Marimon noted that several residents filed a legal complaint against the displaced people, saying their presence deprived Turbo of the use of much of the sports complex. Despite all their travails, the displaced people of Turbo have advantages. Their leaders are helping the government shape a plan to resettle them back along the Atrato River, much like a plan that sent Pavarando displaced people home last year. They are much more organized, vocal and assertive than most displaced people,'' said Ruiz, of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. For most Colombians forced from their homes, displacement is a silent and lonely tragedy, endured by single families or individually.
People flee when they are touched by the violence so rampant.
Last year, gunmen carried out 194 massacres that killed 1,231 Colombians, according to Castro Caycedo, the national ombudsman. Most victims don't even have camps to go to. They leave rural areas and go, for example, to a township. Rodrigo Berrio has lived for 28 months in the camp at Turbo, housed in a back room of what once was a sports arena. In the past four years, hundreds of thousands of displaced people have trickled into the cities of Bogota, Medellin, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla and Cucuta, creating rings of misery.