President Gustavo Petro This Thursday, he asked Congress to expedite the change of regulations that “hinder” agrarian reform, in a commemorative event for the eighth anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement with the FARC.
“The agrarian reform was signed here, but there is no will to carry out the agrarian reform. It is clear that we will not meet the goal if the regulations to carry out this land transfer are not approved,” said Petro at the event held in the Plaza de Bolívar, in the center of Bogotá.
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Comprehensive rural reform is the first point of the agreement signed on November 24, 2016 with the FARC to put an end to more than half a century of internal armed conflict with that guerrilla.
“Despite the efforts of this Government, agrarian reform is far away. The global figure is 300,000 hectares delivered to farmers, out of three million that were agreed upon. That is, in this government 10% was given. The difference with the previous Government is abysmal,” said the president.
When referring to investments in Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET), to promote the development of the areas hardest hit by the internal armed conflict, Petro assured that they have had “serious delays” in past governments and that the “money for the transformation of those areas” was stolen.
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However, he stated that these monies will now be managed directly by the communities. and recalled that for this purpose they seek to modify the General Participation System (SGP), which is one debate away from being approved in Congress, but warned that illegal armed organizations may try to take over these resources.
“The same armed organizations financed by drug trafficking would go after the money and transform it into money for war. “Everything depends on the success in pacifying and the strength of popular power in the territories,” said the president.
Lack of implementation
In turn, Rodrigo Londoño, signatory of the Agreement for the FARC, He stressed that there is a lack of consensus for the implementation of political participation, second point of the peace agreement.
Londoño was concerned about the insecurity that surrounds the peace signatories: “There are 438 murdered signatories,dozens of them are missing and hundreds live in threats and are displaced“he said, which is why he asked for effective protection measures for the demobilized.
“Mr. President, you signed a peace agreement in 1990 (as part of the M-19 guerrilla) and now you are responsible for complying with the 2016 peace agreement. Count on us,” Londono concluded.
Fountain: Integrated Information System and EFE
