Around 13,000 people of the Paez indigenous ethnic group in the town of Jambaló, 700 kilometers southeast of Bogotá, have risen up in'civic resistance' against the abuses being committed against themcivilians by guerillas, paramilitary forces and the national military. The people of Jambaló have instituted their own emergency regime, and have put in place various security measures, such as controlling access to the area, prohibiting the drinking of liquor and taking over the stocking of food and medicines. Many Jambalo residents are now participating in permanent assemblies where they are developing proposals to be submitted to President Alvaro Uribe, regarding keeping the armed conflict out of their community.
Similar threats are facing the indigenous groups living in Corinto, Miranda, Caloto, Santander, Padilla, Toribio, Florida, Pareda, and the departments of Putumayo and Vaupes, among others. For decades they have been caught in the middle of the deadly cross-fire between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), paramilitary groups and the government's armed forces. Their villages have become de facto battlegrounds, and indigenous people in these communities are faced daily with forced displacement, threats from the various parties in the conflict, selective murders, and drug dealing. The chaos has facilitated, and exacerbated, other destructive activities in their lands, such as the systematic spraying of their coca crops by the U.S. and the extractive operations of transnational companies.
From the indigenous perspective, the situation recently reached a boiling point when President Uribe, immediately after his election, proposed to form a military 'campesina' force, slated to begin operations in December 2002. Indigenous leaders roundly rejected the proposal, calling instead for political negotiations to resolve the government's longstanding conflict with the leftist rebels, and to rein in murderous paramilitary groups. Indigenous legislator Gerardo Jumí firmly indicated his opposition “to the incorporation of the campesinos and indigenous peoples to a contra-insurgent military force because that will only provoke an escalation of violence in the internal conflict as well as the involvement of civilians in the war.”
A report of the Asociación Latinoamericana para los Derechos Humanos (ALDHU), dated August 27, brings into focus the physical dangers to many indigenous peoples in affected areas. Increasingly, they are victims of a war that is not their own. The report states that the Cofan peoples of southern Putumayo, who had cooperated to eradicate 70% of their coca crops, are now being directly victimized by the perperations of the armed groups. The indigenous people of Vaupes face even more indiscriminate terror: antipersonnel mines have been planted throughout their territories, causing the deaths of three people in July.
On August 30, the Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia (ONIC), the national indigenous organization with the broadest representation in the country, issued a press release demanding protection by the state and the respect of their rights, and outlining their commitment to peace. “The indigenous peoples denounce in this open letter to President Uribe the fact that we are under siege in our own territories,” the statement read. “We support a negotiated solution to the armed conflict keeping the autonomy of the indigenous resistance... we are not going to be involved in any form in the armed conlict.”
Meanwhile, President Uribe is considering accepting a United States proposal to grant immunity to U.S. military forces operating in Colombia before the recently inaugurated International Criminal Court.Many indigenous leaders have decried U.S. interference in the nation's affairs, particularly with the recently expanded coca-spraying program.
Threatened on many fronts, physically, culturally and economically, the indigenous peoples of Colombia are unified in their opposition to a war that has devastated the country and their ancestral lands. The actions of the people of Jambalo demonstrate the exasperation and determination behind the firm position they have articulated to the international public. They continue to work to ensure that their rights and aspirations are taken into account in all government decisions that affect them, especially regarding the war that they have been involuntarily swept into.
