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)

Thomas Power lived in Colombia for six years where he studied multinational companies financing paramilitary groups for his Masters Degree in Political Studies from the National University of Colombia. He now lives in Massachusetts writing on US foreign policy and other topics.
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)