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Monday, December 22, 2008
Afro-Colombians fight biodiesel producers In her article, "Afro-Colombians fight biodiesel producers," BBC journalist Jane Monahan writes about the difficulties Afro-Colombians have faced in simply trying to
remain on their native lands: "Talking to Jose Caceido, another displaced Afro-Colombian, there is so much tension
in the air it almost seems as if you could cut it with a knife. "Mr Caceido,
in his early 30s, says he moved to Bogota in 2001 after being threatened by presumed paramilitaries in Tumaco, a Pacific coast
region.
" 'We have been discriminated against in three ways,'
he says with steely restraint. " 'We are displaced, we are black and
we are poor.' "It is Mr Caceido's view that underlying the displacement
of countless Afro-Colombians is a clash in values between the communities' use of the land and an initiative of Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe to produce more palm oil for biodiesel. "For Afro-Colombians,
Mr Caceido says, land use is based on cultivating a few traditional crops for subsistence - such as corn, yucca and cocoa
- or for hunting and fishing. "But, according to human rights organisations
working in the north-west Choco province, and in dense forests along the Pacific, paramilitary gangs are seizing Afro-Colombian
land to facilitate biofuel conglomerates."
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