In June 2011, history was made in Colombia as the fledgling Government of President Juan Manuel Santos passed a decree that will permit damages to be paid to the relatives of those killed in the long running conflict in addition to the return of millions of hectares of land stolen from its rightful owners.
In a ceremony attended by the UN Secretary General Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Santos was able to announce the unveiling of the Victim’s Law, an “historic” declaration in Colombia and one that would, in his words: “Allow the open wounds of the past to scar over and heal”.
How Will the Victim’s Law Work?
In a brief summation, there are various levels to this immense law that will try and put into coherent order the suffering and loss experienced by victims at the hands of the Guerrilla, the Paramilitaries and the State to enable to Colombia to emerge from half a century of conflict. Most strikingly, for the first time the Armed Forces are to be held accountable as well.
One of the key points is to hear the testimonies of many civilians spanning a time-frame of 10 years of violence, to be able to create an intelligible census of what atrocities have taken place. This will be overseen by a new body, the Red Nacional de Informacion para la Atencion y Reparacion a las Victimas.
This is no small task as an estimated 4 million Colombians will need to be addressed in order to compile this data through local authorities and municipalities before it can be placed into a nationwide database. And then, there is the issue of compensation for the injured parties which per person has been set at an average amount of anywhere between 30 and 40 minimum salaries. This averages out at roughly 15 to 20 million pesos per person or US$8,500 to US$11,300.
Given that Colombia is currently home to an estimated officially registered 3,4 million Internally Displaced People (IDP) as measured by the UN high Commission for Refugees, most of which have been forced from their land due to the long running internal conflict, one wonders how and where the Colombian Government will procure such large sums of cash in order to make good on their promises.
Stolen Land Will be Returned
Colombia’s Minister for Agriculture, Juan Camilo Restrepo said that paramilitaries, the guerrilla and drug traffickers had used a mixture of violence and fraud to take control of land, which in turn had made them immensely rich. Now, the government aims to restore these wrongfully taken to lands to their rightful owners.
However, like everything there is a catch; these lands must have been taken or have been abandoned by families fleeing the violence on any occasion post 1991. And while this is a landmark ruling, how is the Government going to trace correct owners to land in regions where there never were any contracts or titles ever written?
The Colombian Government estimates that some 3 million hectares have been stolen while other sources state the figure to be much greater.
Problems Facing the Victim’s Law
First and foremost there will be issues with people coming forward for fear of retribution from either the guerrilla or the BACRIMs or "neo-paramilitary groups," which have risen from the embers of the now defunct paramilitary groups and control much of the lucrative drugs trade.
Just take the example of Ana Fabricia Cordoba, originally from the northern region of Uraba. She fled her home in 2002 and moved to the city of Medellin after her husband was murdered. Later her son was murdered in this city. She became a leader in her neighborhood, fighting to restore land to those, including herself, who were forced to flee. Tragically in June 2011 she was murdered by a contract killer.
And how can the Government proceed if the emerging "neo-paramilitary groups" and the guerrilla are very much in control of various key regions of Colombia. These wounds won’t heal and the displaced won’t return home despite the President’s best wishes.
The only way this “important advance” as Ban Ki-moon put it, is to ensure that military operations wrest the power from the guerrilla and illegally armed groups in the country ensuring that the rule of law prevails.
Richard McColl - I am a freelance writer from deepest darkest London but for the past 10 years or so I have been maintaining my extended "writing break" in ...
