COLOMBIAN CRISIS

AFTER 40 years of civil war, Colombia is sliding ever deeper into conflict.
The recent collapse of the peace process has set a new wave of violence in
motion.

The brutal tactics of paramilitary groups, leftist guerrillas, security
forces, and drug traffickers result in the violent deaths of almost 20
Colombians every day. Over two million Colombians have been displaced since
1985 and nearly 300,000 per year in recent years.

Living in remote areas effectively abandoned by the state, indigenous
peoples are among the most vulnerable in Colombia. The US Department of
State's 2001 Report on Human Rights Practices for Colombia states,
"indigenous communities suffer disproportionately from the internal armed
conflict". The location of much of the nation's natural resources beneath
indigenous ancestral lands has turned indigenous communities into targets
for abuses and forced displacement. Their peaceful struggle for territorial
and cultural rights and their alternative vision of community development
pits indigenous peoples against the powerful economic interests fuelling
the war.

Recent shifts in US policy have placed Colombia on the agenda of the Bush
administration's global counter-terrorism initiative. The deepening
involvement of the United States in counter-insurgency efforts and the
protection of energy infrastructure bodes ill for the many indigenous
communities living on top of or near the region's energy resources.

The expanding US role in Colombia's civil war will lead to the
intensification and extension of violent conflict in Colombia's indigenous
communities. Just as the indigenous struggle was finally bearing fruit, a
combination of global economic forces, mounting civil conflict and
increasingly virulent armed groups plunged Colombia into crisis.

With state authority and national democracy undermined by weak governmental
institutions and pervasive corruption, armed sectors of Colombian society
intensified their fight for control of the country's rich natural resources.

Since Plan Colombia arrived in the region, massacres have multiplied
largely as a result of the burgeoning power of various paramilitary groups.

Indigenous peoples such as the U'wa people of northeastern Colombia have
already come up against US oil interests in Colombia.