Colombia’s finance minister said Wednesday that the 2012 government budget will include around $1.1 billion (COP 2 trillion) towards implementing the new Victims Law, Caracol Radio reported.
According to Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry, the government projects that it will put approximately $1.1 billion of the national budget into victims compensation in the upcoming year. This year, the government has already budgeted nearly the same amount — $1.01 billion — to begin implementing the Victims Law.
The minister assured that the Colombian government has the resources necessary to guarantee that the land restitution process takes place as planned. The law, which passed earlier in June, will create a mechanism for compensating the thousands of victims of the country’s prolonged internal conflict.
He added that the money for the program is fully guaranteed as part of the guidelines established by the national government.