In Colombia, Land is rich. Its rich with oil, coal and precious metals. With over 500 rivers—IT HAS some of the most fertile soil in the world. But IN THE LAST CENTURY most of Colombia’s natural wealth has been controlled by a small minority of the population. And for more than 40 years there has been war. It’s a war for land fueled by the largest cocaine trade in the world. But its innocent Colombians who have been caught most viciously in its crossfire.
VOX POPS1: We had to leave everything there--everything that we had--we brought only what we could carry.
VOX POPS2: A gunfight started on a hill and then another one started. They shot back and forth and I was caught in the middle of the fight. I was forced to flee down a canyon.
VOX POPS3: They burned my house down. The guerilla wanted to make us leave- we didn't pay attention to them. I don't know how it happened.
The war began as an ideological conflict. The main left wing guerilla group- the FARC continue to fight against the government with the goal of taking over the country and CREATING a communist state.
In response, right-wing landowners funded their own private armies, sometimes called paramilitary groups, to protect their property from the guerrillas.
Anna Ibanez, a professor of Economics at one of Colombia’s premiere Universities-- says attacking civilians became a war strategy for armed groups during the 1990’s when both the guerilla and the paramilitary became involved in drug trafficking.
Professor Anna Maria Ibanez: The conflict is no longer about ideology. It’s a battle of powers, a battle for territory.
SHE SAYS ARMED GROUPS ON THE RIGHT AND THE LEFT LOST THEIR POPULAR SUPPORT AS COLOMBIANS LOST THEIR LOVED ONES AND THEIR HOMES.
Anna Cecilia LIVES IN THE TOWN OF SOACHA- JUST SOUTH OF BOGOTA. THIS IS THE LAST OPTION FOR MANY WITH NOWHERE ELSE TO GO. ITS THE KIND OF PLACE WHERE FAMILIES HAVE TO CATCH RAINWATER TO SURVIVE.
Anna Cecilia: “The guerilla put 40 bombs throughout my town. So the entire town was destroyed….and I lost my entire family. I was left alone. They all died..you could not identify people because there was only pieces.”
Juanes: My first cousin was kidknapped by the guerrilla and was murdered. Violence has touched every family in Colombia, and my family was no exception.
Colombian musician, Juanes, has won a dozen Grammys for his music. He's become a strong voice in Colombia’s growing peace movement.
He started an organization Fundacion Mi Sangre to help land mines victims. Colombia has more land mine victims than any other country in the western hemisphere.
Juanes: Music and art has always been a salvation for me. I find that through music there is a way to cure the wounds of the soul. To take out all the energy you have inside and transform it into a melody.
An estimated 4 million people have been forced from their homes. Thats nearly one tenth the countries population. The only place in the world with more internally displaced people is Sudan.
MATT ALLEXANDER WORKED AT THE UNITED NATIONS BEFORE COMING TO COLOMBIA AND STARTING AN ORGANIZATION CALLED FUSION INTERNATIONAL TO HELP COLOMBIANS WHO HAVE BEEN DISPLACED BY THE WAR.
MATT ALLEXANDER: “I’m not sure why the crisis in Colombia hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. It’s probably the worst humanitarian crisis in the Hemisphere. THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS ARE NORMALLY SCATTERED THROUGH URBAN SLUMS. They are harder to locate. They are normally in individual situations rather than fleeing in masses.
MATT ALLEXANDER: In Bogota we receive the majority of internally displaced persons. There’s a book by Mike Davis called “a planet of slums” and he identifies Southern Bogota as the third largest slum in the world. That’s obviously exacerbated by the fact that every hour we have more and more families coming to Bogota fleeing the violence.
THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT'S AWNSER TO THE DISPLACEMENT CRISIS IS ACCION SOCIAL. THIS ORGANIZATION GIVES DISPLACED PERSONS EMERGENCY AID FOR UP TO 6 MONTHS. WHILE THEY TRY TO FIND SOMEWHERE TO LIVE. BUT BECAUSE THE DISPLACEMENT CRISIS IS SO LARGE. MANY NEVER RECEIVE ANY HELP.
Ninfa Martines lives with four of her nine children, HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHERN BOGOTA. THREE of her sons are in the army AND another was killed by an armed group.
THEY LIVE IN A BORROWED HOME. AN HOUR WALK UPHILL FROM WHERE HER TWO YOUNGEST GO TO SCHOOL.
Ninfa MARTINEZ: I lost my farm. All of my animals. Everything, and I didn't receive any help. I have registered as a displaced person. I did paperwork for housing. They returned my paperwork because I was missing two photocopies. Please have some mercy. I have a handicapped daughter. I can't go back. I am suffering. I am being kicked out of this house. Where will I go?
