At the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, the bay was known as "El Portichuelo", an area where slaves were brought into Colonial Colombia. The sparsely populated area is inhabited by approximately 500 indigenous Wayuu. On April 18, 2004, approximately forty paramilitaries tortured and assassinated six people, four of which were women. They burned various houses and dishonoured their cemeteries. More than 600 Wayuu fled to Venezuela.