Drummond ordered to return land to displaced Colombian farmers

Colombia’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling requiring the mining company Drummond to return nearly 1,000 hectares of land near Agustín Codazzi to displaced farming families. The land, comprising 16 plots, was originally allocated to landless families under agrarian reform before they were forced out by paramilitary violence during the 1990s and early 2000s.

While the Tribunal Superior de Cartagena did not find that Drummond itself was responsible for the original displacements, it ruled that the company exhibited ‘extrema incuria’—extreme negligence—during the acquisition of the land for its El Descanso coal project around 2010. The court noted that Drummond failed to perform necessary human rights due diligence, ignoring warning signs present in land registers that could have indicated the previous owners had been forcibly displaced.

After years of legal opposition by Drummond, including attempts to overturn the decision through nullity and constitutional procedures, the Supreme Court rejected the company’s final challenge. This case reflects a broader pattern documented by Colombia’s Truth Commission regarding the ‘violent reconfiguration’ of mining territories in the Cesar region due to armed conflict.