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When the Medellin Metro opened in 1995, the Colombian city had recently been called the 鈥渕urder capital of the world鈥� due to the high homicide rate caused by Pablo Escobar鈥檚 drug wars.

The network has grown to include a large cable car network which stretches to the neighbourhoods built into the sides of mountains that surround Medellin.

It has helped transform the city into a tourist hot-spot 鈥� something unimaginable 30 years ago.

Tim O鈥機allaghan has been speaking to Tomas Andreas Elejalde, who is the general manager of the Metro.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: The metro cable above the city of Medellin. Credit: Raul Arboleda via Getty Images)