Governments and big business displacing landowners around the globe is nothing new. So it comes as no surprise that since 2005 there has been a resurgence of land theft in Colombia to make way for biofuel, and not so coincidentally, a re-mobilization of paramilitary groups.

BBC News covered the conflict in Colombia on June 3, exposing the human rights violations of the Colombian biofuel industry. An excerpt from the report states:

In rural areas, there is evidence that some people have been forcibly displaced to make way for biofuel production. Last year, the United Nations stopped its investment in the sector in Colombia. But while ethanol production in Brazil has been pored over by experts and activists, the challenges faced by Colombia remain relatively unexamined.

Inhabitants standing in the way of the biofuel industry are subject to paramilitaries arriving at their property and forcibly displacing them. One Colombian worker named Eustaquio Polo Rivera reported to BBC Mundo,

“They used the argument that they were there to remove the guerrillas but we later realized that their objective was to kick us off our land,” he said. “We resisted leaving but the army told us that they wouldn’t help families who stayed.”

“When we tried to return to our land, it was full of palm trees…There has been no willingness on the part of government to ensure the return of our territories, because the paramilitaries are still there and they are in partnership with the business.”

Rivera also told the BBC that in 1996 they were growing bananas, corn, and rice, but the farmers were murdered and their land was planted with palm oil for fuel. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have denounced the production of biofuels as a threat to the lives and livlihoods of Afro-Colombians, farmers and indigenous Colombians. The ramifications are tremendous for Colombians, but also have a ripple effect on the global food supply.

Supporters of green energy should demand that it be produced in a sustainable and humane manner, that includes high-profile politicians and celebrities who’ve touted biofuels. Our ‘Green’ future should save more than the environment.