How a Peace Deal in Colombia Brought War on the Amazon

Marxist guerrillas of the FARC used to be the law in their territory. Since they laid down their arms, anarchy reigns — and the rainforest is suffering.

A rural road bisects an area of deforestation in El Capricho, Colombia.

Photographer: Ivan Valencia/Bloomberg

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Peak burning season is approaching in the Colombian Amazon.

Near the town of El Capricho in the country’s south, cows graze among tree stumps on a strip hacked out of the rain forest. A more recently razed patch looks as though it has been shelled, the ground scattered in branches waiting to be burned off.