What the Heck Is Happening in Parque Lleras (2022)?

What The Heck is Happening in Parque Lleras 2022 ?

Medellin’s most touristic park is receiving a major facelift.

By Kaveh Paymayesh

August 2, 2022

Medellin’s most touristic park is in the midst of a drastic revamp, but things are taking longer than expected.

Furthermore, will this be enough to curb the sexual tourism that now characterizes Parque Lleras?

Here are the good, the bad & the ugly…

The renovation of Parque Lleras is a story of delays

After years of administrative deliberations, the renovation of Parque Lleras finally began in March 2022.

At the end of his office term in 2019, ex-mayor Federico Gutierrez suspended the project due to an inadequate budget of $8,000 million (COP). This is around $1.8 million USD.

Since then, the new administration, led by Daniel Quintero, brought life back to the plan with an increased budget of $10,000 million (COP) or approximately $2.3 million USD.

But this was not the sole cause for delays. A slew of contracting issues would see to it that the the work which was supposed to begin mid-2021 and finish for August 2022, would not go to plan.

At the time of writing this, officials have again postponed the deadline from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023.

The renovation of Parque Lleras is currently at around 30-35%.

Rebranding Parque Lleras

Parque Lleras is Medellin’s commercial and touristic landmark. However, years of debauchery and foreign influx have resulted in a marked social & physical degeneration of the park.

The current state of Lleras Park raises questions as to what a touristic landmark is supposed to look like. The Townhall of Medellin does not want its chief tourist hotspot to reign as a hotspot of debauchery. To change this though, requires nothing less than a drastic overhaul.

In August 2021, the mayor attempted to salvage Parque Lleras through the ‘plan de reactivación económica en el Parque Lleras’.

As part of this plan:

1,620 m2 of concrete ground were painted over with artistic design
500 m2 were given over to vendors for commerce
Security was increased.

1.620 m² fueron intervenidos con obras de arte urbano para promover los establecimientos comerciales del Parque Lleras y Provenza, y así garantizar la #ReactivaciónEconómica del sector de una manera más segura.
¡Te estamos esperando para que disfrutes de este renovado lugar! pic.twitter.com/OValSER6WR
— Alcaldía de Medellín (@AlcaldiadeMed) August 13, 2021

Did this work to mitigate the social deterioration of the park? No.

Up until its last days before construction began, Lleras continued in full force as a marketplace for prostitution. Arguably, worse than ever!

The renovation will be 'transformative'

According to medellin.gov, the current redevelopment will be both aesthetically & socially transformative.

The idea is to prioritize pedestrians, including minors, and encourage daytime activity in the zone.

If you hadn’t noticed, Parque Lleras was already quite transformative – but from day-to-night. The park, whilst beautiful and peaceful during the day, was almost desolate.

It was only at night that it would come to life with lights, sound, music and people.

This polarity is a key issue that is being addressed through the revamps that are currently taking place.

How does the mayor aim to encourage daytime activity?

Here's what to expect from the 'new' Parque Lleras

Around 12,889m²of public space in and around the park will be rebuilt from scratch, giving a modern and novel appearance.
New sidewalks will be built as part of the “prioritization of pedestrians”. The roads that previously encompassed the park will be removed.
In the heart of the park there will be an open-air theatre, similar to the one in Cerro Nutibara.
As part of its endeavour to flourish as an Ecociudad, the park will receive an additional 98 native trees & 16,000 smaller plants.
An intervention of surrounding roads to better connect Parque Lleras with Parque El Poblado.

Restricting of minors in Parque Lleras

The sexual exploitation of minors is a lingering problem for the city of Medellin. Despite its landmark status, Parque Lleras remains a hotspot for prostitution, with minors caught in the crosshairs of criminal enterprises.

In an attempt to combat this, Parque Lleras has recently been added to a growing list of areas in which minors are curfewed. By the time that the park’s transformations are fully realized, minors under 18 will no longer be allowed to enter after 10:00 pm (without an accompanying parent).

This policy will also apply to the commercial areas of comunas:

3 – Manrique
8 – Villa Hermosa
10 – La Candelaria (El Centro)
11 – Laureles-Estadio
16 – Belén.

My concern here is that the vast majority of working girls in Parque Lleras are of legal age. These curfews are not going to affect them. This begs the question – what else will be done to curb the overt trading of sex in the area?

Conclusion

Parque Lleras – the city’s flagship park – is no stranger to transformation. In recent years it has lost its edge and prestige, despite desperate attempts by the government to salvage it.

Surely, this facelift marks the city’s biggest, if not ultimate attempt to bring it back to its former glory days. The park may look prettier and even encourage daytime activity. This is clearly a concerted effort by the government, but will it be enough to change the social fabric of this landmark?