Most people know one thing about Medellín: Pablo Escobar. Some know two things: Escobar and that the city has "transformed." But the real story — the full arc from colonial settlement to industrial capital to the epicenter of global cocaine trafficking to a literal war zone to one of the most innovative cities on the planet — is almost never told in one place, honestly, without either glorifying the violence or pretending it didn't happen.
This site tells that story. Not as narco tourism. Not as a sanitized recovery narrative. As history — factual, respectful, and unflinching. Because the transformation only means something if you understand what the city transformed from.
Medellín's journey from 6,349 homicides in 1991 to 300 in 2024 didn't happen by accident. It happened because people — residents, mayors, architects, activists, and communities — decided to build something different. Their story deserves to be told properly.