The National Confederation of Communal Action is part of the Board of Agrarian Unity, which comprises Colombian groups that demand land for those who need it and oppose the presence of transnational corporations that promote monoculture plantations and large estates in the countryside.

Julio Armando said that different organizations have carried out protest actions and demonstrations that would lead to a national strike in Colombia scheduled for March of this year to demand a policy that will favor the peasant population, family, indigenous and peasant farming in particular, as the main food supplier for the population.

Santos administration talks about rural “development” as comprising palm oil monoculture plantations and other raw materials for agrofuel production. “So we don’t talk about development but we talk about agrarian reform instead”, he said.

Julio also mentioned the allies and demonstration mechanisms they have foreseen in their demand for land and rural development.

The Board of Agrarian Unity has coordinated a bill on the agrarian reform that goes beyond the demand for land to include other aspects of the rural communities’ rights in alliance with urban groups of Colombia.