Quibdó, Colombia – A truce signed between three gangs in December reduced homicide rates in Quibdó, the capital of Colombia’s impoverished Chocó region, by 56%, said authorities.
Government officials, NGOs, the Catholic Church, and community leaders negotiated the ceasefire between local gangs Los RPS, Los Mexicanos, and Locos Yam, which was recently extended until the end of March.
But with the deal due to expire soon and the government appointing a new delegation, insiders worry that the truce is fragile and that renewed violence could erupt at any moment.
Quibdó is Colombia’s poorest city, with some 60% of its 130,000 citizens living in poverty, according to the government.
This economic underdevelopment has produced a history of violence, according to Luis Gregorio Moreno Mosquera, a lawyer from Quibdó appointed by the Colombian president’s office to lead negotiations with gangs in the city.
“The State has never invested [in Quibdó], so the causes of violence, mainly poverty, have not been tackled,” Moreno told Latin America Reports.
Gangs in the city recruit people as young as 12, with their ranks consisting of the urban poor who were never given other opportunities, according to the negotiator. Most of the groups depend on theft and extortion to make money, threatening violence against anyone who resists.
In recent years, gangs competing for control of territory in the city have fuelled a wave of homicides that have especially impacted young people. In 2024 alone, 148 young people were killed in Quibdó.
Wiston Mosquera Moreno, the Catholic Bishop of Chocó, described the killings as “fratricide,” lamenting the scale of the bloodshed in his parish.
“Every day we heard news that they killed a young man here, another one here, another one here,” Mosquera told Latin America Reports.
But after years of negotiations beginning in 2022, delegates from the gangs finally reached a deal in December, agreeing to a ceasefire.
Moreno credited the deal with reducing homicides by 56% in the last three months of 2024.
But he admitted that the killings still continue, with 17 recorded in January. The lawyer blamed the Colombian Gaitanist Army (EGC), Colombia’s largest armed group which controls most of Quibdó.
He said the EGC, also known as the Gulf Clan, did not take part in the ceasefire negotiations and continues to use violence and terror to increase its control.
“Today, the Gulf Clan wants to enter Quibdó and take it over completely,” said Moreno.
Despite the threats posed by the EGC, the negotiator maintained the ceasefire has had a significant impact.
“If we hadn’t signed the truce… the number of deaths would be double, 40 or many more,” said Moreno.
While not all the gangs in Quibdó signed the truce, those that did include Los Mexicanos, the largest local criminal group in the city with some 300 members.
The ceasefire’s two-month extension in January was seen as a positive sign by local leaders, but they also tell Latin America Reports that the truce remains fragile.
“The discussions, as has already happened, can break down at any moment. That’s what happened in 2024… the truce was lifted and homicide skyrocketed,” said Francisco Vidal, Chocó’s Secretary of Government and the Interior.
While life goes on in Quibdó, there is an underlying anxiety that the situation could quickly devolve to how it was before the truce.
“Quibdó is a pressure cooker… people still live in fear in many neighbourhoods, the vast majority of them,” said the Bishop.
To make matters worse, a change in the government’s delegation threatens to derail negotiations.
Moreno explained that, despite the success of previous negotiations, the national government has appointed a whole new team to resume discussions with gangs.
He worried that the progress made and the trust formed between gang representatives and the previous negotiators will be lost.
Moreno also said that if the new delegation attempts to change its strategy, it could risk destroying the fragile truce.
“If they arrive with a different approach and change what has been happening so far, the negotiating table will be broken. And the truce will not be signed. And violence will increase in Quibdó,” warned the negotiator.
Given the unpredictability of gang violence in the city, community leaders look to social programs as a long-term solution.
Sidelined from the negotiating table, Moreno has turned his efforts to providing opportunities to at-risk youths, supporting recycling and garment-making projects.
“What we have tried to do is to give them alternatives to the conflict so that they can live in better conditions,” said the lawyer.
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Chocó focuses on providing spiritual support to the community.
“I’m sure that this dark night will pass. Always, after a very dark night, a bright new day appears,” said Mosquera.
Featured image description: A bullet hole in the window of the Chocó Secretary of Education’s office.
Featured image credit: Alfie Pannell
The post A gang truce in Colombia’s poorest city drastically cut homicide rates, but can it hold? appeared first on Latin America Reports.
