Once again, it was time to visit South America. To start, I was in Medellín, Colombia to utilize Spanish, explore the city, and learn its intense history. When people hear about Colombia, their first thoughts might be about the drugs. They may also think of fresh tropical fruit, cumbia music, and coffee farms on lush green hillsides. If you’re going to visit this city, the history and the recent violent 50-year armed conflict cannot be ignored.

Previously known as the epicenter of the narcotic drug trade, Medellín has been slowly emerging and healing from this recent violence. There are so many interconnecting parts: from the beginnings of colonization and the displacement of the indigenous inhabitants, to the farmers banding together to fight for their land (and their lives). These cumulating events have eventually led to what has happened in the recent decades. Many innocent civilians have also died in the crossfires.

Comuna 13

Rather than neighborhoods, Medellín is split up into communes called “comunas.” One day, I took a tour to learn about the violence that happened in Comuna 13.

Set against high and steep slopes, Comuna 13 is a neighborhood made of makeshift homes with corrugated metal roofs. Farmers fled violence from rural areas and founded this part of Medellín. Leading to the sea and the mountains, this comuna was like a portal for smuggling cocaine and weapons. Slowly, it slipped into a neighborhood that was rife with drug trafficking, paramilitary operations, and rival gangs.

For 10 years, the radical leftist group, FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia: an armed guerrilla paramilitary formed by farmers and peasants), took the power of this community. The rivaling paramilitaries were placed by the Colombian government in order to get rid of them. Eventually, they swapped powers.

This power swap was practically an invasion that displaced the residents, who also escaped the same radical leftist groups. During that time, there were no police stations or any city protection; it was completely out of control. In Comuna 13, there was an initiative to shoot anyone who may be suspected to be a part of the guerilla. It was like a witch hunt. The government at the time wanted results. So, innocent civilians would get kidnapped on the promise of jobs in the fields.

With help from the U.S. government, Colombia’s Operation Orion aimed to do away with the paramilitary groups. In this operation, over a thousand military troops, two helicopters, and a tank were deployed in an attempt to crush the guerilla groups. But it was a controversial mission, because many witnesses claimed that the governments disappeared innocent civilians. While it was a successful operation that drove away the paramilitaries, the community still remembers the controversy. Even the international courts condemned it.

Eventually, there was a peace agreement to coexist: a ceasefire between guerillas and the paramilitary, as long as they stop killing people. FARC was officially disbanded in 2016. These days, there are sub groups of the FARC, but they don’t have enough people keep mobilizing it. So, they retreated into the background.

The Aftermath

: How a Community Heals

The violence was deeply traumatic and is of course a heavy subject to this day. As the city heals, artists have gathered to tell their communities’ stories through creative endeavors, such as murals in Comuna 13. Many victims turn to art and music as a way to denounce the violence, challenge ideas, and speak to the viewer when words aren’t enough. Storytelling and expression help bring communities together, so they can rebuild better.

These days, Comuna 13 is a hopping tourist destination—a living, breathing community exploding with creativity in the form of powerful murals, expressive rap and cumbia verses, enticing Colombian cuisine, and more. Steep stairs zigzag into switchbacks as you go higher and higher, overlooking glittering Medellín at night.

Museo Casa de la Memoria: Remembering the Victims

The 50-year armed conflict in Colombia ended in 2016, which isn’t that long ago in the country’s history. For most people, the memories and trauma of the violence are still fresh. Millions of innocent people have been displaced from their homes, and hundreds of thousands have been killed. We still don’t know the true toll of the multi-faceted armed conflict, whether it’s from narco trafficking, colonialism, fighting over resources, and more.



This museum, Museo Casa de la Memoria, is dedicated to the victims of the conflict. Here, they use their voice and share their stories, because being heard helps them heal from this trauma. Like Comuna 13, it’s a meeting place for victims to come and heal together. It’s a lot of reading in this museum, so take your time and get to know their stories and history.


Also, you’re going to visit Medellín, please do not go to the Pablo Escobar museum. That man has caused so much suffering to the point where many Colombians don’t even want to hear his name. We don’t need to glorify him. Out of respect, go to Museo Casa de la Memoria instead. The victims of his narco regime deserve to be acknowledged.

 The words on the bottom of the mural say, “Their name calls us together; their memory blooms on the walls.”

The Search Unit for Missing Persons

Starting in 2024, La Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas (UBPD; The Search Unit for Missing Persons), a forensic laboratory near Comuna 13, recovers the bodies of the disappeared victims and identifies them. Identifying the missing loved ones brings back dignity to them and helps families know what happened, so that they can have closure. Since 2025, they’ve recovered 96 bodies. Of course, that’s a fraction of the tens of thousands more that are missing.

Final Thoughts

My visit to Medellín was more focused on learning about the history. Sure, there was a lot of fresh fruit to satisfy my vegan cravings, and Colombia produces some of the best coffee in the world. (Stay tuned for what I also enjoyed!) But the reminders of the 50-year civil war were everywhere. Like I mentioned before, we’re still finding out the true toll of the violence. It may take many more decades. It was heavy and tragic, yet the stories of the survivors were inspiring and hopeful as they heal to build stronger communities together.