Despite the agreement reached by the Senate and the House of Representatives regarding the executive’s proposal for the new National Development Plan (PND), it seems that the controversy surrounding this discussion has not ended.
He Conservative Party announced during the plenary session of the Senate held on Friday May 5th their intentions to file a claim with the Constitutional court about him article 61 of this project, approved in the early hours of the morning.
The president of the party Efrain Cepedapointed out from Congress that in said article there is a “figure of expropriation that will endanger the private property in the rural countryside of the Colombians that we have defended in the party.”
According to the text approved by Congress in the last few hours, the article establishes ways and mechanisms to “facilitate and streamline the processes of land by voluntary offer.”
Cepeda expressed his concern because several additions were made in the final document that both chambers approved. In particular, during his speech, he referred to an aspect of point five of said article, which explains how the processes of identification, prioritization and purchase of land will be to implement the rural reform that the Petro government had promised to carry out. during the presidential campaign:
“In those cases in which the owners do not proceed with the sale, the National Land Agency will advance the analysis of the economic exploitation of the property, requiring its owner for a single time, to proceed with the alienation of those areas that do not are under economic use and that exceed the extension of the UAF. When the owner does not agree to the alienation, the ANT will apply the agrarian procedures to which there is a place “
For the party leader, this represents a figure of expropriation, and that is why they will ask the Court to “examine with a magnifying glass” what was embodied in the document:
“That the Constitutional Court examine with a magnifying glass this article 55 turned into 61 because, it seems to me, that here is a figure of expropriation that will endanger the private property in the rural countryside of the Colombians that we have defended in the Colombian Conservative Party”
As Efraín Cepeda pointed out, during the debates in both chambers of the PND, what is now called article 61 used to be number 55. And from the beginning it generated strong resistance among the parties opposed to the Petro government, who stated that this would allow for processes of “ express expropriation” to the lands whose owners do not answer for them.
Dove Valenciaof the Democratic Center, was one of the first to pronounce on this point. According to the senator, the article was proposed by the Historical Pact and endorsed by Jennifer Mojicarecently installed by President Petro as agriculture minister instead of Cecilia Lopez. According to the proposal of the representative Jorge Bastidas, of the Historical Pact, the ANT would proceed to acquire fertile land through direct negotiation.
Specifically, the subparagraph explained that, if this agreement were to be exhausted with the owner of the land to be acquired, “it may declare the property as of public utility for the comprehensive rural reform.” Said prior negotiation lasted ten calendar days from the notification sent to the owner by the State.
In the midst of the debate before the plenary sessions, the head of the rural ministry herself denied the opposition’s statement and mentioned that, within her first tasks, they included reviewing the PND and the proposals related to the implementation of the Comprehensive Rural Reform.
