Afro-Colombians fight biodiesel producers

In her article, "Afro-Colombians fight biodiesel producers," BBC journalist Jane Monahan writes about the difficulties Afro-Colombians have faced in simply trying to remain on their native lands:  "Talking to Jose Caceido, another displaced Afro-Colombian, there is so much tension in the air it almost seems as if you could cut it with a knife.

"Mr Caceido, in his early 30s, says he moved to Bogota in 2001 after being threatened by presumed paramilitaries in Tumaco, a Pacific coast region.

" 'We have been discriminated against in three ways,' he says with steely restraint.

" 'We are displaced, we are black and we are poor.'

"It is Mr Caceido's view that underlying the displacement of countless Afro-Colombians is a clash in values between the communities' use of the land and an initiative of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to produce more palm oil for biodiesel.

"For Afro-Colombians, Mr Caceido says, land use is based on cultivating a few traditional crops for subsistence - such as corn, yucca and cocoa - or for hunting and fishing.

"But, according to human rights organisations working in the north-west Choco province, and in dense forests along the Pacific, paramilitary gangs are seizing Afro-Colombian land to facilitate biofuel conglomerates."