Bunkers of '85: Living Memory in El Cabrero

The neighborhood's context in the 80s: between abandonment and self-management

To understand what the Bunkers of '85 in El Cabrero are, you have to go back four decades, when this traditional Cartagena neighborhood lived a brutal paradox: it was geographically attached to the walled city and the Caribbean Sea, but socially it was a territory forgotten by the State. While the Historic Center filled with tourists and the Bocagrande neighborhood shone with its new buildings, in El Cabrero the story was different: unpaved streets, deficient public services, and a youth that grew up without many options beyond hustling.

By August 2026, when you walk through El Cabrero, it's hard to believe that this place —today with colorful murals and a breeze that comes straight from the sea— was the scene of one of the toughest eras the city remembers. The eighties in Cartagena were not just salsa and champeta on the corners. It was a decade marked by the arrival of drug trafficking, forced displacement from the south of the Bolívar department, and the emergence of armed groups that saw popular neighborhoods as fertile territory for social and economic control.

El Cabrero, with its proximity to the sea and its strategic position between the Center and the northern zone, became a point of dispute. The neighborhood's youth, many of them fishermen or sons of fishermen, began to be recruited by local gangs or by larger structures arriving from other regions. Nights were no longer peaceful: gunshots became part of the soundscape, and families began locking themselves in their homes before nightfall.

It was in that context of fear and abandonment that the community decided not to wait for the authorities any longer. If the State wouldn't protect them, they would protect themselves. That's how the Bunkers of '85 were born: a network of community shelters built with their own hands, with materials they got from construction sites, demolitions, or simply by buying with the little they pooled together among neighbors.

What many don't know is that El Cabrero was not an isolated case. In neighborhoods like Olaya Herrera, La María, or Nelson Mandela, similar processes of self-management and resistance also took place, but the El Cabrero bunkers have a particularity: they were designed and built by the community itself, without the intervention of engineers or architects, and many still stand today, as silent witnesses to an era that marked several generations.

What to do: walk through memory on every corner

Visiting El Cabrero today is not just another tourist trip through Cartagena. It's a journey into the city's living memory, with stories that don't appear in agency brochures or traditional tours of the Historic Center. Here's what you can do to really understand what happened in this neighborhood and why its bunkers are an invisible but fundamental heritage of the city.

The guided walk "Memoria en El Cabrero"

If there's one experience you can't miss, it's the guided walk "Memoria en El Cabrero", which takes place every first Saturday of the month, leaving at 9 in the morning from Parque de El Cabrero. This walk is not a conventional tour: it's a guided route led by community leaders and older adults who lived through the bunker era firsthand. They tell you, in great detail and without filters, what life was like in the neighborhood in the eighties, how they organized to build the shelters, and what that experience meant for the neighborhood's identity.

The walk lasts approximately two and a half hours, and the route includes stops at sites where bunker remains are still preserved, as well as emblematic places in the neighborhood like the Iglesia de El Cabrero and the old train station. At the end of the route, there's a conversation space with the guides, where you can ask anything you want and hear anecdotes you won't find in any official history book.

The cost of the walk is voluntary, with a suggested contribution of 20,000 COP per person, which goes directly to the community guides and the maintenance of the memory sites. It's recommended to arrive 15 minutes early, bring water, a hat, and comfortable shoes, because part of the route is on unpaved streets.

The mural of memory

On the neighborhood's main street, in front of the soccer field, there's a collective mural that the neighborhood's youth painted in 2021 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the construction of the first bunkers. The mural is a visual map of the neighborhood's history: the bunkers appear, the faces of community leaders, the tools they used to build, and a phrase that sums up the spirit of the place: "Aquí no nos rendimos, aquí resistimos".

This mural is not just decoration: it's a meeting point for the community and a reminder that memory is built every day. If you're lucky, a neighbor will tell you the story behind each painted face. It's not uncommon for the very protagonists of that era to approach visitors to share their memories, especially on weekends when the neighborhood is quieter.

