Bogota police on Monday prevented some 150 people who claimed to be victims of displacement from settling on a vacant lot in the south of Colombia’s capital.
The approximately 25 families wanted to appropriate the land in the Kennedy district after claiming the government failed made promises on housing, several media reported.
“The government’s deceived us. The district [government] throws the balls at [state housing agency] Fonvivienda and we can’t just sit down in the middle of the conflict between them,” one of the allegedly displaced told Caracol TV.
However, before the group was able to reach the vacant lot, police intervened and prevented the displaced from taking control of the lot.
According to television station Caracol, the land — located right next to the Americas station of mass transit system Transmilenio — had been assigned for the construction of social housing projects.
Bogota is the largest recipient of displaced people in Colombia, a country with more than 5 million internal refugees since 1985. According to the U.N., more than 200,000 people were displaced from their lands and homes last year alone.
MORE: Colombia has highest level of internal displacement in the world: Study
Location of the vacant lot
Sources
- Policía frustró invasión de lote por desplazados al sur de Bogotá (Radio Santa Fe)
- Evitan invasión de un lote en Bogotá (Caracol TV)