Colombia Orders Return of Stolen Farmland:U.S. Pact Is Motivation For Move, Critics Say

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia Orders Return of Stolen Farmland
U.S. Pact Is Motivation For Move, Critics Say

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 23, 2009; Page A08

CARMEN DEL DARIEN, Colombia -- As with so many crimes of war, what happened here in the dense, humid jungles of northwestern Colombia more than a decade ago might easily have been forgotten. Illegal militias forced hundreds of poor black farmers off their land, which politically connected businessmen then seized and turned into lucrative palm oil plantations.

The displaced farmers, well aware that the hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by Colombia's long civil conflict rarely returned home, thought they would never see their land again. But in this case, the government recently ordered nine palm oil companies to return thousands of acres to the farmers, and the attorney general's office is investigating the firms' operators on accusations of homicide, land theft and forced displacement.

The government, however, is motivated as much by self-interest as altruism, say human rights groups, which also charge that state negligence coupled with aid for the palm oil companies helped facilitate the land seizures. President Álvaro Uribe's administration urgently wants a free-trade agreement with the United States, and Democrats on Capitol Hill have made clear that the pact is contingent on human rights advances in Colombia, particularly for blacks and other marginalized groups.

"I think it's directly linked, there's no question about that," Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), a member of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee, said of the Colombian government's attention to the land issue in the state of Choco. "I'm not so sure that these efforts by the government would be made had it not been for the external pressure that we've raised."

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032202029.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Agrofuels on Stolen Lands Continue to Threaten Colombian Rainforests and Communities

Agrofuels on Stolen Lands Continue to Threaten Colombian Rainforests and Communities

It is gravely unethical and ecologically devastating to expand production of biofuels by allowing land to be stolen from local Afro-Colombian communities; and at the expense of Colombia's ancient primary rainforests, food security, water resources and regional climate

By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet - May 6, 2008

Plantation expansion for agrofuels remains a major threat to the lives, livelihoods and the environment of Afro-Colombian and other peasant communities in Chocó, Colombia. This is one of the world's most biodiverse regions, with large areas of rainforest now facing destruction. The Chocó rainforests are home to 7,000 to 8,000 species, including 2,000 endemic plant species and 100 endemic bird species. Even before the current palm oil and agrofuel expansion, 66% had been destroyed. Communities and rainforests are under threat from palm oil and sugar cane expansion for agrofuels in other parts of Colombia, too, for example around Tumaco, near the border with Ecuador, in Santander and in Magdalena.

Following a campaign of violence, forced displacements and massacres since 1996, Afro-Colombian and other peasant communities have recently returned to their land, but have found much of it planted with oil palms, even though the communities hold legal land titles. Serious threats and human rights abuses continue against communities settled in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó basin in Chocó. Community leaders who are opposing the planting of oil palms and supporting the communities holding legal land titles have been receiving death threats. Local people are being harassed and even shot by members of the paramilitary and military forces. Since 2001, 113 killings, 13 forced displacements, many death threats and illegal land occupations have been reported. Last December, the Attorney General filed a case against 23 representatives of palm oil companies but this has not led to any real efforts to stop the expansion of palm oil and cattle ranching on community lands.

If agrofuels -- growing food for fuel -- continue to expand in Colombia, food prices are bound to rise and the nation's food security erode as is happening around the world. Decisive government action is needed to guarantee the lives and the safety of community members and to ensure reparation for environmental destruction and the human rights abuses. The exiled community leader Ligia Maria Cheverra has summed up the situation: "Our territory is being given to the palm oil producers. We need to stop every monoculture and the projects that are targeting our Colombia. This will affect the whole continent. Everything will be lost: the land, the water, the air, the animals, the people. What belongs to us is being destroyed. In Colombia those who speak out with a loud voice are being killed. Here only the ones who sell themselves are rewarded, and those who don’t are called guerrilleros."

The government’s National Council for Political Economy and Social Affairs (CONPES) recently announced new policies to increase government support for agrofuel expansion with a view to turning Colombia into a major global agrofuel exporter. The human rights abuses in Chocó and elsewhere, and the accelerated destruction of rainforests and other vital and biodiverse ecosystems are the direct result of those government policies. Please ask the government to stop and reverse those policies and to protect Colombia's communities and rich environment from further destruction for agrofuels. This email alert is supported by the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz) in Colombia, a human rights organisation.

http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=colombia_biofuel

[Judi Lynn]

2. Colombia: Indigenous March in Capital City

Colombia: Indigenous March in Capital City
Indigenous women march in Bogotoa, Nov 2008

Colombia Report,
Friday, Nov 21, 2008

http://www.warriorpublications.com.nyud.net:8090/files/images/Colombia%20Indigenous%20March%202008.jpg

Indigenous protesters took their weeks-long protest to Colombia's political center, the Plaza Bolivar in Bogotá. Some 10,000 native Colombians gathered on Bogotá's largest square for nearly four hours Friday.

The "Great March" began at the campus of the National University, where the protesters will be staying this weekend, and ended on Plaza Bolivar where the ten thousand gathered protested against the government of President Álvaro Uribe and tried enforcing their call for respect of their autonomy, the return of stolen land, better health care and education and protection from right wing paramilitary groups that have been targetting indigenous communities and their leaders.

The indigenous protest has been going on for weeks already. It started off in the southern department of Cauca where protesters and riot Police clashed several indigenous protesters were killed. After a 40,000 person march to Cali, President Álvaro Uribe agreed to talks with indigenous leaders.

Despite Uribe's promise to start returning stolen land to the protesters, the indigenous weren't satisfied and initiated the march to Bogotá. The return of stolen land was suspended a week later when Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias accused indigenous of being responsible for the death of two Colombian soldiers, killed by a bomb.

The protesters again demand to talk to the president, but he has not yet responded.

http://www.warriorpublications.com/?q=node/89