[Onthebarricades] COLOMBIA: Indigenous uprising, October-November 2008

[global resistance roundup]

Protests across several departments by thousands of indigenous 
Colombians demanding land rights
Roads blocked; protesters allegedly fight with Molotovs, homemade 
explosives and machetes
At least 4 protesters killed, 130 injured - police open fire on 
protesters; 70 riot cops injured
"Mother Earth in danger" from privatisation, land grabs - indigenous 
spokesperson
Protesters demand withdrawal of police after 13 deaths in 2 weeks
Repression of media coverage, and a blackout of the conflict in 
Colombia, led to widespread concern
Workers and civil servants later marched in support of the protests




http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97848

COLOMBIA:

AUTHORITIES SUPPRESS COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS PROTESTS

At least one person was killed and more than 130 were wounded during 
indigenous demonstrations last week in several departments in Colombia. 
But with multiple press freedom violations being committed, you would be 
hard-pressed to find out what's going on.
Indigenous community media groups in the department of Cauca complained 
recently that several of their websites have been blocked, and a local 
community radio station has reported suspicious power outages - at a 
time when indigenous communities have been protesting to protect their 
fundamental rights, reports the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), 
IFEX member in Colombia.
Thousands of indigenous Colombians, mainly in the southwest and 
northwest, mobilised last week on a five-point plan. It calls for the 
reestablishment of their territorial rights as laid out by the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and rallies against the 
Colombian free-trade deal with the U.S., Canada and the EU and the 
increasing militarisation of the country by the government and 
paramilitaries.
As part of the protests, indigenous groups blocked several roads last 
week, including the Pan-American Highway, the country's main north-south 
thoroughfare, in at least four locations between Colombia's third 
largest city, Cali, and the city of Popayán, 135 kilometres to the south.
But they were met with a repressive response. Violent clashes broke out 
between protesters and security officers on 14 and 15 October, when 
officers attempted to reopen the highway, allegedly firing into the 
crowds and assaulting them with tear gas and hand grenades. According to 
the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC), the clashes 
have resulted in one death and more than 130 people injured, many gravely.
On the same day, the websites of the Association of Indigenous Councils 
of Northern Cauca (ACIN) and the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council 
(CRIC), two of the main organisations that have been mobilising through 
their own media channels, went out of service, reports FLIP.
CRIC told FLIP that its website was down for more than 12 hours until 
staff temporarily transferred it to another server. CRIC said, "It's 
very coincidental that the website crashed at exactly the same time that 
the demonstrations began." The websites of both CRIC and ACIN have 
previously been down during demonstrations.
Several radio stations had their power cut while they were broadcasting 
information about the demonstrations. La Libertad radio station, based 
in the municipality of Totoró, says power outages are common in the 
area. "However, it appears suspicious to us because this has happened 
several times when we are broadcasting this type of information," La 
Libertad said.
Sources in Cauca told FLIP that they believe the obstruction of the 
independent media outlets may be aimed at preventing the dissemination 
of allegations of excessive use of force by security forces during the 
demonstrations.
Meanwhile, journalists who have been covering the demonstrations have 
expressed concern over their safety. "We are in the line of fire," one 
journalist told FLIP.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), foreign journalists have 
been stopped and questioned and even expelled for "taking part in 
political activities". Julien Dubois, a French journalist planning to 
document the protests in Cauca Valley, was detained on 13 October, 
expelled the next day and banned from Colombia for five years.
Colombia has a long tradition of community, citizen-based media projects 
that consistently present an alternative narrative to the corporate 
media. They are linked to a broader network of national, alternative 
media (such as Indymedia-Colombia and SICO, among others). But as 
concluded at International PEN's recent World Congress in Bogotá, their 
perspectives are rarely heard through mainstream channels, which often 
give an unfiltered voice to the official authorities.
The mass media have been mainly echoing the government's perspective: 
that the protests have been infiltrated by "destabilising forces" - the 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The accusations have been 
denied by protesters.
"The (Álvaro) Uribe government continues to make the unsubstantiated 
link in an attempt to avoid any dialogue with the communities. This fact 
does not come through in any of the coverage whatsoever, leaving the 
audience in a permanent state of being misinformed," said Mario A. 
Murillo, a respected professor at Hofstra University in New York, who 
has been documenting the protests on his blog in Colombia.
"The government's claims... have almost become conventional wisdom in 
the last few days because of the capacity of the Uribe administration to 
set the agenda, present its arguments to domestic journalists with 
indignation and authority, and come off as the victim once again," he 
added.
In some respects, the indigenous groups have defied the odds and have 
been successful in gathering support on an international level, and 
getting other rights groups to take notice. An open letter demanding an 
international mission go to Colombia, addressed to Canada's Prime 
Minister Stephen Harper, has already garnered more than 150 signatures, 
including some from Canada's First Nations groups.
In the meantime, at least 12,000 indigenous people started a march from 
La Maria, Cauca to Cali on 21 October to continue to pressure President 
Uribe to address their concerns. They have vowed to continue marching to 
Bogotá if he doesn't show. Despite talks over the weekend with three 
ministers and the promise by Uribe to buy land for the indigenous 
peoples, there was no deal made between them and the government.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) recalls that the 
protests occur within a general context of grave, systematic and 
repeated violations of the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia. 
According to FIDH, in the last month, 29 indigenous persons were killed 
in the country, and over the past six years more than 1,240 indigenous 
persons have been murdered and at least 53,885 displaced.
Visit these links:
- FLIP: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97745/
- RSF: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97757/
- International PEN: http://tinyurl.com/5ourg7
- Mario A. Murillo's blog, with "Media Representations of Popular 
Mobilizations Ignore the Movement's Message": http://mamaradio.blogspot.com
- Statement by President Uribe (15 October): http://tinyurl.com/6czykk
- FIDH: http://tinyurl.com/6ojjsd
- ACIN: http://nasaacin.org
- CRIC: http://www.cric-colombia.org/
- ONIC: http://www.onic.org.co/
- Indymedia-Colombia: http://colombia.indymedia.org/
(Photo: Demonstrators blocking the Pan American Highway last week 
clashed with security forces. Luz Edith Cometa/nasaacin.org)
(22 October 2008)




http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/24/colombia.indian.protests/index.html?eref=rss_world

