63 Colombia

Previous Picture < > Next Picture
Return to Colombia Gallery 2

63 Colombia - Toribio
Young soldiers move sandbags used to protect the police station in Toribio. Indigenous Columbians were forced off their land in the Rio Cauca Valley, and resettled in the mountain community of Toribio. Large landowners, the Colombian army and paramilitaries terrorized people to push their communities here off their land. The army has a large presence in Toribio, to suppress coca growing and fight guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). After soldiers killed a child, indigenous inhabitants of Toribio forced the army to take down its encampment in town, and retreat to the local police station, which is frequently attacked by guerillas.

photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999

website by DigIt Designs © 1999