San Francisco Frontiers - Trouble in paradise: Colombia tourist jewel plagued by violence

But the picture-postcard views mask a more sinister reality.

Armed groups call the shots in this corner of paradise, holding local businesses to ransom and terrorizing Indigenous communities.

The signing of a peace deal ending a half-century of war between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group in 2016 thrust a country long stalked by drug lords and guerrillas onto the global tourism stage.

Each day thousands of visitors pile into the area to hike through pristine jungle to white-sand beaches or to Colombia's mountaintop Lost City, which predates Peru's Machu Picchu.

Few of them notice the men in camouflage watching from a distance.

These are the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN), a group of former paramilitaries who control cocaine trafficking routes in the region and also illegally mine for gold.

Extortion is also a big revenue spinner for the "Conquistadores," as ACSN members are often dubbed, who demand a percentage of the earnings of hotels, tour bus companies and local Indigenous groups, whose hand-woven hammocks and bags are snapped up by visitors.

"We are afraid and anxious about the future," Atanasio Moscote, governor of the Kogui Indigenous people, told AFP high up in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, which the Kogui consider "the heart of the world."

- Endangered forests, corals -

In February, the government closed Tayrona National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site overlooking the Caribbean, for more than two weeks following threats against park rangers, allegedly by the ACSN.

The authorities accused the ACSN of pressuring the Indigenous Wayuu people living in the park to rebel against a clampdown on illegal activities such as logging.

AFP accompanied one of the park rangers on a tour of the reserve, home to the best-preserved dry forest in Colombia and some of its most biodiverse coral reefs.

"Our presence in every corner, in every area, is vital to conserve, maintain and monitor the resources we have," 31-year-old Yeiner Hernandez explained.

Tayrona Park and Sierra Nevada National Park together received more than 873,000 visitors last year.

The influx marks a dramatic change from the 1980s and 1990s, when the region was the scene of brutal fighting between the paramilitaries and the Marxist former FARC rebels.

Ten years after FARC agreed to disarm, the ACSN, founded by a paramilitary leader who was extradited to the United States, holds sway here.

Colombia's biggest drug cartel, the Gulf Clan, has attempted to grab a slice of the action in recent months, triggering clashes with the ACSN.

Indigenous people "who don't speak Spanish, and who live off their crops and their traditional knowledge," are being caught in the middle, Luis Salcedo, governor of the Arhuaco people, who live in the Sierra Nevada, told AFP.

- Image problem -

Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president in modern times, included the ACSN in his failed policy of trying to negotiate the disarmament of all the country's armed groups.

Four years after he launched his "Paz Total" (total peace) campaign, the ACSN still rules supreme in the Santa Marta area, researcher Norma Vera told AFP.

Extortion has emerged as a key theme in the current campaign to elect a successor to Petro in elections starting May 31.

The Ministry of Defense reports having received more than 46,000 complaints of extortion since 2022.

Omar Garcia, president of the hotel association of the city of Santa Marta, a gateway to the Sierra Nevada, said he was worried about the impact on Colombia's nascent tourism trade.

"Any news affecting the image (of a destination) and visitor safety makes tourists think twice," he said.

U.Lee--SFF