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The Carimagua Scandal

Here is a quick overview of the utterly depressing scandal that, for the time being at least, has knocked Hugo Chávez off of Colombia’s front pages.

On August 8, 2004, Colombian President �?lvaro Uribe announced that his government would liquidate Carimagua, an enormous state-owned hacienda in Meta department, in Colombia’s eastern plains. 17,000 hectares (43,000 acres) of land, Uribe told reporters, would be distributed to 800 families who had been forced off their land by violence.

This giveaway alone would have increased by one-third the 54,500 hectares of land that the Uribe government has distributed to displaced families since 2002. (This total, however, hardly makes a dent in the 2.9 million hectares that, the Colombian government Comptroller’s Office estimates, have been stolen from forcibly displaced Colombians during the past twenty years.)

Three years passed, though, and nothing happened with Carimagua. Not a square inch of the land has been distributed.

The Colombian daily El Tiempo revealed why in a story published February 10. At some point, the Uribe government changed its mind about Carimagua quite radically. In July 2007, the newspaper revealed, Colombia’s Agriculture Ministry decided instead to make the 17,000 hectares available to large agribusiness companies, promising a fifty-year lease to the highest bidder. The displaced families, who had been waiting for years, were not told of this decision.

This revelation has shed an uncomfortable light on the Colombian government’s agriculture minister, Andrés Felipe Arias, an ultraconservative young politician who is so close to President Uribe that Colombian commentators frequently call him “Uribito.�? Arias - who is known more for campaigning against demilitarizing territory for talks with guerrillas than for any rural development policies - defended the decision to break his government’s promise to the displaced families by arguing that Carimagua is not appropriate for small-scale agriculture.

Arias argued that the 17,000 hectares are poor-quality land (a claim that other experts have since disputed), far from transportation (though along one of Colombia’s largest rivers, the Meta), and that “nothing can be done with only 11 hectares per family.�?

In an El Tiempo column, analyst Cristián Valencia responded to that last point, recounting conversations with displaced families he encountered trying to scratch out a living by selling goods at busy Bogotá intersections.

When I asked the González family (stoplight at the circunvalar and 92nd Street) and the Santos family (stoplight at 94th Street and 18th Avenue) what they would do with 11 hectares of land, their eyes teared up.

“11?�?

“Yeah, eleven. Of land, but they say that it is acidic soil and it’s in the eastern plains [llanos].�?

My question brought back bitter memories for them. Because they remember the countryside, and life in the countryside, and the peace they used to enjoy in the countryside. The countryside from which they were forced to flee.

“We would be alive again,�? one said.

“It would be a miracle,�? said another.

Valencia also responded eloquently to Minister Arias’s argument that large investors would make more efficient use of the Carimagua land.

If this is to be the standard for adjudicating lands, all of Colombia’s uprooted people will have to go off and forget about ever having even one hectare. Because there will always be investors with more money, more vision, and more ability to produce and generate dividends.

Minister Arias’s claims, meanwhile, have been called into question because of the political connections of some of the corporations - several of them large-scale African oil-palm cultivators - that have expressed interest in the Carimagua offer. One, notes El Espectador columnist and former presidential intelligence (DAS) director Ramiro Bejarano, is owned by the uncle of the current treasury minister.

Arias’s announced solution to the Carimagua controversy is to appoint a “high-level commission�? to decide whether the lands should be distributed to displaced people, wealthy agribusiness investors, or a combination. But with his choice of commissioners, Bejarano argues, Arias “designated recognized allies and spokespeople of industrialists, investors and big capital. He put the mice in charge of caring for the cheese.�?

Whatever ultimately happens with Carimagua, much of the damage has already been done. In a country with the world’s second-largest displaced population, where land has been at the center of generations of violent disputes, the current government showed itself to be vastly more sensitive to the needs of large landholders than to those of poor, vulnerable, displaced families. (It remains to be seen what damage has been done to Andrés Felipe Arias’s political ambitions.)

