Connie's Post. Christmas Travelers_ COMUNA 13 part one

Location of Medellin

Debbie, DeVon, Brian, and Steven

Connie’s Post. Christmas Travelers: December 2019. Clair and I travelled with 3 others to the Colombian Department [state] of Antioquia whose capital is Medellin. This region of Colombia lives in perpetual summer, rain almost daily, flowers of all types blooming year round; temperatures were in the mid-70’s. Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia; its population is about 2.5 million people. Medellin has 16 comunas or districts. We visited the district of COMUNA 13 on 31 December. We arrived by Metro at the San Javier Station and recruited Steven, an English teacher during the school year, to help us find our way. He led 3 young French women and us on our two hour tour. Steven was knowledgeable, articulate, and very helpful.

Outside the San Javier Station

Food is always available

Others looking to be a tour guide

 Also called San Javier Comuna, this district has about 160,000 people and is famous for its history of la resistencia and its wall murals and graffiti. 

Here, people make a distinction between murals [painted on with a brush; less expensive] and graffiti [applied with spray cans of paint, even as many as 50 cans; expensive]. 

We are all immigrants

Historically, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, migrants/immigrants coming to the city from rural areas sought land but ‘we were told by the government that there was nothing for us’ so they themselves tamed the steep, densely forested land on the western edge of Medellin and created living space. During the violent political period of 1980’s and early ‘90’s, Comuna 13 refused to be co-opted by the guerrillas, nor by the para-military groups, nor by the drug dealers, nor by the government. Still today, they are proud of their resistencia. In graffiti, the image of the hummingbird [colibrí] stands for independence/ resistance and also for ‘your wish’ ‘your hope’. 

   Eventually the government recognized the ownership of the land among people who had built brick and concrete homes and lived in them for 30 years.
Land rights and ownership were granted and basic community and sanitary services began to be provided. 

Graffiti images are tremendously symbolic.  Many show a violent or sad past on the left and a hope and looking forward to the future on the right.

Colibrí

the lotus flower symbolizes peace

the phoenix

 

The images speak of hope and expectation of rebirth [re-nacer; the phoenix], searching for peace [lotus flower].

Someone cannot just come in and start to put up graffiti. The plan for your wall art has to be submitted to a committee, approved, and your art has the use of the wall for about 6 months.

Some graffiti are messages of protest [Amazon burning].

C 13 Resistencia

Amazon Burning


[continued in part two]