In the first public hearing that debated the ethnic chapter in the Peace Accords, in Valledupar, the director of the Victims Unit affirmed that $ 40 billion are needed to respond to all victims.

The director of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, said in the capital of Cesar, that for his entity it is crucial to move forward on the issue of reparations. "We have 628 subjects of collective reparation, at this moment, in the whole country and we want to advance in this task: We do not want to generate more expectations for those who were excluded for any circumstance", he noted.

In his opinion, "the reparation and attention to victims is done with resources". "I have manifested it in all the media and you have heard me that we need more than 40 billion pesos. It will be very difficult to obtain these resources, but we are making many savings efforts", he said.

The Director of Unit insisted before the representatives of ethnic communities present in the hearing, in the country hotel Villa Ocha, that "we cannot do extensive and open processes of collective reparation if we do not have a budget".

Rodríguez highlighted the joint work that the victims and the Institutionalism have been developing as happened with the procedure and approval of the National Development Plan. "We have to continue working in this way to be able to get the extension of the Victims Law with important resources", he warned.

(Fin / ama / lmy)