The Santa Helena farm, located in the La Palma village of San Alberto, Cesar, was acquired by the National Land Agency (ANT) and delivered to 32 families of the National Association of Peasant Users of Colombia (Anuc) as part of the Agrarian Reform of the National Government.
The farm is made up of three properties: Santa Helena, La Pradera and San Luis, which together measure 335.8 hectares for the farmers to plant food. The ANT bought it from the Sociedad de Activos Especiales (SAE).
The property entered the process of forfeiture of ownership because it belonged to Jeovany Pedraza Peña, designated at the time as head of finances of the Mojana Block of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and brother of Éder Pedraza Peña, alias Ramón Mojana, former commander of that paramilitary stronghold. .
The delivery ceremony was attended by about 100 people who witnessed this new action of the Agrarian Reform, one of the policies of the current Government.
Felipe Harman, director of the ANT, emphasized the importance of fulfilling commitments: “The institutions that crowed lies every moment have to end. Here we have to be serious with commitments. Here at some point they said: ‘The thing about San Alberto is very complicated.’ “I made a commitment and here I am honoring it.”
He said that San Alberto is a municipality located in the south of Cesar that suffered guerrilla and paramilitary violence years ago, so now the Agrarian Reform aims to continue sowing peace and hope in the region.
Ignacia Lozano, 76 years old, displaced by violence, is one of the beneficiaries of the Santa Helena farm: “We came here to San Alberto to live in 2003, because on the farm where we were they began to take reprisals. They always came at night, pushed the doors, knocked them down. Out of fear we had to leave. I would like to have a field where I could have my animals, plant a crop; I was in the countryside all my life. My dream is finally coming true. That (the delivery of these lands) was the news that I waited for every day. “I thank the Lord because at least this time he brought us a president who was worth it.”
On the day, the national government handed over nearly 6,000 hectares of land to rural communities in 11 municipalities of the country. In Cesar there were 1,510.8 hectares distributed in Pailitas, San Alberto and Chimichagua.
