The Colombian Congress was preparing this month to approve legislation that would open millions of acres of natural forest to logging companies, including lands belonging to the country’s Indian and Afro-Colombian communities. Congressional supporters of the bill, proposed by President Alvaro Uribe, say the legislation is needed to bolster timber harvests at a time when two of the country’s principle exports, oil and coffee, are flagging. But the environment ministers of four previous administrations and the nation’s principal Indian and Afro-Colombian organizations are denouncing the bill as an infringement on community rights that would prompt uncontrolled exploitation of the nation’s forests. In an opinion piece in the daily El Tiempo, one of the former ministers, Manuel Rodríguez, said passage of the legislation would... [Log in to read more]