Comuna 13, Medellin

We signed up for a tour led by a local through one of the city's best-known barrios. Lying south of the city centre, Comuna 13 is home to 160,000 locals who have turned the once crime-rife drug-controlled neighbourhood into a street art, new music, tourist destination. In the days of FARC and Escobar, organised criminals had a stranglehold of who/what entered and exited the narrow network of stairs and carless streets in the neighbourhood. With a close, careful eye they funnelled drugs and weapons through the neighbourhood, making many innocent civilians the target of ongoing violence. 

In 2002, president Uribe launched Operation Orion, a raid on the community. Using some pretty heavy-handed tactics including 3000 Colombian troops and military helicopters, they began to flush out criminal activity. 18 people died, 34 were wounded and over 250 arrested. But the event also meant relief for people living under constant bombardment. 

The government followed through to develop the area further, investing money to improve housing and infrastructure. A series of outdoor escalators take visitors and locals up, up, up the hill where local artists have memorialised the history of the neighbourhood. 

The addition of tourists here has brought business and a modicum of prosperity to the area. Our tour guide told us the story of many of the Comuna's main murals which often hid the pockmarked bullet holes of the past. 

The afternoon tour was quite an hopeful one, giving us a glimpse of modern Colombia. One accepting its past and moving forward. One with people who genuinely have pride for their city and community.