The issue of land distribution in Colombia, a took place during the armed conflict as well as afterwards a Central role. However, until today it seems to have not learn the right Lessons from the past.
The dream of an agrarian reform in Colombia culminated in the mid-1960s, in a 52-year-long war. In it were distributed according to official data, more than seven million people from their homes and more than 200,000 were killed. The unequal distribution of land, which was, until today it stands in the center of the internal conflict in Colombia.
All the same, in Order to correct at least some errors of the recent past, there is now a land restitution program. It looks to fix some of the damage of the armed conflict, giving Victims areas, in accordance with the 1. January 1991 were taken.
According to the data of the current government 122.463 restitution applications have been received, of which 10.396 already in court rulings were decided. In 4.581 cases, the Restitution was arranged. In total, more than 100,000 applications waiting for a response (as of: 29 still remain. July 2019). The Numbers reflect how much remains.
“We are already very close to the deadline for the completion of this process, and the results are very small compared to the size of the land expropriation. Unfortunately, the public institutions are overwhelmed and are not able to fulfill their function, and this, in turn, is of fundamental importance for the Success of the peace agreement,” says Jhenifer Mojica, Vice-Director of the Colombian Institute for rural development (INCODER).
Many see in the distribution of land is a main factor for social inequality in Colombia
Alejandro Reyes, Ex-adviser to former agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo (2010-2013), a rating of the process is quite different: He emphasizes the “serious, rigorous and methodical” work that has been done to create a cadastre, and to make any Restitution to understand. He assured that this was a mammoth task in a country where more than half of the owners have no reason to book entry: “Almost half of the applications have been processed already. In eight years, fifty percent of the project’s objectives are achieved. This is a record of government efficiency in a country like Colombia,” says Reyes.
The unjust distribution on the continent
The report of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations (FAO), which was published in 2017, points out that in Colombia, the Attempts of land reform, and with the property distribution due to three basic factors have been foiled: the strong resistance of interest groups, government inefficiency and half-hearted policy measures. A combination of Colombia, the country with the most unequal land distribution of Latin America do so, the judgment of the development organization Oxfam. In 2014, Oxfam estimated that one percent of the landowners control 81 percent of the land area in Colombia. The reasons for this are both historical and political, and are to this day an unsolved Problem.
Land reform is an important part of the peace Treaty between Colombia’s government and FARC guerrillas
“The Problem is that we have a development agenda in the country, which promotes monopolization and the conflict exacerbated. Therefore, negotiations in the peace and the agrarian question at the top of the list of problems to be solved,” says Jhenifer Mojica. Nevertheless, it is the point at which the least progress has been made. And most of the activists, who were murdered after the signing of the peace Treaty, she says, would have dealt with the distribution of land.
After all, it seems to be a big step forward that the state has initiated a process to bring the land to the level of 1991. “It is, after all, the official admission that a wrong was done,” says Alejandro Reyes. “The insight that there has been eviction and unlawful expropriation, says a lot about the shift in consciousness in this country.” Now recognised that peace in Colombia was only with justice for the class of the peasants is possible.
The risk of a recurring conflict
The recent disagreements within the former FARC rebels seem to be a latent danger for the rural areas of Colombia. The sharp sounds you listen to currently from the government Palace, some say, made the Situation.
Alejandro Reyes, however, sees the announcement of a resumption of armed struggle by some FARC dissidents as a turning point that does not interfere with the peace agreement, but, instead, the ambiguities within the Ex-guerrilla dissolves. “It strengthens the Position of those who advocate for peace, and separates you from those who want to lead the drug trade to continue. It clarifies the relationships and committed to the state all the more, to keep to the agreements.”
FARC commander Ivan Marquez announces the resumption of the armed struggle