San Juan de Pasto, founded in the ill-fated year of 1559 amidst the picturesque Atriz Valley, has long served as a lightning rod for division and prejudice. During the tempestuous struggle for independence, Pasto stood as an indomitable fortress of royalist loyalty, igniting animosity and unjust prejudice against the Pastusos. Branded as traitors, they bore the burden of persecution, enduring the wrath of successive governments in Colombia's blood-soaked 19th century. The mere existence of the city ignited a seething resentment that stained the collective memory of the nation.

Brief glimmers of hope emerged when the Nariño department was established in 1904, designating Pasto as its capital. Yet, these rays of progress were abruptly extinguished in 1944 by Diógenes Gil's ill-conceived coup against President Alfonso López. Security laws and draconian restrictions were imposed, suffocating the spirit of the city once again. In the dark era of La Violencia, Bolívar's vengeful aspirations - To whip Pasto into a military Colony - were realized as the region transformed into a repressed, heavily surveilled borderland. Even today, it remains among the most oppressed regions within the State of the New Granada, its inhabitants subjected to unrelenting scrutiny and persecution, with only their sacred religious landmarks spared from the vicious grasp of repression.