The community museum of El Cabrero

Although it's not a formal museum with display cases and professional guides, in the neighborhood's Casa de la Cultura —located two blocks from the main park— there's a small collection of objects donated by neighbors who lived through the bunker era: construction tools, black-and-white photographs, newspaper clippings from the time, and even some letters that young people sent to their families while they were in hiding.

Access is free, and you can ask doña Carmen, the lady who takes care of the Casa de la Cultura, to tell you the story behind each object. She's 74 years old and lived through the construction of the bunkers from her house, which was half a block from one of the main shelters. Her memory is prodigious, and her stories will give you goosebumps.

El Cabrero beach

After the memory tour, it doesn't hurt to head down to the sea. El Cabrero beach is one of the most authentic in Cartagena, frequented mainly by locals and not so much by tourists. Here you can have lunch at the small restaurants in the area, try coconut rice with fried fish, or simply sit and watch the sunset while thinking about everything you've heard during the day.

But beware: the beach also has history. During the eighties, the bunkers near the coast also served as lookout points to alert about the arrival of suspicious boats or military patrols. The neighborhood's fishermen, who knew the sea like the back of their hand, played a key role in the community protection network. Their stories are also heard on the guided walk, and they're among the most impactful.

Where to eat or drink: flavors that tell stories

El Cabrero is not Bocagrande or the Historic Center: here you won't find gourmet restaurants or trendy bars. What you do find is real food, made with recipes passed down from generation to generation, each with its own story to tell.

Restaurante El Pescador de la Esquina

On the corner of calle 29 with carrera 5, El Pescador de la Esquina has been a neighborhood classic for over 30 years. Doña Rosa, its owner, is a fisherman's daughter and opened the business in 1988, right when violence was at its peak. Her restaurant, which started as a window where she sold rice with fish to local workers, is now a reference point for neighbors and for those visiting the neighborhood in search of authentic food.

The signature dish is fish rice with patacón and salad, which costs around 18,000 COP (reference prices from August 2026). They also make a coconut sauce shark that's famous throughout the neighborhood, and on Sundays they make fish sancocho from early morning until it runs out. The place is small, with about six tables, but the service makes you feel like family.

Doña Rosa, who's still at the helm of the kitchen, will tell you that during the bunker era, her restaurant served as a meeting point for community leaders, who gathered here to plan the construction of the shelters. "Aquí se tomaron muchas decisiones importantes," she says proudly, while serving you a nice cold corozo juice.

La Esquina del Sabor

Another must-visit is La Esquina del Sabor, a fast food stand right in front of the neighborhood's main park. It's the perfect place for lunch after the guided walk, with options like burgers, hot dogs, and salchipapas, but also with typical dishes like chicken rice or mote de queso.

What makes La Esquina del Sabor special is its zapote juice, a tropical fruit that's increasingly hard to find in Cartagena. The owner, don José, has a zapote tree at his house, and when it's in season, he makes the creamiest juice you'll ever taste. The price is modest: a large glass costs 5,000 COP and a full burger, 12,000 COP.

Tienda y Bar El Refugio

The name is no coincidence. El Refugio, on carrera 7 with calle 30, is a small neighborhood bar that opened its doors in 1990, just as the community was beginning to breathe easier. Its name is a tribute to the bunkers, and on the back wall there's a plaque recalling the history of the place.

Here you can have a nice cold beer (from 6,000 COP), a rum with lemon, or viche, the traditional liquor of the Caribbean coast. The atmosphere is relaxed, with background music ranging from classic vallenato to champeta, depending on the time and who's in charge of the music. On weekends, the bar fills with neighbors who come to chat and remember, and it's not uncommon for someone to pull out a guitar and an impromptu party to break out.

It's recommended to check the hours before visiting, because the bar doesn't have a fixed schedule: sometimes it closes early on weekdays and extends into the early morning on Saturdays. The best thing is to ask the neighbors or simply go with the flow.

How to get there and transportation: getting to El Cabrero

Getting to El Cabrero is easier than many think, and in fact, its proximity to the Historic Center makes it a perfect excursion for a mor