A new government agency will be ready by the end of November to defend the Colombian state against lawsuits adding up to over $55.9 billion, Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras announced Thursday.
“The law of extraordinary powers has created an agency to defend the judicial interests of the nation,” Vargas Lleras said, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
The extraordinary powers law granted the Colombian executive branch the power for six months to divide and restructure ministries and state agencies. In July, President Juan Manuel Santos split the Interior and Justice Ministry into two separate entities.
Vargas Lleras explained that the new agency “will be created under the Ministry of Justice and will attend to the defense of the nation against lawsuits.”
According to Vargas Lleras, Colombia is facing lawsuits for claims of over $55.9 billion.
Already, Colombia has had to pay over $24 million in damages for only 11 cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
