Special Report Part 1: Comparing Colombia’s Past Drug War To Juarez’s Current Violence

With more than 6,500 murders since the drug war began in 2008, Juarez has earned the dubious distinction of being the murder capital of North America, if not the world.

More than two decades ago, Medellin, Colombia was one of the most violent and murderous cities in the world.

But now, it’s a much safer city and officials from Juarez are hoping to use it as a model for success.

Medellin is a city rich in culture – a metropolis of around three million people and considered one of the most progressive cities in Latin America has risen up from its well-documented and troubled past.

“The city itself, Medellin, is one of the safest cities in Colombia,” one Colombian man in the city told ABC-7.

“I think that the city is so vibrant and the people are so happy and so nice.” said Sandra Zhao, a U.S. tourist in Colombia.

But 20 years ago, it was a different story.

The face of the city wasn’t the impressive public art, statues and high-rise building you find today. The face of the city was druglord Pablo Escobar.

Through the 1980’s and early 90’s, Medellin was bombarded by problems strikingly similar to what the Borderland is seeing now in El Paso’s sister city of Juarez -all created by the demand for illegal drugs.

Most of the cocaine that passes through Juarez and ultimately ends up in El Paso, and the rest of the U.S., comes from Colombia.

Thousands of people were murdered every year as Escobar’s Medellin cartel battled it out with the Colombia’s Cali cartel, among others.

In the border’s case, it’s the Sinaloa cartel at war with the Juarez cartel.

At its worst, Medellin had a murder rate of 250 per 100,000 residents, while last year, Juarez had a rate of 191 per 100,000 residents.

October was the deadliest month ever Juarez with more than 350 murders in all. To put that in perspective, that averages out to more than 11 per day.

Veteran Medellin journalist Luis Alirio Calles described Escobar as ruthless. He was the last TV reporter to interview Escobar before the druglord was killed in 1993.

“The war against drug trafficking has been tough and bloody with a high cost of money and lives,” Alirio Calles said.

In Medellin, the killing went beyond those involved in the drug trade. Politicians, military, journalists, outspoken members of the community, countless police officers and innocent civilians were all targets.

Remote controlled car bombs were a common weapon used by Escobar. Entire blocks would be razed and dozens of innocent people were killed.

And now, Mexico is feeling the effects of narco-terrorism – though on a smaller scale.

In July, four people were killed in Juarez, including an officer and doctor lured to the scene, when a car bomb exploded less than a mile from El Paso’s Bowie High School.

Last year, then-Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz and other officials from the border visited Medellin in hopes of learning first-hand how the city turned itself around.

“The first thing we saw in Medellin is it is very much like the problem we have in Juarez,” Reyez Ferriz said.

“Medellin was marked on the map with a black star,” Medellin mayor Alonzo Salazar said. “Nobody wanted to visit us. But the situation has changed drastically, and for the better. Now, thousands of tourists make it here to Medellin every single month.”

After the assassination of Escobar and the systematic cleansing of drug organizations by government and paramilitary groups, Medellin began rebuilding.

The strategy included urban planning focused on social welfare, a crack down on corruption .. and reinforcement of police ranks.

It’s been touted as the “Medellin miracle.”

Alirio Calles said, “the city’s fear transformed to hope.”

Reyes Ferriz said he’s very optimistic the same things can be done in Juarez.

“Creating opportunities is what they did in Medellin,” Reyes Ferriz said.

Medellin is a city with many areas that have yet to be rebuilt but life goes on and the city doesn’t skip a beat.

Creating opportunities by hammering a positive, progressive perspective into the heads of young and old.

“It’s something we are focusing on in Juarez, and trying to bring to the city,” Reyes Ferriz said.

Related Links:Link:Special Report Part 2: Juarez Leaders Hope Youth Programs, Facilities Will Help End ViolenceLink:Special Report Part 3: Juarez Models Military, Police Changes After Colombian Tactics