Colombians Are Uniting around Land Reform. Here’s Why.

Oct 20, 2021 | Peter Coy
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During Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Colombia this week, the issue of land reform will be high on the agenda. Farmers’ lack of title to their land in much of rural Colombia is an important if invisible contributor to two of the country’s biggest problems: illegal cultivation of coca, the source of cocaine, and the enduring strength of guerrilla movements, including the remains of FARC, the deadly Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. The government promised “comprehensive rural reform” in the first chapter of its final peace accord with FARC in 2016 — but there’s a way to go before it can claim to have made good on that promise. Progress is being made, although gradually. The government of President Iván Duque is committed to increasing the share of rural Colombians who own the plots of land they live on — and, critically, who can document their ownership. According to the website of Tierra en Paz, or the Land in Peace project, it’s estimated that up to 60 percent of rural land in Colombia isn’t titled.