Nearly 2,500 acres of land in northern Colombia have been misappropriated, reported local media Thursday.
Close to 2,500 acres of land in the northern province of Bolivar have been wrongly apportioned, concluded Colombia’s Institute for Rural Development (Incoder), after months of investigation that included multiple site inspections.
The director of Incoder, Miriam Villegas, confirmed that a total of ten vacant lots were found in the Las Pavas area in Bolivar and that these farms will have to be returned to some 123 families displaced by violence during the country’s armed conflict.
“This process is very important because it is emblematic, it was expected by local farmers who decided to trust in the state and justice,” said Villegas.
is the Colombian body in charge of restoring land to the country’s huge displaced population. The organization is officially subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Late last year, the Las Pavas farming community was accused of staging a set-up to defraud the Colombian state, in one of the country’s most famous land restitution cases. The allegations followed an admission from a man, claiming to be part of the Las Pavas group, that he lied in his testimony during a land forfeiture process in 2011.