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FIGHTING GLOBAL POVERTY

Fuelling Fear

The human cost of biofuels in Colombia


Preface

Human rights abuses and violence haveescalated in Colombia’s south-west Pacificregion in the past few years. Hundreds ofpeople, mainly Afro-Colombian youths, arereported to have been killed in Buenaventuraalone during 2007 in fighting between theparamilitaries, guerrillas and armed forces; inNariño, on the southern tip of Colombiabordering Ecuador, as many as 7,000 peoplehave been forced to flee their homes.1

The situation in the city of Buenaventura is ofspecial concern. It is Colombia’s busiest port,and is home toWar onWant’s partner,Palenque el Congal (from hereon referred toas Palenque). Palenque is an organisation ofColombians of African descent working toprotect their communities against the threatof displacement through human rightsawareness-raising activities.

This report has been written based oninformation produced by Palenque andcomplemented byWar onWant’s ownresearch. It looks at the role of the guerrillas,paramilitaries and state institutions in thecontinuing displacement affecting thesecommunities, and in the multiple breaches oftheir human rights.The report focuses on themost recent and least studied cause ofdisplacement: the production of biofuels,specifically palm oil, at the expense of Afro-Colombian communities’ human rights in thesouth-west Pacific region.

The land seizures taking place in Colombia forbiofuel cultivation are not happening in avacuum.They are directly linked to theincreasing global demand for ‘green’alternatives to petroleum and a reduction incarbon emissions that harm the environment.Global demand for palm oil has doubled in thelast decade, and concern is growing over theimpact of biofuel cultivation on global foodprices.2 But less is known about the threat thebiofuels revolution poses to the security ofvulnerable communities in places likeColombia.

The UK government has a history ofsupporting Colombia’s military campaign todefeat the guerrilla forces and has beenaccused of turning a blind eye to human rightsabuses against civilians.3 As the demand forpalm oil and other biofuels increases, it is nowtime to question the role played by the UKgovernment and other investors inpropagating further violence and bloodshedagainst the Afro-Colombian communities,whose right to land and security is increasinglyunder threat as a result of the biofuelsrevolution.

Sue BranfordChair, War on Want

F U E L L I N G F E A R : T H E HUMAN CO S T O F B I O F U E L S I N CO LOM B I A 1

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Afro-Colombians under fire

Colombians of African descent and those ofindigenous communities make upapproximately one quarter of Colombia’spopulation of 40 million.* More than 80% ofAfro-Colombians live in extreme poverty.They represent well over 75% of the poor andearn one third of the income of their non-black counterparts. Government failure torecognise the difficulties faced by thiscommunity has led to poor services and a lackof social investment in areas inhabited by Afro-Colombians, thus perpetuating poverty andinequality.They are concentrated mainly in thesouth and south-west Pacific regions of thecountry. In Buenaventura, 98% of thepopulation is Afro-Colombian.

Afro-Colombian urban and rural communitieshave the lowest social and economicindicators in the country.An estimated 60%do not have access to basic health care, andthe illiteracy rate in some regions is as high as45%. Life expectancy for Afro-Colombians in2005 was estimated at 55 years, comparedwith the national average of 64 years.4

Human rights violations against thiscommunity are perpetrated on a large scale bythe paramilitaries and guerrillas.TheColombian army and the police have also beeninvolved. In the Pacific region, confrontationbetween paramilitaries and guerrilla groupsbegan in 1998.These conflicts provoked thefirst massive displacements. In the years thatfollowed the conflict spread into the urbanarea in and around Buenaventura, Colombia’slargest port. Now, violent crimes and human

rights violations are being committed againstthe residents of Buenaventura on a daily basis.War onWant partner Palenque notes that byNovember 2007 there had been 477 violentdeaths in the municipality.5