Fri October 24, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and leaders 
of a massive Indian protest plan to meet Sunday in the city of Cali.

Protesters march this week along the Pan-American Highway in Villarrica, 
Colombia.

The president spoke by phone Thursday evening with one protest leader, 
Daniel Pinacue, and said he looked forward to "comprehensive and 
constructive" dialogue, the Colombian government said.
Tens of thousands of Indians are marching from the mountains of 
southwest Colombia to Cali, a city of 2 million, to demand more land, 
better education and health care and protection from corporations 
encroaching on their ancestral land.
Colombia's 1.3 million Indians rank among the most impoverished of the 
country's 40 million people.
Protesters and police have clashed since demonstrations began October 
10. At least four demonstrators have been killed and 130 wounded, Indian 
leaders said. They have accused government security forces of shooting 
at them. Watch as violence has marred the two-week-old struggle »
Authorities have denied the allegations and said some Indians have 
hurled rocks, thrown Molotov cocktails and homemade explosives at 
security forces. As many as 70 security force members, mainly riot 
police, have been hurt, the government has said.
Authorities also said some Indians have shot fellow demonstrators to 
stir up the crowd's anger.
After initially denying such accusations, Uribe admitted Wednesday that 
police had fired on Indian demonstrators last week despite a government 
pledge that security forces would not do so.
"The police did fire," Uribe said at a news conference after CNN 
obtained and aired a videotape that shows police at La Maria Indian 
reservation October 16 in southwestern Colombia.
The patrolman who fired, Uribe said, was being attacked with explosives. 
His supervisors did not know he fired, the president said.
The Indians who have been killed died as a result of their explosives 
and not police bullets, Uribe said.
"This is a resistance movement," said protester Rodrigo Quira. "We don't 
agree with President Uribe's policies, and other groups are affected, 
too. That's why they're joining us."
The demonstrators have snaked along the Pan-American Highway, a major 
trade route in South America. They occasionally play traditional Indian 
songs that date to the time of the Spanish conquest, when many Indians 
across South and Central America died as a result of imported disease, 
slavery and warfare.
"I believe we have to forge strong alliances in our struggle to demand 
our rights," said Aida Quilcue, an Indian leader.
A member of Colombia's riot police force said, "The Indians are the 
worst because they're fighting with Molotov cocktails, gunpowder [in 
homemade explosives] and machetes."
In the five-minute phone call between Uribe and Pinacue, the president 
said both sides should talk this weekend "with a spirit of brotherhood," 
according to the Colombian government.





http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44564

COLOMBIA: Native Protest Continues Despite Talks with Uribe
By Constanza Vieira

BOGOTA, Nov 3 (IPS) - In his meeting with indigenous protesters Sunday, 
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe did not give in to any of the 
movement’s main demands, and the demonstrators decided to continue their 
protest, which is in its fourth week.

The National Minga of Indigenous and Popular Resistance ("minga" is a 
traditional indigenous meeting for the collective good) had initially 
scored a victory when the right-wing Uribe agreed to travel to the 
Guambiano community’s La María reservation in southwestern Colombia for 
the talks.

But the president arrived two hours late for Sunday’s meeting, and after 
six hours of negotiations, the central point on the protesters’ agenda 
was still unaddressed: agreements signed since the 1970s by indigenous 
communities and other social sectors with earlier administrations, which 
have never been implemented.

When Uribe attempted to leave the remaining points on the agenda for 
discussion with a committee of ministers, he was booed by the Minga 
participants, who have been demanding his direct involvement because 
they no longer believe in special task forces.

That is why the Minga will continue, said Ayda Quilcué, a top leader of 
the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), one of the country’s 
most powerful indigenous associations. "We are going to walk the talk," 
she said.

Around 2,000 indigenous people and labour representatives directly took 
part in Sunday’s meeting with Uribe, while another 4,000 people in the 
La María reservation watched the proceedings on a television screen, as 
the talks were broadcast live by the public Institutional Channel.

Security was in the hands of eight concentric rings of members of the 
Indigenous Guard, who carefully searched each participant, accompanied 
by members of the security forces.

"The idea is to guarantee that the dialogue is not torpedoed for any 
reason," Silsa Arias, head of communications for the National Indigenous 
Organisation of Colombia (ONIC), told the on-line Amerindian radio 
station Dachibedea, which has links to 36 other indigenous stations 
around the country.

This time there was no welcoming applause for Uribe, whose popularity 
ratings stand at 77 percent in the polls after six years in office and 
who is used to warm welcomes.

Instead, he was met by eight empty coffins -- a reminder of indigenous 
people killed in massacres, and of Nasa leader Álvaro Ulcué Chocué, 
Colombia’s first indigenous Catholic priest, who was murdered by hired 
thugs in 1984.

