Uraba and Rio Sucio, areas known for banana plantations and coal mining, have been the regions to suffer most from displacement. The inhabitants of that area have abandoned their homes fearing their lives. It is estimated that 1.6 million people have been displaced within Colombia and that roughly 288,000 persons were forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of the political violence during 1999 alone. Displaced Persons Support Group reported that as a result of the violence, over 1 million people were internally displaced between 1995-1999. State Department The U'wa, like most peasant and indigenous populations, have fallen victim of Colombia's civil strife, forcing them to flee their lands because of violence, colonization, or exposure to foreign diseases- yet another internally displaced statistic.
Political violence is responsible for virtually all the displacement in Colombia.
The groups primarily responsible for this violence are right wing paramilitary forces, the armed forces, and left-wing guerrilla groups. Of the three, the paramilitary forces are the main causes of displacement. British Petroleum, another multinational oil giant which is operating in the Casanare region of the country, has been linked to the training and arming of Colombian military units that have been tied to massacres and other serious human rights violations. Vol 98, pp 32-37. By, John Wade.