Colombia is at war. They have been for the past 70+ years. The more I learned about it, the more interested I got into this topic. So let me try to explain how people in a war torn country still keep a positive mindset and how the community, without any outside help, changed a barrio (neighborhood) from the most dangerous place - not in the city, not in Colombia, but in the world - to the safest place in Medellín.
So many factors play into this. I kept making notes on my phone whenever I learned anything new, and I did quite a bit of additional research. This is a very sensitive topic, and for the sake of your and my time I had to leave a whole lot of it out. This is me trying to explain to the best of my ability what is going on here in this wonderful country. If you wish, do your own research or come and explore it yourself, but please keep in mind that this post here is a very broken down and shortened version of reality. Also, remember that this post is not sorted in any specific time line whatsoever, and most of the factors influenced each other and changed over time.
Factor 1: Politics
The Colombian government was and still is, to some extent, corrupt. As any other government is, I reckon. There is stark contrast between the left and the right wing, which made the whole system unstable and contributed to the rise of armed groups.
Factor 2: Inequality
Money. There is the wealthy elite and the poor majority. Poor people often don‘t have a choice who they work for, all they need is to survive, whatever they have to do for it.
Racism also plays a key role. Indigenous people are less accepted. Lighter skinned people are usually more respected and wealthier. Looking back, white people came from Europe during colonial times, took the land from the indigenous people and displaced them. Black people either came as slaves from Africa or were from indigenous tribes that were, back then and sadly are often still seen as Messer valued people.
Factor 3: Land owndership
Especially the people in rural areas are poor. Often, they only own a small plot of land or they are allowed by someone else to use their land - often in exchange for work and/or/as soldiers. So, as you might guess, this factor is heavily influenced by factor 2 and the other way around. Still, it is important enough to be mentioned on it‘s own.
Factor 4: Narco trafficking
Now, this is the one you‘ve been waiting for, haven‘t you? The potent white powder is surely one of the first things any european person thinks of when hearing about Colombia. The climate here is perfect to grow coca, which by the way used to be and still is a sacred plant to many of the indigenous tribes here - the plant itself isn‘t a drug but has plenty of cultural and medicinal benefits; it only becomes cocaine once mixed with calcium. This right here is also where Chiquita comes in, as well as Nestlé and Coca Cola and many others. I will go into that later on. Anyhow, drugs come with cartels and gangs, which is problem number x.
Factor 5: US intervention
Since the US is the biggest „buyer“ of Colombian cocaine, the US decided at one point to step in. There was different organizations involved, some official, others being basically private killers. Private killers meaning: They are supported and paid by the US government, but they don‘t have to obey any laws, as the government doesn‘t officially employ them. If something goes south, the government is not responsible.
Especially with this one, I don‘t know a lot about it. If you are interested, please do your own research. It surely plays a role in the conflicts but I don‘t know how much of an impact it actually has. And, as with everything, there is good and bad everywhere and those are often subjective.
Factor 6: Education, or the lack of it
In Colombia, to get a legal job you need a certain level of education. Since many people couldn‘t afford this or didn‘t have the option to go for whatever reason, illegal jobs were in high demand. Obviously, this meant working for any of the gangs, cartels or perhaps the guerilla groups. There is barely an illegal job as a street vendor or waiter.
Factor 7: Paramilitary vs. guerilla groups
Let me tell you more about the war in Colombia. It is paramilitary fighting guerilla groups. The paramilitary is, from what I understood, the white and rich elite people, somewhat (inofficially, of course) supported by the government, because they had similar interests.
The guerilla groups emerged as a restistance against the paramilitary. It‘s the poor, mostly darker skinned people.
The paramilitary groups did what people here call a social cleansing. What a horrible word is that? Today, every single person in this country has been directly or indirectly affected by the war.
Faktor 8: 6.402
This is a big number, right? In Colombia, this number has a very special meaning. It is the number of innocent civilians that were killed by paramilitary forces. They call it false positives. Something happens, and they need a person to blame. So the paramilitarias took people from the villages, put them in military uniforms, and killed them. These vicitims were not soldiers. They just looked like one in the pictures.