The meeting began just after noon local time, with an episode that 
caused some tension. Uribe considered it disrespectful when some of the 
indigenous people present did not stand up when the national anthem was 
played, followed by the anthems of the CRIC and the Indigenous Guard 
(who were unarmed).

"We can’t say we’re operating in a framework of respect when we have 
been called terrorists and criminals," said Quilcué.

She pointed out that when their protest began on Oct. 11, Uribe 
repeatedly accused the demonstrators of being guerrillas, terrorists or 
delinquents.

"If we sit down during the national anthem, it is to protest against a 
country that does not respect cultural diversity," said Quilcué.

The new Colombian constitution approved in 1991 made a stride forward by 
recognising the multi-ethnic character of a country with 102 different 
indigenous groups (making up roughly three percent of the population), a 
mixed-race (different mixtures of European, Amerindian and African) 
majority, and white, black, Roma (gypsy), and English-speaking minorities.

But Quilcué complained of "incitement of racism" by members of 
parliament, where most of Uribe’s allies are under legal investigation 
for their ties to far-right paramilitary groups that are deeply involved 
in the drug trade.

She complained that the security forces cut the poles of the CRIC flags, 
"burned our flags, and hoisted the Colombian flag instead."

Quilcué told the president and the senior officials sitting with him 
that "many of you have promoted hatred against us, from within the 
country’s institutional structure."

"We have been asking for this debate for four years, but it took 120 
people injured and killed for you to come here today," she told Uribe, 
who at the start of the talks said he assumed "responsibility for our 
words."

The agenda of the talks was established by the indigenous people and the 
government, with the oversight of a commission of national and 
international facilitators of the talks, who also ensured that each side 
strictly respected the limits set to guarantee equal speaking time.

The first point discussed was the brutal clampdown on the demonstrators 
in La María by the anti-riot police, which triggered a week of violent 
clashes starting on Oct. 13 that left three indigenous protesters dead 
and around 170 people injured, including 39 police officers.

La María was designated a "territory of dialogue and peaceful 
coexistence" in 1999, when then president Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002) 
launched peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC) in the vast southern region of Caguán. (The talks broke down in 
February 2002).

"But those who were invited to take part (in the talks) were handpicked. 
The people themselves had no participation," said the indigenous 
governor of La María, Elides Pechene.

"This must be a scenario for debate. But what we are demanding must also 
take concrete shape, because this should not only serve to make the 
world believe there is dialogue," Quilcué said at the start of the talks.

The second point on the agenda was human rights violations by the 
security forces, followed by the issues of protection and expansion of 
indigenous reservations and unfulfilled agreements. The last point was 
to include the signing of commitments, but no agreement was reached.

During the discussion, the indigenous people talked about "the rivers, 
streams and lakes that are dying today, and the indigenous cultures that 
are disappearing, like the Yamaledo community, which has only 30 members 
left in the Amazon jungle," said Kuna leader Abadio Green.

"Our mother nature is in danger. You have handed over our territory to 
multinational corporations," which has led to forced displacement, 
murders and selective arrests, said Quilcué.

But the president will not seek to repeal the laws -- on questions like 
mining, forests and water -- that the indigenous movement considers 
harmful to the environment and to native territories.

He also refuses to endanger infrastructure works or projects that 
exploit natural resources like minerals, oil or water by submitting them 
to consultation with affected local and indigenous communities, even 
though that is a constitutional requirement.

"We cannot allow such consultations to be turned into vetoes or delays," 
said the president.

Uribe was also booed when he announced that he would sign the United 
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples next year, but 
with at least two reservations: that the subsoil does not belong to 
indigenous peoples but to the nation, and that native communities do not 
have to be consulted with regard to investment projects in their 
territories.

With respect to the free trade deal signed with the United States, which 
is pending approval by the U.S. Congress, the Uribe administration 
officials claimed that opposition to the agreement is "political" and 
that indigenous intellectual property will be respected. But they 
ignored the indigenous movement’s suggestion that a similar agreement be 
signed with the rest of the nations of Latin America.

The president also refrained from commenting on complaints that legal 
hurdles have blocked, starting at the municipal level, the expansion of 
indigenous reservations -- a question that is crucial to the survival of 
many of the country’s native cultures, as young people without land are 
increasingly moving to the cities.

Referring to Uribe’s "democratic security" policy and the heavy U.S. 
financing of government forces in Colombia’s civil war, Quilcué 
complained that "democratic security has been used to kill civilians," 
and "Plan Colombia has been at the service of democratic security."

Although Uribe argued that "there can be no areas off-limits to the 
fatherland’s army and police," he later softened that stance by saying 
he was willing to withdraw the security forces from La María if there 
were guarantees that the protesters would not block the Panamerican 
Highway -- which leads to Ecuador -- again, as they had done at the 
start of the protest. (END/2008)







http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/15/colombia.clashes/index.html?eref=rss_world

October 16, 2008 -- Updated 1429 GMT (2229 HKT)

By Karl Penhaul
CNN

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Violent clashes between Indian protesters and 
riot police continued Wednesday in southwest Colombia, increasing the 
casualty toll to at least two dead and about 100 injured, according to 
Indian spokesmen.

Indians and riot police clash in Candelaria, in southern Colombia, on 
Tuesday.

