Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos joined thousands of protesters in the northwest of Colombia Saturday demanding the return of lands stolen by illegal armed groups.
The march, held in the neo-paramilitary stronghold of Uraba, drew according to official figures more than 20,000 people from the departments of Antioquia and Cordoba.
Hundreds of police and army troops had arrived in the Uraba region in the week leading up to the march to guarantee the safety of those demanding their lands back.
Speaking before a crowd of thousands, Santos vowed to enforce a law regulating the compensation of victims of Colombia’s armed conflict and the return of land to displaced farmers and defend its effective implentation against “whatever enemy.”
The victims Law is facing violent resistance by illegal armed groups that emerged from the AUC, a paramilitary organization that displaced hundreds of thousands of Colombians.