Some years back, these cases would have gone to military court, to be processed there. You can imagine that nothing much happend. A few years ago, they created a special court, like a civil court, where cases like this are processed on a much larger scale. Generals, soldiers, civilians - anyone involved - vows to say the truth. There was generals crying, apologizing to the families of the victims for what they did. They took the blame and went to prison. They put humanity before themselves.
Factor 9: Money and Power
There wouldn‘t be a single war in the world if nobody wanted too much of these two things, right? It is no different here. Listen, like I said before, Colombia is top climate for producing coca, which eventually is mostly made into this strange white powder. There is a lot of money and a lot of power behind drugs - certainly more than behind cocoa or bananas.
Chiquita bananas is known to for many many years have payed a lame 0.04$ per crate of bananas. They also started working with cartels and with the bananas, a lot of cocaine was imported into the US and Europe. As big as a corporation Chiquita is, they can afford to pay for this to be covered.
But no more. People have realized what has been going on and still is, and they start speaking up about it. You can do your part by not supporting these companies by no longer buying from them. Colombian people will thank you for it.
A real world example
Like I said, all of these and many more factors played their role in the conflicts that have been going on for decades. Let me try another way of explaining it to you by the example of Comuna 13, a barrio in Medellín, that around 20 years ago was rated as the most dangerous place in the world - by homicide rates, crime rates, robberies, you name it. Today, it is a booming tourist destination and the safest place in the whole of Medellín.
Comuna 13 is one of few neighborhoods in Medellín that was never about drugs or cartels. But, because people here are poor and education was not available, they needed ways to get money. So they formed gangs and did all sorts of not so good stuff. The crime rates skyrocketed, and it was eventually officially called the most dangerous place in the world.
Because this has been going on for so long, it was normal for the people living in this barrio. From a very young age, they were exposed to the gangs, the illegal activities, the crimes. The kids were looking up to those people, had dreams of being a gang leader. It was the only thing they knew, the only thing that could get them out of their misery.
People knew that things needed to change. So, they formed groups, worked mostly with the younger generations, and tried to find a middle ground, tried to figure out what could make a difference. What they found was hip hop, dance, music, and graffity.
They kept working on it. By getting the kids out of the streets and showing them a different way of life, they stopped wanting to be gang leaders or even members. They started a peaceful protest, and more and more people joined. Gang members decided to lay down their arms and join the peaceful process until, eventually, a lot of the gangs broke apart because there were no more members or no more other gangs to fight.
The word spread, and celebrities like Maluma, Karol G and J Balvin came to Comuna 13 to create music videos. Now, even the government listened, and sent money, mostly from foreign NGOs. The people built schools and employed teachers. Remember when I said that a formal education is the thing you need to get a legal job? A rule was made that anyone could start a business in Comuna 13, but they had to be from the same barrio.
6 years ago, the barrio became safe and tourism picked off, which today is a big, if not the biggest, part of the people‘s income, so there is even less need for drug trafficking and gangs. People have left their differences behind and now work together as one. I repeat, today, Comuna 13 is the safest place in Medellín - which in a whole feels very safe to me, even as a solo female traveler, by the way.
I walked the streets of Comuna 13 during the day with a guide and at night on my own with the rest of the group. I never felt unsafe, quite the opposite. I felt welcome. The same way as I have always felt since arriving in Colombia.
What European media says is surely not coming from nowhere. This is a war torn country, there are many many problems still, but the people are some of the kindest, most welcoming, and most open I have ever met.
We need to understand that there is a difference between the government and the people. What the media says is usually about the government. What you see here is the people, living their lives and trying to make the best of it. People like you and me, that want connection, peace, and safety as basic human needs.
You could easily come here and not notice anything about this country‘s history or the problems they still have. But for me, this is not what I came here for. I want to know, to understand as much as I can. And the more I learn, the more I admire the people. With so many bad things going on, they still manage to keep a positive mindset, to act towards change, to be kind and welcoming to foreigners and their own.
As I said before, this is a very cut down version of what actually happens, but I hope it gives you an idea and, to some extent, opens your eyes, not only towards Colombia, but towards people in general. It sure did this for me.
Thank you for reading! And please: Don‘t buy Chiquita bananas. Ever.
