There are many events such as wars, natural disasters, political situations, and economic changes. Those are remarkable moments that have positive or negative effects in our lives. Those events are part of our own history, and in some cases it is the unique aspect in our family record. In my family, the violent experience created by the drug cartel in Medellin brought to my family pain and a melancholic memory of a tragic time. During the 1980s, the drug cartel in Medellin created a time of terror and violence throughout Colombia. Murders, terror and taking prisoners were some of the panic that we experienced in that time. The drugs cartel caused a lot of pain in many families, and mine was one of those.
The loss of two uncles was the first pain for my family. Orlando and Jairo, my mother’s brothers, were policemen. Because the cartel had a lot of power and their only weapon was violence, a lot of people died in those events. The military forces were the primary target for the cartel. If they destroy the military, they had free opportunity to continue with their acts. Bombs and attempts all the time in any place were the coward gestures of the cartel. It was one night in February in Medellin, my uncles were in a police station when a bomb detonated and many people died. It was a painful night for all my family because they were excellent parents and great exemplar good people. Even though I was a child when it happened, I remember when they camet home to visit me and brought me presents. Still, I remember how proud they were of being policemen and supporting the nation with their life. They sacrificed their lives not only for my family. Also, they gave their life for the whole nation.
The economic crisis was the second way that the cartel influenced in my family. My father used work in a textile company. Because it was not safe to seem as a wealthy person and having money was a risk in that time, my father decided not do some business that could lose a lot of money, but he had to make the choice because on one side was the money and on the other side was the security of my family. One of the effects was not buying a big property in Medellin. At the present time, the value of that property is high. Of course he decided in favor of my family security. Still now my father thinks that he made the right choice and how different our situation could be if the cartel had not do all this bad things. My father made the right choice when he decided let the business go.
Finally, another situation due to the drugs cartel that impacted my family was that some of my father’s close friends were kidnapped. Some of his friends from the company when he used to work were taken by force just for money. The pain of their families was like as if it was our own pain. We suffered together because they were really close friends. Some of my friend’s parents spent a lot of time far away from them, and it was really sad. Actually the situation waiting for the kidnappers call asking for the money without any guaranties that they were alive was traumatic. Those were the strangest times when the minutes were like hours, the hours were like days and the days were an eternity.
My family went through bad times, and they shared with many families the sorrow we suffered the consequences of the violence generated by a radical group called the Drug Cartel. Now, the world knows Medellin as the city of the Cartel and the violence. I am glad that that time is almost over; still we have violent problems, but now it has changed a lot. The pain and suffering that the cartel left behind is not gone, but my family learned not to forget, but forgiving the drug cartel always is going to be part not only of my family’s history, it is going to be part of the future of many Colombian families.
No comments:
Post a Comment