Word: colombia
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President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia is a phantom candidate with a long shadow. Prohibited by his country's constitution from seeking a third consecutive term, Uribe, who has already won the presidency twice by landslide, is nevertheless the solid frontrunner in next year's race. And so, as he maneuvers for the legal right to run again, several rival candidates have put their campaigns...
...electoral scenario became even muddier just before midnight Tuesday. On the face of it, the decision by Colombia's lower house should be a clear victory for the popular president. It approved by a bill to hold a nationwide referendum on the president's right to a third term. Had lawmakers rejected the measure, Uribe's hopes would have died. Instead, "the Colombian Congress has responded to the popular will of the people," said Interior Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio, who shepherded the bill through the Congress. "It was an act of grandeur." (Read a story about the huge populations displaced...
Human-rights groups also accuse these new militias of working hand-in-glove with legitimate businesses to take control of large swaths of land to mine gold, drill for petroleum and produce palm oil for Colombia's booming biofuels industry. Says Jorge Rojas, who heads Codhes, "In almost every case where there is a big palm-oil development, there is widespread forced displacement." Adding to the confusion, members of the Colombian Army have been accused of killing civilians and dressing them up as rebels and of driving farmers off their land in guerrilla strongholds...
...fought over by rebels and newly formed militias. In February, guerrillas massacred 17 Awa Indians, provoking hundreds to abandon their homes. On Wednesday, masked gunmen killed 12 more Awa, including a six-month old baby, and officials fear another exodus. "In Nariño, as in many parts of Colombia, the conflict rages on and abuses are rampant," says José Miguel Vivanco, Americas Director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of pretending the conflict doesn't exist, the national government needs to do much more to protect civilians...
Worldwide, there are more than twice as many displaced people - about 25 million - as war refugees, according to the U.N. But because they do not cross international borders, which can provoke the wrath of governments and the attention of aid groups, they are sometimes overlooked. In Colombia, most people live in the cities where security has improved. By contrast, the displaced are often impoverished Indians and Afro-Colombians who live in the most remote pockets of the countryside where few votes are at stake...