US to give $30M for Colombia land restitution .

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

US to give $30M for Colombia land restitution .
Tuesday, 19 October 2010 18:12 Greg Haugan .

The United States plans to give $30 million over three years to support the restitution of lands to displaced persons in Colombia, announced the Colombian Agriculture Ministry.

The ministry said the money was promised by U.S. ambassador to Bogota Peter Michael McKinley and would be delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid).

"We support the efforts of the current government for the restitution of land and the strategy for improving marketing of agricultural products and productive efficiency" said Ambassador McKinley, according to a ministry press release.

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos recently submitted a proposal to Congress for restoring approximately 500,000 hectares per year until 2014 to displaced families. Authorities have already begun returning land seized by paramilitaries, although increased security is needed for those benefiting from land restitution, say human rights defenders.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12462-united-states-to-give-us30-million-to-support-land-restitution-in-colombia.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Restitution for Colombia’s Displaced a Big Challenge

Caracas,
Thursday
October 21,2010

Restitution for Colombia’s Displaced a Big Challenge

BOGOTA – The amount of land seized by force in Colombia during the past 30 years of armed conflict totals 6.65 million hectares (16.4 million acres), according to an independent study released on Tuesday.

That figure is equal to nearly 13 percent of Colombia’s agricultural land, lead researcher Luis Jorge Garay told a press conference in Bogota.

The report is based on data from the 3rd National Verification Survey of the Rights of the Displaced, which is to be presented to Colombia’s Constitutional Court. The research was conducted in July and August among 10,433 displaced families in 68 municipalities across the country.

Colombia’s displaced population is roughly 4.2 million. While many were driven from their homes by combat involving the security forces, rightist paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas, other rural Colombians have been turned into refugees by thugs working for business interests seeking control of land or resources.

More:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=372999&CategoryId=12393

[Judi Lynn]

2. Colombia has 50,000 disappeared: Official

Colombia has 50,000 disappeared: Official
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 14:46 Linda Azodi

http://colombiareports.com.nyud.net:8090/pics/victims/mothers.jpg

Colombia has one of the highest number of forcibly disappeared people in the world, with 50,000 individuals missing, the Ombudsman's National Search Commission coordinator Andres Peña told EFE on Wednesday.

Most of the disappeared are victims of "illegal groups, paramilitaries mainly and guerrillas, and an important part correspond to agents of the state," says Peña.

Colombia's Congress on Tuesday ratified the United Nations' International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted in 2006.

Peña said that Colombia's situation is particularly difficult because most countries are in a post-conflict situation when they begin to investigate cases of disappearances, whereas Colombia is still facing conflict.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12486-colombia-has-50000-disappeared-official.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Neo-paramilitary violence on the rise

Neo-paramilitary violence on the rise
Tuesday, 19 October 2010 09:16 Teresa Welsh

Numerous labor and union leaders, as well as those fighting for land to be returned to the displaced, have been assassinated by armed groups in the northern coastal department. Neo-paramilitary groups returned to the area after the demobilization of the paramilitaries between 2003 and 2006, and continue to terrorize communities there.

In 1997, 61 families were given 520 hectares of land in the rural area outside Monteria. Only 45 families ended up occupying the land, but neo-paramilitary group Las Aguilas Negras arrived in 2007 and began constructing homes on the land that had been given to the families. Jhon Jairo Martinez, a school teacher in the area, went to authorities and had the group expelled from the land. Before they left, they threatened the life of the activist and in 2009 he was shot and killed. His successor was forced to flee the area with her family after also receiving threats.

Numerous other cases of threats, disappearances and murders have been noted. So far in 2010 there have been 182 disappeared persons reported. More than 1,300 people were displaced in the region in the first half of this year. The amount of murders has been increasing since 2005, with with 569 in 2009.

Violence has also been caused in Cordoba by conflict between Las Aguilas Negras and other armed groups like Los Paisas. The department's location on the northern Caribbean coast contains some of the most prized drug trading routes. A judicial investigator said, "Cordoba is a paradise because in three hours you can get cocaine to an international port."

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12447-violence-in-cordoba.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. Press freedom worsens in Colombia: NGO

Press freedom worsens in Colombia: NGO
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 09:26 Manuela Kuehr

The annual report by NGO Reporters Without Borders indicates that the level of press freedom in Colombia has sharply deteriorated. Colombia fell by 19 places in the index to be ranked 145th out of 178 countries. Last year it came 126th out of the 175 countries evaluated.

Clothilde Le Coz, director of the NGO's Washington office, told Colombia Reports that Reporters Without Borders went to Colombia to investigate the situation and found a "very violent country" where the government has been spying on journalists.

Many high ranking officials who served under former President Alvaro Uribe are accused of complicity in the illegal wiretapping of government opponents, including prominent journalists, by government security agency DAS.

The previous government of President Alvaro Uribe, Le Coz says, often sent security guards to spy on journalists under the pretext of increasing their security. This move, she says, had "huge consequences for the reporters," and the new government should investigate this problem.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12472-colombia-press-freedom-reporters-without-borders.html