Who are the Shotas and the Espartanos?
The Shottas and Espartanos are criminal groups in Colombia's coastal seaport city, Buenaventura, located in the Pacific Region of the Valle del Cauca department. These groups are present in forty neighbourhoods and nine villages; hence, they can be considered as urban criminal groups. To talk about the origins of these groups, it is essential to first discuss the criminal group “La Local”. This group, which was born in 2016, managed the drug traffic in Buenaventura, the narcotraffic in the fluvial area, kidnapping and the extortion of the small companies in the city. However, the leaders of this group were captured by the Colombian national police in 2019. This created hierarchical problems in the criminal organisation which resulted in an internal division. This division led to ‘La Local’ becoming two separate groups: The Shottas and The Espartanos. However, these new groups were left fighting for control of the territory.
Currently, these two groups have more than 1,500 militants, composed of people aged between 19 and 20 years, most of whom are Afro-Colombian. The conflict between these two groups has affected more than 170,000 inhabitants due to the dynamics of the conflict. For instance, in neighbourhoods there are ‘invisible borders, which means that people cannot cross from one place to another because, depending on the neighbourhood, it belongs to The Shottas or The Espartanos. Therefore, even though citizens are not part of the conflict, they cannot move freely around Buenaventura. Moreover, these groups have imposed a curfew of 7:00 pm in their territories and have created terror with shootings at night. Even though these groups never gave the order to the citizens to be at home after 7:00 pm, people knew they started the shootings between them after this time. Therefore, people preferred to come home early and not leave their homes after this time.
Additionally, depending on the territory they control, each group finances their criminal activities by extorting small local businesses, selling drugs and kidnapping people. These behaviours violated the Buenaventura citizen's rights and located them in the middle of a war in which they did not belong. For example, in 2021, the city registered more than 50 forced disappearances in a campaign of intimidation and extortion led by these two criminal groups. Currently, Buenaventura is named as the 13th most dangerous city in the world based on the homicide rate due to the extortions, kidnapping and the conflict between these groups.
Regarding their leaders, there is not much information about them because it is an urban criminal group, which is controlled remotely by prisoners in jail. For instance, Diren Piedraita Alegria also known as “el Cheo” is well known for being the leader of the Espartanos. He was captured on the 27th of February 2021.However, he controls the organization from the jail.On the other hand, the Shottas’ leader, Eloy Alberto Candelo Cuero, also known as Pepo, was captured on the 22nd of March 2021. Just like the Espatanos’ leader, Pepo controls the organization from the jail.
Nevertheless, not everything is bad in this armed conflict. Thanks to the political will of Petro's government and the Total Peace Project law, these two groups signed a truce five months ago, the 2nd of October 2022. Since then, the homicide rates have decreased, with none being reported in an 87 day period. Unfortunately, two people were killed after 87 days in unclear circumstances; however, it did not break the ceasefire between these two groups, who did not accept responsibility for these crimes.
The negotiation between these two urban armed groups and the government became the first peace process with urban groups without political interest in Colombia, which is possible thanks to the changes in the Total Peace Project. In the words of the Colombian president, “this is an unprecedented process in Colombia, we are going to learn together from it.” As previously mentioned, this ceasefire started on the 2nd of October with the intervention of bishop Ruben Dario Jaramillo, the Colombian high commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda, and the two spokesmen, also known as Diego from the Espartanos side and Julian from the Shottas side.
Nonetheless, the approaches with this group started on the 18th of September 2022when both groups decided to establish a dialogue table. After this conversation, these two groups agreed to a truce on the 2nd of October. Finally, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, talked with them on the 7th of December, concluding that this violent conflict is triggered by structural problems such as inequality, corruption, and lack of opportunities to access education and employment. Statements with which the leaders of the two groups agreed.
Since the ceasefire was signed, the homicide index has decreased dramatically, as mentioned before, with just two murders in more than 87 days. The invisible borders disappeared, which allowed people to meet on Christmas in 2022, something that did not happen since the war between these two groups started in 2019. Furthermore, the shootings that took place after 7:00 pm disappeared hence people could move freely after this time between neighbourhoods. Finally, Many artistic and cultural activities such as football matches, concerts and festivals started to take place in scenarios where the Shottas and the Espartanos shot between them.
This peace negotiation has been fundamental to bringing about peace in the territory. Buenaventura is one of the top ten largest ports in Latin America with more than 40% of Colombian goods being exported through the port. There is hope that this negotiation will mean that Buenaventura can develop more, so it can become an even more productive port. Nevertheless, at the same time, 60% of the people in the region live in poor conditions, and the other 40% of the population live in extreme poverty. Two out of three inhabitants do not have access to safe drinking water. Therefore, more than a ceasefire is taking place in Buenaventura, it has become a “peace laboratory”, hoping to establish lasting peace soon.
*Article photo taken from El País.