Several communities of the Bajo Simacota region are involved in a collective reparations process, since they all were victims of the internal armed conflict.

Twenty-seven years ago, 12 members of a legal commission in La Rochela (Santander department) were massacred while they were investigating a series of killing and disappearances occurred in the municipality, Cimitarra, and Puerto Parra.

The massacre of La Rochela affected this rich area, known for its cattle industry, cocoa, and palm crops. Development projects were stopped and inhabitants had to displaced and stigmatized. Today, La Rochela is changing. ‘It’s a quiet place, its people returned, joined efforts to work, and understood the collective reparation process from which we all have benefited,’ said Héctor Pinzón Bayona, a victim who participates in a strategy called ‘Entrelazando’.

In 2014, the Victims Unit included the region of Bajo Simacota as a group subject to collective reparations. Up to 36 paths benefit from the collective reparation plan, and received resources to implement measures such as the refurbishment of the health center of Puerto Nuevo, building of a police post, installation of cell towers, the delivery of military documents –which are compulsory in Colombia- for young victims, and the provisioning of several schools, among others.