San Isidro Settlement Eviction

From the Archives: World Press Photo contest 2022

Police agents arrest a man while his wife and family resist, during evictions of people from the San Isidro settlement, in Puerto Caldas, Risaralda, Colombia, on 6 March 2021.

Evictions of residents of the San Isidro settlement began on 3 March 2021, ahead of construction of a railroad planned to connect the capital of the Risaralda district with Buenaventura, Colombia's main Pacific seaport. Authorities said the railroad megaproject would bring work and investment to the area, and that the ground did not officially belong to the people being evicted. Following publication of Encina's photographs and subsequent media coverage, members of the central government intervened and evicted residents from San Isidro were promised rehousing and compensation. They were resettled in temporary shelter, but by early 2022 had still not been relocated to new land.