I’m in Medellin, Colombia. Speaking at a conference tomorrow. The annual homicide rate in Medellín 20 years ago was 381 per 100,000. In New York City, this would come to more than 30,000 murders a year. This coincided with Pablo Escobar’s reign of terror where he was pulling in $60 million per day from the global cocaine trade that originated here in Medellin. But the city has made such a huge transformation. One of the founding principles for this change was investing in the poor so they can either choose opportunity or violence. This “Metrocable” is one of those investments. Medellin is located in a valley with mountains all around. The hillsides are full of favelas, poor neighborhoods. So they built a series of cable cars to connect those neighborhoods to the main public transportation routes. They are packed and they’ve completely transformed the neighborhoods and gave people hope and opportunity rather than drugs and violence. It’s quite an inspiration.