While the national government talks regarding democratizing the land and preparing an agrarian reform that is still on paper, in different regions of the country An unprecedented civil confrontation has broken out over the invasion of private land. The most critical cases are in Cauca, Antioquia, Huila, Cesar, Risaralda and Atlántico.
The first confrontations began a little over two months ago, when Petro’s victory in the second round was announced. In Cauca, hundreds of indigenous people deployed a whole strategy to take over flat land in the municipalities of Corinto, Caloto, Guachené and Miranda, all in the north of the department.
The invasions have been marked by violent clashes between indigenous people and peasants who defend, with titles in hand, which, they say, belongs to them by law. Likewise, a conflict is taking place between the invaders and the workers of the cane fields, the ranchers, and the Afro leaders.
In the midst of this complex panorama, President Gustavo Petro explained what the legitimate owners of these properties should do when their land is invaded.
“Colombian law for decades allows the owner of a land that is invaded can directly, without the intermediary of mayors or governors or the president, order the eviction to the Police,” explained the head of state.
And he ruled: “So that’s what the legitimate owners of the land have to do.”
What was said by the head of state from New York, where he fulfilled his work schedule this week, far from calming down It might generate greater concern, since it would be offloading the responsibility to the owners of the properties, which might lead to new confrontations.
a dangerous speech
The large-scale invasions in different parts of Colombia have worsened a year ago, when the discourse that “the land does not belong to those who own it, but to those who need it” began to echo in all corners of the country.
The then candidate Petro referred in several scenarios to the struggle for land and promised on stage, and with the agitation of one who knows that he is loved by the masses, that in his government the least favored would have the opportunity to have large estates to convert “unproductive land into productive land”. What he didn’t say at the time was how this aggressive empowerment strategy would be designed, so many thought they should start the invasions now.
In fact, 20 minutes from Neiva there is an extensive invaded land which they called ‘Gustavo Petro’.
What is most worrying is that, as stated WEEK in an extensive report, this wave of land invasions, exacerbated following Petro’s victory in the last elections, has all the elements of a war: non-compliance with the law, radical groups determined to do anything, owners desperate not to lose their assets, armed groups that sponsor violence and immense inequality and poverty. Meanwhile, the authorities do nothing.
Sadly, Colombia begins to write a chapter that might be one of the bloodiest in its recent history. The government needs to act now.
