Eight years after police gunned down Escobar, the people of Medellin are trying to emerge from his shadow and transform a city whose name was synonymous with drug trafficking and violence into a peaceful, modern metropolis blooming with culture, fashion and high technology. Perez hopes to turn the city of 2.2 million people in Colombia's central Andes into a technological hub. As a start, he plans to buy 200,000 computers and resell them at a discount to students and others around the city to build computer literacy. Medellin's hospitals are Latin American leaders in organ transplants. Medellin's downtown streets are clean and its traffic manageable.
Plazas abound with fountains, statues and bright flowers.
An annual international poetry festival attracts thousands of spectators. Colombia Fashion, a yearly show that drew hundreds of foreigners to Medellin last week, highlights the area's growing importance in clothing manufacturing and design. De la Renta has attended two shows since 1999, helping cement Medellin's reputation as one of Latin America's centers of style. Local factories make socks, jeans, lingerie and other apparel for export for brands including Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne, and Donna Karan. Over a three-block area where street crime and drug addiction abounded, people now chat casually on park benches beneath Botero's bronzes of chubby nudes, cats and horses.