Whilst you recall to mind Colombia, what pictures spring to mind? For some, it can be espresso or possibly the rustic’s numerous landscapes and cultures. For lots of others, it’ll be cartels, crime and cocaine.
Colombia’s historical past as a drug trafficking hub performs a big function in attracting guests to the rustic – a type of commute referred to as “dark tourism”. However the Colombian executive and far of the inhabitants are determined to shake off this sordid affiliation.
A brand new invoice going thru Colombia’s congress is proposing to prohibit the sale of souvenirs that depict infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and different convicted criminals. The proposed regulation would imply fines for individuals who violate the foundations, and a brief suspension of companies.
Colombia changed into a big manufacturer of cocaine within the Nineteen Seventies, fuelled through call for in North The us. Led through Escobar, the Medellín cartel ruled this business, controlling more or less 80% of the cocaine provide to the USA.
In 1988, Time mag famously dubbed Medellín the “most dangerous city” on the earth. Automobile bombings, assassinations, kidnap and torture changed into a part of on a regular basis existence. In a failed try to assassinate presidential hopeful César Gaviria in 1989, Escobar was once even in the back of the bombing of a business flight that killed all 107 passengers and staff onboard.
Through 1991, the murder charge in Medellín was once a surprising 381 for each and every 100,000 population, with 7,500 other folks murdered within the town that 12 months on my own. Compared, there have been a complete of 107 homicides in London in 2024.
At the present time, Medellín is a lot more non violent. Since Escobar’s loss of life in 1993, its murder charge has dropped through 97% because of larger safety crackdowns and peace offers between the narco gangs.
Colombia now has a booming tourism trade, breaking data for its very best choice of guests in 2024. Medellín has even turn into a classy location for virtual nomads because of its thrilling nightlife, surprising panorama and very good climate.
A vacationer poses for an image within the Comuna 13 neighbourhood of Medellín.
Anamaria Mejia / Shutterstock
But, after I visited Colombia in 2024, it was once onerous to not turn into infatuated through Escobar. His face is all over: on key rings, magnets, mugs and t-shirts, when you continuously see lookalikes posing for images. Even airports – the ultimate position I’d be expecting to be related to medicine – inventory Escobar souvenirs.
A snappy glance on TripAdvisor’s “best things to do in Medellín” presentations Museum Pablo Escobar at primary. Nearly each and every excursion within the town is expounded to the infamous cartel chief, together with visits to the neighbourhoods he managed (and continuously terrorised), his hideout spots, and the site of his ultimate shootout with the police.
Narco tourism’s increase will also be in large part attributed to the massive acclaim for Narcos, a seriously acclaimed collection on Netflix that dramatised the lifetime of Escobar. However presentations akin to Narcos were criticised through some professionals for glorifying the cartel way of life – that specialize in cash, glamour and intercourse reasonably than the tough realities of existence inside Colombia’s drug business.
In line with darkish tourism researcher Diego Felipe Caicedo, fashionable media associated with narco tradition continuously portrays cartel contributors as heroes managing to defeat the category construction established through the elite capitalist gadget.
This has ended in a dissonant heritage of other folks like Escobar. To a few, he’s a Robin Hood-type determine who constructed properties and gave to the deficient. To others, he’s an evil determine and cruel assassin. And whilst Escobar did use a few of his fortune to give a boost to disadvantaged neighbourhoods, many noticed this as a tactic to shop for loyalty and masks his criminality.
The romanticism of Escobar angers many in Colombia who hate the theory of a murderous drug rich person being probably the most recognised symbol of the rustic. In a town the place nearly each and every circle of relatives is aware of of anyone suffering from the violent penalties of the drug business, sufferers in Medellín now reside with reminders plastered throughout storefronts, supplier stalls and vacationer’s t-shirts.
But those that depend on this memento business are livid at the potential for restrictions. In lots of growing vacationer locations, promoting souvenirs is an available means of taking advantage of tourism and will act as a gateway out of poverty.
The memento business is one among provide and insist – distributors are best promoting Escobar souvenirs as a result of they’re the preferred. So, possibly the point of interest must be on converting the attitudes and pursuits of holiday makers, reasonably than penalising the distributors.
A person provides souvenirs that includes Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar in Medellín, Colombia.
Luis Eduardo Noriega Arboleda / EPA
Controlling the narrative
Camille Beauvais, a researcher of Colombian historical past, suggests it’s as much as native government to take keep watch over of the narrative thru commemoration and training. This may apply the instance of the anti-mafia museum in Palermo, Italy, which is designed to recognise the braveness of town and its other folks in status as much as criminality.
Makes an attempt like this is able to steer vacationers clear of sensationalist excursions to a extra nuanced and traditionally correct illustration of this turbulent time. However the Colombian government have, in the past, attempted to forget about this necessary duration within the nation’s historical past.
It was once best in 2022 that the Colombia Fact Fee launched an professional record at the root reasons of violence in Colombia, together with governmental and global screw ups in tackling narcotraffickers.
On the other hand, some teams in Colombia have already attempted to expand an alternative narrative. In 2019, the NGO Colombia ConMemoria (Colombia Recalls) created an internet “Narcostore”, a pretend memento site filled with Escobar-themed merchandise.
When guests clicked to buy the article, they have been redirected to video testimonies of the ones suffering from the medicine business, lots of whom had misplaced pals or kin to Escobar’s terror. The web site reached 180 million guests international.
Narco tourism does now not appear to be disappearing. Fascination with true crime, medicine and cartels is as fashionable as ever. However possibly those vacationers must take a second to believe how they may really feel, if anyone who had murdered their family members changed into a memento refrigerator magnet for other folks to keep in mind their nation through.
