35,000+ Indigenous Colombians March Against Violence, Free Trade

14-Sep-04

Thousands of Colombian Indians March
Oswaldo Paez
Associated Press
The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/9663319.htm

SANTANDER DE QUILICHAO, Colombia - More than 35,000 Colombian Indians marched in a violence-wracked region Tuesday to protest attacks against Indians and a free-trade pact pursued by the United States - forming a column that coiled over the rolling, green countryside.

Wearing traditional black bowler hats and ponchos or T-shirts and jeans, the Indians gathered in this village in the Cauca Valley of southwestern Colombia and began walking to Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, 30 miles to the north.

"We are demonstrating against the war and attacks against our people's human rights, no matter where they come from," Luis Evelis Andrade, president of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, told The Associated Press.

Colombia's war, now in its 40th year, pits the military and a handful of outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups against two leftist rebel armies. Civilians, including the nation's 800,000 Indians who live in the Andes Mountains and jungles, are often caught in the middle, and pay a price in blood.

Some 3,500 people, most of them civilians, are killed every year. Thousands more are kidnapped. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia says 57 Indians have been killed and 4,500 forced from their homes in the conflict this year.

Andrade said more than 40,000 Indians were participating in the march, saying he believed it was the largest gathering of Colombia's indigenous people in the country's history. Police put the number of marchers Tuesday at 35,000.

Special "indigenous guards" were tasked with keeping the march orderly. Government security forces also stood along the march route, which ran alongside the Pan American Highway, to keep order and prevent rebels or paramilitaries from attacking. The Pan American Highway is a vital transportation corridor, running from southern Argentina to Alaska, except for a jungle-covered stretch along the Colombian-Panamanian border.

Warned by President Alvaro Uribe not to block any roads, Indian leaders said the march would be peaceful and allow traffic to pass. Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro, chief of the Colombian National Police, said anyone blocking the highways would be arrested.

The Indians are also protesting a free-trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and Colombia, a pact they fear will hurt them economically and diminish their sovereignty as Indian nations.

Most of the marchers are members of the Paez and Guambiana tribes.

Indians, speaking some 65 dialects, account for 2 percent of Colombia's 40 million inhabitants.

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AP reporter Juan Pablo Toro contributed to this story from Bogota.


14-Sep-04

Colombia Indians rally for peace
Jeremy McDermott
BBC (UK)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3657058.stm

Indigenous Indians in Colombia have begun a march against violence in the province of Cauca by the Pacific coast. They are demanding that the warring factions in the country's long-running civil conflict respect their autonomy and keep out of their reserves.

The Paez Indians are hoping to attract some 40,000 people.

They have been at the forefront of passive resistance to Marxist rebels and paramilitaries, who seek to recruit their youth and dominate their lands.

Armed only with the staffs that are the symbol of authority and trust to the Paez people, the message the indigenous Indians of Cauca are sending to the warring factions is: keep off their land.

The indigenous communities in Colombia have long been in the firing line in the 40-year civil conflict.

Their ancestral lands are often in the remoter parts of the country, where state presence is weak and drug crops common.

Earlier this month, 400 Indians marched to a guerrilla stronghold to secure the release of one of their mayors who had been kidnapped by the rebels. And without a shot being fired, the guerrillas gave in - this time.

14-Sep-04

Colombian Indians protest against war abuses
Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14353821.htm

BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept 14 (Reuters) - About 40,000 Indians from southwest Colombia marched on Tuesday to protest against abuse of their communities by forces fighting the country's 40-year-old war.

The demonstration followed an action last week in which hundreds of Paez Indians, armed only with decorated sticks, pressured Marxist guerrillas into releasing two kidnapped community leaders in the jungle region of Caqueta.

"We want to reject all the violations of human right that we have suffered at the hands of the actors in the conflict," said Luis Evelio Andrade, president of the Indigenous Organization of Colombia.

Colombia's Indians are often caught in the middle of the country's guerrilla war, and both Marxist rebels and far-right paramilitary outlaws target them for intimidation and forced recruitment. About 100 members of Indian communities had been killed this year, mainly by paramilitaries, an Indian leader said in August.

The protesters started gathering in Cauca province on Monday. The formal part of the demonstration on Tuesday is a march of about 43 miles (70 km) from the town of Santander de Quilichao to the city of Cali, where a rally is planned for Thursday.