Peasants in Catatumbo, Colombia, are staging mass protests demanding government protection so they can keep their land.

In some parts of Colombia, the "paramilitaries", essential gangs of thieves connected to the army and supported by the state, have invaded villages and killed lots of peasants to scare the survivors into selling their land very cheap. I suspect that the "land that communities were forced to abandon", which "fell into the hands of businesses", was the subject of this practice. If so, the subsequent owners would have been involved with the paramilitaries.

The previous president, Alvaro Horrible (officially "Uribe"), was found to have connections with the paramilitaries. I don't know of any evidence against the current president, Nonsantos; but since he was previously the minister in charge of the army, I would not be surprised if he had such connections.