Since the late 1940s, Colombia had suffered war between the state and different armed groups over control of territory. The motivation of the groups had varied. Some scholars traced the origins of the conflict to a period called La Violencia , triggered by the assassination of a popular political leader, Jorge Eliércer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. The two main political parties—Liberals and Conservatives—faced off, with police on the side of the Conservatives and peasants supporting the Liberals. In 1964, left-leaning peasants created the guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or FARC), with the goal of overthrowing the government.

During the Cold War, what had been a conflict for land was framed as a conflict between communists and oligarchs, the former seeking support from Cuba and the USSR, the latter from the US. The guerrilla groups used kidnapping, extortion and drug deals to generate revenue. The US for its part supported the government, and provided training in counterinsurgency strategies. In the 1980s, right-leaning landowners organized paramilitary groups to defeat the guerrillas. The resulting confrontations had a devastating impact on civil society. Massive displacements and human rights violations were common.

In 2005, the government and the paramilitary groups signed a peace accord. Ex-combatants were given amnesty and returned to civil life in a process often criticized for being too lenient. A significant number of the demobilized combatants turned to drug trafficking. These groups used violence and coercion to gain or maintain control over the drug trade and routes to the Pacific or the Atlantic. Buenaventura, with its access to the Pacific, became an area of violent contention.