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AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Colombias displaced seek refuge in Buenaventura

by Anastasia Moloney | @anastasiabogota | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 11 November 2010 14:27 GMT

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In the middle of jungle rainforest along Colombia's western Pacific Coast, lies the city of Buenaventura, the country's most important port. The port is a focal point for Colombia's exports, handling about 60 percent of the country's trade. With its outlet

In the middle of jungle rainforest along Colombia's western Pacific Coast, lies the city of Buenaventura, the country's most important

port.

The port is a focal point for Colombia's exports, handling about 60 percent of the country's trade.

With its outlet to the Pacific sea, the port city is also a focal point from where Colombian cocaine is smuggled to the United States.

Buenaventura is also a magnet for Colombians fleeing their homes in nearby rural areas and jungle reserves, as armed groups fight each other to control strategic cocaine smuggling routes along the waterways of the Pacific Coast.

Colombia has up to four million internal refugees - second only to Sudan -- and its poor indigenous people and Afro-Colombians disproportionally bear the brunt.

In Buenaventura, over the last eight years around 77,000 displaced Colombians have descended on this steamy port city seeking safety

and work.

Produced by Natasha Elkington

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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