The indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia believe it is important for the world to know the structural and cyclical risks that their community continues to face due to the armed conflict that has plagued the country for almost 60 years – 1958 to 2016—. With a message calling to protect the “Heart of the World,” representatives of the four indigenous peoples inhabiting this territory – Kankuamo, Wiwas, Arhuacos and Kogi – traveled to The Hague, Paris, Brussels and Madrid last November , to warn of the dangers that threaten their existence, such as: B. Displacement or exploitation of their natural resources.
“What happens to us happens to the territory. What happens to the territory also affects us,” says Jaime Luis Arias, 39, with a calm expression despite his concerns. Arias is the current governor of the Kankuamo people and, together with Sebastián Pastor Mojica (36 years old), a Wiwas authority figure, last November visited some of the most important European cities to talk about the risks faced by the Colombian indigenous peoples .
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Although seven years have passed since the peace agreement was signed between the Colombian government and the FARC, the danger in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta has not yet been averted. In this place the Kankuamo, Wiwas, Arhuacos and Kogui live together in a social structure based on the principle of unity. The four live in the same area and feel called to protect it. Through the Territorial Council of the Cabildos, they introduce joint actions to preserve the culture and knowledge of the ancestors. They form working groups to achieve peace together. “We always have to think about the Sierra Nevada,” emphasizes Pastor, pointing to the commitment that unites them.
Organized and convinced that the participation of indigenous communities is necessary to achieve comprehensive peace, Pastor and Arias, with the support of their people, gave several interviews to bear witness in Europe of the dangers they face. The constant violence they face has caused various indigenous peoples to relocate due to the presence of armed groups.
As part of the Total Peace negotiations and despite the efforts of the previous and current governments, violence continues in the Sierra Nevada. Various armed actors – the FARC dissidents, the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (the Gulf Clan) and the Conquering Defenses of the Sierra Nevada or “Pachencas” – continue to impact the indigenous population out of.
For this reason, they consider it necessary to create conditions for the immediate protection of communities from possible risks, the protection of their territory (since the relationship with the territory is an essential part of their identity) and participation in the dialogue that they carry out with carried out by armed actors. “The government is making progress, but the challenge is implementing it,” Arias says.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region is one of the areas most affected by violence. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which is investigating violations against indigenous populations in Macro Case 09, has counted 89,994 victims in this region. Therefore, making known the current state of this process and identifying racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples in the face of armed actors is crucial to peacebuilding.
“Between 2000 and 2010, they took a lot of people and we don’t know where they are,” says Pastor, recalling people murdered and disappeared by members of the Colombian National Army in the scandal known as “false positives.” This practice, which consisted of portraying murders and enforced disappearances of civilians as combat victims committed by state agents, is being investigated by the JEP in Case 03. To date, the facility has counted 6,402 victims.
Accompanied by Sebastián Escobar, lawyer of the José Alvear Restrepo collective, and the head of the Office for the Americas of the International Federation for Human Rights, Pastor and Arias attended the screening of the documentary Extrajudicial Executions in Colombia: Wiwa and Kankuamo Peoples Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Auditorium of the Hotel de Ville in Paris. During the 30 minutes that the screening lasts, the trial of the case and the observations of relatives of some of the victims of enforced disappearances and murders are shown. “We are neither left nor right, we reject all forms of violence… and this was the pretext to kill us,” comments Arias.
After this short visit, Sebastián Mojica Pastor reflects on the importance of being heard, because “the message we send is not only addressed to the people of the mountains, but to all people.” He, for his part, remembers the Words from one of his fellow leaders, Jaime Luis Arias, affirming that despite the dangers, they will continue to tell what is happening in the hope of finding peace for the heart of the Earth.
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