Afro-Colombians Driven Off Land in Cocaine War

cali373 says on Jan 5, 2006, 14:25:

Utopia, Gringo, Tinto didn't one of you claim this was nt happening? I wonder if this is that same areas where the new forestry law is supposed to target.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2006, 15:42:

... Never claimed that this didn't happen either.

From what the article says, it doesn't seem directly related to the forestry law though (which will obviously have to pass examination by the Constitutional Court before it can really be set in stone or not).

And that law is meant to apply nationwide except where stated otherwise, which includes lands collectively owned by Afro-Colombians or Indigenous people (though that doesn't exclude its application in the outlying areas formally beyond their territories).

I think that the article misses quite a few details though, but at least it acknowledges that there's combat between both right and left wing criminals in the area:

"Then a daylong gun battle erupted between the paramilitary fighters and leftist guerrillas over control of nearby coca crops and transit routes. Garces' town, nestled in Colombia's Pacific coast rain forest, was caught in the crossfire between the rebels above the town and militia members below it."

...

"Garces and other residents were lucky to escape with their lives. In past years, both paramilitary and guerrilla groups in towns such as Bajo Calima have massacred thousands of people whom they suspected of helping the other side or just for being in the way."

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platano says on Jan 5, 2006, 15:46:

The article says that Colombia is second in the world in terms of the number of internally displaced refugees, and, as juancegomez notes, indicts both sides. Only one other country has more internally displaced refugees.

plátano

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juancegomez says on Jan 5, 2006, 15:53:

... True, and that's one of the legacies of the conflict that will endure for a long time, even if we reached a peaceful resolution tomorrow.

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cali373 says on Jan 6, 2006, 14:34:

juancegomez, This maybe not be directly related with the forestry law, but I really think their is a correlation, even though the law applies to the entire country. Today the Choco region is vertually untouched as far as development and exploitation, but it has vast forestry resources that are untapped. It has also been discovered that African Palm can grow in the region and I believe that Canola also grows in the region (Canola oil consumption continues to increase in the U.S. There is one problem, most of the area is owned by poor black and indigenous poeple and this makes it VERY hard for multi-nationals or Colombian corporations to easily exploit. Of course, now I am sounding like a conspiracy theorists. But am I really far off? Some people in the area have just returned from being displaced in the late 90's and now it is happing again.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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juancegomez says on Jan 6, 2006, 14:49:

Not saying that there is no possible correlation... Eventually, there may well be such a correlation, for the reasons you've mentioned, but right now, the correlation seems weak to nonexistent in this specific context.

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007CA says on Jan 7, 2006, 07:06:

cali373 You're right about African Palm growing in the region as well as forestry resources in Choco. In fact, there is an Afro-Colombian a community (called Cacarica) who was displaced by a joint military (17th brigade) and paramilitary operation called Operacion Genesis in 1997. 87 community members were killled and the others were displaced and lived in "el coliseo" in Turbo for 4 years. While the community lived in Turbo, a company called "Maderas del Darien" started clearcutting the forest of the community's land and a company called "Unipalma" started planting African Palm on their land. The community has since moved back to their land, they were granted collective titles to it in 2001, and the two companies are still there. The thing is, CAVIDA (Cacarica communities of self-determination and life) do not want these companies on their land as the planting of african palm creates imbalance in the ecosystem, using up too much water, the clearcutting is leaving the forest with no trees for the future, and they do not want the presence of armed actors in the region.

What's more,
CAVIDA has delcared themselves a "peace community", refusing to bear arms themselves or support any armed actor. They live with the 17th brigade and paras still around, harrassing, and guerrillas pass through on occasion. In fact, the FARC kidnapped 5 human rights workers that were living with the community last year (2004). They have evidence that the paras and the 17th brigade of the army protect/allow the two companies to remain on their land and continue the planting of African Palm and clearcutting the forest.
The community contributes the fact that have been able to stay on their land and live relatively peacefully to national and international HR volunteers living with them, acting as observers, reporters, and accompaniers.
Very interesting history.

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juancegomez says on Jan 7, 2006, 12:14:

... Generally speaking, that's indeed a very interesting history.

Still, the fact is that most of those events (without wanting to discuss whether the specifics are entirely accurate or complete, but admitting the general timeline involved) occured before the forestry law was even being voted (let alone being drafted).

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jccg says on Jan 15, 2006, 08:13:

NOT MORE "AFRO-COLOMBIANS" PLEASE!!! The race is BLACK, and it use to be a very proud race (in Colombia), I really hate the fact that Colombia is importing racist names to call it's people. Every black in choco or in other part of the coutry that have been born in Colombia is as COLOMBIAN as I am, and the most of them have never been in Africa, and they never will. I can understand that you cal Afro-colombian to an african that have been nationalized to colombia, but never to someone that born here, that is ridiculus.
NOT to the import of racism!!


"black is beauty!"
Malcom X

This is just the true!!

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juancegomez says on Jan 15, 2006, 14:39:

.... Actually, from personal experience, more than a few Colombian Blacks prefer the term "Afro-Colombiano" (though others prefer different terms, and most use and accept "Negro"), so I think that's actually a more proper (and less racist) term, and not the other way around.

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007CA says on Jan 16, 2006, 16:47:

My experience has been the same as juancegomez. I know a good numbers of Colombians who refer to themselves as Afro-colombianos or just afros.

