“Desplazado: “Now I Am Here as an Outcast””

The Neoliberal Era, starting in the 1990s, in Colombia has been characterized by guerilla violence (Chasteen 339). This type of violence still has a strong influence on the lives of the Colmbian people. The 2015 World Report mentions how national violence in Colombia caused by guerilla forces have “forcibly displaced more than 5.7 million Colombians” (“World Report 2015). Additionally, “200,000 continue to flee their homes each year, generating the world’s second largest population of internally displaced persons” (“World Report 2015”).

Circa 1997, an anonymous individual who served as a government representative for Salaquisito during a land reform in 1993 recorded their experience as an internally displaced person in the source, ““Desplazado: “Now I Am Here as an Outcast””. This source is important in understanding the negative effects that internal displacements have on community and identity. The individual identifies as a campesino (farmer) and begins by describing the material goods they lost because of the displacement as well as the guerilla-bombings that happened near their family (Anonymous 232-33).

The author then moves to discussing the details of how the displacements affected their community and identity. The author argues “campesinos have a strong sense of morality and pride,” but the displacements are “making [the campesino community] come apart, and with this, [the community’s] culture of solidarity is destroyed” (Anonymous 235). This claim is important in understanding how widespread the impact of internal displacements can become. The author feels like “an outcast” and concludes by discussing their sense of “humiliation” (235). They feel this humiliation because they cannot work on the farm, where they lived for decades, or prepare food for themself, which is something they greatly prided themself on as a campesino. Living as a displaced person causes the author to feel “hungry and abandoned” with “an overbearing anger” (235). The description of their feelings shines a light on the complexity of emotions that come with internal displacement.

Works Cited

Anonymous. “Desplazado: “Now I Am Here as an Outcast”.” In The Colombia Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by López Ana María Gómez, Farnsworth-Alvear Ann, and Palacios Marco, 232-35. Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2017. Accessed March 9, 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctv125jtrj.46.

Chasteen, John C. “Neoliberalism and Beyond.” In Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, edited by Jon Durbin, 4th ed., 329-356. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016.

“World Report 2015: Colombia.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed March 8, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/colombia#.