Santos reveals part of undisclosed agrarian reform deal with FARC

Juan Manuel Santos (Photo: President's Office)

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday disclosed four key points of a deal on agrarian reform made with rebel group FARC with who the government is holding peace talks.

The deal — signed Sunday but without effect until the FARC agree to a full peace accord — was not disclosed by neither the FARC nor the government.

However, in an interview with Caracol Radio, Santos did reveal parts of the agrarian reform deal that will consist of the following:

  • Illegally acquired farmland will be registered in a Lands for Peace Fund that subsequently will be “distributed … to farmers without land or with insufficient land.” According to the president, “the vast majority of inhabitants of the countryside have nothing to fear” as long as they don’t possess farmland that was acquired illegally, for example through the forced displacement of farmers and the legalization of these plots by corrupt government officials. “To guarantee this, we are thinking of creating a judicial property protection system.”
  • The government will come up with a number of “big interventions” and increase decentralized development programs for rural areas. These programs will work closely with the involved communities that “succeeds stability in these regions.”
  • The national government will increase efforts to provide rural communities with basic necessities like potable water, road infrastructure and housing, while improving remote communities’ access to healthcare and education. According to Santos, these measures should decrease high levels of poverty and extreme poverty in rural areas.
  • Colombia will come up with schemes to link crop production to food security. “To do this we will create special anti-famine programs,” said Santos, adding that this last point will require a “great institutional preparation and fiscal effort.”

“The government already is working on this to make sure that what is signed in the final [peace] agreement [with the FARC] will be implemented in its entirety,” Santos told the radio station.

The agrarian reforms were the first of five points on the agenda of the government and rebel negotiators’ agenda. The agreement is seemingly in line with recommendations made by the United Nations, who had already proposed land redistribution to diminish extreme poverty in the countryside.

Related posts

FARC dissident group splits over peace talks with Colombia’s government

Former AUC commanders to take part in Colombia’s peace building efforts

Colombia’s military eliminates joint task forces