From Urban Recovery to a Regional Debate: Why Medellín Is Back in Latin America's Security Conversation

Medellín's transformation has reentered the regional conversation as countries such as Ecuador search for ways to confront the rise of organized crime and escalating violence.

For decades, Medellín stood as one of the world's defining examples of urban violence. Today, it is increasingly cited in discussions about public security as evidence that sustained reductions in crime are possible when law enforcement efforts are combined with stronger institutions, social investment and international cooperation.

That transformation has drawn renewed attention across Latin America as governments grapple with the growing influence of organized crime. While Colombia and Ecuador face different realities, Medellín's experience raises a question that extends well beyond its own borders: what does it take for the state to regain control of territories where criminal organizations have become deeply entrenched?

Rather than offering a universal formula, Medellín's experience suggests that lasting change depends on the interaction between security policies, institutional presence and long-term social development.

From one of the world's most violent cities to a path of recovery

In the early 1990s, Medellín was living through the darkest chapter of its modern history. In 1991, the city recorded 6,349 homicides, the highest figure ever documented there. Its homicide rate reached 381 killings per 100,000 residents, one of the highest ever recorded in a major urban center.

Drug cartel violence, bombings, targeted assassinations and confrontations between armed groups shaped everyday life for an entire generation.

In hillside neighborhoods, particularly areas such as Comuna 13, the state's presence was limited. Criminal organizations controlled illegal economies, imposed their own rules and recruited young people into their ranks.

Three decades later, the picture is markedly different. According to the Medellín city government, the city closed 2025 with 346 homicides and a homicide rate of roughly 13 per 100,000 inhabitants.

That represents a reduction of more than 90 percent compared with the peak levels of the early 1990s and has made Medellín one of Latin America's most closely studied examples of urban recovery from extreme violence.

The transformation was not the product of a single policy or isolated decision. Instead, it resulted from a combination of institutional strengthening, public space recovery, targeted social investment in vulnerable neighborhoods and sustained international cooperation on security.

International cooperation and stronger institutions

One important component of that process was the strengthening of Colombia's institutional capacity during the 2000s.

During that period, Colombia launched Plan Colombia, a cooperative strategy developed with the United States and other international partners to confront drug trafficking and criminal organizations.

The initiative included intelligence support, technological modernization, security force training and measures to strengthen the judicial system.

As Colombia's Ministry of Defense stated in a communiqué cited by The Washington Post, "Most cooperation programs extend across all levels, which is reflected in operational advances in the fight against drugs and transnational threats."

Over time, these initiatives helped improve criminal investigations, strengthen coordination among government institutions and develop new strategies to combat organized crime.

International cooperation became one element of a broader effort aimed at reinforcing the state's ability to respond to increasingly complex security challenges within Colombia's constitutional framework.

Recovery was built through opportunity as well as security

Medellín's strategy, however, extended beyond policing. The city simultaneously invested in urban transformation projects designed to reconnect neighborhoods that had remained isolated or under the influence of criminal organizations for years.

Among the most recognizable initiatives was the Metrocable, an aerial cable car system integrated into Medellín's Metro network.

By linking hillside communities with the rest of the city, the project reduced travel times while expanding access to jobs, education and public services.

For thousands of residents, the Metrocable represented much more than a transportation system.

It symbolized greater integration into the city and a stronger institutional presence in communities that had long been marginalized.

Another emblem of Medellín's transformation was the construction of 26 Library Parks, cultural centers established in neighborhoods that had experienced years of violence and criminal control.

The underlying principle behind these investments was straightforward: security cannot be built through law enforcement alone. It also requires creating opportunities for the communities most affected by violence.

This approach reinforced an idea that continues to shape discussions on urban security across the region: reclaiming territory means not only weakening criminal organizations but also expanding the state's presence through public services, infrastructure and opportunities for residents.

Ecuador's growing security challenge

While Medellín was advancing through this process of recovery, Ecuador began experiencing a rapid deterioration in its own security indicators.

For years, the country had been regarded as one of the safest in Latin America. That changed as drug trafficking networks expanded and rival criminal organizations intensified their disputes.

Between 2020 and 2023, homicides increased sharply, pushing the national homicide rate to approximately 45 killings per 100,000 inhabitants.

The trend continued to worsen. According to figures released by Ecuador's Ministry of the Interior and National Police, the country recorded 9,216 intentional homicides in 2025, the highest number since official records began, averaging nearly 25 killings every day. Security reports estimate that Ecuador ended the year with a homicide rate close to 51 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in Latin America.

Against that backdrop, Colombia's experience has increasingly been cited as a reference point in discussions about possible security cooperation strategies.

The legal frameworks governing such cooperation, however, differ significantly. In Colombia, international security agreements were developed through constitutional procedures and institutional oversight designed to balance international cooperation with national sovereignty and democratic accountability.

Ecuador operates under a different constitutional framework. Article 5 of the country's 2008 Constitution defines Ecuador as a territory of peace and states that "the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign military installations shall not be permitted." That provision has long shaped the country's approach to military cooperation with foreign partners.

A broader debate about the role of the state

Beyond the differences between Colombia and Ecuador, Medellín's experience continues to resonate because it points to a broader issue that extends beyond policing. The city's sustained reduction in violence was linked not only to stronger security institutions but also to the expansion of the state's presence in neighborhoods where illegal economies had long dominated.

Infrastructure, education, public spaces, international cooperation and institutional strengthening ultimately became interconnected elements of the same recovery strategy. That perspective has gained renewed relevance as several Latin American countries search for responses to the expansion of organized crime.

Medellín's experience cannot simply be replicated elsewhere. Every country operates within its own political, legal and social realities.

Still, it offers an important lesson that continues to shape the regional conversation: when the state retreats from a territory, organized crime often fills the vacuum. Regaining that ground requires far more than security operations alone. It depends on capable institutions, coordination across different levels of government, international cooperation carried out within the rule of law and public policies that create opportunities for local communities.

That is the discussion now gaining momentum in Ecuador as the country searches for ways to respond to one of the most severe security crises in its recent history.