A Community Turn-Around Story in Cuernavaca

Yesterday, I visited a community where I used to lie in Cuernavaca called "La Barona." Years ago, it was the worst ghetto the city ever had; it still has a reputation for being the bad side of town, although it has changed incredibly over the past few decades.

Originally it was a village, and when it was swallowed by the city during the 40s and 50s, migrants from other parts of the country brought some local feuds with them, which eventually escalated into full-blown gang violence. During the 70's there was time that there was a murder every day. Buses stopped at the traffic circle which was the main entrance (there was only 3 entrances into a neighborhood of about 10,000) and taxis would also refuse to go further.



By the time I live there in 2006, it was a quiet, friendly neighbourhood, where the families who roughed it through the bad years (in return for really cheap property) had managed to build up their houses from little shacks into decent multi-storey, nicely painted homes – still mostly lower income, but nicer that what it once was. Now, children play in the streets, and there are a lot of little restaurants and local services. Fruit and vegetable shops are common, and everything tends to be the cheapest in the city (the bad reputation which it has never outlived is probably responsible for this). When I visited yesterday, there were more businesses and better businesses than four years ago.



My friends from Mexico City were surprised when they came and saw that it was a decent neighbourhood. Their friends who lived here had told them it was the worst part of the city, comparable to roughest parts of Mexico City. During the 70's, I guess this was true. The worst thing that happened to me there was being pestered by 2 drunks for money. (If they had wanted to rob me, they could've easily done so; but they didn't.) There was also a little incident with a ghost, but that's a different story.



Fortunately, I've never lived in a real bad part of any city. This is the closest I've come (along with the village of Santa Fe in Mexico City.) But it's a place I like to talk about and think about since it shows how a neighbourhood can go from a really bad problem, into a relatively decent family community.