A gang truce in Buenaventura has brought peace to Colombia’s main port city on the Pacific coast after 3 years of turf wars.
Members of the “Spartans” and Shotas “participated in a devoted adjustment of service and football after signing an agreement to end the turf war that began in 2019.
The truce allowed citizens to stop at friends and family in other parts of their city, which had become due to “invisible borders” imposed by gangs to protect their territories.
In the Juan XXIII neighborhood, which is one of the hardest hit by the turf war, other people took to the streets to celebrate the truce that practically ended the violence in Buenaventura.
The neighborhood Juan xxlll in complete joy, we are celebrating that the shottas and the Spartans said yes to the angels #PAZ of #BUENAVENTURA?️?️?️❤️❤️?????? pic. twitter. com/zfVI8Y3hom
— Jhorman Cuero (@CueroJhorman) October 2, 2022
Other inhabitants of Buenaventura took the opportunity to walk around their city, which was also impossible.
Today we left for juan 23 to the event for La Paz, today everyone was there without borders or anything and we toured the angeles comuna 7 that a few days ago was divided and violos angelesda, today many of those who left 2 years ago were there, hugs, affection and good energías. pic. twitter. com/RamkgZJSSo
– Leonard Rentería – LeonArt (@LeonardBtura) October 3, 2022
The truce was brokered by the Catholic Church after the two gangs indicated they wanted to participate in President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plans.
Buenaventura Archbishop Ruben Dario Jaramillo said last week that the Buenaventura truce is a pilot task of the government’s proposed peace policy, which calls for clemency for illegal armed teams that lay down their arms.
According to Jaramillo, the truce ended violence in the town of 400,000, which registered more than 25 homicides a month until the truce.
In the past six weeks, the government has reported one homicide.
The war between the Spartans and the Shotas erupted in 2019 due to a split in “La Empresa,” the local mafia organization that controlled cocaine exports from the port and organized criminal businesses.
The violence has been fueled by armed outlaw teams seeking out drug trafficking routes through the jungles and swamps surrounding Buenaventura.
The port city has been one of Colombia’s main drug trafficking hubs for decades.
@2008-2019 – Colombia Reports. All rights reserved. Developed through Digitale Zaken and Parrolabs