There are anywhere between 3,000 and 9,000armed groups operating in Colombia. Sincethe 1990s, paramilitary groups made up oflocal warlords, members of local political andeconomic elites, organised crime and drugbarons have wielded significant influence overColombia’s political and economicdevelopment as well as playing a central rolein retaliation against guerrilla forces.Althoughparamilitary groups such as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) wereoriginally seen as counterinsurgency forcesfighting against these guerrilla groups, by theend of the 1990s it had become clear thatmuch of their activities involved drugsmuggling, extortion from local businesses andauthorities and land seizures to make way forcoca production. Collusion betweengovernment forces and illegal paramilitarygroups, who conduct the majority of theassassinations and human rights violations, iswell established.6

Guerrilla groups like the Revolutionary ArmedForces of Colombia (FARC) and the NationalLiberation Army (ELN) have been fighting thegovernment for decades, and have beenresponsible for numerous human rights abusesagainst the Colombian population. In thesouth Pacific regions, the ELN has workedwith FARC rebels fighting paramilitaries to

F U E L L I N G F E A R : T H E HUMAN CO S T O F B I O F U E L S I N CO LOM B I A

* Afro-Colombians, also known as Afro-descendants, and indigenous communities are the groups primarily affected byhuman rights abuses and discriminatory practices in south-west Colombia.This report focuses mainly on Afro-Colombian communities in this region, although indigenous groups are also affected, particularly in the department ofValle del Cauca whereWar onWant’s partner Palenque el Congal works.

retain control of the coca plantations and thedrugs trade.7

In Nariño, both guerrilla and paramilitaryforces have been held responsible forcontinuing violence and killing of civilians, andfighting for control of the drugs trade andparticular territories.8

In Buenaventura, FARC militias have violentlytaken control of neighbourhoods formerlycontrolled by the paramilitaries. Like theparamilitaries, FARC militias force the localpopulation to pay ‘taxes’.At the end of 2006,the FARC had reportedly committed sixselective killings inValle del Cauca, along theYurumanguí, Naya and Mayorquín rivers.Combat operations have also taken placebetween the FARC and ELN guerrillas.Guerrillas attack military positions in themiddle of civilian communities, terrorisingresident civilians caught in the crossfire. Inresponse to guerrilla attacks, the military callsin air support which fires indiscriminately intothese civilian communities as well as at theirguerrilla targets, further terrorising the peopleand damaging their property.

These events have caused restrictions onfoodstuffs and movement of residents, and ledto some 6,820 people being internallydisplaced in Buenaventura in 2007.9

The role of the police as a protective forcedoes not inspire confidence among theColombian population. Hit and runs, abuse andillegal actions are common occurrencesamong the police, the DAS (Department ofAdministration and Security) and the DIJIN(Investigative Crime Unit). In the south-westPacific region there is also endemicinstitutional racism towards Afro-Colombians.

Palenque noted the following discriminatorypractices by the security forces:• the illegal use of public buildings, schools andhealth posts

• intimidating armed presence at communitymeetings in urban and rural zones

• confiscation of local fishing equipment andboats, forcing fishermen to pay fines to buyback their tools

• arbitrary arrests justified by falseaccusations of aiding the guerrillas

• heightened insecurity and restrictions onmovement of communities caught in thecrossfire of warring factions.10

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Colombian troops gather outside a public meetingheld by Palenque el Congal

Colombian Palm Oil Exports

Source: National Federation of Oil Palm Producers

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The rush for biofuels

Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe announcedon 7 August 2007, at the start of his secondterm, that production of biofuels would beone of his administration’s priorities.Thebiofuels industry is driving the spread of cropssuch as sugar cane and cassava that had notpreviously been mass cultivated in regionssuch asValle del Cauca.11 This expansionstemmed from a series of land laws that wererecently passed through the Colombianparliament designed to facilitate the attemptsof agri-businesses to cultivate crops forbiofuel production.Afro-Colombiancommunities were largely excluded from thisprocess, and now face having their land rightsand security violated due to the expansion ofthese plantations.

