Families occupy what is believed to be private farmland near Neiva in southwestern Colombia. According to a local ombudsman Kleiver Oviedo, "more than 1,500 families are occupying more than 55 hectares of land" after "some spread the word that this property had no deed or owner." Occupations and confiscations of land have increased in Colombia since the June election of Gustavo Petro as president, who has promised an "agrarian reform" to redistribute land in a country where a small landowning elite controls the majority of territory. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES