Black Lives Matter in Colombia | Opinion | teleSUR English

5.8.15

Black Lives Matter in Colombia | Opinion | teleSUR English: This way of life in Cauca, however, dramatically shifted in the early 2000s, when the Colombian government under rightwing, neoliberal President �lvaro Uribe began to grant mining concessions to domestic and multinational companies without the consultation of its residents. And, as throughout Colombia, the paramilitaries arrived with the companies, who began to terrorize Cauca’s communities, including one infamous massacre in 2001 in the Alta Naya, not too far from La Toma, where hundreds were murdered and disappeared, and thousands of families were displaced. Acquiring land through terror, these companies began to expand their gold-mining operations over the years, seeking new spaces of exploitation and aided by paramilitaries such as Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) and the Rastrojos, who were previously part of the criminal paramilitary organization AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), who regrouped after the failed demobilization processes of the early 2000s. In October 2009, La Toma would be targeted.