Colombian farmers demonstrated this Saturday, July 20, in several places in the Caribbean in support of the government of President Gustavo Petro, and his social reforms.
(Further: Court overturns key article of agrarian reform: what did the Ministry of Agriculture say about it?).
At the installation of the new session of Congress, The government will present new reform projects in the health, justice and tax sectors, among other initiatives that will be the basis for facing the second half of its mandate, which begins on August 7.
Before the official ceremony, in Cartagena, during a tour of the historic part of the city, peasants marched in support of these initiatives. The march was attended by Juan Felipe Hartman, director of the National Land Agency (ANT), responsible for implementing and maintaining the social order of rural property.
(See: The Comptroller’s Office’s findings in auditing the National Land Agency).
During the tour, the official referred to the recent judicial decision that declared unconstitutional the elimination of judicial controls for procedures linked to the purchase of land for peasants, to which President Petro responded that the ruling restricts compliance with the peace agreement signed with the FARC in 2016.
“We are going to insist, we are going to submit some initiatives to Congress to facilitate agrarian reform, and well, that also implies advancing in a broad day of building peasant social movements that allows us to articulate ourselves and move these reforms forward.“Hartman said.
He noted that, with the ruling of the Constitutional Court, which took into account problems of form and not substance, To the fact that “Historically, many vacant lots in the nation are usurped by people other than the peasants who have been accumulating them in large estates.”.
Peasant march in Villavicencio.
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Peasant voices
For the peasant leader of Santa Catalina, a town near Cartagena, Jayson Brochero, in light of the decision of the Constitutional Court “Gustavo Petro’s government will have to resort to expropriation. We have no other option. Honestly, they are leading us to that.“.
“The Constitutional Court, riddled with tricks, struck down an article that limits the issue of agrarian reform and has to do with the recovery of vacant lands that have been stolen by the wealthy and landowners of the far right of this country.“, said the social leader while encouraging those who participated in the march.
(Further: ANT invited Salvatore Mancuso to participate in the agrarian reform as a peace manager).
Meanwhile, in Barranquilla, some Two thousand farmers from all the towns in the department of Atlántico made a tour that ended in the Plaza de la Paz where they reiterated their support not only for the Petro governmentbut to the implementation of a “agrarian reform to combat social inequality in Colombia”“.
Roberto Ortega Bolaño, a social leader from the Arroyo de Piedra district, a town that is an hour from Barranquilla, indicated that “The most important thing is to ensure that farmers have access to land so they can work it and improve their quality of life, and that is a hope we have with this government.“.
Edison Ávila, from the municipality of Manatí, a town located in a relevant agricultural and livestock area of the Atlantic, demanded greater action from the authorities.so that the announced agrarian reform becomes a reality and the peasant populations can have the land that we so badly need“.
EFE
