Colombia Militarises Santa Marta to Counter Armed Group Violence

The streets of Santa Marta, one of Colombia's main tourist destinations, were unusually empty on Wednesday after the president ordered the city to be militarised in response to violence by an illegal armed group.

Residents in a working-class neighbourhood in the north-east queued outside the few supermarkets that remained open, guarded by armed police officers. At least three vehicles, including a taxi and a public bus, were set alight the previous day, and shopkeepers received threats, in some cases from armed men who intimidated them in broad daylight.

President Abelardo de la Espriella said the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada intended to "set fire to" part of the Caribbean region in retaliation for a military operation in which José Pérez Villanueva, alias "Cholo", identified as the group's second-in-command, was killed.

"I swear by Colombia and I swear on my life that I will wipe them out," De la Espriella said on Tuesday evening in Santa Marta, wearing a bulletproof vest as he toured certain areas in an armoured vehicle. "Not a single stone will be left standing wherever I can find them… and if they do not submit, I will send them to hell in a body bag."

Santa Marta, with a population of approximately 480,000, became the first city to be militarised by De la Espriella, who took office last month promising an "iron fist" against illegal groups. He shut down all peace negotiations initiated by his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, including one with the Autodefensas.

Residents said the group had declared an armed strike restricting movement under threat. The Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada emerged after the demobilisation of paramilitary groups at the start of this century. According to police, they operate in Magdalena, La Guajira and Cesar, and are involved in drug trafficking and extortion.

On Wednesday, De la Espriella ordered that 76 detainees held on suspicion of links to the group be transferred to maximum-security prisons to prevent them from "continuing to orchestrate (crimes) from within prison".

María Margarita Guerra, governor of Magdalena, walked through the public market, where all vegetable, fruit and meat stalls were closed, handing out leaflets reading "Extortion doesn't pay" and encouraging traders to reopen.

"It's not that I'm not afraid — it's just that, to put it simply, this has been going on for years; it's not a new issue. But we also have to change the course of history," Guerra said. She estimated that more than 1,500 police and military personnel have been deployed to the region.

Taxi driver Antonio Ochoa Díaz, leaving a supermarket, said: "More than anything, the law here is that of the groups, and people obey out of fear. Now that the army is patrolling the streets, we feel safer too." Asked about the militarisation, he added: "Honestly, I'd say it's only for a week at most. After that, they'll leave, and the city and neighborhoods will go back to the way they were."