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REPORT: Escalating violence threatens some of Colombia’s most visited travel destinations · ACLED Audio

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Escalating violence threatens some of Colombia's most visited travel destinations.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Executive Summary The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a center of Colombia's growing tourism sector, is threatened by a recent escalation in violence.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: An open conflict between the Gulf Clan and the Auto Defensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada, ACSN, for the control of drug trafficking routes and extortion activities in the Cesar, La Guajira, and Magdalena departments has made the area a hotspot of violence in recent years.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: These departments have seen a significant increase in the share of armed group violence in Colombia, from 4% in 2018, when Accled started covering the country, to 12% so far this year.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: In his inauguration speech, President Abelardo de las Playa did not list tourism among his government's priority sectors.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, neither ACSN nor the Gulf clan has managed to get the upper hand in the conflict.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: The combination of these two factors is likely to open the door to further escalation in the area, with disruptions to tourism activities, particularly around the Tirona National Park, which is currently surrounded by violence.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: The all-out conflict between ACSN and the Gulf Clan.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: The northern Caribbean coast of Colombia is not among the regions with the highest presence of coca crops, but it is a crucial drug trafficking corridor.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: On top of that, it has developed a buoyant tourism industry in the past few years.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: During the Gustavo Petro administration, more than 24 million tourists visited Colombia, double the numbers under the previous government, generating revenues of around 35 billion US dollars.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: On the northern coast, the increase in tourism has fed extortion-related revenues for organized crime groups.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The ACSN, in particular, extorts 95% of hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and shop owners in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta area, according to the Colombian think tank Fundación Ideas para La Paz.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: This economic appeal, coupled with shifts in drug trafficking, migration, and gold contraband economies, along with the Gulf Klan's overall expansion in northern Colombia since 2022, have fueled a conflict between the two organized crime groups.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: This dispute was confined to Santa Marta and surroundings between 2019 and 2021, but it has progressively engulfed La Guajira department.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Since 2025, due to the group's intensifying attempts to gain access to Catatumbo, a key corridor for drug and gold trafficking flows to and from Venezuela, violence has expanded further into the Cesar and even Santander departments.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Refer to the map in the report for details.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: As a result, ACLED records a 28% increase in levels of armed group violence in the Cesar, La Guajira, and Magdalena departments so far in 2026, compared to the previous 7.5 months.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: How conflict is threatening tourist sites in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Particularly impacted by this unfolding conflict is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: See highlighted municipalities in the map below, where a non-aggression pact between the ACSN and the Gulf clan had for years kept violence and petty crime at bay and subsequently allowed tourism to thrive.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Violence has particularly increased in the Magdalena department's capital, Santa Marta, and La Guajira's capital, Rioacha, which are both key transit points for travel to Sierra Nevada's most important tourist sites, including Parque Tayrona, Minca, Ciudad Perdida, Pico Cristóbal Colón, and Cabo de la Vela.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: The presence or emergence of local gangs in the area adds complexity to the picture.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: These include Los JJ Gang, which emerged with the support of local politicians to dismantle a specific ACSN front in Rioacha, and Los Primos Gang, which transitioned from being a Gulf clan armed wing to defying the group's power in Fundacion and surroundings, south of Santa Marta.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Most events.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: ACLED records consist of violence targeting civilians who are perceived to be affiliated with a rival group or fail to comply with an armed group's rule, including indigenous populations, park rangers, and local business owners.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The escalation of violence has directly affected the tourism sector in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta area.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Late February 2026 fighting between the Gulf Clan and ACSN in Aracataca killed at least five people, displaced a few hundred, and forced the temporary closure of Tirona National Park, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta's main tourist destination.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Similarly, increased security force operations since 2025 have been met with resistance, particularly from the ACSN, which has resorted to interrupting key transport infrastructure.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: In June 2026, the ACSN responded to a military intervention by confining communities and blocking the Troncal del Caribe Highway connecting Santa Marta with La Guajira, forcing a second closure of the Tirona Park and leaving hundreds of tourists stranded.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Even though violence inside tourist sites such as Minca, Palomino, Ciudad Perdida, and Pico Cristobal Colón is still rare, armed groups have also directly targeted tourism-related businesses.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: ACLED has recorded several extortion-related attacks against local transport agencies such as CU Transcaribe, as well as the kidnapping of the owner and four employees of a well-known hotel inside Tirona National Park in April 2025.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Outlook The government's priority on other areas of the country exposes the Sierra Nevada to continued violence.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: De la Espria's promise to end any form of negotiation with armed groups and instead double down on military pressure is likely to build on a pre-existing rise in security force operations and increase their lethality nationwide, as seen with operations in Meta, Guaviare, Antioquia, and Norte de Santander.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Although one of these military actions targeted Bendito Menor, a key ACSN leader in Rioacha, the offensive is likely to prioritize other areas of the country in the remainder of 2026, and following the powerful earthquake that struck the western part of the country on August 10, the government will continue to focus its attention and resources on the most affected areas in Chocó, Valle del Cauca, and Rizaraldas.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: As such, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is likely to continue experiencing an escalation of violence between the Gulf Klan and ACSN in the upcoming months, with little intervention from the state.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Further armed group-led blockades around tourist routes, as happened in June, are expected.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: The violence is damaging the reputation of Tairona Park and risks reducing the number of visitors to secondary touristic sites in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta area as well, as the president of Santa Marta's Hotel Association has warned.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Elsewhere, escalations should be expected in southern Cesar, which is the entry point to Catatumbo.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Both the Gulf Clan and ACSN will likely intensify their fighting, taking advantage of the government's focus on dismantling ELN and FARC dissident operations in Catatumbo.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: This report was written by Accled's Latin America analyst.