Forced Relocation/Migration Inside Colombia

A home is not always a house, March 9, 2009 by Martin Garcia from Flickr
A home is not always a house, March 9, 2009 by Martin Garcia from Flickr

IDP's or internally displaced person's are those which were forced to relocate due to any number of reasons, whether that be from war like in the case of Syria which has had the largest amount of forcibly relocated citizens in the world. Or it could be due to large corporations dominating the land that families used to farm and survive off of. Colombia in fact has both, according to the UNHCR (United Nations Health Care and Refugee Agency) statistics, they are second in the world for most displaced civilians at a staggering 7.7 million just behind Syria (12 million) and in front of Afghanistan (4.7 million)

The Colombian government has had an actual war raging on between it, and the Marxist and Communist Guerillas known as FARC and the ELN. Their acronyms are for the Spanish names, but in English, their names translate to "The Peoples Army" and "National Liberation Army". The groups joined forces and waged war against the government of Colombia for almost half a century, and the conflict was only ended by a peace treaty signed in 2017. The total body count is estimated at 220,000 dead, 25,000 missing, and more than 5.7 million displaced according to the Council of Foreign Relations. 

ELN Flag, June 14, 2014 by Global Panorama from Flickr
ELN Flag, June 14, 2014 by Global Panorama from Flickr
FARC Flag, March 8, 2010 by Hugo Carrico from Flickr
FARC Flag, March 8, 2010 by Hugo Carrico from Flickr

These two groups interestingly enough emerged during the 60's and 70's from students, and others not in favor of the privatization of public resources. This is interesting due to the fact that in the 70's foreign investors started entering Colombia, specifically Bogota loaning them money to build massive structures, and help the impoverished land, for a price.