Cargill may have broken law over Colombia land buying -Oxfam

[Judi Lynn]

5. Multinational grabs Colombia land through loophole in property laws: Oxfam report

Multinational grabs Colombia land through loophole in property laws: Oxfam report
posted by Steven Cohen
Sep 28, 2013

Cargill International, the world’s largest agricultural commodities trader, used a network of shell corporations to take advantage of a program the Colombian government initiated to provide land-rights access to small-scale agro-producers, according to a report released Thursday by the Oxfam International human rights and poverty development group.

The report implies that Cargill may be in violation of Act 160, the law establishing Colombia’s system of land redistribution, in which government lands, baldios, are sold at reduced prices to small-scale farming families. Included in the law are a series of regulations, delineating who can utilize the program, and how much land any one individual purchaser can acquire.

Oxfam does not settle the legal question definitively, but regardless of whether Cargill Intl. is guilt of any crime, the company’s actions, as laid out in the report, are in clear and direct violation of the law’s original intent.

With over 80% of land in the hands of 14% of landowners, Colombia has one of the most skewed distribution of land ownership in the world, a legacy of its traditionally aristocratic social structure.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/worlds-largest-land-trader-circumvents-colombias-property-laws-oxfam-intl-report/