The protests started Tuesday, when an estimated 7,000 Indians from 
various ethnic communities used rocks and tree trunks to block the 
Pan-American Highway -- the country's main north-south thoroughfare -- 
in at least four locations between Colombia's second largest city, Cali, 
and the city of Popayan, 85 miles (135 kilometers) to the south.
Fresh clashes broke out Wednesday when police moved in with armored 
personnel carriers and water cannons to clear the highway.
The Indians are protesting the Colombian government's free market 
economic policies; regional landowners they say have stolen their 
territory; and government plans for a free-trade deal with the United 
States. Watch Indian protesters prepare for battle »
The Indians, who are traditionally among the very poorest in Colombian 
society, along with blacks, say they are worse off than ever before.
Indian congressman Climaco Alvarez accused police of firing on 
protesters with live rounds Wednesday. Police deny using lethal force.
An Indian spokesman said one Indian was killed in Wednesday's clashes 
and 39 were injured. That adds to Tuesday's toll, given to CNN by 
another Indian spokesman, of one dead and around 60 injured.
Two hours after the clashes, the Indians said they had managed to move 
back onto the highway and set up fresh blockades.
Tuesday's clashes took place at several locations along the Pan-American 
Highway.
One spokesman for the National Indigenous Council told CNN that injuries 
to Indians, mostly of the Nasa tribe, had occurred in clashes with riot 
police near the southwest town of La Maria Piendamo and farther north 
near a community known as La Candelaria. He said 18 of the injured at La 
Maria Piendamo had gunshot wounds.
Col. Jorge Enrique Cartagena, commander of the police's elite riot 
squad, said his men had not used live rounds, only tear gas and water 
cannons.
He said seven of his men had been hurt, two seriously, by demonstrators 
who tossed rocks and fired stones from slingshots, and by exploding 
gunpowder.
He also said leftist guerrilla fighters of the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia (FARC) had infiltrated the demonstration and were 
motivating the protest. Indian organizations deny the accusation, which 
law enforcement officials frequently level at social protests across the 
country.

The Pan-American Highway is a network of routes stretching from Alaska 
to South America's southern tip in Patagonia. The idea for it was 
conceived in 1923 to unite the Americas.
The road network is only broken at the jungle-covered border of Panama 
and Colombia -- a stretch of about 54 miles (87 kilometers) called the 
Darien Gap. Otherwise, the road network runs about 29,000 miles (48,000 
kilometers).







http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44307

COLOMBIA: Brutal Crackdown on Indigenous Protest
By Helda Martínez*

BOGOTA, Oct 16 (IPS) - More than 75 people were injured and at least one 
was killed in a crackdown on indigenous protests being held in different 
areas of Colombia.

The protests began Oct. 12, Día de la Raza (Day of the Race -- which 
marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas), 
in La María, an indigenous reserve in the southwestern province of Cauca.

Demonstrators participating in the National Mobilisation of Indigenous 
and Popular Resistance, convened by indigenous organisations, blocked 
the Pan American highway, the main north-south artery in Colombia, a 
branch of which communicates the country with Ecuador.

To clear the road, the army and police went in with helicopters and 
armoured vehicles, and opened fire with live ammunition.

"It was terrible, and so unfair. We had no weapons. We only have our 
ceremonial staffs which symbolise authority. At this moment (midday on 
Wednesday) they are still shooting, although they have removed us from 
the Pan American highway," Manuel Rozental, a spokesperson for local 
indigenous groups, told IPS.

Nevertheless, "the number of protesters is growing. More people are 
coming down from the mountains to participate in the demonstration, and 
we estimate there are at least 200,000 indigenous people involved 
throughout the country," said Rozental.

Active protests are taking place in 16 of Colombia’s 32 provinces: La 
Guajira, Córdoba, Sucre, Atlántico and Chocó, on the northern Caribbean 
coast; Norte de Santander, Boyacá and Casanare, in the east; Meta, to 
the south of Bogotá; Risaralda, Caldas, Quindio and Tolima in the centre 
of the country; Cauca and Huila in the southwest; and Valle del Cauca, 
in the west.

The indigenous organisations have a list of 12 demands that they want to 
negotiate in direct talks with rightwing Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

Referring to the clashes in Cauca, Vice President Francisco Santos said 
"what is going on there is guerrilla infiltration, and those who are 
fighting are the Grandchildren of Quintín Lame," an indigenous leader of 
the last century who fought for recognition of the rights of native 
communities.

Lame's name was adopted by a group of young indigenous people left 
landless because the reserves have not been expanded. They use 
explosives and other violent methods in protests, and are disapproved of 
by their traditional authorities.

However, the cabildos (local indigenous governing councils) insistently 
deny any links between the indigenous people and armed groups of any kind.

Colombia has been living through a civil war for nearly half a century, 
between insurgent groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC), far-right paramilitary militias and government troops.

The indigenous people in Cauca are demanding that Uribe put in a 
personal appearance in the area, because "there are too many precedents 
of unfulfilled promises. At the world summit of indigenous peoples that 
was held right there in La María, in 2005, they promised us talks, but 
what they did was send in more troops, to burn and destroy," said Rozental.

At a plenary session of Congress on Tuesday night, indigenous Senator 
Jesús Piñacué explained the deep-seated reasons behind the mobilisation, 
and won support from the International Affairs Commission, and among 
legislators of the opposition Liberal Party and Alternative Democratic 
Pole (PDA).

