Colombia

Since early December, hundreds of private contractors of multinational banana corporation Banacol have illegally invaded and occupied Afro-Colombian peace communities in the Curvaradó river basin in order to clear the land for banana cultivation. Their actions have been supported and assisted by local paramilitaries, army soldiers and municipal governments. 

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Five years after the alleged demobilization of army-backed paramilitaries in Colombia, violence and human rights abuses remain widespread in the countryside, displaced Afro-Colombian farmers and community leaders Juan Sanchez and Roberto Guzman say.
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As the dust settles on the August 10 Colombian Constitutional Court ruling declaring invalid the U.S.-Colombia military bases agreement, politicians and analysts are saying that the decision was for the better. […]

We’re in the modest headquarters of Untraflores, the Colombian union that flower workers pieced together ten years ago despite enormous odds. With only 400 mostly female members spread thinly on farms west of Bogota, the organization struggles every day to survive.

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“My grandparents worked all their lives in mining, searching for gold,’ explains Goyo, one-third of the rap group Choc Quib Town. “We called our album ‘Oro’ to represent the value we put on our own music but also to take a critical stance against the irresponsible exploitation of gold in the Chocó. It contaminates the rivers and damages the area’s incredible biodiversity. The extraction process uses toxic heavy metals such as mercury.”  […]