“Taken together,�? wrote Colombian author and El Espectador columnist Alfredo Molano, “the agrarian policies of the last few governments have been, in practice, a drama in three acts. In the first act, the paramilitaries enter, chainsaws in hand, and displace the campesinos. In the second, the government negotiates with the paramilitaries, and in the final act, it distributes the lands to large investors.�?

http://www.cipcol.org/?p=541

By Desideria (Moderator) on Feb 24, 2008, 12:30 in Politics & the war.

sloopskipper says on Feb 24, 2008, 12:36:

WOW, that is so sad for those poor people. Surely somebody is geeting a little payback.

Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 24, 2008, 12:36:

Desplazados de Carimagua dicen que la tierra es buena

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 12:53:

Good to see that Noticias Uno is doing some serious reporting, talking to all sides of the issue (see interview to Uribito in the "march 6" thread).

Those who are so obsessed with the image of Colombia outside should know that THIS is not precisely helping. Where's the solidarity with these people?

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

podborski says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:08:

I've argued for decades that governments have no right to own land at all, so now the left is joining me?

Will wonders never cease....

Or is it only non-communist governments that should not own land?

Anyone see a little contradiction here? is the right to private property now a tenet of marxism?

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:11:

oy oy oy... the voices... ;)

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

podborski says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:12:

the poor children...

brilliant ripost by the way

podborski says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:23:

another question sr t since you seem to be in a mood to answer tonight,

ever had a paycheque in your adult life from anything other than a taxpayer funded institution?

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:31:

you're right about my mood.

And yes indeed. I worked in various private businesses, including a marketing research firm, before settling for academic work.

How about you? Have you ever worked full time in a non-for-profit (public or private)?

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:43:

Maybe you should get a Carelibro account Mr T. My students like that...
Even people from la nacho have one...

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 16:52:

I have one. But I'm aware that a lot of Colombians don't.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 17:03:

oh, I´d like to see what a comunist is doing in a market-economy-website!
May be I can send you an invitation to FESTIVUS !

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 17:06:

That's a telling comment.

BTW, you may be interested in joining the facebook group "UN MILLÓN DE VOCES CONTRA TODO TIPO DE TERRORISMO EN COLOMBIA!!!"

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

podborski says on Feb 24, 2008, 17:15:

honestly, I'm surprised sr, both that you'd answer and that you actually had a private employer.

as for me, I've worked for private employers since the age of 15, only time I had a gov't cheque was as a teaching assistant at Uni. That's where I learned my healthy disrespect for academics.

(oh wait, one more time I had a summer job with the local board of education, signing up companies to take on co op students.They used to get teachers on summer break to do it but decided to try students as the results from the teachers weren't so good. I signed up more companies in one day than the teachers did all summer. But of course, I actually worked, whereas the teachers played tennis.)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 17:35:

You´re proficient in the edit button Don Ramon aren´t ya?
Yes, I´m a member there.
I´m surprised you support FARC and their tacticts/strategies and promote that group

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 17:57:

Pod: You've got some competition here.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 18:06:

uh?

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

podborski says on Feb 24, 2008, 18:07:

not competition, it's called tag team, good thing 'cause I gotta go

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 18:13:

ha ha... tag team alright.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 18:15:

Me too. Fajitas break

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

sloopskipper says on Feb 24, 2008, 18:39:

FESTIVUS? another Seinfeld fan.

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 24, 2008, 19:14:

That and the soup nazi?
Brilliance!

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

juancegomez says on Feb 24, 2008, 19:17:

There's not much I can add about Carimagua, not at this time at least, without repeating myself or focusing on nitpicks.

There's only so many ways I can express my disagreement with Minister Arias and the government's position in general, or my agreement (and solidarity, to put it another way) with those who are calling for a change which may give some real benefit to the displaced.

If this (mini-?)scandal can accomplish at least one part of that change, then so be it.

Very nice Noticias Uno video and reporting though, btw. I didn't see the original airing, so my thanks go to Desi.

Medellin Traveler says on Feb 24, 2008, 20:12:

It's business as usual, all of Uribe's so-called efforts to bring "peace" to Colombia will be for not, if the people of Colombia choose to pick up arms again, and revolt, something they seem to have a long history of doing when they see no other option.

La Violenca II

Uribe is a lying hypocrite, who pardons his boys, and allows them to intergrate into "new business" in Colombia of convincing the rest of the world that Colombia is changing. But the truth is, the more things change, the more things stay the same. It's business as usual. How sad for Colombia and its people.

