Digital compass
The peasant workers of the lands that were seized in the so-called “Ostreicher” case rejected the intervention of the General Directorate of Registration, Control and Administration of Seized Assets (DIRCABI), which, relying on Law 913 (Law to Fight Illicit Traffic of Controlled Substances) and in Supreme Decree (DS) 3434, the 35,000-hectare plots were transferred “provisionally” to the state Food Production Support Company (EMAPA).
It should be noted at this point that the lands, which in extension are 35,000 hectares, were in litigation and therefore could not be disposed of or intervened without first knowing a sentence of the process that is carried out in the First Court of Santa Cruz. The lands were seized in 2011 despite the fact that a forensic audit, commissioned by the Public Ministry, concluded that there was no evidence that the money for the investment came from money laundering since it arrived in Bolivia through established procedures such as Swift banking. through the Swiss Financial Investigation Units
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According to one of the community members of the area who contacted Brújula Digital, she said that “the people of these places will make themselves heard, if the authorities turn in favor of the company and of the oppressors”, because they are violating the rights of the families that worked in the clearing of the zones.
The workers had been declared custodians of the disputed lands by order of the labor judge. They regularly carried out field work on the El Cruce property located in the locality of San Antonio del Junte, some 400 kilometers from Santa Cruz on the road to Beni.
“We need them to listen to the cries of need that we have. Where are we going to go? Where are we going to go so we can work and eat something?”, She said and asked that his identity be kept to avoid reprisals by the invaders.
According to an “immediate/2022” eviction notice, from Dircabi de Santa Cruz, it indicates that the occupants of the aforementioned properties for their legacy are immediately evicted under Law 913 with its regulatory decree 3434 and its related regulations.
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It mentions that the occupants must vacate the El Cruce No. 1 and 2 properties, Santa María canton; San Bartolo property, Guarayos province, Los Cusi properties. “In response to the official letter issued by the fourth labor court of the Capital on May 3 of this management, where the certificate of delivery of movable and immovable property in favor of Dircabi-Santa Cruz is indicated,” the note states.
The information communicated to the digital media last Thursday, was confirmed this Saturday, by a Dircabi official who said that “he could give information but not give his name” and reported that the 35 thousand hectares that were seized in the case that followed the Colombian Liliana Rodríguez and the American Jacob Ostreicher, passed into the hands of EMAPA, so that it is available for their use and care from this moment.
“They are all the lands of the Ostreicher case, all the properties are already in the hands of EMAPA on a provisional basis,” said the Dircabi official in contact with Brújula Digital.
“Among the institutions that we have is EMAPA, it has coordinated the benefit to the State and I think that tomorrow they are going to cut the ribbon and open up and bring in machinery to start planting and harvesting once and for all,” he said.
He indicated that EMAPA will come to coordinate with the workers and subjugators so that they are part of the joint work on the properties that are already in the hands of EMAPA.
“Now they (the bullies) will make their entourage and try to coordinate with EMAPA to see if they need workers. EMAPA was clear and said that there will be opening of work spaces in the place”, he said.
“Those from EMAPA spoke with the community members and with the oppressors. But so far no representative of the bullies has come forward. The provisional acts have already been signed”, added the Dircabi official.
He said that tomorrow, Sunday, the official delivery of Dircabi to Emapa will be made “It will be a big activity on the agricultural issue, but no one from the farm workers showed up and there was no contact.”
However, from the workers, they stated that the authorities of EMAPA and Dircabi did not appear and they were not taken into account in the decision to evict them, much less in the creation of jobs that the state company intends to do.
“No agreement, no agreement was reached. They are rogues from EMAPA and Dircabi. No agreement has been reached and they want to throw us out just like that. Where are these children, the families, going to go?” said a community member.
Another community member stated that those from EMAPA promised that they would not be removed from the area, but that now, with the eviction notice, the trust of the families living in camps in the seized areas had been betrayed. “They told us that we were going to stay and now they told us to evict. How do they first tell us to stay and in writing they told us not to go?” said the community member.
On the other hand, the corregidor of Guarayos, Piedades Rivero, asserted that this action is a violation of the rights of the workers of the seized properties, because they produced to market and thus live from day to day.
“This measure is outrageous, we cannot believe this. It is an abuse by the government. We are not going to allow this action, because they are restricting families’ right to live in one place. They live from day to day and Liliana Rodríguez left those lands in the hands of the workers and not the government”, she indicated.
According to videos sent to the digital medium, various machinery, such as tractors, entered the premises to be able, according to EMAPA, to work them immediately.
