On the second day of the “Great dialogue with the victims in times of Covid 19”, the 23 delegates of the Departmental Table of Victims of Arauca, representing 151.080 survivors of conflict in the region, met with the director general of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, the deputy director, Lorena Mesa, and five missionary directors of the entity with the aim of discussing the needs and concerns of this population during the pandemic.
In this Great Dialogue held between the 32 Departmental Tables and the Unit in the country, the issue of compensation payments during this period of pandemic is the one that they have expressed the greatest concern, and the Arauca Board has not been the exception.
In this regard, the general director of the Victims Unit, emphasized that the entity has not stopped in its intention to compensate 127.000 victims this year, and that so far in 2020 around 62.000 have been compensated people in the country, of which more than 61.000 have been obtained since March 17 when the President of the Republic decreed a State of Economic and Social Emergency due to COVID-19, for a value that already exceeds $473.001.063.836.
“In Arauca, as of June 20, 2020, we have already recognized 610 indemnities for a value that exceeds $ 4.845.791.553, of which 220 indemnities benefited people with disabilities for an amount of 1.700 million”. added Enrique Ardila, director of Repair of the Unit.
Ardila also clarified that in the collective reparation component, in Arauca there are seven subjects of collective reparation, between ethnic and non-ethnic organizations, the majority in the Arauca capital and in Tame.
As this department is a region so badly battered by the actions of paramilitary groups and guerrillas, the Unit cleared doubts about the destination of the economic resources obtained with the delivery of the goods delivered by Vencedores of Arauca block and the FARC.
According to Ardila, “of the 61 goods delivered by Vencedores Block, some have been monetized, money that has been paid for by a judgment since 2017. As for the Farc’s assets, these will enter already monetized, that is, that the money obtained proceeds from their sale will be invested in the payment of repairs coleactives. Likewise, a sentence of the Orlando Villa Zapata postulate has been paid since 2017 for 23,000 million pesos, which corresponds to judicial compensation.
Another topic of interest for the delegates of the Board was related to the delivery of humanitarian aid, for which Héctor Gabriel Camelo, head of the Directorate of Social and Humanitarian Management, assured that in the period from March 17 to 19 In June 2020, Immediate Humanitarian Aid deliveries were made in subsidiary support to territorial entities through the money amounts mechanism to 43 municipalities in 14 departments with 294 households for an amount of $ 332.919.952.
And he added that regarding the department, the Unit delivered humanitarian aid, through the aid money mechanism, to 61 households for a value of $ 68.446.669, established in Arauca, Arauquita, Fortul, Saravena and Tame; In addition, it carried out 3.860 humanitarian care orders worth $ 2.404.499.000.
In the subject of participation, Aura Helena Acevedo, director of the Directorate of Interinstitutional Management stated that with the support of the Unit, on June 17 the Departmental Table of Victims met with the National Planning Department in order to expose their needs; She also assured that the entity filed seven offices corresponding to legal entities on issues of development plans and trained all legal representatives in some fundamental aspects of public policy for victims, essential for the accompaniment of the technical secretariats of the victim participation tables.
In ethnic matters, “in Arauca the ‘Livelihoods’ project will begin with Palma Real indigenous community and the process of collective reparation of three indigenous peoples, including the Makaguán and Awá, has begun, in addition to working with local authorities and departmental so that in the development plans and in the Territorial Action Plans (PAT) they include the ethnic issue”, said Luz Patricia Corres, head of the Unit’s Technical Directorate for Ethnic Affairs.
At the end of this remote session, the victims expressed their agreement with the experience. “We thank for this first virtual meeting in history and we hope to continue with the dialogue to express the needs of all the victims, and with the expectation of fulfilling the commitments that remain in the minutes”, Nini Johana Cardozo, victim of forced displacement.
For her part, the territorial director of Norte de Arauca and Norte de Santander, Alicia María Rojas, stated: “It was an important space that had never been done, which allows us to have closer, more fluid communication, than in times of pandemic, where we should be further apart brought us much closer”.
(End/EGG/CMC)
