A main Afro-Colombian port city on Colombia’s western coast, Buenaventura has long been considered one of the most violent places in the country. It was here the “casas de pique” (Spanish for chop houses) operated, where armed groups would dismember victims and dispose of their bodies in the adjacent Pacific Ocean. In 2019, Buenaventura held its first LGBTQ pride parade, something previously unheard of in the traditional and machista, or male chauvinist, city. John Albornoz, a gay man who proposed and coordinated the event, says it was a momentous day for the city’s LGBTQ community.