The other side of the coin

Just one more entry about the recent developments in Medellin:  I have just talked to the seminary´s vice Principal, and he tells me that things have gone back to a certain "normality" meaning that although all seems well and schools have reopened and there were no shootouts throughout the week end, a certain sense of threat and danger lingers as everyone knows that the problems have not been solved.  Sadly, it seems that history will repeat itself once more and things will not calm down in a visible way until an armed band simply guns down any others in or around their territory into oblivion, thus securing their complete and absolute control over assorted activities like drug trafficking, racketeering, recruiting boys as cannon fodder and girls for their harems (or the other way round; today it doesn´t really matter)... only when that territorial control is secured, "calm" will come back to the area.

Having said that, I bumped into an internet article recommending retirement locations for US citizens and guess what... Medellin came first in the list!  Go and see yourself... (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/8-great-places-to-retire-abroad-175538395.html) 
And yes... a couple of years ago my son asked me where I would like to retire (that´s how old I look in his eyes) and I said "here" without much thinking.  I might have to rethink it, but it is still an appealing thought nonetheless.

...and the beasts

Beauty...

What really made me think was that all the article says promoting Medellin as a good place to come and retire is true (except for its optimistic evaluation of living costs... too simplistic).  However,it is also tragically true all we´ve been talking about in the last two entries.  That is a reality in this country where life can be so beautiful and so ugly at the same time, a real champion in inequality, where expressions like "paradise" and "living hell" can coexist, where the evidences of unimaginable fortunes are paraded shamelessly in the face of those who do not have a crumb of bread for the day.

Add to all that an ineffective system of justice which guarantees impunity to the powerful and all the weight of the law to the powerless, and a deeply rooted and structural culture of corruption and let´s ask ourselves: Is violence that difficult to understand against such a background? 

And yet, I can´t help loving this wonderful country, and would still consider retiring here.