With snow-capped peaks tumbling towards the Caribbean’s turquoise waters, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park is one of Colombia’s tourism jewels. But behind the picture-postcard views, armed groups are extorting local businesses and terrorising Indigenous communities.
After the 2016 peace deal with the FARC opened the country to tourism, thousands began trekking through jungle to white-sand beaches and Colombia’s Lost City, yet many visitors barely notice men in camouflage watching from a distance. They belong to the Self-Defence Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN), former paramilitaries who control cocaine routes and illegal gold mining in the region.
Extortion has become a major income stream for the ACSN. Nicknamed the “Conquistadores”, members demand cuts from hotels, tour operators and Indigenous communities selling hand-woven hammocks and bags. “We are afraid and anxious about the future,” said Atanasio Moscote, governor of the Kogui people, who regard the Sierra Nevada as “the heart of the world”.
In February, Tayrona National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site overlooking the Caribbean, was closed for more than two weeks after threats against park rangers allegedly from the ACSN. Authorities say the group pressured Wayuu residents in the park to resist crackdowns on illegal logging.
Together, Tayrona and Sierra Nevada parks received more than 873,000 visitors last year. The influx marks a dramatic shift from the 1980s and 90s, when the area was a battleground between paramilitaries and the FARC. Ten years after the FARC demobilised, the ACSN—founded by a paramilitary leader later extradited to the US—now dominates much of the area.
In recent months the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug cartel, has attempted to move in, sparking clashes with the ACSN. Indigenous communities, many who do not speak Spanish and live off traditional crops and knowledge, are caught in the middle, said Arhuaco governor Luis Salcedo.
President Gustavo Petro included the ACSN in his “Paz Total” campaign to negotiate disarmament with armed groups, but four years on the group still controls the Santa Marta area, researcher Norma Vera said. Extortion has become a central issue in the presidential campaign beginning on May 31. The Ministry of Defence says it has received more than 46,000 extortion complaints since 2022.
Omar Garcia, president of the Santa Marta hotel association, warned that such incidents threaten Colombia’s fragile tourism boom. “Any news affecting the image [of a destination] and visitor safety makes tourists think twice,” he said.
