Arhuaco people strengthen self-government with compliance with Sentence SU-419

Guided by the word of their mamos and under the principles of the Law of Origin, the Arhuaco people have developed a process of internal dialogue and decision-making to comply with Sentence SU-419 of 2024 issued by the Constitutional Court. The process ratifies the will of the Arhuaco people to resolve their internal affairs with spiritual and political autonomy, and demands official recognition of these decisions by the State.

The most visible decision of this process was the meeting held on January 9 and 10, 2025 at the Simunurwa Center, where, in a meeting without interference from third parties and under the principles of the Law of Origin, 134 Mamos ratified, for the fourth time, Zarwawiko Torres Torres as Governing Council and legal representative of the Arhuaco de la Sierra Indigenous Reservation, on a temporary basis while the dialogues progress. with the sectors in disagreement. Subsequently, the possession of Zarwawiko Torres took place at the Valledupar Mayor’s Office on January 16 and, on January 17 of this year, the documentation was filed with the Ministry of the Interior.

COMPLIANCE CHRONOLOGY

These processes took place after the sentence was issued on December 19 of last year. On December 21 and 27, 2024, the Ministry of the Interior called the traditional Arhuaco authorities and promoted a route to comply with the sentence; In a meeting held at the Ombudsman’s Office in Valledupar it was agreed to call the meeting of hands.

Between April and July of this year, the Ministry of the Interior issued statements recognizing the autonomous space carried out by the mamos in January, although it noted the persistence of internal disharmonies; During that period, the community registered administrative measures related to the registration process with the entity. Communities and councils issued statements demanding transparency and respect for their decisions.

Then, in the month of September, the compliance route was activated with two notable actions: the contracting, through the University of Magdalena, of the translation and socialization of the “synthesis of the decision” section contained in Sentence SU-419 for its dissemination in the Iku language; and a meeting of officials from the Ministry of the Interior to socialize the route with mamos and traditional authorities, which included the possibility of issuing a temporary registration and carrying out a spiritual cleansing prior to a new general meeting. Regarding the translation, there is evidence of an administrative process carried out by Unimagdalena.

The traditional authorities and 134 mamos maintain that the procedure developed in January respects the Law of Origin and that the decision to ratify Zarwawiko responds to their internal power. The Court, with SU-419, reinforced this autonomy and ordered state support mechanisms that maximize autonomy and avoid causing harm in administrative interventions.

DIALOGUE SPACE

In this sense, traditional authorities have called for a new space for dialogue and spiritual guidance for October 14, 2025, in the sacred space of Mechachun, in the Gun Aruwun center. According to the call of the mamos, the meeting seeks to strengthen the spiritual, cultural and political unity of the Arhuaco people, in compliance with Sentence SU-419 and with the support of the Ministry of the Interior and the control entities as guarantors of the process. This call was communicated by the traditional authorities and disseminated in internal pronouncements of the reservation.

Therefore, the effective compliance with SU-419 constitutes a test of tension and dialogue between two systems: the right of an indigenous people that demands the solution of their issues in accordance with their ancestral norms, and the administrative responsibilities of the State regarding the guarantee of collective rights.