The President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, issued a worrying warning regarding the compensation process for the victims of the conflict in Colombia and warned that the State does not have the capacity to carry out this process, indicating that it might cost more than 300 billion pesos.
The head of state went further and indicated that the General Budget of the Nation does not have the economic support to materialize the compensation of at least ten million victims of the armed conflict in the country.
“How can you compensate the victims of violence in Colombia, if it is worth 300 billion pesos? It is a question that I leave you, I have tried to follow a path that might cause a journalistic scandal here, because undoubtedly it cannot be done with the General Budget of the NationPetro maintained.
He pointed out: “Neither can it be done with the assets of the perpetrators, who delivered them and partly stole them; now we are going to clarify that, criminality entered the Victims Unit and returned to victimize the victims from the State.”
“But 301 billion pesos, in a budget that is 350 billion pesos or 400 billion pesos really, with the addition, but that most of it has to be paid in debt and a lot now that it is, and later in pensioners who they cannot waive their right, and later in teachers and education or health, which cannot be waived either, we begin to understand that there is no fiscal field. The Colombian State is not capable of indemnifying, it does not have the capacity to indemnify the victims of the conflict”, the Colombian president stated.
Added to this, President Petro, in the installation that the National Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Coexistence carried out this Tuesday, April 11, affirmed that the State would take regarding 125 years to complete the task of compensating the victims, for which proposed the importance of exploring alternatives on this issue.
“You have to build another road and another road in the specific conditions. If it’s not the budget and it’s not the perpetrators, where can it be from? There is only one, in my opinion, I leave it as a discussion, suddenly you have other ideas. The issuance that the Bank of the Republic makes routinely, instead of going to the banks, should go in bonds for the compensation of victims of violence in Colombia and I think we would shorten the times”, said Petro.
He added: “If we are really talking regarding a National Agreement —a pact, we said in the campaign, that is, a meeting of the diversity of Colombian society—, then one of the first points of the social pact is: are the victims compensated? victims or not? And if it is compensated, the only option, according to these calculations, unless they are badly done, is that the power of issuance of the State passes in the first place, instead of the banks, to the victims of violence who, economically It doesn’t matter because in the end money circulates, but politically it’s not the same, socially it’s not the same”.
Iván Duque defended himself once morest Gustavo Petro’s accusations: “Lies and fallacies are answered with facts and precise data”
Former President Iván Duque responded to the accusations of President Gustavo Petro, who said that his predecessor tore up the peace agreement with the Farc during his term and that he only bought 17,000 hectares to comply with the first point. In his Twitter account, the former president assured that there might be a “lack of rigor” in what his successor said.
“Lies and fallacies are answered with facts and precise data. By 08/07/2022, 1.7 million hectares entered the Land Fund, in more than 14,000 properties. Some confuse properties with hectares intentionally or due to lack of rigor”, The former president published on his Twitter account, with figures from the National Land Agency.
In another trill, the former president showed more figures that support the advances in land titling during his government.
“In development of the Plan for the Massive Formalization of Rural Property, 1,711,124 hectares were entered into the Nation’s Land Fund, through 14,167 properties,” It is observed in the document shared by the former president.
Among the achievements, it also stands out that during the Duque Government, 727,482 hectares were delivered through the Land Fund, benefiting 24,627 families. In addition, they show progress in the formalization of 1,384,808 hectares through the issuance of 50,379 titles, benefiting 71,576 ethnic and peasant families.
“These results in titling were recognized by the OECD by highlighting in its analysis report of the agricultural sector the record in titling that the government of President Duque had made”, says the document shared by the former president.
In addition, according to the document, if compared to administrations prior to his, Duque titled, entered the fund and delivered more land than the other presidents, including Juan Manuel Santos.
However, in the framework of an event on the National Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Coexistence, President Gustavo Petro launched sharp taunts once morest former President Duque in light of the tasks that were pending by that administration regarding the peace agreements.
“I have to buy those lands, without even thinking regarding the Institutional class that would be able to buy three million hectares, at least on the dates proposed in the peace agreement,” Petro argued.
And he added in his statement: “The peace agreement was signed and seven years have passed, seven years will be in November, most of that agreement is Duque, four years have passed, How many hectares did Duque buy to comply with the first point of the agreement? 17,000 hectares, 0.3% of the agreement in four years”.
