This is how drug tourism is cornered until it is kicked out of the streets of Colombia
Who comes as a tourist to the city of Medellin and pay US$25, or 75 thousand Colombian pesos , you have access to a **controversial tour that follows in the footsteps of Pablo Escobar **.
“Our mission is to take the tourist through his life, his impact on our history, his influence on the youth of the time , but at the same time show the city that arises after his disappearance and our tireless struggle to improve every day”, they say its organizers . “The transformation of Medellin , is what we really want to highlight and learn from past mistakes to build a new society”, they say.
The search for Pablo Escobar
Something that may seem contradictory if we take into account that, for a modest price, offer an extra service . "Know someone who was very close and very loyal to the top bosses of the cartel ”. That someone very close is nothing more and nothing less than a crucial member of Pablo Escobar's criminal structure. Someone who pulled the trigger.
The question is unavoidable: can we learn from the mistakes of the past and build a new society by publicizing drug trafficking with impunity, giving voice to a former hit man ?
The answer is a resounding no for the relatives of the 46,612 violent deaths caused by drug traffickers , who live with a indescribable pain the simple fact that this kind of sightseeing be lawful.
On the other side, for many the answer is a proud yes among those who brazenly wear a t-shirt with the face of Pablo Escobar in the chest and for all those uninformed naive capable of believing that the drug lord who draw the Narcos character on Netflix or in the The patron of evil on Colombian television, it wasn't so bad in real life.
It is not something new. Over the years, the erotics of power able to focus all his attention on the new generations that he has not heard any shots in the street nor have they seen a drop of blood shed by the white powder.
When the threat ceases to be something palpable in every corner and the tourist call effect without historical memory becomes a dangerous possibility, it becomes very urgent to look for some cultural counterattack from within.
This is strongly defended by the Medellin Chair embraces its history , who has emerged as a speaker of the least heard point of view of this entire tragic story with multiple anonymous voices full of contained rage.
“ We want to rescue for the memory of our city , the country and the world the facts that the press did not detail , those that very few know, but that left a deep mark on those who lived them. This is the opportunity to make them a Recognition of the victims of drug terrorism and their families , sympathize with their pain and give them a place in everyone's memory.
It's the only way that your voice reaches national and international tourists , which even today, They prefer to hire the drug tour before the Memory and Transformation tour , a route that crosses the Buenos Aires neighborhood , Walks by Ayacucho enjoying its graffiti and local businesses, visit the House of Memory Museum to understand the history of the city and its social transformation, and ends at the Mercado del Tranvía.
It is no coincidence that, for several years, the main problem that the administration has been fighting has been more of a long-distance race than of concrete action . And it is that before convincing the visitor that drug tourism is an insult to the victims , each and every one of the skeptical Colombians.
The best way to eradicate the ghosts of the past is stop explaining history from the perspective of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria as the greatest, as the untouchable, as an inspiration and, ultimately, like the boss despite being dead and buried, to start telling the story exclusively from the point of view of the victims . That is, it is impossible to change the mentality of foreigners if before there is no collective conviction among the community that lived it (and suffered)
And it is that in a city with 2.4 million inhabitants Everyone has a friend, acquaintance or friend who does not feel like a victim of drug trafficking. Precisely the word “victim” is one of the most repeated in the documentary Rewrite Medellin , of the production company 36 degrees for Telemedellín.
to the rhythm of electronic cumbia It is intended to unmask entrenched drug trafficking in a society tired of clichés through three different realities: some Spanish youtubers, the teachers of a music school and journalism students.
“The story needs to be told in another way” says one of the first young people interviewed. And precisely the demolition of the Monaco building is the starting point chosen for all the symbolism that it entails. The countdown to turn the symbol of Pablo Escobar's narcoterrorism into rubble is the closest thing to blowing up “more than a physical infrastructure, a mental structure” into a thousand pieces, since there are many young people who they only talk about Pablo Escobar because of the distorted image of television fiction.
In this way, fiction and reality shook hands forever. February 22, 2019 , with the national televisions live with the noise that was heard in every corner of Medellín.
It is clear that delete a building from the map it does not make the history of Pablo Escobar disappear, but for many Colombians it is a small victory.
If before the curious and tourists came looking for the photo of Pablo Escobar's headquarters, now they leave with the memory of the Inflection Memorial Park , “a symbol that represents the voice of those who had the floor , truth, decency as an argument and not weapons and illegality as an instrument of power”, as highlighted by the Medellín Chair, embraces its history.
A collective victory for the people of Medellín which is added to another more personal initiative of a dancing teacher that one day he got up thinking that “the neighborhood was heating up again” with street shots, when what really happened was that they were in the middle of shooting another movie about drug trafficking.
It was there that he said enough is enough and he had a vision. "If these make art...we are going to mount the other side of art." Something that is a reality today thanks to the group Latin Union with the first sightseeing tour To demonstrate that dance transforms lives in the most humble neighborhoods in the north of Medellín.
In short, the smartest solutions proposed since different cultural nuclei of Medellin they pass by r corner drug tourism with intelligence and not with force . To leave him without a voice or a master until he is thrown off the streets. So that the memory of Pablo Escobar is a slow digestion as painful as it is real. And for what in the parks the victims are honored and not the executioners.
So that in the parks the victims are honored and not the executioners...