By Sabrina Martin
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has taken a new step to be even more like the late Hugo Chávez: despite having affirmed in his presidential campaign that he would not promote expropriations, this week he ordered the application of a law that would allow expropriations to be carried out in that country.
The director of the National Risk Management Unit, Javier Prava, was in charge of announcing that by order of Petro, Law 1523 would be applied, which would allow the expropriation of properties to supposedly attend to the emergency caused by the winter wave.
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Prava explained that the objective would be to acquire land that allows the immediate relocation of affected families. “On the subject of property acquisition, 74 talks about the procedure that may be required, and 75 talks about expropriation through administrative means when it is required,” added the official.
The truth is that, during his electoral campaign, Petro contradicted himself on the issue of expropriation. First, he favored the forced purchase of what he considered “unproductive land,” and then he decided to deny it by signing a document before a notary.
He would be violating his commitment by giving the green light to the winter “emergency” expropriations.
It must be remembered that, in April of this year, when he was a candidate, Petro signed “under the gravity of oath,” a document in which he guaranteed respect for private property.
“I forcefully sign that my transformation proposal for this country is not based on or includes any type of expropriation within deep respect for the Constitution and the law,” he told the media before filing the document.
The reactions to the new announcement did not wait. Senator María Fernanda Cabal said that it is a “shame to see the level of falsehood” of the Colombian president.
For his part, the lawyer Enrique Gómez, national director of the National Salvation Movement, considers that the expropriation due to the winter wave is an excuse for Petro to appropriate land.
“It is known that this will be at all costs keeping what does not belong to them, particularly productive land. Whether it is winter or if necessary, they invent an alien invasion, but expropriation is the blood of the socialists”, he said.
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Although in April Petro signed the commitment before the notary, on April 25 at a rally in Sogamoso, Petro questioned: “Why does a milkman or milkmaid have to be content with putting the fruit of the udder in a canteen and selling it to a speculator, when that peasant, milkman, and milkmaid, could be the owners of the pasteurizer?”
The message of this speech seemed to insinuate that he favored expropriating the industry to give it to the peasants.
In August, Petro again referred to the expropriations: “What we have proposed is: the State puts in a billion (Colombian pesos), but the owners of 80% of La Mojana (Colombian region), which are 10%, put, pay the valuation on land. That would imply that at least 30% of that land today in their possession goes to the State,” said the Colombian president at a rally in the La Mojana region.
We must also remember some statements by the Minister of Agriculture of Petro, Cecilia López, who assured that she would label the land that is “unproductive” and the one that is not and will give its owners different options in an eventual expropriation.
The minister herself threatened in the Colombian Parliament: “Either they become productive (the farmers) so that they can pay the multipurpose cadastre (a tax) or the State buys them (the land).”
With information from La Gaceta