"We work hard to leave the past behind, we really do!"

by Agnes Simigh (Hungary)

Making a local connection Colombia

“I grew up here, I will tell you everything. You will have a good tour, I promise! And I even let you have a glimpse into my private life. But if you do not behave respectfully with the locals I swear I do not say anything.” – These were the opening sentences of Stevin, a young guy in the beginning of his twenties, who guided us through the district “Comuna 13” of Medellin. Only some years ago Comuna 13 was known as the most dangerous district of the most dangerous town in the world: Medellín in Colombia. I understood right away that he was serious and from then on I was “hanging on his every word”. We were walking behind Stiven till he stopped and said: “There was a check-point here and a curfew was put in place. Everybody had to get back home by 7 pm”. In the 1970s and 1980s millions of Columbians were victims of forced displacement due to the armed conflict between the FARC guerilla group, paramilitaries and guerillas. Many people found refuge in Comuna 13 and built their homes out of wood, plastic, clay, cardboard, aluminum cans or whatever possible. Poverty shaped this district. So it was quite easy for criminal gangs to take over the community and to intimidate the inhabitants. They could do that quite freely, as even the police could not penetrate the district. Drugs played a big role and still does in Medellín as it is up to now the biggest drug distribution center of South America with the only direct access to the Panama Canal and therefore the United States. “I was 11 when I was walking down this street and I was stopped exactly here. I got the line too. The first one. It was followed by a second and a third one. My life was blocked from three sides for 4 years. It was awful…” Each armed group claimed its own neighborhood. Over the years, disputes and clashes over territorial control began and they started to mark “lines of death” between the territories that restricted passage from one neighborhood to the other. “I lost two of my best friends because of these lines of death. They just passed it and were shot. We were only teenagers.” Members of the armed groups were often teenagers who found no other way to escape poverty or whose family members were killed by paramilitaries and then joined the guerillas for revenge. Killing people became a way of surviving and making money. “None of my friends who joined any armed groups are alive today.” We continue climbing up the steep road passing by small restaurants and souvenir shops. The houses look simple and shabby, but it’s hard to imagine that this was the scene of all the crimes and where murder was a daily business. On 16th October 2002 President Alvaro Uribe successfully ordered the Orion military operation to end the violence and terror caused by all the criminal groups for good. But only a few years later drug cartels put their foot down again. So it took a while until Comuna 13 was able to go through big social and cultural transformations. Stevin and many others got a new chance since a peace agreement between the government and the drug cartels was signed. Also, the only public escalator in South America was installed in this steep district Comuna 13 in order to attract visitors from all over the world and make the place safe. Colorful graffiti with symbols of the dark past covering the walls all around are a constant reminder and a sign of hope for a brighter future. “I’m very optimistic. I’m so extremely proud. Look at this house…..I managed to buy it myself for my mother. I don’t want to move from here. I want that my children grow up here in safety. At the moment I have to pay 2% of my salary to the gangsters controlling this district as protection money. But I wouldn’t mind paying half of it, if I can only live in safety. We work hard to leave the past behind, we really do.”