25 Aug, 2009
Former cocaine capital shakes off bad reputation
Posted by: admin In: Around Beijing| News
MEDELLÍN, Colombia – The 18 hippos are the biggest attraction at the ‘Hacienda Napoles’ amusement park, 99 miles from this Andean city.
Their home was created by Pablo Escobar during his reign as Colombia’s most notorious drug lord.
He build the luxurious ranch with 20 man-made lakes, six pools, an airport, a hydroelectric power plant and a zoo filled with zebras, hippopotamus and other exotic animals.
Nowadays, the once highly secured hacienda is visited by 50,000 tourists annually, underlining the change in the city and province that was once ground zero for a bloody war between powerful cocaine magnates and the state.
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| Hugo Angulo / NBC News |
| Children play in the fountains of a Medellin park. |
Almost two decades later, business is thriving and most Medellinenses remember almost daily explosions as nightmares from the past.
The former textile capital of South America is again making clothes for companies such as Diesel, Naf Naf, Levis, Tommy Hilfinger and DKNY. The growing transportation system is another source of pride for many in Medellin, the only Colombian city with a metro and an aerial cable car network that connects downtown to its hilly suburbs.
And the United States is committed to helping Colombia continue to achieve greater security across the country. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced the new “Defense Cooperation Agreement,” reached on Aug. 14 and expected to be signed in a few weeks. It is aimed at helping strengthen security and tackling the illegal drug trade.
(Some South American nations fear that the U.S. is using the agreement as a way to create military bases in Colombia – a charge Clinton was quick to deny. Still a group of Latin American leaders will meet this Friday, Aug. 28 to discuss the Washington - Bogotá agreement.)
