Judges in central Colombia ‘giving away state-protected land to unknown 3rd parties’

Judges in central Colombia ‘giving away state-protected land to unknown 3rd parties’
Jun 3, 2014 posted by Nicolas Bedoya

A five-month investigation has revealed around 250,000 acres have been given away under court orders to largely unknown third parties in the central states of Casanare and Meta, according to the Superintendent of Notary and Registration.

According to Superintendent Jorge Enrique Velez, his regional departments are in disarray and don’t know how to address the flood of ownership requests of land they see as state-owned. Despite the notary’s initial rejections of the requests, court orders are forcing them to produce the papers giving ownership of the land to unknown third parties.

In addition to the land being given away in Casanare and Meta, land around the city of Cartagena in the state of Bolivar is also being handed away, which Velez calls “some of the most expensive land in the country,” according to an interview with W Radio.

Velez cites several problems with the land handovers:

• The lands have sparse or no history of ownership which one then assumes the land are ‘baldios,’ or unused land under state protection

• Most of the demands for registration are filed with “unknown third parties” which is improper for an ownership proceeding

• At no time was Colombia’s Institute for Rural Development (INCODER) called upon to defend the state’s right to those ‘baldios.’ The institute is the only agency capable of speaking on the government’s behalf on the issue

•Most of the titles for land given out by judges exceed the amount outlined under the United Family Agriculture law which stands at 7,400 acres in the eastern plains of Colombia.