Colombia: Indigenous People of Chocó Forced to Flee for Their Lives

Apr 30, 2017 | ABColombia
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Many communities in Choco are being forced to displace due to combats between the ELN and neo-paramilitary group the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC). These combats are a part of a fight to control strategic locations for coca cultivation, processing and commercialisation and mechanised small-scale gold mining in areas abandoned by the FARC guerrilla when they moved into theTransitional and Normalisation Zones (TNZ) to disarm. Despite the Early Warning Alerts and the presence of a Joint Task Force TITAN (Navy, Army and Air Force) based in Choco [2], no effective methods were put in place to help protect the local population and to prevent the displacement. TITAN have a force of over 2,500 troops based in Chocó.