"16 businessmen sentenced to prison for paramilitary ties", 10 Dec 2014

A Medellin court sentenced 16 businessmen behind a large palm oil project in western Colombia to prison for using paramilitary groups to illegally obtain territory for their businesses.The agricultural mega project seeking to turn the lower Atrato river region into the most extensive area for cultivation of palm oil in Colombia was a sweeping criminal scheme orchestrated by the paramilitary apparatus, announced the Medellin judge earlier this year...Sixteen entrepreneurs involved with the companies were given prison terms ranging from seven to ten years, on charges of conspiracy, forced displacement and invasion of areas of special ecological importance...Additionally, the ruling compelled the convicts to pay compensations to every single family displaced in a forceful manner during the expansion of the project in the region...The fact that the entrepreneurs did not “wield a weapon or exert direct pressure on the people of the lower Atrato region, does not mean that they didn’t partake in coercion, forced displacement and terror among the civilian population. Their involvement traced to these crimes, was enough to make them part of the criminal design.” concluded the judge...