Avocado Groves vs. Housing Developments: The Silent War for Belén Rincón's Last Green Frontier

Belén Rincón: the silent war for Medellín's last green frontier

While downtown Medellín simmers at 24 degrees and the concrete of El Poblado pushes the heat index up several more degrees, in the upper reaches of Belén Rincón you can still smell the wet earth after a downpour. Here, just minutes from Mall de la 30 and the gated community towers multiplying like mushrooms, there are still plots where avocados, tree tomatoes, and beans are cultivated. But the pulse between the machete and the crane is increasingly uneven. By August 2026, the question is not whether Belén Rincón will change, but who wins the battle to define what that change will look like.

What it is and context: the lung that refuses to die

Belén Rincón is one of those Medellín neighborhoods tourists rarely visit and many locals only know in passing on their way to the airport or towards the west. It stretches over the slopes descending from Alto de San Ignacio, in comuna 16, and for decades it was the place where farmers arriving from Antioquia and the Eje Cafetero found a piece of land to sow while the city grew behind them.

Today, that territory is the stage for a silent conflict between two visions of the city: those who see in every green lot a future apartment building with panoramic views, and those who have been cultivating the land for 30 or 40 years and consider their way of life as legitimate as real estate development. The avocado, that fruit that has become the green gold of Colombia, is here the symbol of everything at stake: identity, memory, food, and business.

The neighborhood is part of the so-called "border territories" of Medellín, those areas where the formal city meets rurality and where the Land Use Plan (POT) approved in 2022 attempts to balance urban expansion with environmental protection. But in practice, real estate pressure advances faster than protection mechanisms.

The conflict map: plots that produce vs. cranes that have already arrived

Walking through the upper part of Belén Rincón is crossing a landscape of contrasts. On the same block, you see Hass avocado crops and "Lot for sale" signs with phone numbers of real estate firms. Construction companies have been quietly buying plots over the last five years, capitalizing on the increased land value generated by the widening of Avenida 80 and the construction of new access roads.

Among the companies that have acquired land in the area are some of the main developers of social and middle-income housing in Medellín, although most negotiations have been conducted through intermediaries and trust companies to avoid alerting residents. Historical owners, mostly second and third-generation farming families, have sold out of necessity: the cost of maintaining a productive plot in a city that is becoming more expensive is increasingly high, and financial offers, though not always fair, are hard to refuse.

According to data from the Community Action Board of Belén Rincón, at least 35% of the plots that were in agricultural production in 2015 no longer exist. In their place, there are housing projects of up to five stories promoted as "live in contact with nature," marketing that residents consider ironic when what they really do is cut down fruit trees and fill in streams.

One of the most emblematic cases is the sector known as La Loma de los Berrío, where a family that had been growing avocados since the 1970s sold a 4,000 square meter lot in 2023. Today, on that same land, a residential complex of 120 apartments promising "spectacular city views" is being built. The avocado trees that remained standing are used as lobby decoration.

Voices of urban farmers: what they grow and for how long

Doña Rosa Elena Quintero is 67 years old and has lived in the upper part of Belén Rincón for 42 years. On her 2,500 square meter plot, she grows avocados, plantains, onions, and cilantro. Every Tuesday and Friday, she goes down to Plaza de Belén to sell her harvest, a tradition she learned from her father when they arrived fleeing violence in Urabá in the early eighties.

"There's no war between neighbors here, there's a war of money," she says while pruning an avocado tree with a skill that only years can give. "They've offered me 800 million pesos for this plot. And what do I do with 800 million? My children study, my grandchildren play here, I eat from here. That can't be bought with money."

Doña Rosa Elena is one of the leaders of the Urban Agriculture Committee of Belén Rincón, an organization that brings together about 40 urban farmers who still resist in the area. They grow avocado, tree tomato, beans, corn, aromatic herbs, and flowers. Many sell their products at the marketplaces of Belén and La América, and some have secured agreements with restaurants in the area that value organic products.

But the outlook is bleak. Each year, the committee loses between 3 and 5 members who end up selling their land. The younger ones don't want to follow their parents' trade: they prefer to work in construction or services, where the salary is more stable than in agriculture. "The kids no longer know when an avocado is harvested," laments don Álvaro Restrepo, 71, who still plants corn on a lot his family has owned since 1965. "They won't learn that in a building."

The regulations that allow it: the POT and its legal loopholes

Medellín's Land Use Plan, approved in 2022 and valid until 2035, classifies much of the upper area of Belén Rincón as urban expansion land and protected rural land. However, in practice, the regulations have significant loopholes that construction companies have known how to exploit.

The POT establishes that areas with slopes greater than 30% must be protected and are not suitable for urban development. But in Belén Rincón, many of the plots being sold have slopes between 20% and 25%, placing them in a legal gray area. Construction companies have hired engineers who certify that the land is suitable for building, while farmers denounce that these studies do not consider the environmental impact on the streams that originate in the area.

Another loophole is that of green corridors. The 2022–2035 POT prioritizes the creation of ecological corridors connecting the city's green areas, and Belén Rincón appears on official maps as part of a corridor that would link Cerro El Volador with Alto de San Ignacio. But the implementation of these corridors depends on the municipality purchasing properties, a slow process with limited budget. Meanwhile, private parties continue buying and developing.

The situation is further complicated by informal land tenure. Many farming families in Belén Rincón do not have full property titles to their plots: they are de facto possessors or have documents not registered with the Office of Public Instruments. This leaves them in a weak position vis-à-vis construction companies, which offer to "fix the paperwork" as part of the deal, and also vis-à-vis the State, which cannot protect those who cannot prove ownership.

Colombia has a long tradition of participatory urbanism, from the Community Action Boards that organize neighborhood improvements to Medellín's comprehensive urban projects that transformed entire comunas. But in Belén Rincón, citizen participation clashes with the reality that the most important decisions about the territory are made in urban curatorship offices and municipal councils, where farmers have no direct representation.

What will happen in 2026: predictions based on what is already underway

Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, the outlook in Belén Rincón is one of contained tension. According to records from Curaduría Urbana 3 of Medellín, there are at least 14 housing projects approved or in process for the upper area of Belén Rincón, with an estimated total of 1,800 housing units. If all are built, the neighborhood's population could double in the next five years.

In response, the Urban Agriculture Committee and other neighborhood organizations have organized a series of assemblies and peaceful protests. The most recent, held in May 2026, brought together more than 300 people and gained traction in local media. Residents demand that the municipality declare the area as agricultural protection land and create a land bank so farmers can continue cultivating.

There are three possible scenarios for the rest of 2026:

Scenario 1: Negotiation. The municipality, pressured

Event details (lineup, schedule, dates)

Avocado groves of Belén

Insider Tip: Visit the avocado groves in the early morning hours to enjoy the birdsong and the freshness of the environment. Bring a camera, as the dawn light highlights the beauty of these trees and their surroundings.

Parque de los Aguacatales

Insider Tip: This is an excellent place for a picnic. Bring a blanket and some food, and enjoy the tranquility. Also, on weekends there are usually cultural activities organized by the community, so check if there's something special during your visit.

Feria de las Flores

Insider Tip: Although the Feria de las Flores is celebrated every August, it's an event that has implications throughout the year. Participating in workshops and prior activities can give you a richer context of Medellín's floral culture and its relationship with the conservation of green spaces.

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