The Colombian government says it will have to give out at least COP40 trillion ($22 billion) in the next ten years in reparations to the victims of the country’s violent conflict.
Colombia’s Congress ratified the so-called Victims Law in 2009, committing it to compensate victims of paramilitary and guerrilla violence.
According to Liberal Party congressman Guillermo Rivera, Justice Minister German Vargas Lleras on Saturday promised on behalf of the government that victims of state agents will be included in this law. The original bill, an initiative of the then-opposition Liberal Party and signed by the government of former President Alvaro Uribe, excluded victims of state violence.
With the proposed amendment of the law, all those who became victims of violence committed by state agents, paramilitaries, and guerrillas after 1985 will have the right to compensation.
Rivera told reporters that the total sum for the reparation of all these victims will be between COP40 trillion ($22 billion) and COP50 trillion ($27 billion).
According to the Catholic church, forced displacement led to 4 million victims. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Colombians were murdered the various actors in the armed conflict.