Paula Andrea Villa, director in charge of the Land Restitution Unit in Meta, revealed that to date and during the 12 years of validity of the Victims Law, 486 requests have been resolved and among the municipalities of the department with the highest number of sentences there are Puerto Gaitán with 71 failures, 84 families benefited and 39,993 restituted hectares; Mapiripán with 44 sentences, 42 families benefited and 1,983 restituted hectares.
They are followed by El Dorado with 24 sentences, 37 families benefited and 751 hectares restituted; El Castillo with 23 sentences, the same number of families benefited and 5 hectares returned.
Acacías with 17 rulings and beneficiary families and 784 restituted hectares; San Martín with 16 sentences, 17 beneficiary families and 954 hectares; Puerto López with 16 sentences and 455 hectares returned; Puerto Lleras with 11 sentences and 190 restituted hectares; Villavicencio with 10 rulings, 13 benefited families and 1,316 hectares, and finally, Granada, which has 9 rulings and 23 restored hectares.
On the other hand, given the impossibility of return for reasons of security or uprooting, justice orders compensation as a reparation measure for those who have been victims of forced dispossession and abandonment of land. In the department of Meta, 148 compensation orders have been issued, of which 90% have been dealt with by means of cash payment, 6% with purchase of property, and 3% through equivalent property.
Finally, as a complement to the reparation for the victims in Meta, the Unit has implemented 102 productive projects on restituted properties with an investment of more than $2.8 billion and in line with livestock, pig farming, and avocado, cocoa, banana, and fruit crops.
Source: Land Restitution Unit