IN the early 1950s, slum areas grew in the barren hills of the north and west Medellin from the gradual influx of small farmers from the countryside who fled brutal civil wars and violence by growing armed militias.

Consequently, the town's population exploded with the total number jumping from around 350,000 in 1951 to 1.5 millions in 1985. Today, it surpasses 2.4 millions or even more than 3.2 millions if the number of people living in the surro