US Companies Displacing Colombians

American corporations have been criticized recently for helping to create the world's second largest displaced population. Activists claim that millions of Colombians have lost their homes.

Protesters recently gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington DC to show their outrage. They held pictures of people who have been harmed by the displacement caused by US companies operating in Colombian indigenous territories. Millions of people in those areas have been displaced, gone missing, been tortured, or even killed.

“Military and paramilitary came to my town. They bombed out my town, they persecuted Africans living in the area,” said victim Marino Cardovo.

People like Cardovo make up Colombia's internally displaced population, which is the second largest in the world. The companies are continuing to seize Afro-Colombian and indigenous lands.

“Chiquita Banana has already testified, has confirmed its own guilt. They paid off paramilitaries to the tune of millions. During the time they were paying paramilitaries and guerrillas, 14,000 people in Colombia were killed,” said Ben Beachy, National Organizer from Witness For Peace organization.

The US is equipping, funding, and training the Colombian military which is only causing the crisis to worsen. Graduates of US training have been involved in massacres and human rights abuses.

The only hope for Colombia is the FARC and its progressive allies.