NINFA WAS GIVEN A PIECE OF LAND ABOUT THE SIZE OF AN AVERAGE US KITCHEN TO BUILD A HOUSE. BUT SHE SAYS SHE BAIRLY HAS ENOUGH MONEY FOR FOOD, LET ALONE BUILDING MATERIALS.
Ninfa MARTINEZ: I have three sons in the army, so why don’t they consider us for housing. It’s not fair.
WITH THE HELP OF MORE THAN A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FROM THE US GOVERNMENT, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE HAS EXPANDED THE ARMY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
COLOMBIA IS THE WORLDS LARGEST SUPPLIER OF COCAINE
AND THE COUNTRY PROVIDES AN ESTIMATED 90 PERCENT OF ALL OF THE COCAINE CONSUMED IN THE UNITED STATES.
MOST OF THE US AID IS USED TO FIGHT AGAINST COLOMBIA'S COCAIN TRADE, BUT DESPITE THE BILLIONS BEING SPENT- IN 2007 COCA CULTIVATION IN COLOMBIA ACTUALLY INCREASED.
THOUGH THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT HAS BEATEN BACK GUERRILLA GROUPS SUCH AS THE FARK AND MADE DEALS WITH PARAMILITARY DRUG GROUPS TO DISBAND IS AS ROBUST AS EVER- AND MORE COLOMBIANS ARE DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE EVERY DAY.
Professor Anna Maria Ibanez: If you look at the data. More than 200 thousand people were displaced in 2007 at a time when the conflict is apparently ending and we are in negotiations with the paramilitary groups, so it is continuing and it is very troubling.
PROTESTER: Today we demand. Today we demand dignity, land and peace.
IN MARCH OF 2008 THOUSANDS OF COLOMBIANS FILLED THE STREETS IN A NATION WIDE MATCH SUPPORTING DISPLACED PEOPLE. THEY PROTESTED THE ARMED GROUPS AND THEY ASKED THE GOVERNMENT TO LOOK FOR A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT.
I think that as an artist, that’s what we have to defend the most, the right to express yourself. Try to avoid the darkness, and create another reality. This has to start changing somehow, because there is nowhere else to go.
Dozens of Colombian SENATORS AND PRESIDENT URIBE'S OWN FORMER INTELEGENCE CHIEF HAVE BEEN ARESTED BECAUSE OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO PARAMILITARY DEATH SQUADS.
Some suggest the government has not cracked down hard enough in these groups.
Miguel Ollos and his brother Gualberto were forced off of their land by armed groups. When they protested to the government- they were tracked down and shot. Now they are in Bogota, because it is too dangerous in their own region.
Miguel Ollos: I have a bullet in me right here, he had to have his removed.
Gualberto Ollos: Thank god we are alive. The paramilitary groups continue. They have not demobilized like the government said they are. I have seen many people killed with my own eyes. Paramillary narco-trafficking has never ended, and with this government there is less of a chance, because the government is supporting them.
THE OLLO BROTHERS SAY THAT MUCH OF THE LAND THAT THAT WAS TAKEN BY PARAMILLITARY GROUPS IN THEIR REGION IS NOW IN THE HANDS OF LARGE AGRIBUSINESSES THAT ARE GROPING PALM OIL- FOR USE IN BIOFUELS.
Gualberto Ollos: There are former paramilitary commanders, who are now the supposed owners of the land, and all of the business people collaborated.
Choquibtown: We are choquibtown, We are from Choco. (Northwest Colombia)—Southamericans-- We are from Colombia's pacific coast.
Choquibtown: We were displaced by the violence, but now we are in Bogota where we can work on our music. From here we can have a powerful voice to broadcast to Colombia and the world, that Colombia is more than cocaine, marijuana, and coffee, and that Choco exists in Colombia.
Choquibtown: People say-- you guys are from Colombia? What?
Choquibtown: There are black people in Colombia. There are indigenous people in Colombia and there are mixed people in Colombia.
Choquibtown: We talk about the happiness of the people. We describe how are people in Choco live.
Matt ALLEXANDER: Choco is An area in Northwest Colombia. It is predominantly made up of the ethnic minorities of Colombia. Roughly 85% Afro Colombian 10% indigenous. The unique characteristic of Choco is that it has coast lines on the pacific ocean and the Caribbean Sea…which if you think about it, it’s the only department in South America with that characteristic. That makes it extremely important for armed actors, it represents the main corridor for getting drugs out of Colombia and arms into Colombia. It’s the most impoverished region of Colombia. Choco in a lot of ways represents the most vulnerable area of Colombia, and only contributes more to the stereotypes and discrimination of the ethnic minorities here.
