Free Tour of Colombia's Armed Conflict

Colombia's internal armed conflict stretched across more than five decades, drawing in guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and drug trafficking organizations, and touching almost every region of the country — Medellín included, especially through the violence of the 1980s and 90s. This tour sets out to explain that history plainly: how the conflict began, the groups involved, and how it shaped daily life in the city.

The tour is anchored at Parque San Antonio, where two identical Fernando Botero sculptures of a bird stand side by side — one the original, mangled by a 1995 bombing that killed more than 20 people during a concert, the other donated afterward as a memorial. From there your guide covers the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC and the reconciliation process still under way, offering a first-hand, local perspective on a subject most visitors only know from headlines.