wners with the help of the army and police from their lands in
other parts of Colombia moved to Villavicencio seeking a promised land, una
tierra de promision, a refuge from socialist and right wing groups, and even
the army and police. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have brought
some assistance to these displaced people, which presently numbered over
100,000 displaced persons. Bands of displaced and homeless people roam through
the city looking for subsistence.Villavicencio has grown from a small
settlement of no more than 20 people in the 1850s to an uncontrolled and uneven
settlement of over 400,000 inhabitants in 2011. A new road of bridges and tunnels
has shortened the driving time to Bogotá from six or four hours, depending on
the season of the year, to one and half hours to move the oil, cattle, and
agricultural products faster