Medellin Es Una Chimba! - www.medellintraveler.com

BillBigD says on Feb 24, 2008, 22:32:

Well one thing that has changed is the violence in the cities. When I first went to Bogota in 2000 the hotels were very nervous if an American left the hotel. Now in traveling in Medellin, Cali etc I don't have any worries. That is change and a one for the better.

Robert Jorge says on Feb 24, 2008, 22:36:

Could somebody put a Google Earth link to where the area is in the Meta? The department is huge. I would be very interested in seeing the area being talked about in this post.

Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 24, 2008, 22:45:

I've said this before and I will say it again and keep on repeating myself untill I turn blue that the safest country is NOT the one with most protection but the one with least violence. Meaning that I don't consider a country SAFE if you need a military escort to go visit a beach resort on a holiday. The presence of the military is a PROOF that the country is unsafe. Thus, the security situation in Colombia is not that much better, it just LOOKS LIKE it. The statistics are good, but just for Bogotá, Medellin, perhaps a few spots on the coast where the peace has been kept by the brutal administrations of the PARAS, but the southwest is in turmoil and more dangerous than ever.

I guess I'm just dreaming, dreaming of a Colombia where the peasants would own their own land instead of working as jornaleros to huge agroindustrial companies, owned and run by the paraco friends of Mr. Uribe. It's the plantage economy over and over again...."why, the displaced families would just live amidst rastrojo and misery, while they could be earning wages working for the palm plantations" is the ultimate expresiion of cynicism of a president that sees the poor people of his country only as cheap labour and a ower life form. People that had been forced from their farms by the same paraco friends of his that are now palm oil enterpreuners. SHAME on Uribe, his minister of agricultur and his paraco connections.

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 22:57:

Well put, Desi.

RJ: The closest town is Puerto Gaitan. Here's the Google Maps link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGIC,GGIC:2006-50,GGIC:... gaitan, meta, colombia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

The total area assigned for 800 displaced families is (or was?) 17000 hectares, about 66 square miles.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

DodgerDogs says on Feb 24, 2008, 23:07:

Mary aka Desi, well said and very true. Colombia needs many more people with your courage and convictions for justice and truth. It is too bad most on this website, have never and will never travel to places ravished by the paras. If they did travel to these places and see the peoples everyday struggles , and see how they now live, then maybe Uribe would not be such a Ideal President in their eyes... The paras got Uribe elected the first and second time, through fear and acts of violence.. I have seen the police and militairy many times gas families ( woman and children ) just for making make shift houses on land.
These things make me cry inside and continue my critic of Uribe and his real agenda.
Colombia is a great place, and could be a even greater place without the fear of political backed para crimes.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

DodgerDogs says on Feb 24, 2008, 23:13:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

Sr Tertius says on Feb 24, 2008, 23:31:

If Uribito ever had a serious aspiration to be Uribe's successor, he can kiss that dream goodbye.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

DodgerDogs says on Feb 24, 2008, 23:44:

Medellin Traveler and other Medellin pbhers, If you care about Colombia for real
show up and March in March, no excuses as Date time and place listed.
March take pictures and post them here on PBH.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

Robert Jorge says on Feb 25, 2008, 00:09:

Sr. T, thankyou - but your link shows islands off of the western coast of Africa! Tomorrow, I'll have a lot of time off and I will search around to see where the land in question is. I am always very interested in the Meta. A lot of good people who have gone through a lot of bad shit live there. Not that that is unique in Colombia. If you had to estimate, is the land 100km west of Puerto Lopez (for example), 200km, etc???

Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 25, 2008, 00:32:

I wasn't able to get a map either, RJ. You can see the general area with GoogleEarth, type Puerto Gaitan, Meta, Colombia, but no detailed map. Anyway, it's in the Orinoquía , towards the Venezuelan border, northeast of Bogotá.

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sr Tertius says on Feb 25, 2008, 00:46:

Apparently Carimagua is near the Meta-Casanare border, 22k from Orocue.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

DodgerDogs says on Feb 25, 2008, 01:01:

This website will give you a detailed map( Just use the hand to make the area bigger and Carimagua will appear in detail.)
www.paesionline.com/south_america/colombia/map.asp -

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

tomtom33 says on Feb 25, 2008, 01:45:

All this stuff about peasants and land and sounds great. However, subsistence farming is probably only good for another couple of generations in Colombia. It has already died in the US.

