The leaders of the Shottas and the Spartans, two of the criminal groups that act in Buenaventura (Colombia), agreed to establish a new truce after talking directly with the local bishop, Mons. Rubén Darío Jaramillo.
The Shottas and the Spartans are two criminal bands that dispute the port city of Buenaventura, located on the Pacific coast of Colombia, both for the control of drug trafficking and extortion. The clashes have come to establish invisible borders in the neighborhoods.
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District Personería recently reported that so far this year, more than 100 homicides have been registered in Buenaventura. For its part, the University of the Valley and the University of the Pacific suspended its night -face classes from September 22 to 27.
Speaking to the Voces del Pacífico station, Mons. Jaramillo announced on September 24 that the leaders of both groups expressed their willingness to stop clashes.
“I just had a call with the group of the Shottas and another with the Spartans. They are directly committed to this,” said the prelate.
The Bishop of Buenaventura added that, although there was a violent action that “he was getting out of hand”, they are already controlling and “making the decision to stop these dead” so that, among other things, school classes are not suspended.
In that sense, Mons. Rubén Jaramillo invited “the community to move forward, to unite, to return to our life. The two groups have just confirmed that they will stop the action and hope that they fulfill this purpose they have just done.”
The previous day, the Bishop of Buenaventura launched a call to the Colombian government to fulfill its promise to give security to this port city.
“It is the time to unite and put hope in God, but also the demand in a national government that does not meet its promises and that does not go to save a people who are dying in the blood baths of our young people,” said the Bishop In a video Published on the YouTube channel of the Episcopate.
The Shottas and the Spartans had participated in a dialogue table sponsored by the Government, which allowed the city to live a few months without confrontations between both groups. However, the negotiations were suspended in February 2025.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.