Tuesday 28 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Q&A: "We Are not
Subversives, and We
Demand Respect"
Judith Henríquez Acuña
interviews indigenous
leader DANIEL PIÑACUÉ
VILLA RICA, Colombia,
(IPS) - Colombian
President Álvaro Uribe
admitted that the
security forces opened
fire on indigenous
protesters in the
southwestern province of
Cauca, but denies that
they were responsible
for the deaths of three
demonstrators, said
Daniel Piñacué, a leader
of the Nasa community.
Piñacué, head of the
governing council of
Calderas, an indigenous
reservation in the
mountains of Cauca, and
a prominent member of
the powerful Regional
Indigenous Council of
Cauca (CRIC), was
interviewed by IPS in
the small town of Villa
Rica.
The CRIC organised the "minga"
(a traditional
indigenous meeting for
the collective good),
the name given to the
march that set out from
the La María Indian
reservation, declared a
"territory of peace and
co-existence" in the
midst of Colombia’s
civil war.
The 35,000 indigenous
marchers, who belong to
a number of different
ethnic groups and come
from 20 of Colombia's 32
provinces (known as
departments), expect to
reach the city of Cali,
the capital of the
southwestern province of
Valle del Cauca, on
Saturday.
Piñacué, one of the
leading spokespersons
for the indigenous
protest, told the media
that the security forces
had used live ammunition
against the
demonstrators, before
the U.S. cable news
network CNN broadcast a
video this week taped by
participants in the
march that showed a
uniformed man wearing a
mask shooting in the
direction of the
protesters.
On Wednesday, Uribe
acknowledged that the
police had fired at the
demonstrators.
But previously, the
rightwing president had
publicly called for
Piñacué’s arrest.
On Thursday, Uribe gave
in to the indigenous
demonstrators’ demands
for talks, and
personally called
Piñacué’s cell-phone to
announce that he would
meet with the leaders of
the march on Sunday in
Cali.
The protesters are
demanding fulfillment of
agreements signed with
various governments
since 1971. "We want the
president to set
deadlines and timeframes
for compliance with
these commitments, and
we want national and
international observers
to be present," Piñacué
told IPS late Thursday
in Villa Rica, a small
town along the
Pan-American highway on
the way from the La
María reservation to
Cali.
IPS: Uribe admitted
that firearms were used
against the protest.
What is the indigenous
movement’s view?
DANIEL PIÑACUÉ:
The president finally
recognised -- because of
a video, not because he
believed it when we
publicly told him --
that the security forces
have used violence
against the peaceful
indigenous march.
What he should also
acknowledge is that
three Indians were
killed and more than 100
injured in the clashes
with the army in La
María. The wounded are
being treated in
hospitals in the towns
of Popayán and
Santander.
IPS: Uribe also
agreed to talks. What
will you demand in the
dialogue?
DP: In first
place, since we have
been accused of being
criminals and of
inciting violence, we
want our names cleared.
We also don’t want to be
treated as second-class
citizens, and we want
respect for our
languages and our
ancestral customs.
In addition, we are
asking for an expansion
of our reservations,
legal title to our
lands, and enough land
to keep our cultures
alive, work them, and
obtain the products
needed for the survival
of our communities, in
order to keep indigenous
people from having to
move to the cities,
which is leading to the
gradual loss of our
cultural identity.
We are asking not to be
violently pushed off our
lands -- a phenomenon
that is facilitated by
the Colombian government
so that transnational
companies can exploit
our land, leaving us
without water, and
without minerals like
iron, nickel and gold.
Furthermore, we are
seeking the repeal of a
number of laws that were
passed without
consulting us (as
required by the
constitution) by the
illegitimate Congress
elected by the narco-paramilitaries,
and which hurt our
communities: the laws on
forestry, water and
land. (The far-right
paramilitaries, many of
whose leaders have been
extradited to the United
States on drug
trafficking charges,
have publicly claimed
that they control at
least 35 percent of the
members of Congress.)
IPS: Have the
guerrillas infiltrated
the indigenous march?
DP: Whenever a
protest or march is
held, the political
leaders in this country
always tell the media
that the FARC
(Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia)
guerrillas are behind
it, and that the
subversives are
manipulating and using
the Indians or peasant
farmers who are
demonstrating for a just
cause.
For us that’s an old
story. But we have to
make it clear to public
opinion that we, who are
standing up to demand
respect for our rights
and for the dignity and
physical, cultural and
political integrity of
every one of our
indigenous brothers and
sisters, as well as the
fulfillment of a number
of agreements that have
been ignored, are the
only ‘subversives’ here.
Claiming the guerrillas
have infiltrated the
demonstration is false,
and irresponsibly puts
our lives at risk.
IPS: What should the
international community
know about what
Colombia’s indigenous
movement is asking for?
DP: They should know
what things are really
like. That we live in a
battleground created by
the armed sectors that
for years have displaced
us from the best lands,
and forced us farther
and farther up into the
mountains.
They should know we are
peaceful, hard-working
people who are justly
demanding our right to
our land and the freedom
and the right to demand
humane, decent
conditions to live in
peace.
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