A National Navy boat and a crew member, near Buenaventura (Colombia).National Navy
A tourist trip along the Pacific coast this Thursday turned into a nightmare on the open sea. Two passengers posing as tourists attacked their fellow passengers with firearms in the waters near Buenaventura. The ship was en route to the beaches of Juanchaco when two men robbed thirty travelers and forced them to jump into the sea. To save themselves, the victims, including three minors and several foreigners, swam to shore for about 15 minutes. According to the Colombian Navy, upon arrival they reported the disappearance of a crew member of the ship. Hours later the man was found dead by the Coast Guard.
The robbers, who were not arrested, took the ship called Brisas Dos, owned by the Transportes Flórez company. The National Navy informed EL PAÍS on Friday that they have no information about the whereabouts of those responsible or their identity. The police and prosecutors have not responded to inquiries about this as of the publication of this article. Losses from the theft totaled over 400 million pesos, according to a statement released Friday by the Association of Maritime and River Transporters of the Pacific.
Raids on the high seas are not a new phenomenon in Buenaventura, the country’s largest Pacific port. Numerous robberies of tourist boats have been reported in the area over the years. In June 2022, almost exactly the same crime happened near the Maguïpi sector – exactly where this Thursday’s attack took place. According to the National Navy, a pirate group intercepted a boat in the early hours of the morning and robbed the passengers. On this occasion, the authorities arrived in time to rescue the victims who had jumped into the water and to prevent the thieves from taking over the boat. However, they failed to apprehend those responsible.
Despite what happened this Thursday, several sources consulted told EL PAÍS that robberies at sea are not as common in the region as they used to be. Miguel Ángel Valencia, founder of a travel agency that has been operating in Buenaventura for more than two years, explains that the naval forces “have the situation under control”. For Valencia, the robbery this Thursday was a big surprise.” “That doesn’t happen often,” he says. Another nautical tour operator who has been operating in the port for more than 10 years and prefers to remain anonymous agrees with Valencia. “We don’t know why this happened, but it’s not normal,” he said. The Navy agrees the attack was exceptional.
However, not everyone in Buenaventura agrees with this version of things. Javier Torres, the city’s candidate for mayor and president of the Association of Maritime and River Transporters of the Pacific, says there have been three similar thefts this year. The candidate from the left-wing Fuerza Ciudadana party says that last month 20 gunmen stole two boats from him near the Piñal Bridge, which connects the island where the city was born to the mainland. He reiterates that this crime has never been solved and that many crimes go unrecorded: “People are not motivated to denounce it because it has no effect.” And if you dare to denounce, the gangs will come looking for you .”
Torres, who was a member of the leadership of the citizens’ strike that shut down the port in 2017, has been complaining about the insecurity of seafarers on the Pacific coast for 14 years. He explains that daily robberies are having a disastrous impact on the economy of one of the cities with the highest poverty rates in Colombia. “Commerce is affected, restaurants are affected, hotels are affected and of course the image of tourism is affected,” he says. What’s more, it can be a matter of life and death, he adds. “If someone takes a boat and throws people into the sea, that is attempted mass murder. “People can die from hypothermia or because they can’t swim.”
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Buenaventura is a city of contrasts. From the tourist pier, passengers board boats to nearby paradise beaches like La Bocana, half an hour away, or Juanchaco and Ladrilleros, about three hours away. Visitors can see whales, black sand beaches, and cliffs covered with jungle vegetation. Its nature is worthy of this slogan Colombia is a land of beauty. However, violence plagues the city, and despite occasional strides toward total urban peace, it sometimes hits these tourists head-on. That’s exactly what happened this Thursday.
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