Kosuke Okahara, Japan

Any Given Day - Living for the Moment in Medellin's New Drug War

"Everything is easy in this town, love, sex, drug, even killing, you know - we have a god who makes everything easy, that’s the god of Medellin," says Alberto, one of the gang stars on the street of a slum area in Medellin. "I know the situation became quite tough, but we have been in this situation for decades, and there is no way to escape from this war."

Young gangsters started fighting each other after the extradition of Diego Fernando Murillo, commonly known as Don Berna, who was a drug lord and a paramilitary boss. He was controlling the town even after his arrest from the prison by hiring hit men, and managing the ever-lucrative drug business.

But when Don Berna was extradited to the U.S. in May 2008, and Medellin lost its boss, the town spiraled into chaos. All small narco groups started fighting for control of the city, and ultimately, for control of the cocaine trade. Homicide rates in Medellin rose by more than 30 percent in 2008. In 2009 there were more than 2000 murders, which made Medellin again one of the most dangerous cities in the world. In January and February 2010, there were over 600 homicides.

The situation in these slum areas is complicated since many groups exist like a mosaic. There is a group and another opposed group is just two streets away. All of these groups belong to two bosses that rose to prominence after Don Berna’s extradition to U.S. One is Sebastian, and the other is Valenciano. Now Medellin is looking for either Sebastian or Valenciano to control the town. Until the end, they won’t stop fighting.