The national government sent a strong message regarding the invasion of properties that is registered in several regions of the country and that, according to the cabinet of President Gustavo Petro, might hinder essential policies for equality in Colombia.
In this sense, Vice President Francia Márquez, in a tough position, indicated that This type of practice of occupation of private land cannot be tolerated in Colombia.
“We reject and request those who today are violently, inappropriately, invading private properties throughout the countryso that they refrain from carrying out this practice,” said Márquez.
And added the senior official of the national government: “The Constitution demands the guarantee of the social and cultural, economic rights of all Colombians, but also respect for private property”.
Next, the invasion of properties that has been registered in areas of the country such as the department of Cauca, and that in many cases have unleashed public order problems, motivated the national government to issue a press release rejecting this situation:
- “As a government we respect the law and the institutions.
- We confirm that there is going to be Agrarian Reform to seek equity in access to land, but we ask Colombians to respect tenure and property.
- Those who want to promote invasions hinder the Government’s management and this might result in them being investigated by the authorities.
- As a Government we are willing to settle the historical debt that exists in Colombia with those who want to access, through dialogue, but not with violence to this process of democratization of property.
- People who promote this type of act move away from the objectives that the President of the Republic has set for access to these properties.
- As a government we have said that the properties that are in the hands of the Special Assets Society (SAE) will go to the most vulnerable Colombians, who are in high-risk areas, cooperatives, women and young entrepreneurs, but this implies a process what should be supplied, to the extent that many of these properties are in the process of domain extinction and, also, an analysis must be made for the delivery of these properties to those who need it most, within our policy of equity and democratization of property”.
In the same way, the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, took the floor, who gave details of how to act in the event of illegal invasion of land, warning that there is 48 hours by law to evict it once it has been occupied.
“These are unacceptable practices for this Government, in such a way that the Police forces must act to prevent the occupation of these lands and within the following 48 hours, as established by law, take all the measures and actions necessary to evict them,” Velásquez noted. .
The problem
It should be noted that in recent months there has been a strong tension in the cane crops located in the north of Cauca, where indigenous organizations have entered to invade. Even in the last few hours the most recent case, in which there was a strong confrontation between Afro and indigenous workers who came to occupy land illegally in Alto del Palo (Cauca).
In videos that quickly began to circulate on social networks, you can see the clash in which hooded people throw blunt objects. In one of the images, an Afro woman is even observed who denounces having been injured with a potato bomb, for which one of her legs was injured. In another recording, a person is heard indicating that the indigenous came to destroy houses in that population.
“They are damaging our community tents, they have rubber bands, potato bombs and pepper spray. They are damaging the roof tiles of the houses. They are damaging the Alto del Palo park. They are chasing the men of our community. Please, Government, do something for us”, said a woman in another clip.
