Indigenous leaders: Daily threats and violence in their struggle to defend community and territory.

“S.O.S They are killing us”; Indigenous protestors from the Nasa community in the south and south-west of Colombia.

Colombia is an extraordinary, beautiful and diverse nation, but one with serious challenges such as a history of conflict, social inequality, and a lack of inclusion. These challenges mean that work in defense of human rights is hugely necessary. That is why the job of human rights defenders and social leaders is important, but also one of the deadliest and most dangerous. A social leader is someone who “defends the collective rights and develops action for the welfare recognized within its community, organization or territory. So, every social leader is considered a Human Rights defender” (Indepaz, 2020). It is specifically this definition that allows us to understand that the profile of these leaders differs in terms of their focus. Some of them work to preserve their ancestral communities’ rights, some in environmental protection, others on complex issues such as land restitution, and so on. Colombia has specific situations that can help one to understand better and recognize why it is important to talk about this issue. For instance, one of the main objectives of the Peace Accords of 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas is to guarantee the creation of new political parties and movements that will facilitate political participation for the territories that have been on the margins of society and victim to violence. Such participation of communities and parties that have been directly and indirectly affected by the conflict is a necessary step in political processes and territorial and regional decision making. Sadly, reality shows us that social leaders are being targeted as part of a current wave of increased violence against human rights defenders since the agreement, especially in communities traditionally marginalized such as indigenous, Afro-Colombian , and rural communities.

     Among the leader profiles most hit by the violence, it is imperative to  mention the indigenous leaders. An indigenous leader is any member of indigenous groups in the country that represents their own communities and works to defend their culture and fulfill the needs the State has not.  According to OHCHR’s numbers, 69 Indigenous leaders have been killed since 2016, making up approximately 16 percent of the 421 human rights defenders who have been murdered in that period. To elaborate, as of  2019, the number of indigenous Colombians killed had risen steeply amid a resurgence of violence by dissident rebel groups and paramilitaries (BBC, 2019). The department where most of these crimes have happened is Cauca but the crimes have been committed all across the country. This article will be focused on indigenous social leaders with a particular focus on the Caribbean region. The aim is to explore the difficulties, threats, and violence they face for defending their rights and highlight why it is important to raise awareness about this issue through examples of social leaders, statistics and data from different sources that will allow one to see the seriousness of the issue.

During the history of Colombia, violence has been a phenomenon that has affected every Colombian directly or indirectly. At the national level departments such as Cauca, Antioquia and Choco have been particularly affected, while in the Caribbean region, departments such as Bolivar, Cordoba, Sucre, and Magdalena have suffered, and continue to do so, due to the presence of illegal groups in the region. This region has been filled with human rights violations as a result of the conflicts between different actors. The conflict over land has been a battle for years in rural areas, where the main issue is that spaces do not have owners due to a lack of official ownership documents, a factor that has increased the tension between armed groups and indigenous communities (OHCHR, 2016). Another problem that these areas have is a conflict of interests behind the zone’s operation. On the one hand, indigenous communities need to produce their food and basic necessities. On the other, the lack of presence and control of the State allows illegal armed groups to take advantage of the geography of the land, by using it to connect with other regions to transport and grow coca among other illicit operations. This tension has become visible in these regions. Paramilitary groups have left pamphlets in areas to threaten the community and impart their policy of terror, while violence and the killing of indigenous leaders have increased.

According to INDEPAZ more than 166 social leaders had been murdered throughout 2020 as of July of that year. Such figures are simply shocking. If this situation can be seen as one negative consequence of the 2016 agreement, then what of the positive ones? At this point, it is important to analyze the results of the Peace agreement, because one aim of the agreement was to offer greater inclusion to indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and other rural communities who had suffered disproportionately during the long civil conflict. However, the outcomes are not the ones that were promised or expected. Ana Manuela Ochoa, a Transitional Justice (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz /JEP) magistrate, and Kankuamo indigenous community member spoke at a gathering of regional ethnic representatives in 2019, and said that the most important measures that any transitional justice must aim for is “to pull out of the root what caused the conflict, such as discrimination, inequalities, the denial of human dignity and the despise or indifference to life”. When it comes to indigenous people’s guarantees of no repetition, she affirmed that they are related with “living with dignity, fullness, balance, and harmony according to their identity, cosmovision, beliefs, culture, own rights, language and the respect of their territory”. However, the statistics and stories regarding violence towards indigenous leaders paint a bleak picture of the reality faced by indigenous groups in their efforts to protect their communities and their territories.

