By Erica Belfi
“Es muy importante seguir contando con personas como ustedes [Cultural Survival], que aunque no nos conocemos y no saben cómo es el Amazonas, pero desde esa lejanía nos apoyan incondicionalmente.” --Carlos Méndez, ex curaca de la Comunidad Indígena Ziora Amena / Colombia.
Resguardo Indígena Inga San Miguel de la Castellana aims to strengthen the Inga language among youth in the Villagarzón municipality of Colombia. They have seen much success since benefitting from a grant from Cultural Survival’s Keepers of the Earth Fund.
Beginning on November 21, 2019, at least 250,000 Colombians have flooded the streets in three separate general strikes, sparked by rumors of cuts to minimum wage for young people.
Cristina Bautista (Facebook)
Cultural Survival strongly condemns the ongoing violence against Indigenous Colombians. According to Colombia’s human rights ombudsman, 486 activists and human rights defenders have been murdered since January 2016. A majority of those killed have been Indigenous.
The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) reports that 121 Indigenous people have been murdered since President Duque took office in August 2018.
Sembrando Vida y Paz Foundation (Funsevipaz)-- Kamëntša Nation, (Colombia)
"People without Mother Nature can no longer live."
The Union of Yagé Doctors of the Colombian Amazon is a group of spiritual authorities from Inga, Siona, Cofán, Kamentsá, and Coreguaje Peoples. The communities represented in UMIYAC inhabit the southwestern region of the Colombian Amazon 22 resguardos, or legally recognized Indigenous territories, and numerous trails and villages located in ancestral lands in the Departments of Putumayo, Caquetá, and Cauca.
By Jesus Antonio Juagivioy
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.