Driving much of President Uribe’s interest inexpanding the biofuels industry has been theincreased demand at international level forrenewable energy sources which could cut

greenhouse gas emissions. Crops such as sugarcane, corn and palm can be used to powerengines in place of petroleum-based fuels andhave numerous other uses in everydayproducts such as cooking oil and soap.

In June 2007, as President Uribe approachedhis second consecutive term in office, heannounced that Colombia’s palm cultivationwould increase to 400,000 hectares thatyear.12 Grown in Colombia since the 1930s, oilpalm, which originated fromAfrica, is one ofthe main crops used in the production ofbiofuels.There are now over 350,000 hectaresof oil palm trees grown across Colombia.13

The country now leads the Americas in palmproduction, and is the fifth largest producerand exporter of palm oil in the world.14

Nariño andValle del Cauca reportedlyaccounted for approximately 125,750 tonnesof production in 2005.15


UK48.5%

Spain21.7%

Germany11.1%

Peru7.4%

DominicanRepublic4.7%

Netherlands3.4% Mexico

2.5%Other0.7%

Since the Colombian government’s push toexpand biofuel production, agri-businesses anddevelopment agencies have expressed interestin being involved in what is seen byinternational observers as a lucrative andenvironmentally sound industry.The USgovernment, for instance, in its efforts toeradicate illicit crops in Colombia, hassupported alternative crop productionthrough the USAID funded programmeADAM(Areas for Municipal-Level AlternativeDevelopment Program).This programmebegan in 2005 ostensibly “to establish asuccessful, sustainable, and participative modelfor alternative development that createseconomic opportunities, strengthens localgovernance, and promotes a culture of ‘zeroillicit crops,’ while also improving the quality oflife for marginalised populations of rural

Colombia.”16 ADAM works closely withColombia’s Presidential Office for SocialAction and International Cooperation and hasprojects in 12 departments including Cauca,Valle del Cauca and Nariño.

By far the largest market for Colombian palmoil is the European Union, which in 2005accounted for 85% of the country’s exports,with the principal importer being the UK.17 Anestimated 39% of all Colombia’s exportedpalm oil and palm oil products are destinedfor the UK, where, as with other countries,palm oil is used in margarine, crisps, pastries,detergents, soap and toothpaste as well asbeing used to replace petroleum-based fuels.Well known brands such as Cadbury, HeinzandWalkers all use palm oil in theirproducts.18

5

Colombian farmer growing sugar cane, anothercrop commonly used to produce biofuels

© Elcio Carriço/War onWant

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Biofuels and displacement

There is an emerging pattern of displacementand human rights violations against Afro-Colombian communities connected to palmoil cultivation. Numerous cases ofcommunities being threatened and attacked byparamilitary groups have been reported. Notlong after the communities have fled, vastswathes of land that were once small-scalefarms are taken over for palm cultivation.International agri-businesses have beenaccused of colluding with paramilitary groupsand using them as private security contractorsin order to gain control over these areas.19

Palm plantations have been the scene ofcombat, persecution and armed violence by allparties. Guerrillas have murdered andkidnapped the palm companies’ owners andemployees and have dynamited extractionplants.The armed forces and paramilitarygroups have become private security corps forpalm producers, and have committed many ofthe extrajudicial executions reported in thepalm production areas. Civil society memberswho have attempted to challenge theexpansion of biofuels, such as trade unionactivists within these communities, have alsobeen harassed and threatened, some of themkilled or ‘disappeared’ under mysteriouscircumstances.20

The department of Nariño has been the sceneof increasing violence and forced displacementdue to the proliferation of biofuels. SinceOctober 2007, some claim that as much as70% of the population of Nariño’s westernmountain range have been displaced.As withcoca cultivation before it, paramilitary groupshave found ways of getting around the lawsprotecting indigenous and Afro-Colombian

rights to land and have falsified documents andidentities in order to gain control of theseterritories, as well as carrying out forcedevictions.21

The vast majority of Afro-Colombians forcedoff their land have wound up in cities likeBuenaventura.Though they have abandonedtheir land, they have not managed to escapethe violence, as the incidents belowdemonstrate.

