Over 460,000 acres were stolen through forgery and violence in the central Colombian department of Meta, according to a government report obtained by Caracol Radio.
The report shows that while 30% of the land was appropriated by violent evictions of rural communities, 70% was state land obtained through fraud.
According to Caracol Radio, most of the land was stolen through the use of false certificates of usage and of boundaries and through fake resolutions from Colombia’s Institute of Rural Development (Incoder).
In some cases the listed landowners had no more than photocopies of false certificates of ownership, which were later authenticated by Incoder.
The report lists several companies, including Agroindustrial San Miguel S.A, Sociedad Agropecuaria Villa Diana Limitada and Fundacion Libertad, as the beneficiaries of the land thefts.
The report has reportedly been passed to President Juan Manuel Santos and is currently in the hands of investigators.
