Officials colluded in Uraba land theft: Investigator

Source: Colombia Reports

Officials colluded in Uraba land theft: Investigator
Friday, 26 August 2011 13:26
James Bargent

The Superintendent of the Notary and Registry has claimed there was widespread official collusion in the illegal acquisition of over 100,000 acres of land in Uraba.

Jorge Enrique Velez told La FM the majority of the land passed into the hands of the Livestock Fund of Cordoba with the help of public officials and local mayors.

The investigation revealed officials allegedly forced the owners of the land to sign away their rights. According to Velez, a three month investigation into the illegal land acquisition implicated at least 15 public officials.

"In Uraba we found impersonations, false documents and every trick there is to appropriate land,” Velez said.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18588-officials-colluded-in-uraba-land-theft-investigator.html

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The Colombian Government is the 3rd largest recipient of U.S. taxpayers' annual foreign aid packages.

Which doesn't make all this land theft and all the blood that was spilled in order to accomplish it any more excusable, much less when this is only the tip of the iceberg, but when the alternative is to either write everyone off as a murderous thief or pretend that such horrors never happened in the first place...I believe such details are worth mentioning.