In 2007 in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood ofBuenaventura, paramilitary personnel gatheredup a group of youths under the false pretextof organising a football game, claiming that thewinning team would be paid 200,000 pesos.The young men, all aged between 15 and 22years, were later found dead, floating in theEstero lasVegas river.

In Lleras Camargo, one of the most violentareas in Buenaventura, four men boarded abus and shot indiscriminately at crowds as ittravelled through the city. Many were killed,including a pregnant woman.The men left thebus, and the next day the driver wasreportedly sought by the police, military,paramilitaries and the guerrillas. He waseventually caught by the police andincarcerated for three weeks.When he wasreleased, the guerrillas offered him and hisfamily protection in exchange for hismembership. He refused and a few monthslater, after one of the guerrillas had beencaptured, the bus driver started to receivedeath threats and his house was ransacked.Feeling his life was in danger, he was forced toleave the area for good.22


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Caption

Displacement in Colombiaas of January 2008

Type of Displacement

Displacement by department Individual Massive General

1 Antioquia 250,145 133,227 383,372

2 Bolívar 181,741 36,906 218,647

3 Magdalena 111,745 36,120 147,865

4 Cesar 119,949 8,379 128,328

5 Caquetá 113,799 8,173 121,972

6 Chocó 59,057 56,763 115,820

7 Tolima 106,473 6,499 112,972

8 Putumayo 96,846 10,305 107,151

9 Valle Del Cauca 67,288 32,858 100,146

10 Cauca 67,250 23,231 90,481

11 Meta 82,330 6,857 89,187

12 Sucre 84,388 3,062 87,450

13 North Santander 68,207 16,671 84,878

14 Córdoba 70,442 12,813 83,255

15 Nariño 54,264 26,618 80,882

16 Santander 59,116 2,990 62,106

17 Caldas 27,342 25,428 52,770

18 La Guajira 33,915 10,466 44,381

19 Cundinamarca 37,096 5,495 42,591

20 Arauca 35,110 3,796 38,906

21 Huila 36,079 1,131 37,210

22 Guaviare 28,460 2,410 30,870

23 Undeclared 29,125 1,096 30,221

24 Casanare 17,696 3,453 21,149

25 Risaralda 14,808 733 15,541

26 Boyacá 9,894 294 10,188

27 Vichada 6,383 10 6,393

28 Quindio 4,220 4,220

29 Atlántico 3,694 28 3,722

30 Vaupés 2,428 2,428

31 Bogotá. 2,309 28 2,337

32 Guainía 1,769 50 1,819

33 Amazonas 573 573

34 Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina

7 7

Total 1,883,948 475,890 2,359,838

Source: Department of Valle del Cauca

8

Cocaine: the cycle repeated

The race for land to grow biofuel cropsthreatens to mirror that of another notorioussource of displacement: cocaine. For twodecades now Colombia has been the world’slargest producer of cocaine and, as a result,has been one of the principal targets for theUS-sponsored ‘war on drugs’. But despitebillions of dollars spent on counter-narcoticsprogrammes, production of cocaine hasremained relatively constant.As a result of thefight for land and control of the drug tradethere are an estimated three million internallydisplaced people in Colombia.

Abductions and attacks by guerrillas, landseizures by paramilitary groups, andgovernment schemes aimed at eradicatingillicit crops have resulted in civilians beingthreatened and forced off their land.They arecaught in a cycle of violence and forcedevictions that has escalated in recent years,making it the worst displacement crisisoutside Africa.

The main efforts to eradicate coca have beenthrough the Plan Colombia programme,started in 1999 and supported by the US StateDepartment. Since then, billions of dollarshave been pumped into aerial fumigationcampaigns aimed at destroying cocaplantations and dislodging the FARC fromtheir rebel bases.The UK government has alsoprovided military assistance for thesepurposes.

