Colombian President Denounces
Murder
Of 12 ndigenous
Bogota - Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe denounced Thursday
the murder of 12 indigenous people in the
southern coastal state of Nariño.
Hooded gunmen wearing camouflage opened fire
Wednesday on two houses in the Gran Rosario
reserve, some 80 km from the port town of
Tumaco and home to about 1,500 Awa
indigenous people, killing 12, including
five children and two women.
"The murder has taken the lives of as many
as 12 compatriots, and affected our
unalterable target of protecting the native
communities," Uribe said.
He said a commission consisting of officials
from the country's human rights and police
authorities would be set up to investigate
the killing.
The Colombian government and the local
government of Narino state have offered 130
million Colombian pesos (65,000 U.S.
dollars) as reward for any information
leading to the capture of the killers.
The Colombia Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR)
said it supported the investigation.
Statistics released by the office showed
that 62 indigenous people had been killed in
Colombia in the first seven months this
year, up 72 percent from the same period
last year.
Colombia is home to more than 80 indigenous
communities totaling more than a million
people. Some 11,000 members of the Awa
occupy a strip of land along the border
region, which is also used by drug
traffickers to facilitate cocaine shipments
across the Pacific.
Luis Evelis Andrade, president of the
National Organization of Indigenous
Colombians, told Xinhua that his
organization "will analyze the current
situation we natives are facing and decide
how to confront the persecution."
Andrade said the organization was pushing
for the implementation of a protection plan
to improve the security situation of the
native Indians.
Indigenous people in Colombia have always
been caught in the crossfire of conflicts,
at great cost to their health, nutrition,
education and cultural identity.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
