Word: medellins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Established in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors looking for the fabled riches of El Dorado, Medellin has long been Colombia's main industrial center. On windless days, the skyline is smothered in smog, and a blue haze of pollution drifts upward into the Andes. Medellin-born Fernando Botero, probably Latin America's most renowned contemporary artist, captures the city's self-assuredness in his exaggerated canvases of local life, several of which hang in the Medellin museum. The pinched mouths and tiny noses of Botero's overfed men and women suggest the provincial smugness of an entrepreneurial society that...
...coca plant, from which the substance is derived, grows best not in Colombia but in Bolivia and Peru, where the leaves are made into a rough paste. But turning the paste into the white powder that foreigners consume in such prodigious quantities requires laboratory facilities and technical skills. Medellin had them, as well as convenient proximity to the huge U.S. market and a work force willing to take risks. "There has always been an entrepreneurial spirit in this city," says Jaramillo. "These people found a way of controlling a big business with a growing demand...
...first the arrival of the drug lords generated only mild concern. "They were getting rich off the gringos, an entirely respectable way for a Latin to accumulate wealth," says Maria Alves Osorio, a middle-class mother of three who is now alarmed at Medellin's lawlessness. "Our children weren't taking cocaine, so everything was fine." Many residents welcomed the money that drugs brought to the city and the jobs they created, however temporarily, in the construction and retail businesses. The old estates on the surrounding hills of El Poblado were replaced by luxurious red-brick apartment buildings topped with...
...their money, the drug barons may have brought only a superficial prosperity to Medellin. "Their money hasn't created much employment because they haven't invested in productive infrastructure," says Juan Gomez Martinez, publisher of Medellin's biggest daily newspaper, El Colombiano (circ. 100,000), and a candidate for mayor. "They have spent a lot of money on imported luxuries." Escobar, for example, is said to have imported gold-plated bathroom fittings for a penthouse he frequently used. His wife had more shoes in her closet, according to local lore, than Imelda Marcos. The penthouse was abandoned by the Escobars...
...city's 1,200-member police force is overwhelmed by the violence. Minor offenses like a traffic violation generally receive more attention than serious crimes because they are easier and safer to deal with. "The cartel cannot be tackled in Medellin alone," Jaramillo says. "It is a worldwide problem and one that is created by demand in the U.S. Why doesn't the U.S. tackle consumption and then stop things like U.S.-made guns from reaching the cartel? Then we might get somewhere...