“I was first a triggerman at the orders of [druglord] Pablo Escobar, then I was the leader of a band that robbed cars, then a paramilitary, and I spent six years in jail. Now I am studying, working at the mayor’s office and want to go to university,” says Néstor, speaking in the Botero Park in central Medellín, surrounded by the sumptuous sculptures of the local artist Fernando Botero. “I owe [Sergio] Fajardo big time,” he says. “I owe him my life.”

Néstor’s story seems like that of many other youngsters from Medellín, once infamous for being the world’s capital of kidnappings, murders and drug-trafficking. Now, Colombia’s second city is no longer stigmatised; it is a place where beautifully designed buildings – with an original mixture of social, educational and cultural projects inside – are mushrooming in the poorest areas, replacing old battlefields for drugs traffickers and paramilitaries.