More than 100,000 acres of land has been acquired through illicit means in the northwest region of Uraba, President Juan Manuel Santos announced Thursday.
According to the president, the Notary and Registry Superintendency conducted a study on 70% of the land in the region and determined that 103,265 acres of land, representing 1,400 properties, was acquired through “the falsification of documents, mass sales to corporations, pressured sales, impersonation of people, and the presentation of false powers, among others.”
Santos pointed to notaries, registrys, several agricultural institutions such as the Agrarian Reform Institute (INCOR), and even mayors. He explained that most of the time large companies are acquiring large amounts of land illegally.
“A tremendous irregularity was found in the Livestock Fund of Cordoba, that they took a lot of land. It is the corporation that more land has been bought in the Uraba region by incorrect means such as pressure to bestow power, the registration of false powers, and granting powers to a single person,” Santos explained.
The Colombian head of state lamented that, with this new discovery in Uraba, nearly one million acres have been acquired illegally throughout the country.