Colombia: Shots Continue to Ring Out in Medellín · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

The city of Medellin is facing a difficult public order situation. The most mentioned area is Comuna 13 [es], with several nocturnal clashes [es] on the first weekend of February. The situation became so serious that Metrocable [translator's note: a cable car system] was forced to suspend its service for 15 minutes [es]. Two people were injured by stray bullets that hit one Metrocable car [es].
The Metrocable System in Medellín by Álvaro Ramírez on Flickr, with the permission of Creative Commons 2.0.
In reaction to the events, two of the city's inhabitants, Juan Mosquera (@lluevelove) and rapper Jeihhco (@Jeihhco), took to Twitter to express their sadness and call for reflection. Global Voices has gathered some particularly pertinent tweets below:
Juan Mosquera
@lluevelove: Balas en la noche, silencio en la madrugada, pólvora al mediodía, miedo en la tarde.
@lluevelove: Gunshots at night, silence in the morning, dust at midday, fear in the evening.
@lluevelove: No hay silencio que guarde las balas que retumban: su eco son tumbas.
@lluevelove: There is no silence that can keep the shots that boom out: their echoes are tombs.
@lluevelove: Toda la ciudad como una. Toda la ciudad comuna. Vos y yo tenemos la piel intacta pero estamos heridos los dos, como aquel que no conocés.
@lluevelove: All the city as one. All the city – united. You and I have the skin intact, but we are both hurt, just like as the others you don't know.
Jeihhco
@Jehhico: Se oyen balas, de nuevo y sin saber hasta cuando arde Comuna 13, arde Medellín.
@Jehhico: We hear shots ringing out once more, we don't know for how long Comuna 13 will burn, Medellín is on fire.
@Jehhico: Entre la pólvora se camuflan las balas, entre la vida se va sintiendo cercana la muerte, sonidos que duelen en el corazón, en el alma.
@Jehhico: In the gunpowder gunshots are hidden, in life we sense death's gradual approach, sounds that ache in the heart, in the soul.
@Jehhico: Duele tanta mierda en las calles, el silencio que tiene el barrio a esta hora es un silencio doloroso, es aterrador, es miedo puro, latente.
@Jehhico: So may crap in the streets, it hurts, the silence that has fallen in the neighbourhood righ now is a hurting silence, terrifying, pure, underlying fear.
Alongside the above, the hashtag #Medelllinnotienealcalde [tn: roughly “Medellín has no mayor”] began to trend, a springboard for Twitter users to discuss the problems in the city, which has been characterised by its vigour but also by a history of violence and which has recently been nominated [en] for the title of most innovative city in the world:
Ramiro Velásquez (@RamiroCiencia) writes:
#MedellinNOTieneAlcalde tiene un funcionario que no hace sino sonreír hasta que le preguntan por la INSEGURIDAD
#MedellinNOTieneAlcalde, it has a civil servants that does nothing but smile until he's asked about SECURITY PROBLEMS.
Eliana Castro (@fermina_dz) notes:
#MedellinNOTieneAlcalde, tiene un representante de artistas extranjeros.
#MedellinNOTieneAlcalde, it has an agent for foreign artists.
Laura Albornoz Damme (‏@LauraAlbornozD), meanwhile, disagrees with the hashtag:
¿Por qué el #MedellinNOTieneAlcalde? Creo que Medellin es ejemplo para las demás ciudades de Colombia ¿no?
Why #MedellinNOTieneAlcalde? Isn't Medellín in many ways an example for the rest of Colombia to follow?
The city's current problems with respect to security are clearly complex, a fact made evident by online debate.