Colombia's City On A Hill: Medellin

Simon says on Dec 2, 2007, 19:45:

Great article, dude! Thanks for bringing it!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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Simon says on Dec 2, 2007, 20:04:

Here it is:

Colombia’s City On A Hill
Medellín goes from murder capital to model city.

By Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
NEWSWEEK
Updated: 4:21 PM ET Nov 10, 2007
Five years ago the hillside slum of Comuna 13 was the most brutal urban battleground in Latin America, a bloody microcosm of Colombia's drug-fueled civil war. Left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and well-armed drug gangs, often indistinguishable despite their ostensibly conflicting aims, had been fighting over the territory for years. Government, for most purposes, did not exist. In 2002, the casualty count for Comuna 13—in chaotic street fights, targeted assassinations and neighborhood-wide "cleansings"—numbered in the hundreds.

Today Comuna 13 feels like a completely different neighborhood. Its streets are relatively safe. School construction and public-transportation projects are now underway. But it is only the most dramatic example of the remarkable transformation of Medell?n, a city that struggled for decades to shed a notoriety, well earned in the days of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín drug cartel, as "the most dangerous in the world." In 1991, the annual murder rate was 381 per 100,000 people—more than 500 homicides a month. In 2002, it was 184 per 100,000. Last year, it fell below 30, making Washington, D.C., look bad in comparison.

Click here for the full story
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/69552

(Simon, I edited this. A few months ago someone from Time or Newsweek wrote to Peter and made him take down a full story that was copied and pasted into PBH. I'm not a lawyer but I think a paragraph or two followed by the link is OK. -Tinto)

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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Sebastian says on Dec 3, 2007, 06:50:

I really like the fact the article was mainly about the leadership of Sergio Fajardo. Everyone I talk to here in Medallo says the guy has done nothing but good for the city. We need more leaders like him with sound solutions to difficult problems. Hopefully Salazar will keep it up. Thanks for posting the article!

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rhydewithdis (☼Travelguide writer) says on Dec 3, 2007, 08:27:

Thanks for posting this article. Great showing for Sergio Fajardo, who was also highlighted in an article in the New York Times earlier this year:

"Medellín’s Nonconformist Mayor Turns Blight to Beauty"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/world/americas/15medellin.html?

They said I couldn't play football I was too small / They say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall / They say I couldn't play baseball at all / And now everyday of my life I ball.

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