
The communism experiment was being attempted across Latin America after the second world war. Eventually Fidel Castro succeeded in overthrowing the Cuban Government in 1959, showing that revolution could work.
Within Colombia during this period, two armed groups emerged and wrecked havoc in civilian lives.
The Communist Guerilla: The labour movement gained strength with Guerilla organizations emerging and arming themselves to fight “for equality”. The Guerilla forces want to fight the rich tycoons. They decided they would kidnap and extort people to fund their movement, rich or poor. Kidnapping became common, especially in rural areas.
The Capitalist paramilitary: The business elite (large farmers and landowners) armed themselves to fight back and funded multiple paramilitary groups. Eventually, they began using their paramilitary thugs to bully the smaller farmers and take over their land as the peasants fled from all this violence.
The national army wasn’t strong enough to restrain these groups. The army and police forces existed but were infiltrated by members of all the above forces. The business elite also held political power and did not want interference with how they used their paramilitary.
Through 1948 to 1957 there was a period known as “La Violencia.” The players above fought each other, peasants killed peasants, and over 200,000 people died.
Fidel Castro became the model for many more revolutionaries who were tired of the violence and of feeling powerless. Sophisticated Guerilla groups like FARC and ELN emerged to help protect small farmers from big landowners’ bullying and spread the ideology of equality through communism.
The Kidnappings (1940s to 1990s)
The stats and numbers make it sound like a history lesson. But let’s try to look at it from a civilian’s lens. Imagine you’re a young parent in this situation. Just trying to farm for a living.
The Guerillas want to kidnap and extort locals to fund their operations. One Guerilla group might kidnap and release your daughter after getting their ransom, then the next group might kidnap your daughter again!
She grows up unable to trust strangers. It is not the childhood anyone designs for.
Clearly, the civilians get screwed amidst such dark periods.
Note that multiple studies of the violence in Medellín indicate that most homicides committed during the city’s most traumatic years were not committed by the drug wars or the Medellín Cartel, but by people with ties to the paramilitary forces and the local elite.
The drug cartels’ emergence is the next critical phase in this story. We dive into that in Part 2. Then we figure out how it was all transformed, with some incredible leadership lessons to boot, and we’ll unpack the mural at the top of this post in the end of Part 2.
The Drug Cartels (1960s to 1990s)
The Resurrection (2000s- now)
Don’t forget to hit reply/comment and tell me if I’m telling this story well. Or correct me if something’s inaccurate. And feel free to share this with your friend who loves to travel.
Well researched and with an eye for detail , its an interesting read . Was it also the kidnap capital of the world around the early 2000s ? But an amazing transformation indeed !
Looking forward to Part 2 for sure , Monu