Charred remains of the home of Don Marcos in the village of Villanueva, in the foothills of the San Lucas Sierra in the Middle Magdalene River Valley. Many of those who had settled lands here were colonists fleeing from violence in other parts of Colombia. When paramilitaries of the United Self-defenses of Colombia (known by their Spanish acronym AUC) entered the region there were some clashes between them and guerrillas of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) but the paramilitaries more often would strike at the civilian population. Soon after one battle between the groups, and after the army had secured the zone and it was temporarily free of guerrillas, the paramilitaries returned to Villanueva. They massacred several villagers and wrecked the town. The majority of the survivors joined the mass exodus of peasants from the region towards the towns and cities. The village is now desolate where there were once more than thirty families settled in the village, today barely five scrape a living from the land...