Antioquia, 03/04/2021
· This delivery is part of the consolidation strategy of the Former Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation – aETCR (from its original Spanish language initials: Antiguos Espacios Territoriales de Capacitación y Reincorporación) managing access to land for ex-combatants. Albeit this was not provided in the Final Agreement, it has become a priority for President Iván Duque's policy of Peace with Legality.
· To date, the Government has allocated COP $ 16 billion for the purchase of 19 territories in order to move towards the consolidation of the 24 AETCR – where 2,626 former combatants and their families live.
The National Government, through the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), officially delivered the deeds of the Becuarandó and El Porvenir properties, located in the municipality of Mutatá (Antioquia), to 63 ex-combatants and their families who are advancing their reincorporation process.
Since its arrival in Mutatá, the National Government designed a service route that began with a lease with purchase option for the Becuarandó and El Porvenir properties (132 and 5 hectares in size, respectively). The properties were subsequently acquired by the Nation through a direct purchase process, after the approval issued by the National Land Agency (ANT) and the ARN.
ARN Director General Andrés Stapper Segrera pointed out thus: “the national government continues to comply with the agreement for the consolidation of the territories, to strengthen the roots of the people who make their transition towards legality, with their own spaces to establish their homes definitively and to develop their productive projects".
Concomitantly, the feasibility studies of the properties have already been processed, and the public process of choosing the technical management that will be in charge of the construction of the definitive housing solutions has begun. This task has been led by the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory, and that has the support of the Antioquia Housing and Infrastructure Company – VIVA (from its original Spanish language initials: Empresa de Vivienda e Infraestructura de Antioquia).
“The case of Mutatá is emblematic. It has become a transcendental milestone for the route of reincorporation in the country, its 123 people – including ex-combatants and their families – arrived in mid-2020 from former ETCR Santa Lucía, in the municipality of Ituango, after a concerted transfer process that had the support of national and regional authorities. The progress is evident less than a year later" – highlighted Stapper.
With these two properties, Antioquia amounts to 7 territories acquired by the National Government to deliver definitive housing solutions to people transitioning to legality.
Becuarandó and El Porvenir, in Antioquia properties thus join the group formed by the property located in the department of Guaviare, where former ETCR Las Colinas is located, as well as another property in the municipality of Icononzo, Tolima, where the former ETCR La Fila is located; a property in Dabeiba, Antioquia, where the former ETCR Llano Grande is located; the sixth former ETCR is 'El Estrecho', in the municipality of El Patía, Cauca, and the seventh property is located in Arauca, where the former ETCR Filipinas will be consolidated. The latter was directly managed by the FARC component.
ARN will continue to advance in this strategy this year, and to do so ARN will move forward with the acquisition of more properties. To date, the Government has allocated COP $ 16 billion for the purchase of 19 territories in order to move towards the consolidation of the 24 former ETCRs, where more than 2,591 ex-combatants and their families live.
“Decent housing is a right, and the Government will continue to meet to people in the process of reintegration with this and all issues related to the peace policy with Legality" said Stapper .
Data of Interest
· There are 13,119 Farc-Ep ex-combatants in the process of reincorporation, of which 1,353 reside in Antioquia. The latter is the second department with the most ex-combatants in the country.
· 63 ex-combatants (40 men and 23 women) live at Mutatá former ETCR, of which 100% are affiliated to the Comprehensive Social Security and Healthcare system, whilst 96% of them are affiliated to the pensions fund.