17/08/2024
We are now in Medellin. Ever since we arrived in Colombia, and especially Medellín, we’ve been profoundly affected by the stories of the city’s past and the heartbreaking accounts of violence and strife, especially in Comuna 13 Medellin.
Comuna 13, also known as San Javier, has the most tumultuous history of the city, once labeled the most dangerous community due to its astronomical homicide rates and it’s forced displacement of thousands of residents.Comuna 13 Medellin is an over-populated and low socio-economic zone that crawls up along the west hills of the city with thousands of brick and cement homes stacked close to one another. It was a pivotal center for paramilitary, guerrilla, and gang activity. Its location is ideal for crime, as it leads directly to the main highway (San Juan Highway), providing easy transportation of guns, drugs, and money. But things began to change in 2002 when President Alvaro Uribe launched Operation Orion, a raid on Comuna 13 spearheaded by 3,000 troops backed by helicopters. It was a brutal and controversial beginning. During the first week of the raid, at least 18 people were killed, 34 wounded and almost 250 arrested in Comuna 13. The neighborhood’s 100,000 residents were caught in the crossfire, resulting in arbitrary detentions, disappearances, and hundreds of injuries.The history of Comuna 13 is rooted in poverty and violence. In the 1980s-2000s, the neighborhood was plagued by political violence, as well as violence related to the drug trade, guerrillas and parmilitaries. The residents of Comuna 13, who were mostly working-class, were caught in the crossfire, and many were forced to flee the neighborhood.
The situation in Comuna 13 was dire, with high levels of poverty and crime, and few public services or opportunities for residents, by this time Comuna 13 was completely control by Guerrillas. The average family had 19 children and the average age of pregnancy is still 14 -16 years old!
The community perched on the steep hillside was detrimentally isolated from the rest of the city below. Homes were poorly constructed with little infrastructure or access to resources like clean water and electricity making residents vulnerable. It was only 2006 that the mayor of Medellín led the transformation of Comuna 13 with massive investments in infrastructure to improve the quality of life for residents, to integrate the cut off neighborhoods with the rest of the city to provide better opportunities for the residents and reduce crime. A cable car to connect residents to the rest of the city was built in 2008 saving them massive amounts of time on their commutes and opening up opportunities with convenient transportation. Unlike typical cable cars for touristy purposes, the cable cars in Medellín were designed with a transformation of the quality of life for the residents in mind. These innovative cable cars were hugely instrumental in bringing the city together and providing a symbol of change and hope. Then in 2011 came the first of its kind – a series of covered, outdoor escalators in the heart of Comuna 13. These escalators saved residents from having to climb roughly 350 steep steps, additionally reducing their commute time and making less-mobile residents able to come and go safely.
I’ve never seen a place quite like Comuna 13. To say I was mind blown is an understatement. Medellín is a sprawling metropolis; the second largest city in Colombia. But Comuna 13 felt like a small urban community for the arts – a bustling oasis of creativity perched on the hillside overlooking the skyscrapers of this massive city.One of my favorite parts of Comuna 13 is undoubtedly the street art. It dominates every part of the neighborhood with its vibrant colors, expressions of what the residents have been through, and the hope and resilience they have today. The city invited local artists to adorn the neighborhood with art and graffiti in a celebration of the completion of the escalators.
Children scramble after footballs in the street laughing as we go by and the sound of music and people cheering for break-dancers drifts through the area. I imagine most people would choose this over the sound of gunfire. I marvel at every piece of art I walk by, knowing I can never grasp the pain and suffering these people experienced to inspire these creations. Many residents there today lived through decades of violence and remember the fear and trauma vividly.
No city is perfect, but I was incredibly moved to witness the strength and pride of the people in Comuna 13 and Medellín. They’ve managed to honor a traumatic past and turn it into something beautiful and hopeful. The stark contrast of past and present make the vibrancy of Comuna 13 all the more inspiring. Through a willingness to change, a city brought to the brink of collapse has been transformed. Now that is a story worth telling. It warmed my heart to watch Reu play football and basketball with these children who once lived in the most dangerous city in the world, to now watch them play together as all children should regardless.