Medellin Traveler says on Feb 25, 2008, 03:17:

tomtom-
I think it's making a comeback in the states with everyone wanting organic foods, and naturally raised and fed herd. In the past, it was just your typical health nut that sought out organic foods, but now it seems to be more in deman by "regular" folks, just like bottled water, everyone's drinking it nowadays.

Dodger Dog,
Sorry, wish I could attend the march, but I'm stuck in Chicago.

...

Medellin Es Una Chimba! - www.medellintraveler.com

podborski says on Feb 25, 2008, 04:25:

I agree with you completely desi, but what happened to your belief in socialism? you know, where no one (supposedly) owns anything, and "all property is theft"?

You know, the one that ends up with government owning everything, and no one gives a damn about the place they live in since they don't own it?

Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 25, 2008, 05:04:

Pod, I believe in social democracy and mixed economy. I've never said a was a communist... if that's what you are insinuating. Owning your own land is good, owning everybody else's land too is not.

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 25, 2008, 05:30:

http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/2008-02-25/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR...

It looks like CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) with headquarters in Palmira, Valle, was doing some studies in Caramagua and found the land usable for cultivation of yuca, beans and for pastures, but they had to stop their work there because the Government was not supporting their work.

It may well be that the CIAT, one of the hidden gems of scientific research will eventually be forced to leave the country, after half a century of presence and invaluable contributions to tropical agriculture in all Latin America, Africa and Asia.

http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/index.html

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

huskie says on Feb 25, 2008, 06:25:

Uribe cannot fix problems in eight years, even if he runs for another term, he will not fix all this problems, it may well take yet another 100 years for anybody to really address this very complex issues. How long has reforma agraria been in place? How long have the leftist groups been protesting about, displaced campesinos, land ownership, poverty, lack of education, war againt drugs and so forth? Communism is dead, but there those who still think that the solution lies in being communist and/or revolutionaries, instead of allowing foreing investments which will result in creating jobs, so more people can afford to put their kids to school and thereby, Colombia can come out of the sorry state it has been for a long time. In my view, Uribe has been a great leader, he has shown his interest in the betterment of Colombia, he has tried very hard to end with the violence that has ravaged the Country for soo long and he has shown, in my mind, that he grew up with a very specific goal and that was to end with guerillas, narcos and the like. He has been doing his job, a very tough one, and a job that so many in the history of Colombia have not been able to achieve. Talk is cheap, but there is a very high price to pay when Uribe tells it like it is. Communism is dead!
Wake up and smell the coffee. Farc the Farc and the rest of infidels.( IMHO)
Cheers

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds-"

huskie says on Feb 25, 2008, 06:53:

I urge to take a look at "A Natural disaster wrought by drug trade" by sloopskipper
Cheers

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds-"

podborski says on Feb 25, 2008, 09:48:

no I wasn't implying anything desi, I just don't get this belief in a 'mixed' economy?

Is private property good? Or only for some people, some of the time? Who decides who is allowed to own property and who isn't? I assume some central authority? Woudn't that be just what Uribe has set up?

Or are you saying all people, rich and poor, should have an equal right to own property? Meaning big business owners too of course...

droble77 says on Feb 25, 2008, 10:29:

I usually avoid political discussions partly because I don't know enough but also because I don't live in Colombia and am not Colombian. But this is an interesting topic, couldn't resist. . . ;-)

Giving some of this land to the campesinos may be inefficient capitalism, there's no denying that, but if these people are willing to go back to the kind of life they had before, and as long as they don't grow coca, well what's so wrong with that?. . . but it's up to the Colombian politicians to figure out what kind of society they want.

So you can sell that land to the "highest bidder" but then don't be surprised as the displaced poor continue to pile up in the south of Bogota and up the estrato zeros of Cali, Medellin, etc. etc. What exactly will these people do? What economic role can they play in a dense urban environment? Selling chiclets in the busetas? Petty crime? Given their lack of education, I seriously doubt these campesinos can have a significant economic role in an urban setting unless there's some kind of investment in these people one way or the other.

