Colombia’s ‘ghost towns’ threatened by new wave of violence

Paramilitary fighters forced many out of Colombian rural towns 21 years ago, those who returned fear it might happen again.

El Salado, Colombia – When Elias Torres, 76, walks the almost empty streets of his small town, the bodies that once scattered the dirt roads still haunt him. A little more than 21 years ago, militias from the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) tore into El Salado. There, the right-wing paramilitary gang began to terrorise, torture and slaughter residents of the northern Colombian town. The militia killed at least 60 people, a number of reports put the death toll around 100.  Many others were “disappeared”. After the massacre, the militia forced Torres to clear away the bloody corpses of his friends and family.