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The Other Colombia: Oil Palm Growers and Paramilitaries in Chocó

"Now, as to the connection between palm oil plantations, displacement of Afro-Colombians from historical territories and the re-settlement of paramilitaries who disarmed---I'd be very interested in learning more, but shouldn't we probably start-up another thread or start posting again on the "price-of-the-land" thread?

I'd like to learn more about that connection...the taking or re-titling of land for the purpose of producing more palm; the enforcement or lack of enforcement of Law 70; the recovery of land by Afro-Colombians on the Pacific Coast; the passing of new Forestry and Rural Development Laws under the Uribe Administration; the impact on palm oil production from a U.S.- Colombia Free Trade Agreement; the displacement of Afro-Colombians from cultural lands on the Pacific Coast into the urban centers of the major cities; the importance of biodiversity of the land along the Pacific Coast, etc.

Desi, would you care to start a new thread or revive the one you linked above? I'm very interested in the subject matter you have raised, but would prefer to learn more away from this thread.

Just let me know, as I'd like to devote some time and energy to learning more through reading, an exchange/sharing here, and the input of a friend from the Pacifico.

(briarblue)

We'll leave the discussion of the health benefits of palm oil and Paul Newman's tenuous connection with Colombia to off-topic. I'd like to discuss the "Other Colombia", the Forgotten Colombia, the Hidden Colombia, far away from Parque Lleras and Zona Rosa, The restaurants and discotheques of Bogotá, the Chipichape Mall in Cali....the Colombia of the AfroColombian communities in Chocó,along the Pacific coast in Cauca and Nariño, the Indigenous Colombia, The Colombia of peasants....how have they benefitted from Uribe's neoliberal economics and security programs?

I need research, input on the situation of Chocó here, especially in English. I get articles from Chocó 7 dias in my mailbox and there's plenty of material there, but to translate all that takes time.

Let's start with an overall analysis of the security situation in Chocó from our beloved Wikipedia:

"Colombian armed conflict
Main article: Colombian armed conflict (1960s–present)
Until 1993 Chocó was a relatively peaceful province. However with the coming of the Ejercito Popular de Liberación (EPL) there ensued a three-way struggle between the federal military, the incoming guerillas and the local paramilitary, with the serious consequence of massive population displacement. By 1997, although the military did not control much of the province, the internal Autodefensas Unidas Campesinas (Farmers United for Self-Defence) controlled about 75% of the territory.

On May 2, 2002 in the Colombian town of Bojayá (with its urban centre also referred to as Bellavista). FARC guerrillas seized the town in an attempt to take control of the Atrato River region from AUC paramilitaries, in the process killing approximately 119 civilians in an apparently indiscriminate attack with improvised homemade mortars assembled with gas cylinders parts (known in Spanish as pipeta or Cilindro bomba). This massacre became known as the Bojayá massacre."

Much of what I know about Chocó and the African palm plantations is due to the work of a Colombian journalist, Holmman Morris, here is what he thinks of the situation in Colombia:
(please excuse the horrible accent of the interviewer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw6HQflZMz0

By Desi1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) on Sep 30, 2008, 08:09 in Politics & the war.

Desi1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 30, 2008, 08:11:

Here's the video:

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Desi1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 30, 2008, 08:42:

"Palm oil is big business. Oil pressed from palm fruits is used for biofuel, foods, lubricants and other products. “The total output of palm oil equals that of all other nondrying oils combined,” according to The Columbia Encyclopedia (bartelby.org/65/pa/palm.html).

Palm oil is, allegedly, big, bad business in parts of Colombia. Multinational companies that grow, process and sell the oil there are forcing peasant farmers off their lands through deceit, intimidation and even murder, according to Eustaquio Polo Rivera, a keynote speaker at the April 5, 2008, Food for Maine’s Future Local Foods Conference in Unity. "

http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Summer200...

"Eustaquio Polo Rivera (shown here with interpreter Rocio Orantes) is vice president of the board of the Major Council, an organization of 21 communities that owns 42,700 hectares in the Curvaradó river basin in Chocó, Colombia. He is an active leader in his community’s efforts to recuperate collectively titled lands that have been occupied since 1997 by multinational oil palm companies connected to Colombia’s paramilitary."

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A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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Desi1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 30, 2008, 11:32:

"CANADA
Colombian Journalist Hollman Morris Fears His Country’s Reaction To a Film About His Work
Hollman Morris, a reporter whose investigations of Colombia's armed conflicts and their atrocities, have brought him repeated threats, is in Canada this week for the world premiere of “Unwanted Witness,” a documentary about his own work.

The five screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival have pleased Morris and the film’s Colombian director, Juan José Alonso. But Morris, who is considering leaving Colombia with his family, told Spain's EFE news service he fears the reactions of certain groups when the film reaches his country......"

http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/1681

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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