Large land owners seek to tighten grip on land stolen from Colombia’s displaced farmers
Large land owners seek to tighten grip on land stolen from Colombia’s displaced farmers
written by Thomas Graham May 27, 2016
Senators with ties to large landowners have proposed a change to the Colombia’s Victims Law that would make it much harder for displaced farmers to reclaim land stolen by paramilitaries and sold to ranchers.
Coalition senator Antonio Guerra from the coalition Radical Change party proposed to change the Victims Law that was enacted in 2011 to return around 8 million hectares, an area larger than Costa Rica, that had been stolen by paramilitary forces.
With the help of corrupt government officials, much of the stolen land was legalized, allowing some wealthy landowners to buy up this land on the cheap, expanding their territories. This was made all the easier by the fact that historically land ownership has not been well legally documented in Colombia.
Even when families have been farming a plot for generations, they often do not legally own the land title, making them an easy target for large landowners with bad intentions.
In the original law, the burden of proof lay on the owners of claimed land to prove that they have not benefited from the displacement of their predecessors. However, the proposed amendment would flip this on its head, putting the burden of proof on the victims of displacement.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombias-large-land-owners-seek-tighten-grip-land-stolen-displaced-farmers/