Mural on the wall of a small school built by the UN. Early in the 1960s poor Marxist farmers took up arms in an attempt to force agricultural reforms. Calling themselves the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), they became the largest guerrilla army in Latin America. In the 1980s, to protect their interests businessmen and large cattle ranchers set up armed militias, which later united to form paramilitary organizations. Both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries obtain their funds primarily from the drug trade.
Houses in Altos de Florida, built by their residents. The Colombian capital, Bogotá, is home to between half a million and two million internal refugees. They were driven from the countryside by violence on the part of guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug lords. The situation has improved somewhat in recent years, but there are still hundreds of new displaced people arriving daily. They end up in the slums surrounding the city, like Altos de Florida. About half of its 50,000 inhabitants are refugees.
Water in the neighborhood. Altos de Florida is actually a district of the city of Soacha. Swelled by the flood of migrants, Soacha has grown until it is right up against the capital, Bogotá. Amenities such as a piped-in drinking water and sewers are non-existent. Drinking water is brought around twice a week in a tanker truck. Those who live at the bottom of the hill collect their water in barrels, through a hose. Those who live higher up have to carry it uphill in buckets and bottles.
Flower seller. Many residents of the neighborhood have no work. They scrape a living together with odd jobs and street vending. A school for the children opened a couple of weeks ago. No one knows how long they will stay there. They know only that they don't want to go back to the countryside, and don't want to live here under these circumstances very long either.
Paula Juárez (48) visits Alex Torres (42). Until 2009 Paula Juárez lived in the province of Nariño, in the south-western corner of Colombia. She fled because she received threats, without knowing the reason behind them. In February, 2011, she arrived in Altos de Florida with her four children. She built her own dwelling in an area that is known as Sector 3. Two of her children live with her; two others live elsewhere in the city.
On her arrival she received assistance and advice about registering as a displaced person from Alex Torres. Torres does a lot for organizing the residents of Sector 3. He came from the central province of Huila, and is himself a refugee.
Alex Torres. Once a week there is a municipal garbage pick-up. The garbage bags have to be put out alongside the road.
New life for a toilet pot. Residents of Altos de Florida don't pay any rent. They own their own dwellings. The neighborhood is well organized. Collectively, the residents have laid out streets and installed electricity. The city does little for them. Even the police are seldom seen, which means there is rising criminality.
Paula Juárez (48) and a nephew. In Colombia, it is a regular practice for big businesses to hire paramilitaries to drive people off their land. Their farms are then swallowed up in large plantations producing palm oil or bananas. If the residents don't leave voluntarily, then they are ousted with threats, or violence.
Paula Juárez. “I think that the threats I received came from the paramilitaries, but I don't know that for sure.”
Juan Torres comes from Barranquilla. “One day armed men appeared and attacked my farm. They were paramilitaries. They killed my brother, but I was able to escape. Now I live alone in Altos de Florida.”
Juan Torres in Altos de Florida.
Ferney Alape's home. In July, 2010, Ferney Alape (34) fled his farm in the central province of Tolima with his wife and four children. He now lives in Altos de Florida, and still has to pay rent for the small, improvised dwelling. He does not want to appear in the photo himself.
The Alape family's children. “FARC guerrilla fighters came and told us we had 24 hours to get out. They didn't say why. We had a lot of cattle, and food supplies. Perhaps that is what they wanted. We came to live in Altos de Florida in January, 2011.”
The Tree of Love. It's called the Arbol de Amor. The Tree of Love stands in the middle of Altos de Florida, and is the only tree left in the vicinity. According to the residents, many of the children in the neighborhood have been conceived under this tree.
In 2002 eight people in the small town of Colombia, in the province of Huila, were murdered by FARC guerrillas. Some residents invited the paramilitaries, sworn enemies of the guerrillas, to protect them. But they in turn also brought repression and violence. Many residents have fled, and have ended up in the city of Neiva. Bajo Tenerife. One of the neighborhoods in Neiva is Bajo Tenerife. The first houses of posts, plastic and corrugated metal were built three years ago by refugees from the little town of Colombia. Presently 250 people live there.
Arrival in the city. Every day an average of 400 new refugees report to a government office for displaced persons in the center of Neiva. Those who register as displaced persons have a right to an allowance of 400 Euro a month for the first three months. It is the only form of economic assistance that there is. The rules say that they can ask for a similar amount a second time, but such requests are rarely honored. The refugee problem within Colombia is relatively invisible. There are no refugee camps. Thanks to the registration, there is some sense of the numbers of refugees, although about a third never sign in as displaced. The office in Neiva counted 11,000 refugees in 2009. In 2011 that number had increased to 38,000.
Tour de force in Bajo Tenerife. The small town of Colombia has regularly been attacked by FARC. They claim to be on the side of the poor, but their actions are just as high-handed and violent as those of the paramilitaries. They have it in for the villagers because they are believed to cooperate with the army and paramilitaries. The most recent FARC attack was in June, 2011. Fourteen more families fled to Neiva as a result.
Rosalba Chacón and her grandchild. The Chacón family have just arrived in Bajo Tenerife. Rosalba Chacón, the grandmother, is ill, and spends most of the day in bed.
Lucia Chacón with her baby and a neighbor woman. FARC is estimated to have between 6000 and 10,000 fighters. Negotiations between them and the government broke down in 2002. The new government of Manuel Santos refuses to negotiate again unless FARC lays down its arms and releases the hostages it holds. In an attempt to force them to do this, for the last several years the Colombian army has been actively going after the guerrillas. Their most important commanders have been killed or captured.
Children playing in Bajo Tenerife.
Children playing in Bajo Tenerife.
The Torres family. Lucas Torres, his wife and children, were among the fourteen families who fled from the town of Colombia two months ago. When the guerrillas entered the village, they began shooting randomly. Torres himself received a head wound, and his son Herminson was shot in the leg. They do not want to return to Colombia, but hope to build a new life in their new surroundings.
Rosalba and Lucia Chacón with the children. For three years now the residents of Bajo Tenerife have been fighting against poverty, flooding from the nearby river, crime and the indifference of the authorities. But now the authorities have plans to clear the neighborhood and replace it with a park. The residents know that they live in a dangerous spot, and have been promised replacement housing, but the threat of eviction still causes them sleepless nights. “We are Colombians in two senses, and soon we will have been dispossessed twice.”
At the refugee center in Neiva. In January, 2010, a new law comes into force in Colombia which is intended to enable internal refugees to return to their villages. This year already hundreds of families have tried to start over again, but the situation is far from safe enough everywhere. Across the country, thirteen leaders of residents' associations have been murdered by armed groups.
Herminson Torres and neighborhood children.