However, it has been noted by numerousagencies working on the ground that these

actions, rather than eradicating the crop, haveserved to push its cultivation into other areas.In addition, poor farmers whose plantationshave been ruined by the chemicals from aerialfumigation have started growing coca as ameans of survival. In the case of the Pacificregions, fumigations have forced cocaproduction into other areas which arecontrolled by paramilitaries, such as Nariño.Despite the disbanding of some paramilitarygroups in recent years, newly formedparamilitary groups now control much of thecoca production throughout the country.Theyuse the same brutal tactics as theirpredecessors to force people off their land toexploit the resources and expand plantationsof coca.23

Afro-Colombian communities in Nariño havecomplained of ruined crops due to fumigationcampaigns and of harassment by local forces.Drug turf wars between the paramilitaries andguerrilla groups continue to threaten theirsecurity.The security forces have also beenaccused of helping paramilitaries in the waragainst guerrillas for the purposes of gainingcontrol over local resources, be they cocaplantations, mines, palm plantations and otherprofit-making enterprises.

Coca cultivation has once again been forcedinto neighbouring regions such as Cauca andValle del Cauca, whereWar onWant partnerPalenque el Congal is based. In addition,Palenque also reports that large plantations ofbiofuel crops such as palm oil have beenforced upon them.


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Protecting Afro-Colombian andindigenous communities

To provide for the basic and immediate needsof displaced people, Colombia’s Departmentof Administration re-activated an initiative todevelop a Unified Plan of Action (PIU) for theValle del Cauca in 2004.The PIU’s framework,developed with support from the USgovernment and the InternationalOrganisation for Migration, consists ofprogrammes promising prevention andprotection of displaced people, humanitarianaction, socioeconomic stabilisation andstrengthening of institutions.

In reality, however, the PIU’s policies, projectsand programmes have failed to get off theground due to a lack of resources needed forimplementation, provoked partly by a lack ofcommitment at governmental level to thisissue.24 ManyAfro-Colombian and indigenouspeople who have been forced off their landeither due to conflict or to provide space forthe cultivation of biofuels, coca or other cropsfind themselves with little immediate supportor protection.The government provides basichumanitarian aid in the form of food packagesbut this does not last for very long.Afro-Colombians are unable to get subsidisedhousing as many do not have bank accounts,and because they are displaced they are forcedinto a vicious cycle of being unable to accessor pay for basic services.25 In addition, thereare restrictions on their freedom of movementdue to government quotas on the use of fuel,which these communities rely on to powertheir boats to move across theYurumanguíRiver. Freedom of movement of thesecommunities in the south-west is supposed tobe guaranteed by the security forces, who intheory should protect communities, but asWar onWant partner Palenque has observed,in fact the opposite is true.26

The 1991 constitution and Law 70 of 1993gave Afro-Colombian communities collectiverights to ancestral lands.The Law includesprovisions regarding economic and socialdevelopment mechanisms, protection ofcultural identity and Afro-Colombians’ rightsto ethno-education, social services, training,health and human rights. It is designed toensure that Afro-Colombian communities areconsulted, through community councils, andparticipate in the planning and implementationof development projects in their communallands.

Lands held collectively under Law 70 cannotlegally be sold in part, nor can territory besegmented to outside interests.These landsare held in collective trusts to be administeredthrough the community councils, whichrepresent the communities legally.They aretasked with the administration, governanceand decision-making responsibility regardingthe territories and their inhabitants.27 Theyhave been unified and persistent in calling onthe Colombian government to consult andnegotiate with them regarding the use of landsunder their jurisdiction. However, despite thefact that prior consultation is required by thelaw, it is not happening.

