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For the Nasa indigenous community, a tightly knit and fiercely proud people, in southern Colombia, the land is their 'Mother Earth.' However, since the European conquest, the Nasa have been repeatedly displaced from their land. Now they are caught in a crossfire between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrillas and the Colombian Army.

STOLEN LAND tells the history of the Nasa's resistance movement, with Dec. 16, 1991 being a symbolic day for the Nasa when 20 of them died claiming their land rights at Hacienda El Nilo Plantation. The Colombian state admitted police complicity in the Nilo massacre before an international court in 1995 and prior to that pledged 39,000 acres of land to the Nasa over the next 3 years.



The film shows that in present day they have received only one-third of the land, making it nearly impossible for their growing community to continue with their traditional agrarian way of life. After 15 years of waiting for their land, the Nasa block the Panamerican highway, demanding compliance with the Nilo agreement.

Their charismatic leader is Lucho Acosta, an imposing tactician descended from Indian warriors who hopes to 'liberate Mother Earth.' He knows from experience that violence only breeds more violence but facing insurmountable odds, Lucho's beliefs are tested to their very core as the government attacks with tanks, helicopters, guns and tear gas.



STOLEN LAND illustrates the decades-long battle over land, unfortunately commonplace among indigenous populations, which continues in a nation where less than 1% of the population owns well over half the land.