IN THE LATE 1990'S THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WERE DISPLACED IN CHOCO WHEN PARAMILITARY GROUPS FORCED COLOMBIAN FARMERS OFF OF THEIR LAND.
MANY OF THOSE DISPLACED ENDED UP SETTLING ALONG THE RIVER BANKS OF CHOCO'S CAPITOL CITY-QUIBDO.
Vox Pops of people being run off their land.
THE WEAKENING GORILLA GROUPS AND THE EXIT OF OLDER PARAMILLITARY LEADERS HAS CREATED A POWER VACUME.
NOW SOME OF THE YOUNGER PARAMILLITARY FIGHTERS HAVE CREATED THEIR OWN ARMED GROUPS. TWO OF THESE EMERGING GROUPS.
THE AGUILA NEGRAS, WHICH MEANS BLACK EAGLES, AND THE RASTROJOS ARE ON THE OFFENSIVE IN RURAL CHOCO. THESE VICIOUS NEW GROUPS ARE DESTROYING VILLAGES AND MASSACRING THOSE WHO RESIST-- THEY OPENLY WORK WITH DRUG CARTELLS AND THEY ARE NOW FORCING CHILDREN TO TAKE UP ARMS- SOMETIMES AGAINST THEIR OWN VILLAGES.
AT THE HEART OF THIS NEW VIOLENCE IS THE SMALL MINING TOWN OF ISTMINA. ONE GROUP OF DISPLACED PERSONS FOUND REFUGE AT AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WHERE MULTIPLE FAMILIES CRAM THEMSELVES INTO KINDERGARDEN CLASSROOMS. THEY HAVE BEEN HERE FOR THREE MONTHS AND THE PLACE IS STILL THICK WITH FEAR.
VOX POPS1- We left because we were pressured by the rastrojos. They had gone after other towns before, and many people had been killed, so when they told us to leave we left. Anyone who cared for their life would have left.
VOX POPS2- It is very hard for all of us to live together here-- especially for the children, because its just not the same. Some days we have breakfast somedays we don't, sometimes we have lunch and other days we don't. Accion Social told us that we would receive food but so far we haven't.
VOX POPS3- It makes you feel helpless because you want to be able to do something, but there is nothing you can do.
Istmina sits on the attrato river which winds its way through the lush landscape into a remote area of the pacific coast. A perfect export route.
Eliazar Moreno manages istmina's social services and he says its no secret why there is a land war going on in the region.
Eliazar Moreno: for the cultivation of the coca leaf. Its not a secret to the government or the international community that this fertile region is favorable for those types of crops.
THE AGUILAS NEGRAS AND THE RASTROJOS ARE NEW NAMES IN AN OLD WAR. BUT THEY ARE FUELED BY THE SAME THING. THEY ARE ENTRENCHED IN A BILLION DOLLAR DRUG TRADE. WHEN THOSE AROUND THEM TRYING TO EARN A LIVING STRUGGL TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN.
A NEARBY MEDICAL FACILITY TREATS INDIGENOUS CHILDREN FOR MALNUTRITION.
Eliazar Moreno: THE PEOPLE HERE LIVE IN FEAR. The people here, live in fear, because we are a peaceful town. The violence in Choco has been imported. Here the people knew nothing of cocaine or other drugs. If you have noticed people don't want to talk, because they fear for their lives. I'm talking but I am also afraid. We all have a right to be afraid, but I understand that someone has to speak out- someone needs to tell the story of what is going on and assume the risks and may Jesus Christ cover us with his blood.
JUANES: The most important thing to remember is that the problems in Colombia are created by narcotrafficing, but who is consuming the drugs? The drugs are consumed by the whole world. The whole world is partying and Colombia is paying the price in violence, humiliation, war, and death. The Colombian problem and the drug problem is not just Colombian, it is a world problem. We need the help of the international community now more than ever, because this is not a war we can win by ourselves.
Professor Anna Maria Ibanez: I believe that the end of the war can only come through negotiations. To end the war through conflict is hard if not impossible.
Eliazar Moreno: In spite of the efforts made by the Colombian army and police the truth is that this is just the begining. We need more help from the international community and the Colombian government so that these people can live in dignified conditions.
Eliazar Moreno: Today they are the displaced people---Tomorrow it could be us.
Choquibtown sings Busco Personas-
Credits