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Sr Tertius says on Jan 16, 2006, 17:24:

jccg Most (if not all) afro-colombian organizations seem to disagree with you: http://www.diadelaetnia.homestead.com/AfroColombia.html

Howard Dodson, of the Schomburg Center, commenting on afro-colombians, also uses the term: http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/REVISTAS/lecturas/2006-01-14/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2692319.html

But the true problem is not the name. The true problem lies in the marginalization of afro-colombians/Black Colombians/Negritudes/etc etc/ in Colombia.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

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NYColombiano says on Jan 19, 2006, 05:29:

Re: Not More "Afro-Colombians" Please!!! Sorry to burst your disputive bubble 'jccg' but that's actually a descriptive term that many would be hard pressed to even consider racist. As far as most would be concerned, and of course this is subjective, that term is as non-offensive as you could possibly get. It's relatable to the term Afro-American or Afro-Brazilian. I do understand that the problem might lie with having any extra description at all for black Colombians and not for those of the whiter persuasion. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong since I haven't been to Colombia in a while, but I've never heard of someone being called "Euro-Colombiano" or simply "Euro". I have personally had a longstanding hatred for the term "Hispanic" or "Latino" often used to describe me. I happen to be mixed black/white and have parents from Colombia. The fact of the matter remains that the term "Hispanic" originated in being the decriptive term used by Trujillo in his dictatorship of the Dominican Republic to describe his people. His self-hatred at being bi-racial so self-evident that he used the Island's name (Hispaniola) to describe the Island's inhabitants on his side of the border with Haiti. He would say that Dominicans are not black, that instead they are "Hispanics". Somewhere along the line, that term began being used in the U.S. to describe people from Spanish speaking countries. Mind you that this is still a fairly recent development since "back in the days" people from Latin America didn't use these terms to describe themselves. Even to caucasian Americans, if you were black, you were just that. It didn't matter if you were from Cuba, DR or Puerto Rico. I mean come on, I speak English and French as well but I don't ever hear anyone accusing me of being "Britonic" or "Franconic". I never, EVER tolerate being called Spanish either. I've had so many friends tell me to lighten up or to relax we're all Spanish. Really? Even you my Mexican friend whose native Aztec people were massacred and enslaved by the Spanish? Even you my Dominican friend whose ancestors suffered the same fate with the exception of then being dragged across the Atlantic to a foreign land? Who to add insult to injury, his country later decided to erect a memorial to the Italian genocidal maniac Christopher Columbus who was a severely incompetent sailor and believed the Caribbean to be the East Indies? Unfortunately the beautiful country of my parents is named for him. It's beyond me why anyone would want to claim that you're Spanish unless you truly are descended of Spaniards. I guess credit is due to the Spanish for accomplishing their goal of total assimilition. You've done your job when the "conquered" don't even realize they've taken on your identity. Imagine my horror in 2000 when working for the U.S. Census Bureau. I was in charge of analyzing the incoming census reports for discrepancies and was perplexed at how the "Latinos" in NY were perplexed as to what bubble to fill in for their race. Their were three areas used to describe oneself in order to get a more accurate description in the census bureau. One was ethnic group, the second nationality, the third race. You'd be amazed (or not) at how many people wanted to put Spanish or Hispanic for ALL OF THEM! Imagine their confusion when they only saw it (and rightfully so) in the nationality section. "HISPANICS ARE NOT A RACE", we had to tell whenever they would call and inquire about the so-called discrepancy. First of all the only place you would bubble in "Hispanic" is under ethnic group. Then you would bubble in Colombia, Mexico or whatever country you came from. Finally, you would enter black, white, native-American, pacific-islander, asian or simply mixed if you didn't consider yourself just one race. We have been so condition in this country in past half century to believe we are all one and the same simply because we speak a common language. A Mexican of native-American descent has very little in common with an Argentinan of mostly white-European descent except for language maybe. An Argentinan has very little in common with a Dominican of mostly African descent except for language maybe and even that barely. Even the music of these nations is different, united only by the fact that they all use the same language. Hip-hop, Rock and Reggae all use the same language. How are they the same? They're not obviously. That's just how we have been conditioned. To accept our lumping together into one mass collection of people who are all suppose to have the same interests, speak the same form of Spanish and all get along. Yeah right, whatever. Last time I ever Mexicans hanging out with Colombians who were hanging out with Puerto Ricans was never. Of course individually you might see this occur but on the whole, it's just not going to happen. I grew up in NY and when I'm not performing military duties with the Marines, I still live there so I know this first hand. I refuse to believe in this one big happy "Hispanic" family when their's just as much racism in this so-called community as their is from some caucsian Americans. I for one am VERY proud of being Colombian-American who considers himself Afro-Colombiano so call me what you want but I'm just too may things to be lumped into one category. Hey, you can see it in our Colombian culture when you have bands named Grupo Niche (The Black band) and songs by Joe Arroyo singing about a Colombian slave telling his master not to his negra (La Rebelion aka No Le Pegue a La Negra). We should all be proud of what we really are and not what we've been told we are. Then again, this is just my humble take on the matter. Thanks for reading.

Marine in Iraq

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NYColombiano says on Jan 19, 2006, 05:38:

by the way... I apologize for any grammatical errors. I didn't have time to proofread.

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jccg says on Jan 20, 2006, 08:25:

Interesting... "I do understand that the problem might lie with having any extra description at all for black Colombians and not for those of the whiter persuasion"
Yes, that is the racist thing, I have never heard caucasic-American or Anglo-american, so the only ones that are not something-american are the anglo-american and the caucasic. Even the native are called native-american. Well, that is what I don't want for colombia. Actually in colombia the situation is somehow worse, due that our level of racism is really low (I don't say it do not exist), and it of course mean more mixture on races, i.e. there are almost NOT races in colombia (exept for the blacks in choco, they are almost "pure"), then the use of discriminative terms just do not fix.
I wonder what am I... a caucasic-indian-afro-colombian?
I rather to call myself "mestizo"

Ps:
I sorry about your situation, just try to keep alive (as the other do, as the recistence do)

This is just the true!!

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