The rights of Afro-Colombians were neverfully recognised in practice and legislation thathas been introduced under the Uribeadministration further undermines their rightsas the administration seeks to expandresource extraction projects at the expenseof the communities’ collective rights.Theformulation and implementation of legislationsuch as the Forestry Law and RuralDevelopment Law have excluded Afro-Colombian community representation, and


have sought to encourage de factoprivatisation and isolation of lands that, byrights, belong to Afro-Colombiancommunities.

In response, regional community councilsand national social movements are takingmatters into their own hands. One exampleof this is crop eradication of coca and palm inareas where their land has been illegallyexpropriated. Palenque, as well as other socialmovements, has decided to campaign activelyagainst palm and coca cultivation, knowing thatthey both threaten the cultural and socialfabric of their communities, as well asthreatening their capacity to organise. InNovember 2007, at theYurumanguí River inBuenaventura, the Black CommunityMovement physically eradicated 25 hectares ofcoca in protest.

In addition, these social movements havehighlighted the negative social andenvironmental impacts of palm cultivation,which pollutes the food chain and watersupplies through its extraction and the use ofherbicides and chemical fertilisers.Along theYurumanguí River, groups like Palenque haveopposed the expansion of palm cultivationdue to these negative consequences, and in2007 wrote a statement noting:

1. The government is preparing to passlegislation that will enable it to expropriatecollectively owned land for the use of thistype of destructive crop cultivation.Thegovernment allows fumigation to occurwhich affects the nutritional quality of thecrop, multiplying health problems, making

access to uncontaminated water difficult aswell as adding to an overall food crisisaffecting the population.

2. Such actions tend to increase armedconflict, encouraging the presence ofparamilitaries.There are subsequentlyhigher rates of disappearances, massacresand population displacements.

3. These measures encourage like-mindedagriculturalists to pursue similar types ofharmful exploitation in the stated lands,thus creating a negative culture which isquickly assimilated by the natives thusadding to the social and cultural deficitwhich already exists.

4. Prostitution develops in these regions,adding to the spread of sexuallytransmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS,and leading to the loss of those culturalvalues that previously checked suchnegative effects.

5. The ability of communities to organisepolitically is compromised, diminishing thepossibility of creating a Colombiaaccording to the dreams, customs andaspirations of its people, and destroyingany sense of identity that may have beenused for positive social ends.

6. The government has responded to thiscriticism by offering the plantation of palmas a substitution for coca, infringing theagreements that they previouslyestablished with local communities.

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Conclusion

With international interest and investment inbiofuels set to rise, Colombia is likely tocontinue seizing the opportunity to increaseits share in production and exports.

The UK, despite being one of the largestconsumers of Colombia’s palm oil products,remains unaware of the devastating impact ofcultivation of this crop on the lives ofindigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.This is despite the British government’sadmission in its own research that increasedpalm production in Colombia is likely toprovoke more forced evictions, land grabs,pollution of waterways and the destruction offorests.28

The chocolate, margarine or soap that we seeon supermarkets shelves contains palm oilthat has a good chance of coming from acountry where thousands of people are beingforced off their land, some of them brutallykilled, in order to meet international demand.In addition, as the race to reduce globalwarming continues, the British governmentand investors in biofuel production mustrecognise that the land belonging toindigenous and Afro-descended people is notfor sale and that further palm cultivation willserve to increase violence and displacement insouth-west Colombia.

War onWant’s partner Palenque el Congalworks with marginalised Afro-Colombiancommunities who are affected by the internalconflict to enhance their civil, political, landand cultural rights. Community-led initiativesfacilitated by Palenque are leading to anincreased awareness of basic human rightsamong the black population. Palenque is tryingto lessen the number of communities

displaced within theValle de Cauca as a resultof the armed conflict by capacity building forlocal communities through training in conflictresolution and human rights awareness;provision of seeds and tools to families toenable communities to grow food anddistribute it amongst the poorest families;advocacy through dissemination of publishedreports at public meetings, lobbying atnational, regional and local levels, and a publicawareness campaign.