The human impact of the deaths in Colombia is discouraging. We are able to identify cases of human rights violations every day, with murder being a near-daily occurrence. One example of this slaughter is the case of the former governor of Resguardo Indigena de Guadualito (North of Santander); Emiliano Trochéz. Emiliano was a teacher and an indigenous leader, who fought for the interests of his community. Emiliano was murdered on August 10th, 2018. He had received threats, which he reported to the authorities, but still, there have been no perpetrators brought to justice. Another recent case took place in San Marcos, Sucre, where the Zenú indigenous community lives, and occasionally, dies with total impunity. Last year (2020), on November 8th, a massacre occurred that took the life of 5 members of the community; Arquímedes Centenaro, Luis Cochero Alba, Darwin de Hoyos Beltrán, Oscar Javier Hoyos Banquet, and Julio Hoyos Moreno (Guarnizo, 2020). The first three were specific targets of the attack while the latter two just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thankfully, there was a survivor: the indigenous captain of the Cabildo Arawak of the Zenú ethnicity, Carlos Arturo Valerio Betún, who had also been a target but was not present in the zone at the time. Both crimes remain in impunity.

The massacre in Sucre was a product of the land conflict and the power vacuum left by the government. The area has been inhabited ancestrally by the Zenú community dating back to pre-colonial times. Violence throughout the 90s and in the early part of the following decade had led to many people abandoning their land for fear of violence. However, large cattle owners in the area had claimed it as theirs, even though they have been accused of contaminating natural resources surrounding the territory and forcing the displacement of local communities so they can continue expanding their livestock farming. As a result, more than 30 families have left their homes because of fear, and the ones who stood up for themselves have paid a terrible price. The leader who survived the attack, Carlos Valerio, said that right after he found out about the massacre, someone had called him and told him that he would be next. He went to the police station asking for help but was not offered any solution. The worst part is that this was not the first time his life had been threatened. He has received many threats for demanding respect towards his community, filing legal papers, and reporting officials and individuals related to irregular displacement, but none of these were acted upon. The indifference of the State is seemingly the only thing that remains intact in the region.

Analyzing the factors behind the violence, it is impossible not to notice that the most affected zones regarding the killing of social leaders are the same zones with a high presence of illicit crops, strategic routes, militarized territory, legal and illegal extractive activities, and a major number of warnings provided by the Early Warning System (Sistema de Alertas Tempranas), a system provided by the Ombudsman’s Office (Defensor del Pueblo), which is used for alerts whenever there is a situation of risk. Indigenous leaders have stated that they have tried to communicate with the government looking for protection because latifundistas (large-scale absentee landowners), in their desire to expand, have taken indiscriminate possession of indigenous lands. This highlights the fact that people have asked for help on many occasions but they have not gotten any response. Moreover, these territories are nearby Zonas Transitorias de Normalización (Transitory zones of normalization) and Espacios Territoriales de Capacitación y Reincorporación (Territory spaces of capacitation and reincorporation), where former FARC -EP members having handed over their weapons prepare for a return to civil life (CINEP, 2018). Like the indigenous communities in the region, these ex-combatants too are in a position of vulnerability and must live with the fear of being targeted.

In conclusion, it seems clear that Colombia, a country globally known for its diversity and recognition of its indigenous population in its Constitution, lives in a constant discrepancy between what is on paper and what is the reality. The state claims the protection and respect of the indigenous communities as one of their biggest accomplishments; it celebrates their diversity and speaks globally about their rights and culture. However, that is far from a true reflection of reality, where there is no respect towards their land neither from the government nor in many cases, the civilian population, and certainly none from the numerous illegal groups who hold sway in regions throughout the country. There is no response to the community’s needs and there is little acknowledgment of their daily struggles. Indigenous communities suffer from marginalization and displacement every day and the leaders that stand up risk their lives just to die surrounded by impunity and abandonment. We wonder when indigenous voices will be listened to. We encourage Colombian society to take an active role in the promotion of indigenous rights, as we cannot forget that this land was, is, and will always be theirs, as well as ours.

*Article written by Gabriela Diaz, Joseph Lopez, & Emily Rodriguez

References

BBC. (2019, 10 30). Colombia violence: Dissident rebels kill indigenous leader. BBC.

CINEP. (2018). ¿Cuáles son los patrones? Asesinatos de Líderes Sociales en el Post Acuerdo. Retrieved from https://www.cinep.org.co/publicaciones/es/producto/cuales-son-los-patrones-asesinatos-de-lideres-sociales-en-el-post-acuerdo/

Commission, T. (2019, 07 26). Autoridades indígenas de la costa Caribe marcharon por los líderes sociales. doi:https://comisiondelaverdad.co/actualidad/noticias/autoridades-indigenas-de-la-costa-caribe-marcharon-por-los-lideres-sociales

Guarnizo, J. (2020, 10 8). La masacre de 5 indigenas y campesinos de la que algunos no quieren que se hable en Sucre. Vorágine. Retrieved from https://voragine.co/la-masacre-de-cinco-indigenas-y-campesinos-de-la-que-algunos-no-quieren-que-se-hable-en-sucre/

Indepaz. (2020, 07 15). Special inform; Register of leaders and human rights defenders killed since the peace agreement. Retrieved from http://www.indepaz.org.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Informe-Especial-Asesinato-lideres-sociales-Nov2016-Jul2020-Indepaz.pdf

OHCHR. (2016). Problemas y realidades del campo en el Caribe colombiano. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.hchr.org.co/index.php/compilacion-de-noticias/56-desc/8139-problemas-y-realidades-del-campo-en-el-caribe-colombiano