The Colombian Government vowed to begin the process of returning land to displaced farmers on Friday, when President Juan Manuel Santos sanctions a law that will grant rights to victims of the armed conflict.
According to the Superintendent of Notaries, Jorge Enrique Velez, the government will begin operations in the departments of Norte de Santander, Meta, Cesar, Antioquia and Córdoba because these areas are where most cases of land theft occurred.
The Superintendent’s Office will be in charge of land restitution, and has promised to carefully review each victim’s situation: “We are going to review them case by case, document by document. We are prepared for this process,” Superintendent Velez told Caracol Radio Sunday.
“We will examine all of the complaints brought to us. We will challenge the land titles, and the land owners. In the publicly owned lands, the state will decide,” Velez added.
President Santos, together with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, will sanction the recently ratified Victims Law on Friday.