Across the Americas

UN News Center

18 July 2006 – The United Nations refugee agency today voiced concern about the fate of thousands of civilians are caught up in fighting and violence in two of Colombia's Pacific Coast departments, including scores who are trapped and unable to flee to safety.

30 Jun 2006
Source: Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) - Norway
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

Forced displacement in Colombia is primarily a way to seize agricultural land from peasants and small farmers, and only to a lesser degree the unintended consequence of fighting between warring parties. Much of the violence is deliberately aimed at civilians to dislodge them from their homes and lands. It is a struggle that has been going on for centuries, but now involves national and international commercial interests, part of an internal war pitting the government and paramilitary forces against two guerrilla groups and a related war on drugs.

by Christian Parenti, The Nation

A hard rain fell upon the mountainside campus of Bogotá's elite Javeriana University, but the drumming and chanting of the student protesters outside the domed glass-wall auditorium penetrated nonetheless. On the podium, in wire-rimmed glasses and a charcoal suit, stood Colombia's far-right president, Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Behind the lean, pale politician the slope fell away onto a vista of treetops, lush mountains and the elegant Modernist contours of a city that can appear deceptively calm.

Uribe was here to address students and faculty as part of his campaign to win re-election on May 28. If successful, which is almost assured, he will be the first president of Colombia to serve two terms back to back--and it will mark a major victory for Colombia's far right just as the rest of the continent seems to be sliding ever more to the left.

by Ana Carrigan, Irish Times

On Sunday week [May 28] Colombians will vote for the person they would like to lead this troubled country through the next four years. Current president and candidate Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the most popular Colombian leader for decades and President Bush's last unconditional Latin ally, last year persuaded congress and the courts to change the constitution so he could run for a further four years. His re-election bid has the backing of the United States embassy, the financial and business community, and Colombia's upper, middle and lower-middle classes.

According to the polls, Uribe maintains a commanding lead over his rivals and is on track to win his re-election bid in the first round. And yet, according to the driver - and passionate "uribista" - who brought me from the airport the elections are going to be "a cliffhanger".

by Constanza Vieira, IPS

BOGOTÁ, May 22 (IPS) - Indigenous and campesino protests against the free trade deal that Colombia is negotiating with the United States drew a harsh military response from the government of rightwing President Álvaro Uribe, leaving an as yet unknown number of people dead, injured or missing.

Even the ombudsman of the southwestern province of Nariño, Carlos Mario Aguirre, was hospitalised last Thursday. He was among those suffering the effects of "prohibited gases sprayed from gunship helicopters," according to the non-governmental Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CPDH).