ACSN extends lockdown of Colombia’s Caribbean coast to Friday morning
Santa Marta-based organized crime group ACSN said Wednesday that the lockdown it has imposed on parts of Colombia’s Caribbean coast will be lifted on Friday morning. In its first formal statement, the ACSN said that “the armed strike announced for 72 hours will end at 7:00AM on Friday 25 September 2026.” The lockdown, which was […] The post ACSN extends lockdown of Colombia’s Caribbean coast to…
The organized crime group ACSN, based in Santa Marta, has extended its lockdown of Colombia's Caribbean coast to begin at 7:00 AM on Friday, September 25, 2026. The 72-hour armed strike, initially announced for 48 hours on Monday, has severely impacted the legal economy in the port city. Following the ACSN assassins' videos of them opening fire on stores that ignored the order, Santa Marta became a ghost town on Tuesday.
President Abelardo de la Espriella declared the militarization of Santa Marta, but the presence of police or soldiers was not visible in the city's downtown area or many neighborhoods. Journalist Javier Manjarres expressed the residents' feelings of unprotected panic on social media. The ACSN stated that the lockdown was a result of the killing of one of their commanders, Jose Luis Perez, "Cholo," by security forces in front of his wife after his arrest.
Additionally, an 18-year-old farmhand with no ties to the organization was also executed by the security forces. The lockdown has affected the Magdalena and La Guajira provinces, where ACSN dominates organized crime and controls drug trafficking routes to the Caribbean.
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