Indigenous leaders from the department of Nariño, bordering Ecuador, have been murdered, the Indigenous Unit of the Awá People (Unipa) reported on Sunday, demanding “justice and protection” for its young people, who suffer the most from violence.
The crimes occurred on Saturday in different hamlets in the municipality of Barbacoas, which is why Unipa considered that “it is especially worrying that our young Awá cannot live in peace or die of old age, but that it is others, outside our territory, who decide when they should die, without there being any greater reason than a war that does not belong to us.”
In Nariño there is a presence of dissidents from the FARC and the Southern Communities Front, a split from the National Liberation Army (ELN), which has caused problems and the freezing of peace negotiations with that guerrilla group.
One of those killed was Brayan Camilo Sevillano Guanga, 19, who belonged to the Awá Tortugana-Telembí Indigenous Reservation, under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Barbacoas.
He was a survivor of a massacre that occurred, according to Unipa, in 2009, and recalled that he joined the indigenous guard at a very young age, “defending his community and its principles of peace.”
According to information from the indigenous people, armed men “arrived at Brayan’s home, tied him up in front of his family, took him away and finally killed him with a burst of gunfire.”
Another of those killed was Jhon Jairo Cuasaluzán, who left his home and was later found dead from “gunshot wounds” near Barbacoas. The same happened to Arturo García, 35 years old.
Given the situation, Unipa demanded “justice and protection” for its people and asked the national and departmental governments, as well as the office of the High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, for “security guarantees in our territory in order to be able to continue” with the peace talks.
2024-09-02 20:15:23
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