Peasants from the municipality of Astrea reported that they were displaced by armed men who arrived at the La Esmeralda farm, whose property was awarded by the National Land Agency, after the purchase from the owner as part of the Agrarian Reform.
The formal handover was on March 5 and two days later the unknown subjects, apparently also peasants, broke in during the night of Thursday, March 7 and early on the 8th.
The peasant leader Ronald Nieves recounted what the events were like. “When we were sleeping we were interrupted by the armed men, asking for the leader. I was able to go out with my family and take refuge in the pastures for hours. We were lost because I don’t know the area until 3:00 in the morning when we were rescued by other companions. ”.
He also described that the other peasant leaders of these 99 families received death threats and it was total anxiety until they were forced to leave the farm.
“They said they had to evacuate and many left for the town of Arjona where they are from, and remembered the past. They are peaceful people who want the land to cultivate and produce, not for acts of violence. This makes us sad because they are peasants attacking other peasants even more so when we are in a government that we have to organize and manage before the National Land Agency to be benefited through this program that is the Agrarian Reform,” Nieves expressed.
Currently, the farmers are in the field of the Arjona district, where they have set up tents, hammocks, and stoves to remain until there is an intervention from the State.
The National Land Agency issued a statement to the public, in which it indicated that it rejects the invasion that occurred on said properties.
“On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, as part of the procedure for access to land for peasants in the agrarian reform of the Government of Change, the National Land Agency provisionally handed over six properties to the Association of Displaced and Vulnerable Peasants. of Astrea, Cesar, and a record of material receipt was signed,” it reads.
They added that the ANT will not allow land seizures by de facto means. Those who do not meet the requirements and occupy land will be evicted through legal procedures.
