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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Wed Dec 10, 2014, 05:10 PM Dec 2014

16 businessmen sentenced to prison for paramilitary ties

16 businessmen sentenced to prison for paramilitary ties
Dec 10, 2014 posted by Piotr Wojciak

A Medellin court sentenced 16 businessmen behind a large palm oil project in western Colombia to prison for using paramilitary groups to illegally obtain territory for their businesses.

The agricultural mega project seeking to turn the lower Atrato river region into the most extensive area for cultivation of palm oil in Colombia was a sweeping criminal scheme orchestrated by the paramilitary apparatus, announced the Medellin judge earlier this year.

Traces of broader conspiracy are all over the case. Among the most resounding names from the paramilitary elite circles to drop during the trial were the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) founder Vicente Castaño, his step-sister Sor Teresa Gomez and ex-councilman Remberto Manuel Alvarez.

Moreover, the case which found its finale on October 30 involved a plethora of palm-cultivating companies such as Urapalma S.A., Pamlas de Curvarado SA, and Palmura SA in cooperation with the paramilitary warmongers.

~snip~

Besides prison sentences, the judge ordered various agencies, including the Colombian territorial agency Incoder to carry out works aimed at returning of the lands in the Jiguamiando and Curvarado regions, where the palm oil projects were developed, to their rightful owners – the Afro-Colombian communities who were displaced by the paramilitaries.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/16-businessmen-sentenced-jail-criminal-associations-paramilitaries/

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