Denunciation of Extermination of Indigenous Peoples in Colombia

Representatives of the Awá people denounced the government of Iván Duque for its inaction and described it as an accomplice of extermination.

The Awá indigenous community in Colombia assured this Thursday that an extermination is being committed against its population due to the increase of murders by armed groups.

Representatives of the native people denounced in a press conference the increase of aggressions against leaders, authorities and community members by armed gangs linked to drug trafficking.

They also accused the governmental authorities of inaction in the face of these violent events. The representatives of the indigenous peoples considered that the Colombian State has left them alone and described it as an accomplice of systematic extermination.

They stated that the indigenous communities have not noticed the results of the Peace Agreement signed in 2016 and assured that they have gone to the different institutional levels to demand their right to life.

In this regard, there have been around 350 victimizing acts against the Awá people, of which 95 correspond to murders of important indigenous rights activists.

In turn, the Indigenous Unit of the Awá people (Unipa) stressed that “the violations of fundamental rights deepened during and after the pandemic; facts that remain in total impunity due to the lack of progress in investigations by the competent entities”.

The last recorded massacre occurred on July 3, when the alternate governor of the Inda Sabaleta Resguardo, Juan Orlando Moriano, was killed along with two young members of the Awá indigenous guard.