Statement in support of CLACPI regarding the serious situation in Colombia
The Latin American Coordinator of Film and Communication of Indigenous Peoples (CLACPI) addresses the international public, NGOs, and various social organizations, and strongly condemns the events that occurred on the afternoon of October 29, 2019, in the Tacueyó Indigenous Reserve (municipality of Toribío, department of Cauca, Colombia), where armed groups killed five community members, including the Ne'h Wesx Authority Cristina Taquinas Bautista of the Tacueyó Reserve, and wounded five others. This incident adds to the escalating human rights violations against leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia.
The people killed and wounded are Neehwesx (indigenous authorities), kiwe thegnas (indigenous guards, caretakers of the territory) and community members who were exercising control of their territory in the face of the threat of armed people, are the following: Neehwesx Authority Cristina Taquinas Bautista, Asdrúbal Cayapu Indigenous Guard, Eliodoro Finscue, Jose Gerardo Soto, James Wilfredo Soto and leaving wounded José Norman Montano, Matías Montano, Crescencio Peteche, Dora Rut Mesa and Rogelio Taquinas.
We reiterate our solidarity, outrage, and strong condemnation of this new act of war, which violates humanitarian standards within the international human rights framework. We also emphasize that there is a humanitarian crisis that demonstrates a systematic and ongoing persecution of Indigenous leaders in Colombia. This situation, as previously described, adds to the numerous challenges to the peace process, resulting in both individual and collective harm to Indigenous communities.
We join the call made by the 126 traditional authorities of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), and the Indigenous Guard as defenders of life and the harmony of the territory, in which they urgently request the effective accompaniment, official communications, and advocacy of the Ombudsman's Office, the Human Rights Commission of the Congress of the Republic, the Peace Commission of the Senate, the UN Human Rights Office, the UN Verification Mission, the MAPP, the OAS, and other human rights organizations, in order to maintain and continue providing their support to community processes of care and defense of life in the face of these events that seek to exacerbate the dynamics of the conflict and that are causing destruction to the social fabric of the communities.
We invite the entire Indigenous film and communication community of Abya Yala and the world to follow this developing story through:
https://www.onic.org.co
https://www.cric-colombia.org/
https://nasaacin.org/
www.clacpi.org
We recommend you learn about the following concentrations:
Tacueyó – Cauca:
Extraordinary Assembly
Location: Tacueyó Indigenous Reserve Sports Complex
Date: October 30, 2019
Time: 10: 00 am
Bogotá – Cundinamarca:
Extraordinary Press Conference
Location: ONIC – Calle 12b # 4-38 La Candelaria, Bogotá.
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2019.
Time: 9:30 a.m.
ONIC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oniccolombia/
We also ask that you contribute and follow up on social media using the hashtag #StopTheIndigenousGenocide
We reiterate to the international community, to all the Colombian people and other social sectors, the importance of making visible the processes of peaceful organizational, political and social struggles, as well as being vigilant against the extermination plan against the indigenous peoples and other social sectors of Colombia.
“Count on us for peace, never for war.”
LATIN AMERICAN COORDINATING BODY FOR CINEMA AND COMMUNICATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (CLACPI). Abya Yala, October 30, 2019.
November 2019
CLACSO Working Group
Bodies, territories and resistances
