Faces of the Columbian War
Colombia is Locked in a Seemingly Endless Civil War
"The conflict is no longer about ideology. It's a battle of powers, a battle for territory". It began as a war between left-wing guerrillas - hoping to establish a communist state - and right-wing paramilitary groups funded by the wealthy. Yet both sides lost support when the violence intensified. "I lost my entire family", says Anna, whose town was hit by forty guerrilla bombs. Those who weren't killed were evicted from valuable land and sent to 'urban slums'. 'Accion Social', the government's aid program for the displaced, has done little to help. And the half a billion dollars a year in aid from the US may have indirectly funded the paramilitary 'death squads' associated with President Uribe.
With cocaine production still on the rise and much of the land claimed by paramilitary groups now used by international agribusinesses, could there be a financial incentive for the ongoing war? "Paramilitary narco-trafficking has never ended, because the government is supporting them". And as an even more violent paramilitary rise to claim their piece of the profits, it's only the 4 million displaced Colombians who stand to lose.
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