Environmental groups alarmed over fires in Colombian Amazon

By MANUEL RUEDA
Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Environmental groups are expressing alarm about a sharp increase in fires in Colombia’s Amazon region and they blame those on people clearing forest to make way for cattle ranches, coca fields and illegal roads. More than 150 academics and activists from Colombia, Brazil, France and Spain sent a letter to President Ivan Duque on Tuesday urging the Colombian government to take a more aggressive stance against deforestation. They want to see the military put out the fires while the government creates economic alternatives for people in the Amazon region and arrests those who financing efforts to clear the forest.