A group of 63 families (213 persons) of the El Salado community in
northern Colombia are this week busy rebuilding their lives with
new income generating initiatives after obtaining government
support for the purchase of two farms totaling 320 hectares of
land.

IOM worked with its partners – USAID, the National
Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, Acción Social,
the government agency charged with fighting poverty, Coltabaco, the
Colombian Tobacco Company and the Semana Foundation, a Colombian
NGO – as well as the community to develop the proposal
presented to the central government for the purchase of the
land.

IOM also provided technical support and input to the
participating families in the design of the income generating
projects, which include cocoa, tobacco, melon, corn, and cassava
farms.

More than USD 3 million will be invested by the participating
organizations and the Colombian government.

El Salado made the world's headlines when on 16 February of 2000
a group of some 450 armed combatants of the United Self-Defense
Group of Colombia invaded the community and went on a murderous
rampage that left more than 60 persons dead over the five-day
terror spree.  Massive displacement of its residents followed,
from which El Salado has not recovered yet.

The participating families, who now earn less than USD 260 per
month, will increase their earnings to approximately USD 500 per
month and will receive yearly profits on the sale of their
crops.

Marcelo Pisani, Head of the IOM Mission in Colombia, says, "Once
again we see the commitment of the Colombian government with the
communities that experienced violence and have since suffered from
the lack of social and economic development.  This initiative
shows that by working together, communities can achieve big
goals.  IOM remains committed to continue working with
communities that have suffered similar experiences in the design of
projects that can be executed with support from the international
community, the private sector and the government."

Last September, IOM and the Ministry of Agriculture signed a
cooperation agreement which also includes technical assistance for:
the drafting of a national plan for Land Restitution; the creation
of a National Land System; a programme for formalizing rural land
ownership; support for the formulation, management and execution of
the Land Law; and the creation of rural development programmes and
institutional strengthening of entities in the agricultural
sector.

More than three million Colombians have been displaced leaving
behind their homes and land.  Through its rural development
policy, the Colombian government hopes to hand back some two
million hectares to the victims of violence.

For more information, please contact:

Jorge Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: +57 1 639 7777

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@iom.int">jgallo@iom.int