On Wednesday, Piñacué said that just as Uribe has negotiated with drug 
traffickers and paramilitary forces, he should enter into dialogue with 
the indigenous people. Agriculture Minister Andrés Felipe Arias called 
Piñacué a "terrorist." "I hope this struggle that has gone on for so 
many years, and the specific requests set forth by the present 
mobilisation, that we have been waiting for with humility and 
resignation for five years, will be met with solutions. Meanwhile we 
will keep on struggling, as there is nothing else we can do," Piñacué 
told IPS.

On Tuesday, the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC) 
reported the alleged forced disappearance of two people from the protest 
in La María to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

It also asked the Organisation of American States (OAS) for "urgent 
intervention" by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, 
because at the height of the protest the web page belonging to the 
Association of Indigenous Authorities of Northern Cauca (ACIN) was 
disabled, and power was cut off at the headquarters of the Regional 
Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), from which ONIC's virtual radio 
station, Dachibedea, is retransmitted.

More than 30 national and international civil society and human rights 
organisations said that the indigenous demonstration is part of the 
actions decided by indigenous groups in 2001, and is "aimed at 
expressing their rejection of physical and cultural genocide and the 
various ways in which their rights have been trampled on and violated."

In a communiqué, the social organisations stressed that indigenous 
territories are coveted for their natural resources, and fought over by 
the armed groups in the civil war. They are also strategic areas for 
implementing economic and infrastructure projects, the statement says.

This "violates the autonomy, territorial integrity and collective rights 
of indigenous peoples, through the violation of sacred areas, the loss 
of cultures, and the denial of the right of free, prior and informed 
consent," it says.

In the statement, the social organisations express great concern that 
the Colombian government has not signed the United Nations Declaration 
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved by the U.N. General 
Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007.

They also allege that the Colombian state is in breach of International 
Labour Organisation Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal 
Peoples, and of the recommendations of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on 
the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous 
peoples.

Since 2002, when the Uribe administration took office, 1,253 indigenous 
people have been murdered and at least 54,000 have been expelled from 
their ancestral lands, according to ONIC.

*With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira in Bogotá. (END/2008)








http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/772/39835

Colombian regime cracks down on indigenous protests

Kiraz Janicke
25 October 2008

Thousands of indigenous Colombians are marching along the Pan American 
Highway — which connects the south-west of the country to the centre — 
to protest militarisation of their lands by government and paramilitary 
forces, as well as the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
The protesters are also calling for President Alvaro Uribe’s 
administration to comply with previous agreements relating to land 
rights and increased funding for health and education programs for the 
country’s 1.3 million indigenous people.

The National Mobilisation of Indigenous and Popular Resistance began in 
La Maria Piendamo in the Cauca province on October 12, the anniversary 
of the arrival of Christopher Colombus and beginning of European 
colonisation 516 years ago.

It is scheduled to arrive in Cali, the capital of Valle province, on 
October 27.

Repression

Only days before the October 12 mobilisations began, Uribe declared a 
“state of emergency”, ostensibly to address a crisis in the judicial 
system crippled by a six-week strike by judicial workers.

However despite reaching a temporary agreement with the judicial 
workers’ union, the measure remains in place.

The “state of emergency” grants the president unprecedented powers, 
allowing him to rule by decree, particularly in the area of security and 
“public order”.

Prior to the march, indigenous leaders had warned of a potential for a 
crackdown against the indigenous movement by state security forces.

On October 13, the Colombian army and police used helicopters and 
armoured vehicles and fired live ammunition to clear the road as 
protesters participating in the march blocked part of the Pan American 
Highway.

At least three people were killed, among them a baby who died of 
asphyxiation as a result of tear gas fired at the protesters, and more 
than 75 were injured.

Despite the repression, IPS reported on October 16 that “active 
protests” had spread to 16 of Colombia’s 32 provinces.

Manuel Rozental, a spokesperson for local indigenous communities said, 
“the number of protesters is growing. More people are coming down from 
the mountains to participate in the demonstration, and we estimate there 
are at least 200,000 indigenous people involved throughout the country.”

As the demonstrations have widened, the Colombian government has 
intensified its repression. On October 15, the army opened fire once 
again on the protesters, killing one and leaving 39 injured.

On October 22, two indigenous activists were shot in the head and back 
by police in Villarrica as they sought to join the march to Cali and a 
further five were injured.

Propaganda war

The Colombian government has repeatedly denied that police and military 
forces used live ammunition to break up the protests, despite footage of 
the October 22 incident broadcast on CNN clearly showing the contrary.

Jorge Enrique Cartagena, national chief of Colombia’s riot police, even 
went so far as to make the ludicrous claim that the demonstrators had 
fired on themselves. “We think he was shot from within the crowd, and 
they’re doing that to whip up anger”, he told CNN.

The Uribe administration has also launched a massive propaganda 
offensive aimed at de-legitimising the protests. On October 17, Uribe 
stated there was “clear evidence” that the indigenous protest in Cauca 
were being controlled by the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia (FARC).

Indigenous communities, thousands of whom have been displaced as a 
result of the civil war between the FARC and the military — alongside 
far-right paramilitaries acting on behalf of powerful interests that 
covet their resource rich lands — insistently deny any links with armed 
groups of any kind.

However, Colombia’s mainstream media has largely echoed the government 
line, effectively imposing a media blackout of indigenous voices.

Murderous government

In 2005 and 2006, the Uribe administration responded in a similar 
fashion to indigenous mobilisations in Cauca.

Rozental recalled, “At the world summit of indigenous peoples that was 
held right there in La Maria, in 2005, they promised us talks, but what 
they did was send in more troops, to burn and destroy.”

