Many of Colombia’s 3.7–5.6 million internally displaced persons have fled the violence in the countryside merely to find themselves in another kind of harsh environment in the outskirts of the country’s larger cities. Aerial view of Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia 2012.
Rogelio Ustate makes his way down a river in northeastern Colombia that a mining company wishes to deviate, Río Ranchería. Rogelio was displaced when a government supported action leveled the town of Tabaco to make way for the expanding mine in 2001. Now he fights for the survival of his new village which needs to be cleared in order for the mining company to gain access to another 500 million tonns of hard coal. La Guajira, Colombia 2012.
Luis Alcidis draws a map in the dirt illustrating his current property where he can raise animals and grow crops in relation to the one he is offered to purchase by the mining company, a small lot in the outskirts of a nearby small town. On the new property there will be no space for neither animals nor crops. “A farmer without land is no farmer” he says silently while drawing. The carbon mine, currently the worlds largest, needs to relocate people from four villages in order to be able to access another 500 million tonns of hard coal and secure the mines existence after 2030. Chancletas, La Guajira, Colombia 2012.
Celebrating 15 years of resistance in a village in northwestern Colombia. Caught up in the crossfire of the colombian conflict peasants of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó have created several so called humanitarian zones, communities where guns are not allowed. An effort to try to distance themselves to the combatting parties which in some aspects has proven to be rather successful. Curvaradó, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
“Before we always used oil to light a fire, now it’s too expensive, I prefer a plastic bag since it keeps the flame way longer than paper” says Carmen Alicia Martínez, mother of 13 and a resident in Buenos Aires, El Peñon, Bolivar, Colombia. Having experience and after taking a brief class Carmen Alicia serves as the small village’s midwife. If complications arise during childbirth she has only ibuprofen to provide and the nearest medical facility is located an hour west on dusty trails by motorcycle taxi. El Peñon, Bolivar, Colombia 2011.
A hand drawn map shows the perimeters of the palm plantation known as Las Pavas from which 123 families of peasants were unlawfully evicted by force in 2006. Buenos Aires, El Peñon, Bolivar, Colombia 2011.
Wilman Palmesano Arregoces, community leader of the village of Chancletas listens to a speech. The town is about to be engulfed by the worlds largest coal mine and half the population has already left. Chancletas, La Guajira, Colombia 2012.
A large open pit carbon mine operated by a US mining company. Cesar, Colombia 2012.
A cow tied up to be slaughtered in the humanitarian zone Camelias. Created as nonviolent villages where weapons are banned the humanitarian zones serves their purpose but at the same time puts lots of pressure on the leaders and residents. The armed actors in the region are all of the opinion that “if you are not with us you are against us”, a position that makes it hard to be neutral. Curvaradó, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
Children playing in the humanitarian zone Camelias in northwestern Colombia. Education in the villages is scarce and teachers are only coming in from other cities once and a while. Curvaradó, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
Under a sky lit by huge floodlights from the nearby carbon mine which operates 24h, children play next to a recently abandoned house. The village Chancletas in northeastern Colombia is being bought – bit by bit – by the nearby carbon mine, often at underprices. The residents are being relocated to the outskirts of two towns in the vicinity but the properties they are being offered to buy has no room for neither crops nor farm animals. Chancletas, La Guajira, Colombia 2012.
Enuar, resident of a humanitarian zone in northwestern Colombia poses for a portrait. Curvarado, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
Standing in front of his portrait a woman in the humanitarian Zone Andalucua tells the story about how her was murdered. Curvaradó, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
Hermana Lily makes her way down the slope to pay a visit to the kindergarden of Los Alpes high above Bogotá's southern neighborhoods. People on the run from Colombias rural violence often ends up in the ever expanding areas in the outskirts of the capital Bogotá. Here everything from grocery shops to land contracts and the law and order are controlled by paramilitary groups. Here, high above Bogotá’s southern neighborhoods the same lot can be sold several times to different people. The paper stating ownership means little but as many people are fleeing violence someplace else they pay what they can and stay anyway. Los Alpes, Bogotá, Colombia 2012.
A recently torn down house. The town where the house stood rests upon a treasure filled with 500 million tonns of black gold. The carbon mining company is slowly buying properties in the town to make room for the expansion of the worlds largest open pit hard coal mine. Chancletas, La Guajira, Colombia 2012.
A man crosses Río Curvaradó close to the town Brisas in a man powered little boat. Curvaradó, Chocó, Colombia 2012.
Completely surrounded by palm oil plantations the inhabitants of the town Puerto Careño in central Colombia not only has to deal with the fact that the palm oil company controls the only access road to the village and the pressure they put on the population to sell their properties to make room for even more palm oil plantations. The inhabitants also have to deal with the life of living literally inside the plantation with the spraying with pesticides conducted biweekly by planes and the effects that comes with that in the shape of animals dying and water contamination. Puerto Careño, Bolivar, Colombia 2011.
- land takeovers in rural Colombia.
The withdrawal of a huge palm oil contract by a major european cosmetics manufacturer in 2010 opened my eyes to the land issues in Colombia. The company had pulled out as a response to the blunt way in which the land in central Colombia had been cleared to make way for the colombian provider’s palm oil plantations.
The wave of rural violence that tore through the country in the late 90s drove large numbers of people from their land and forced them to relocate to other municipalities or to the ever growing outskirts of Colombia’s larger cities. The freshly available land was often taken over by local and international companies to be used for mineral extraction, large scale farming or extensive cattle ranching.
In addition, peasants and people of native or Afro-Colombian descent have often been trapped between the fighting groups of the Colombian conflict. Several hundred thousand people have lost their lives since the beginning of the armed conflict fifty years ago and 4–6 million people are currently refugees in their own country, forcibly displaced from their homes due to horrific acts and threats of violence. Only Sudan has more internally displaced people.
When the peace talks between the government and the largest leftist rebel group begun in October 2012 the land issue was at the top of the list. Colombia is among the most unequal countries in the world. Here 52 percent of the land is owned by 1.15 of the landowners. 29 percent of the population gets by on less than two dollars a day while a lucky few can afford to indulge Bogotá’s sprawling nightlife and fancy restaurants.
A law instituted in june 2011 is supposed to help people reclaim their stolen property. Cynics might say that the law merely is there to make land takeovers legit, giving investors confidence and security. The perpetrators are in many cases still in control of the land and even though the people can get a paper stating their ownership they do not dare to return and rather sell the property. As the government started handing out owners certificates in the beginning of 2012 many people, landowners and entire villages in other parts of the country are still under pressure to move in order to make way for more industrial investments.
In the midst of the violence and insecurity there is life and the vision of a better future never feels distant among the 46 million living in the middle of one of the the world’s longest ongoing civil wars.
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