Colombia’s controversial ranchers’ federation Fedegan suggested to mobilize “ranchers solidarity brigades” in opposition to government efforts to empower landless farmers.
The suggestion was rejected by President Gustavo Petro, who accused the federation of promoting the armament among its members.
The far-right president of Fedegan, Jose Felix Lafaurie, denied that the “brigades” mentioned in his email to ranchers referred to paramilitary structures.
Fedegan was one of the major institutions behind paramilitary groups that displaced millions of farmers in a massive land theft in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
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In order to facilitate a land reform and the restitution of stolen land, the Agriculture Ministry wants to create so-called “Peasant Assemblies for Land,” according to a draft bill.
These assemblies would allow farmers to organize and defend their interests with the help of local authorities.
Lafaurie told Fedegan members this was “extremely grave” because the bill would allow farmers to “mobilize to look for unnecessary clashes” instead of “promoting a brotherly rural development, which is what we have wanted.”
In his response, the Fedegan boss suggested to mobilize ranchers for “support” in the case of “any threat to private property.”
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“God willing this won’t end in a low-intensity confrontation,” wrote Lafaurie.
On Twitter, Petro said that “the call to keep Colombia in feudal brutality neither serves those promoting it nor the country” and stressed that “the way proposed by the government is peaceful, but must be respected.”
The government’s land reform is an integral part of a 2016 peace deal between Petro’s predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, and the now-defunct guerrilla organization FARC.
Previous attempts to tackle extreme inequality in land ownership in the 1930’s and the 1960’s were violently opposed by rural elites and paramilitary organizations.