Since Uribe came to power in 2002, 1253 indigenous people have been 
murdered and 54,000 have been displaced, according to the National 
Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC).

According to Colombiareports.com, dozens of indigenous youth in Cauca 
have been murdered by state security forces since January, “many of them 
so-called ‘false-positive’ killings because the bodies were dressed up 
and presented as if they were guerillas killed in combat”.

The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca also received a 
letter on August 11 threatening its members and those of the Regional 
Indigenous Council of Cauca with death as “a consequence of their 
disrespect”.

The letter, signed by the “angry farmers” of Cauca, is widely believed 
to be the work of wealthy landowners whose interests are threatened by 
indigenous land recuperation projects.

Just days before the mass mobilisations began in La Maria Piendamo, two 
Nasa Indians from Cauca were also assassinated by unidentified gunmen on 
October 10-11.

The legitimacy of the Uribe government has been brought into question by 
the ongoing “para-politics” scandal, in which 80 governors, mayors and 
congressional politicians, the majority of them close allies of Uribe, 
are alleged to have, or have been found guilty of having, direct links 
to paramilitary death squads.

According to a Radiomundial.com.ve report, Luis Evelis Andrade Casama, 
spokesperson for ONIC, explained that the march to Cali was not only 
about recuperating land and social benefits, but to “sow in the 
consciousness of Colombia and the world that we are suffering a crisis 
of extreme violation of human rights”.








http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28583.shtml
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/22/colombia-indigenous-protests-and-murders-under-media-blackout/

Breaking: Colombia: Indigenous Protests and Murders Under Media Blackout
By Juliana Rincón Parra
Oct 23, 2008, 19:48

 From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made 
an international SOS to call attention on their plight. They accuse the 
armed forces of opening fire with live ammunition during their marches 
along the main highways in the country, killing and injuring indigenous 
protesters. The government keeps stating that the live fire comes from 
indigenous members or confabulated guerrilla infiltrated within the 
armed forces to create chaos, and calling these protesters terrorists. 
The indigenous groups are marching to ask, among other things, for 
justice for the thousands of Indigenous Colombian people murdered in the 
past years, including community leaders.

 From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made 
an international SOS to call attention on their plight. On their 
website, cric-colombia.org they explain how they have been protesting 
the human rights abuses they have been victim of, represented by the 
murder of one of their community leaders by hit men and the death 
threats on other regional and community leaders and spokespeople. They 
have requested a public audience with the Government Officials, and have 
been protesting since October 12, demanding the protection of their 
human rights and making the government live up to the promises of the 
signed treaties of the past. However, it is said that armed government 
forces, have shot live ammunition at the protesters, leaving 2 dead and 
more than 60 indigenous members injured. On this blog post on the 
indigenous community site they show pictures of the protest and the 
injuries some have sustained as well as the list of those injured up to 
October 14th. On October 15th, the armed forces opened fire once again 
on the protesters, killing one and leaving 39 injured. They have also 
blocked the roads and ambulances can't get in to help those who are hurt 
and needing assistance. (Links in Spanish unless otherwise noted)
They write:
"la fuerza publica entró disparando con armas de largo alcance y ya hay 
3 heridos mas de gravedad. la fuerza militar entro ya al territorio de 
dialogo y negociación.
Se solicita de manera urgente que organismos internacionales frenen esta 
violencia. tambien a los pueblos inigenas que refuercen el personal que 
esta siendo atacado."
The armed forces came in shooting with long range weapons and there are 
already 3 other persons seriously injured. The military forces have 
barged into the territory of dialogue and negotiation.
We urgently request international organizations to stop this violence. 
Also for the indigenous communities to get more people to back those who 
have been attacked.
The indigenous community has been sending emails and posting on their 
website[es] updates on the situation.
The following video was posted last week by user nasacin, including 
cellphone and video camera images from the manifestations, clips showing 
shot indigenous community members, a soldier speaking about the 
differences between the Mob Control ESMAD and the armed forces, stating 
that the armed forces are to keep the peace, and the ESMAD is the one in 
charge of defusing violent situations. However, when asked who it is 
that is shooting with rifles, the soldier doesn't answer.
Blogger Alejandro Peláez last week wrote of how foreign media is 
reporting on the indigenous protests, but local media hadn't published 
anything at all:
Las noticias son hechos, y para escribir sobre hechos toca salir del 
escritorio, entrevistar personas, buscar en archivos, viajar al monte . 
Las masacres, por ejemplo, son hechos. Pero en este país los medios 
cubren este tipo de hechos con diez años de diferencia y ahí ya no son 
noticia, son historia. En este momento, como lo cuenta AdamIsacson (sí, 
un gringo sentando en Washington D.C.), hay serios disturbios en el 
Cauca y El Tiempo ni lo anota. Tal vez presenten una crónica 
completísima dentro de diez años. Chévere.
News is facts, and to write about facts you have to get out from behind 
your desk, interview people, search the archives, head out into the 
mountains. Massacres, for example, are facts. But in this country the 
media covers this type of events with a 10 year difference when they are 
no longer a news story, but history. In this moment, as Adam Isacson 
(yes, a gringo sitting in Washington D.C.) reports, there are serious 
disturbances in the Cauca, and El Tiempo doesn't even have a note on it. 
Maybe they'll present a full chronicle of it in ten years. Great.
In Gacetilla Colombiana, a Digg style application for Colombian news, 
posters have been linking foreign news as an alternative for those who 
are under the “media blackout” on this event, in particular to a major 
foreign news chain's video [en] where a citizen media recording shows 
what could be an armed but hooded person dressed in green with a rifle 
going moving through the mob squad and shooting at the indigenous 
protesters as the members of the mob squad move to let him pass. In the 
blog “Lets Change the World”, Decio Machado posts the email chain sent 
out by the Indigenous groups, the means through which most Colombians 
have found out about the crisis. The Selvas.org blog also posts updates 
on the situation, how indigenous groups are all marching towards a main 
city called Cali and blocking the Panamerican Highway and other roads 
with 10 000 people, including cane pickers, farmers women and children.
In the national blogging award winner Tienen Huevo blog, they write 
outraged at the fact that at the same time there is an ethnocide going 
on in the streets of Colombia, trying to reach Cali, while a fashion and 
makeup expo is taking place, with people more concentrated on clothing 
and fashion shows than the indigenous situation.
The government has responded to the accusations of opening fire on the 
indigenous protesters by saying that they have orders not to shoot, so 
it must've been an inside job, someone infiltrated from the indigenous 
communities among the police in order to cause panic and bad feeling. 
Bacteria Opina blog has a caricature of the situation where two 
indigenous protesters comment that in spite of marching with “indigenous 
malice”, a phrase used to determine the ability to make do with whatever 
is doled out their way, the government is accusing them of being an 
“indigenous milicia”. The government has issued statements saying that 
these indigenous protests are infiltrated by guerrillas and are 
terrorist activities, statements the indigenous communities refute 
absolutely on their blog.
These other videos online on YouTube show the indigenous community's 
past struggles,
Colombia
________________________________________

