A dispute between the local gang Los Norteños and the Clan del Golfo caused a 73% increase in homicides. The conflict has reduced in recent months, but the presence of armed groups is palpable in the capital of Sucre.

Residents of the northern and southern neighborhoods live with threatening signs that cover schools, homes, businesses and even churches. The graffiti is a constant reminder for everyone who moves in the infernal heat of the Caribbean municipality of some 300,000 inhabitants. The armed group has been present in Sincelejo since 2007, shortly after the paramilitary structures disarmed, according to an expert source on the armed conflict in the region who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons. “He has a bit of hidden control. He only shows it when he needs to,” she says of the leader of the Clan, who has been in control of the city since the early 2000s. The police commander in the department explains that "for years" the Clan has been moving drugs between the mountainous south of Bolívar and the various gulfs of the coast.