The project of land restitution in Colombia: an illustration of the civilizing force of hypocrisy?

This article offers a theoretical interpretation of the dispositions on land restitution contained in the famous “Victims’ Bill”, which was debated in the Colombian Congress during the year 2008. The bill included specific mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the restitution of land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict. At the time, the bill was endorsed by all the main political actors in the country –notably the government and the elites that support it, on the one hand, and victims’ and human rights organizations and other opposition groups, on the other–. The fact that the restitution of land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict was being considered as a serious possibility by all political actors in the country seemed to indicate the existence of a consensus among actors whose positions are ordinarily opposed, on an issue that has traditionally led to high levels of polarization. This consensus is quite puzzling, because it seems to be at odds with the interests and/or the conceptions of justice advocated by these political actors, and because the restitution of land faces enormous difficulties both from a factual and a normative point of view, which indicates that it may not necessarily be the best alternative for dealing with the issue of land distribution in Colombia. This article offers an interpretation of said consensus, arguing that it is only an apparent consensus in which the actors are actually misrepresenting their interests and conceptions of justice, while at the same time adopting divergent strategies of implementation aimed at fulfilling their true interests. Nevertheless, the article concludes that the common adherence by all actors to the principle of restorative justice might bring about its actual realization, and thus produce an outcome that, in spite (and perhaps even because) of being unintended, might substantively contribute to solving the problem of unequal land distribution in Colombia. Even though the article focuses in some detail on the specificities of the 2008 Bill, it attempts to make a general argument about the state of the discussion on how to deal with the issue of land distribution in the country. Consequently, it may still be relevant today, especially considering that a new Bill on land restitution is currently being discussed in Congress, which includes the same restitution goals as the Victims’ Bill and many of its procedural and substantive details, and which therefore seems to reflect a similar consensus to the one analyzed in the article.

El presente artículo ofrece una interpretación teórica acerca de las disposiciones sobre restitución de tierras contenidas en la famosa “Ley de Víctimas”, la cual fue debatida en el Congreso colombiano en el año 2008. El proyecto de ley preveía mecanismos específicos encaminados a garantizar la restitución de tierras a las víctimas del conflicto armado colombiano. En su momento, el proyecto de ley fue respaldado por los principales actores políticos del país, incluyendo el gobierno y las élites que lo apoyaban, por un lado, y las organizaciones de víctimas y de derechos humanos y los grupos de oposición, por el otro. El hecho de que todos los actores políticos del país estuviesen considerando seriamente la posibilidad de restituir las tierras a las víctimas del conflicto armado colombiano parecía indicar la existencia de un consenso entre actores políticos cuyas posiciones normalmente están enfrentadas, sobre un tema que tradicionalmente ha generado altos niveles de polarización. Le existencia de dicho consenso es desconcertante porque no parece corresponder ni a los intereses ni a la visión de justicia de dichos actores políticos, y además porque la restitución de tierras enfrenta enormes dificultades tanto prácticas como normativas, lo que indica que posiblemente no sea la mejor alternativa para enfrentar la problemática de distribución de tierras en Colombia. El artículo concluye que el respaldo dado por todos los actores al principio de justicia restaurativa podría llevar a su efectiva realización, y consiguientemente generar un resultado que a pesar de (o quizás por) no ser intencional, podría contribuir sustancialmente a resolver el problema de la desigual distribución de tierras en Colombia