Long road ahead

The country’s crumbling transport infrastructure is to receive a $100bn update over the next decade, writes Andres Schipani with photographs by Stephen Ferry

Every time he leaves Medellín, truck driver Carlos Patiño drops his eyelids, makes the sign of the cross and murmurs a prayer.

After 15 years of transporting cargo on Colombia’s roads, these days he is not asking for mercy from possible attacks by rebel assassins or ruthless para­militaries, who less than a decade ago controlled the lands he is about to cross.

Instead, he is praying for divine protection as he sets off on a 750km journey carrying groceries for Nutresa, ...

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