Included in these campaigns are regularprotest marches. On 31 May 2007 Palenquetook part in a demonstration that demandedthat national and international bodies takeaction to confront the dismal situation in theport city of Buenaventura.Through constantcampaigning and social projects funded byNGOs such asWar onWant, movements likePalenque are continuing the fight for the rightsof Afro-Colombian communities.

All readers are urged to call on the UKgovernment to withdraw its military supportfor President Uribe’s government by writingto Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Secretary ofState for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,Foreign and Commonwealth Office, KingCharles Street, London SW1A 2AH.

Further, if you would like to supportWar onWant’s work with partners like Palenque elCongal you can make a donation by sending acheque toWar onWant, FREEPOST (that’s allyou need to write on the envelope).War onWant makes long-term commitments tograssroots organisations across the developingworld. If you would like to help us continue tosupports these vital projects, join us bybecoming a member today.


1. Open letter from US organisations and concerned individuals tothe Honourable Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos, 11April 2007

2. SWilson, SCP Evidence Base: Sustainable Commodities Case Study –Palm Oil, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,December 2006

3. See, most recently, S Milne, ‘Anger at minister’s photo withColombian army unit linked to trade unionist killings’, The Guardian,11 February 2008; also, Mayday Colombia,War onWant, 2003

4. World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Minority RightsGroup International; Global rights work in Colombia, Global RightsPartners for Justice, 4 May 2005

5. Supporting the Progress of Black Democratic Movements in thePromotion of their Human Rights, Palenque el Congal, December2007

6. C Pier, ‘A pact with the devil’, Baltimore Sun, 2 April 2007;The ‘SixthDivision’: Military-paramilitary Ties and US Policy in Colombia, HumanRightsWatch, September 2001

7. Moving Forward with the ELN?, International Crisis Group, 11October 2007

8. Colombia’s New Armed Groups, International Crisis Group, 10 May2007

9. Open letter to members of US Congress travelling to Colombiaand Panama in June 2007


11. G H Rey, ‘Harvesting sunshine for biofuels’, International PressService, 12 October 2007

12. O Balch and R Carroll, ‘Massacres and paramilitary land seizuresbehind the biofuels revolution’, The Guardian, 5 June 2007

13. Colombia Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentprojections for 2007 and 2008

14. Biofuels, Pro-Export Colombia

15. F Mignorance, A Flow of Palm Oil, A Study from a Human RightsPerspective, Human Rights Everywhere for Coordination Belge pourla Colombie, November 2006

16. Áreas de Desarrollo Alternativo Municipal – ADAMhttp://www.adam.org.co/who.html

17. Desempeño del sector palmero colombiano en 2005, FederaciónNacional de Cultivadores de Palma de Aceite


19. See T Allen-Mills, ‘Biofuel gangs kill for green profits’, Sunday Times, 3June 2007; O Balch and R Carroll, ‘Massacres and paramilitary landseizures behind the biofuels revolution’, The Guardian, 5 June 2007;A Flow of Palm Oil, F Mignorance, November 2006

20. A Flow of Palm Oil, F Mignorance, November 2006

21. T Allen-Mills, ‘Biofuel gangs kill for green profits’, Sunday Times, 3June 2007; Report to US foreign policy aides by United StatesOffice on Colombia,Washington office on Latin America and LatinAmerica working group education fund, 12 September 2007


23. Colombia’s New Armed Groups, International Crisis Group, 10 May2007

24. Gobernación del Valle del Cauca 2007, Plan Integral UnicoDepartmental; Rule of Law?, Justice for Colombia, May 2006;Displaced and Discarded, Human RightsWatch, October 2005;

25. Rule of Law?, Justice for Colombia, May 2006


27. Colombia’s Law 70: In Recognition of the Right of BlackColombians to Collectively Own and Occupy their AncestralLands, passed in 1993


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Published May 2008

Written by Gemma Houldey based on research by Palenque el Congal

and Christopher Moye.

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