Colombia gives $1m to victims of conflict

President Alvaro Uribe presided at a ceremony yesterday to deliver reparations totaling nearly $1 million for 279 victims of Colombia’s long-running conflict.
It was the second disbursement from $100 million that his government has earmarked this year for 10,000 survivors of crimes by leftist rebels and far-right death squads known as “paramilitaries,’’ both of which have been fed by drug trafficking.

Some 240,000 people have registered since the law facilitating the payments took effect in August. Victims of state security forces are not eligible for any of the estimated $3.3 billion that the government says it expects to pay out over the coming decade.

Uribe acknowledged that the payments - the highest amount per victim or family is about $9,150 - can’t compensate for the loss of a loved one. 
 
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