Colombian farmers risk death to reclaim lost land | World news | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/colombian-farmers-death-reclaim-lost-land
A lukewarm attempt at land reform in the 1980s led to a violent backlash and the rise of paramilitary forces, who in addition to fighting leftwing guerrillas and engaging in extortion, drove hundreds of thousands of peasants from their homes. Around 23,000 sq miles of land have been stolen or abandoned since 1991. Much of it has ended up in the hands of national and international agribusiness or mining concerns, former and current combatants, or farmers with close relations to the armed groups responsible for the clearances. Experts call it a “reverse land reform”.
Those who, like Culma, are trying to reclaim that land face violent reprisals. “In Colombia, trying to get your land back often means assuming risk and living in fear,”
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