Efforts to open up Colombia’s economy have caused displacement, poverty and violence for Afro-Colombian communities.
![A boat cruises past Buenaventura, Colombia's main port city on the Pacific coast [File: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AP316380422236.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Cruz Bonlarron Martínez is an independent writer and researcher currently living in Colombia. He writes on politics, human rights, and culture in Latin America and the Latin American diaspora.
Efforts to open up Colombia’s economy have caused displacement, poverty and violence for Afro-Colombian communities.
![A boat cruises past Buenaventura, Colombia's main port city on the Pacific coast [File: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AP316380422236.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)