Breaking: Colombia: Indigenous Protests and Murders Under Media Blackout
By Juliana Rincón Parra
Oct 23, 2008, 19:48

 From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made 
an international SOS to call attention on their plight. They accuse the 
armed forces of opening fire with live ammunition during their marches 
along the main highways in the country, killing and injuring indigenous 
protesters. The government keeps stating that the live fire comes from 
indigenous members or confabulated guerrilla infiltrated within the 
armed forces to create chaos, and calling these protesters terrorists. 
The indigenous groups are marching to ask, among other things, for 
justice for the thousands of Indigenous Colombian people murdered in the 
past years, including community leaders.

 From Colombia, the indigenous groups in the Cauca department have made 
an international SOS to call attention on their plight. On their 
website, cric-colombia.org they explain how they have been protesting 
the human rights abuses they have been victim of, represented by the 
murder of one of their community leaders by hit men and the death 
threats on other regional and community leaders and spokespeople. They 
have requested a public audience with the Government Officials, and have 
been protesting since October 12, demanding the protection of their 
human rights and making the government live up to the promises of the 
signed treaties of the past. However, it is said that armed government 
forces, have shot live ammunition at the protesters, leaving 2 dead and 
more than 60 indigenous members injured. On this blog post on the 
indigenous community site they show pictures of the protest and the 
injuries some have sustained as well as the list of those injured up to 
October 14th. On October 15th, the armed forces opened fire once again 
on the protesters, killing one and leaving 39 injured. They have also 
blocked the roads and ambulances can't get in to help those who are hurt 
and needing assistance. (Links in Spanish unless otherwise noted)
They write:
"la fuerza publica entró disparando con armas de largo alcance y ya hay 
3 heridos mas de gravedad. la fuerza militar entro ya al territorio de 
dialogo y negociación.
Se solicita de manera urgente que organismos internacionales frenen esta 
violencia. tambien a los pueblos inigenas que refuercen el personal que 
esta siendo atacado."
The armed forces came in shooting with long range weapons and there are 
already 3 other persons seriously injured. The military forces have 
barged into the territory of dialogue and negotiation.
We urgently request international organizations to stop this violence. 
Also for the indigenous communities to get more people to back those who 
have been attacked.
The indigenous community has been sending emails and posting on their 
website[es] updates on the situation.
The following video was posted last week by user nasacin, including 
cellphone and video camera images from the manifestations, clips showing 
shot indigenous community members, a soldier speaking about the 
differences between the Mob Control ESMAD and the armed forces, stating 
that the armed forces are to keep the peace, and the ESMAD is the one in 
charge of defusing violent situations. However, when asked who it is 
that is shooting with rifles, the soldier doesn't answer.
Blogger Alejandro Peláez last week wrote of how foreign media is 
reporting on the indigenous protests, but local media hadn't published 
anything at all:
Las noticias son hechos, y para escribir sobre hechos toca salir del 
escritorio, entrevistar personas, buscar en archivos, viajar al monte . 
Las masacres, por ejemplo, son hechos. Pero en este país los medios 
cubren este tipo de hechos con diez años de diferencia y ahí ya no son 
noticia, son historia. En este momento, como lo cuenta AdamIsacson (sí, 
un gringo sentando en Washington D.C.), hay serios disturbios en el 
Cauca y El Tiempo ni lo anota. Tal vez presenten una crónica 
completísima dentro de diez años. Chévere.
News is facts, and to write about facts you have to get out from behind 
your desk, interview people, search the archives, head out into the 
mountains. Massacres, for example, are facts. But in this country the 
media covers this type of events with a 10 year difference when they are 
no longer a news story, but history. In this moment, as Adam Isacson 
(yes, a gringo sitting in Washington D.C.) reports, there are serious 
disturbances in the Cauca, and El Tiempo doesn't even have a note on it. 
Maybe they'll present a full chronicle of it in ten years. Great.
In Gacetilla Colombiana, a Digg style application for Colombian news, 
posters have been linking foreign news as an alternative for those who 
are under the “media blackout” on this event, in particular to a major 
foreign news chain's video [en] where a citizen media recording shows 
what could be an armed but hooded person dressed in green with a rifle 
going moving through the mob squad and shooting at the indigenous 
protesters as the members of the mob squad move to let him pass. In the 
blog “Lets Change the World”, Decio Machado posts the email chain sent 
out by the Indigenous groups, the means through which most Colombians 
have found out about the crisis. The Selvas.org blog also posts updates 
on the situation, how indigenous groups are all marching towards a main 
city called Cali and blocking the Panamerican Highway and other roads 
with 10 000 people, including cane pickers, farmers women and children.
