✍️✍️ Job Deadlines ✍️✍️ — September 2
Associated Press, Washington Post, Amnesty International, BBC, ITV, Canadian Press plus thoughts and pictures from Comuna 13
Hello folks, happy Friday! We did it, another week in the books. I finally made it to Cartagena for my friend’s wedding, and I can see why it’s among the most beautiful places on the planet.
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On Monday I visited Comuna 13 in Medellín, once controlled by Colombia’s most infamous drug cartels in one of the world’s most dangerous cities. When the country’s most powerful drug traffickers descended on Colombia’s “second city” in the mid-1970s, they chose Comuna 13 for its transport links to the Caribbean coast and relative ease in exporting narcotics north through Central America to Mexico and via the Caribbean Sea to the U.S.
The likes of FARC, the ELN and the CAP (People's Armed Commands) all fought over the mountainous and highly valuable territory for more than 25 years, with many deadly encounters with Colombia’s national army and other militia. At its height, almost 7,000 people were murdered in a single year in Medellín, with thousands of civilians also caught up in the civil war.
The last series of major clashes took place during Operation Orion in October, 2002. At 4am on October 16, government troops, tanks and helicopters rolled in with the objective to eliminate the urban cartels and retake control of Comuna 13. But it was among the most bloody and deadly conflicts, with multiple civilian disappearances that remain unsolved and unexplained.
While the city is still among the most dangerous in the world, its homicide rate has fallen to near historic lows. Through major public investment, Medellín has become cleaner and safer, and its tourism industry is enjoying a rapid rise.
Perhaps no area of the city best represents the city’s recent transformation than Comuna 13, with its installation of outdoor escalators and a viaduct to make it far easier and quicker for locals and visitors to navigate and explore the neighbourhood. From one of the most dangerous places in the world just a few years ago, Comuna 13 now welcomes more than 5,000 visitors a day. I was fortunate to be one of them, and below are a few of the images I snapped…
Okay, that’s all from me this week. Check out Monday’s newsletter where we added 600+ new jobs and Netflix’s influence on its 25th anniversary. And also last Friday’s newsletter where I shared my best newsletters on Substack, with lots of great material on freelancing — including Freelancing With Tim’s pitch guide to 60+ newsrooms — and other topics.
Speak again Monday 👋
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