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Cocaine Sustains War in Rural Colombia

Scott Dalton for The New York Times
Eradication efforts elsewhere have pushed coca cultivation into rural El Rosario, where workers processed coca leaves recently.

By SIMON ROMERO
Published: July 27, 2008
PASTO, Colombia — Along with Colombia’s successes in fighting leftist rebels this year, cities like Medellín have staged remarkable recoveries. And in the upscale districts of Bogotá, the capital, it is almost possible to forget that the country remains mired in a devilishly complex four-decade-old war.

(more): http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/world/americas/27colombia.html?ref=a...

By sloopskipper on Jul 27, 2008, 08:32 in Politics & the war.

romy says on Aug 2, 2008, 10:10:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/219053/121744422122.htm
Proliferation of Armed Groups Wreaking Havoc in Rural Colombia
Hundreds of Thousands of People Forced from their Land; Government Agencies too Overwhelmed to Respond

Washington, D.C. - Displacement in Colombia is increasing due to the proliferation of illegal armed groups and aggressive counterinsurgent activity by the Colombian army in remote areas, said a new field report by Refugees International. A string of new narco-groups are competing with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army) for land and resources for coca cultivation and trafficking. On a recent mission to the country, Refugees International found that communities are displaced or manipulated through selective assassinations and other acts of terror, including the use of land mines. The hundreds of thousands of newly displaced people are overwhelming government agencies' capacity to respond.

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