Esteban Manriquez. Colombia Reports. October 17, 2012
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/26537-colombian-judge-orders-first-of-land-restitution.html
A Colombian judge has ruled in favor of 14 families in the country’s north,
who claimed their lands were stolen by paramilitaries, reported local media
Wednesday.
In the first ruling of land restitution, the Supreme Court ordered the
return of approximately 160 acres of land to 14 Mampujan families in the
northern department of Bolivar.
The “historic” ruling, “kicks off the land restitution in∑one of the
regions most affected by massive dispossession,” claimed spokesman Nestor
Raul Correa.
12 years ago, up to 150 soldiers from the Heroes of Montes de Maria block
of paramilitary group AUC marched into the area and ordered residents to
leave the area. As a result, 338 households were allegedly forced to
relocate.
The Victims and Land Restitution law was a landmark bill aimed at
compensating Colombians who had suffered due to the armed conflict. One of
the primary aims of the initiative was to assist victims to rebuild their
lives with the help of payments of up to $11,000, as well as provide land
restitutions to people displaced by violence.