I know Uribe has done a lot of positive for Colombia, paraco or no, but sooner or later, the Colombian elite are going to have to keep innovating and evolving if they're serious about continuing the improvement the country's been experiencing in the past several years. IMHO, neutralizing the FARC is just Step 1 and Step 2 is not that far off if the political will and the cojones are there for it. . .

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 25, 2008, 10:55:

Excellent droble77

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

juancegomez says on Feb 25, 2008, 12:08:

I agree with Desi's general perception in one key aspect: a truly safe country (as in less violent) wouldn't need so many military and policemen (protection) in so many places.

We probably would still need, however, higher numbers of police officers per capita in many large cities. Especially so during any kind of transition period, I might add.

But the overall number of armed security personnel, both public and private, would definitely be way down, and their presence would be less obvious or occasionally overwhelming if violence per se was truly a thing of the past and we were building a truly safe society. That's something I can definitely agree with.

On the other hand, I have to disagree, at least partially, with one thing: a big landowner, a government official or a corporation can treat poor or displaced people like crap without needing to be related to the paramilitaries.

It's not just a matter of those who are "paracos" or "paraco friends", real or imagined.

Those that *are* connected to the paracos, of course, might well be more inclined to do so, to say the least, but it's not a requirement to have such connections in the first place.

It's difficult to draw the line in the real world, and I'm not pretending that *I* can, but the point is that it exists. Implicitly labelling everyone "paracos", while understandable in light of the horrible conditions that their victims and many others have to face in the midst of poor government attention if not outright complicity, may be going a bit too far in several cases, even if those involved are wrong, still greedy criminals or simply poor excuses for human beings.

Medellin Traveler:

"It's business as usual, all of Uribe's so-called efforts to bring "peace" to Colombia will be for not, if the people of Colombia choose to pick up arms again, and revolt, something they seem to have a long history of doing when they see no other option."

Rather than that, I would say when complex circumstances lead to it.

"La Violencia", now that you've brought it up, wasn't something generated just because people saw "no other option" and decided to "revolt". Just like that.

It was, at least in a large part, motivated by previous bipartisan, regional, land-related or even personal confrontations, in addition to a specific murder we all know (or should) which served as a key trigger.

Not to mention the specific strategies and decisions made by the Liberal, Conservative and, last but not necessarily least, Communist parties as far as providing weaponry, training or ideological and political formation and support is concerned. If any or even all of those parties had adopted very different positions, the violence could have been reduced or even prevented altogether, at least as we now know it. And that's just one set of factors.

So I don't think this is all a matter of "business as usual", whether for better or for worse. I don't think history is cyclical either, for what it's worth. It may seem to be, but only on the surface.

In fact, I do think that many things do change, even if their importance is not immediately obvious in the midst of those things that don't.

In the particular case of the here and now, under Uribe for the time being, that also applies. Some things are better, others are worse, and others are still the same, at least for now...but we can't predict the future.

podborski says on Feb 25, 2008, 17:05:

I don't think giving the campesinos some land would be 'inefficient capitalism' at all, I think it could work brilliantly, and at very least it would be more just than having some central authority control the land and/or divvy it out to their friends and family.

In fact I think the single biggest problem in developing countries is that governments refuse to give up their vast land holdings to private individuals, who would make far better use of it, and would probably be less desperate ad less prone to violence.

But I find it intriguing that the socialist leaning PBHrs are up in arms about government misusing authority, when their preferred form of government is one that centralizes power to an even greater degree.

Sr Tertius says on Feb 26, 2008, 11:48:

"when their preferred form of government is one that centralizes power to an even greater degree"

hmm... interesting... and what else does your microwave oven tells you? does it use an angry tone...? I see...

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

podborski says on Feb 26, 2008, 16:10:

hey I'm not always referring to you sr t, take it easy.

Anyway I know your fave website is that panamanian anarchist one, so you might just be the only thing worse than a communist.

Sr Tertius says on Feb 26, 2008, 19:49:

I'm just teasing, but you certainly don't help yourself. Or is it some other appliance that tells you about my preferences?

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

jorgegdiaz says on Feb 28, 2008, 10:25:

Does he ever get tired of writing non-sense?

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.