An indigenous leader from the southwest of Colombia has received death threats from paramilitaries, reported local media Sunday.
The leader from the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), Feliciano Valencia, was alerted by indigenous authorities Saturday that a group of paramilitaries claiming to be the officially-demobilized AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) made threats against his life.
“We are not going to hurt anybody, but we will use the force of our united community, our words and our rights to gain back our territories.”
The social, union and human right organizations that have signed below express before the national and international community our solidarity and support for the indigenous communities of Cauca department (province), who have demanded the demilitarization of their ancestral territories. “We do not want to hear a single shot. Wherever we hear one is where we will go,” said Minga for Life, a community organization.
The neo-paramilitary network Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) issued pamphlets on Friday threatening “FARC symphatizers” with “social cleansing” in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca department.
“The time for social cleansing in northern Cauca has come,” began the pamphlet distributed in the Cauca municipalities of Miranda, Caloto and Corinto.
The three municipalities are considered to be strongholds of left-wing FARC rebels.
President Juan Manuel Santos announced the arrival of 28,000 troops Tuesday in Colombia's southwestern Cauca department, where a recent surge in violence has forced thousands from their homes. The new arrivals will become part of the Southwestern Joint Command comprised of soldiers from the army's Third Division and special forces from Colombia's Air Force and Navy. The Colombian defense minister said he hoped military forces continued their collaboration with the department's police to combat illegal armed groups.
Some 400 members of an indigenous community in southwestern Colombia occupied a military base Wednesday, demanding government forces leave the region, which has been plagued by increasing violence recently.
The base is responsible for maintaining communication antennas in the area, and is located two hours from the troubled municipality of Toribio in the department of Cauca, the site of ongoing clashes between Colombia's Armed Forces and the FARC.
A TV special by PBS details the threats community activists in Colombia face from armed groups, as they try to keep an industrial gold mining company from seizing their land.
"The War We Are Living," which airs November 1 and is part of a five-part series on women and war, raises new questions about the evolution of the Colombian conflict, and the extent to which the new generation of criminal organizations will continue to protect
(IPS) - The constant violations of international humanitarian law in Colombia claimed the life of an 11-year-old indigenous girl a month ago in the mountains of the southwest province of Cauca.
The famous Human Rights leader spoke with El Espectador during a gathering with Black communities in el Cauca.
14 minutes video subtitled in english
After facing the police's bullets, and suffering one death and 122 serious injuries, the Minga of Social and Communitarian Resistance finally gets President Uribe to agree to a public debate in La Maria Indigenous Reserve, Piendamo, Cauca department, Colombia on 2nd November 2008. Minga leader and head of the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council Aida Quilcue gives this emotional, inspirational speech, live on national television and addressing President Uribe and his cabinet directly.