In the national blogging award winner Tienen Huevo blog, they write 
outraged at the fact that at the same time there is an ethnocide going 
on in the streets of Colombia, trying to reach Cali, while a fashion and 
makeup expo is taking place, with people more concentrated on clothing 
and fashion shows than the indigenous situation.
The government has responded to the accusations of opening fire on the 
indigenous protesters by saying that they have orders not to shoot, so 
it must've been an inside job, someone infiltrated from the indigenous 
communities among the police in order to cause panic and bad feeling. 
Bacteria Opina blog has a caricature of the situation where two 
indigenous protesters comment that in spite of marching with “indigenous 
malice”, a phrase used to determine the ability to make do with whatever 
is doled out their way, the government is accusing them of being an 
“indigenous milicia”. The government has issued statements saying that 
these indigenous protests are infiltrated by guerrillas and are 
terrorist activities, statements the indigenous communities refute 
absolutely on their blog.
These other videos online on YouTube show the indigenous community's 
past struggles,
Federico Ruiz posts a play-by-play ping-pong match style summary of 
events up until Saturday:
los indígenas decretan un paro, el gobierno lo declara ilegal, los 
indígenas se toman la panamericana, el gobierno manda a una fuerza 
especial antimotines de la policía para que desbloqueen las carreteras, 
más indígenas se suman a las movilizaciones, el procurador de la nación 
dice que va a los diálogos, el presidente dice que está muy ocupado para 
ir a resolver el problema, los de la policía intentan desbloquear la 
carretera a las malas, los indígenas dicen que no se van porque les 
tienen que arreglar sus problemas y cumplirles los compromisos que les 
habían hecho hace como 15 años y que están en ese link que es una “carta 
abierta al presidente”, entre tanto en las protestas matan a un indígena 
y hieren como a 10 según las informaciones de El Tiempo, pero que en 
realidad no son 10 sino 90 según lo dicen los indígenas, y los de la 
policía dicen que en la manifestación o en el paro hay infiltrados de la 
guerrilla, los indígenas dicen que no, y justo luego los indígenas 
descubren que si hay un infiltrado pero que justamente es policía y que 
tenía unos panfletos de las farc y unas armas para encochinar a los 
indígenas, y por si fuera poco, justo llega el defensor regional del 
pueblo, o sea un representante del gobierno, y dice que “la Fuerza 
Pública se ha excedido en el uso de las armas de fuego”.
The indigenous groups decree a strike, the government declares it is 
illegal, the indians take the panamerican, the government sends a a 
special force of riot police to unblock the highways, more indians join 
the marches, the nation's procurer states they are going to dialogue 
about this, the president says he is too busy to go solve the problem, 
the police tries to unblock the road the “bad” way, the indians say they 
are not leaving because the government has to keep their promise to 
solve their issues as stated in a 15 year old treaty, that there is an 
open letter to the president, meanwhile in the protest an aboriginal is 
killed and 10 are injured according to El Tiempo [ed note. national 
newspaper], but really they aren't 10 but 90 according to the indigenous 
organizations, the police state that in the march and strike there are 
people infiltrated from the guerrilla, the indigenous people say there 
aren't, and just then the indians discober that there IS someone 
infiltrated, but that he is from the police force and had some FARC 
(Colombian Armed Forces) pamphlets and weapons to incriminate the 
natives, and if it weren't enough, the regional defender for the people, 
a government representative, comes and says that the “Armed Forces have 
exceeded themselves in the use of fire weapons”.
EDITED to add:
The organization who sent in the recording of the hooded shooter among 
the mob squad team have uploaded it online with other images of the 
protests. The images of the shooter amongst the mob squad, shooting at 
protesters starts at 1:44. They also add images of President Uribe 
calling military leaders to ask about the murders of the protesters, to 
which the military replied it was a shrapnel wounds from a pipe bomb and 
wasn't a bullet injury.The indigenous people are also shown with 
segments of a handmade grenade full of metal pieces and ball bearings 
they claim the armed forces are using against them.








http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44278

COLOMBIA: Indigenous People Protest in Face of Threats
By Helda Martínez

BOGOTA, Oct 15 (IPS) - At the top of the list of demands of some 7,000 
people mobilising in the Cauca municipality of Piendamó is the 
clarification of the deaths of 13 indigenous people killed over the past 
two weeks in different parts of Colombia.

Thousands of indigenous, black, mestizo (mixed-race) and white 
representatives of social organisations gathered over the weekend in the 
southern region of Cauca to participate in the "minga" (a traditional 
indigenous meeting convened to achieve a collective purpose) on occasion 
of the Día de la Raza (Day of the Race), which marks the anniversary of 
Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.

In a public statement, the protesters denounced Tuesday that the army 
had injured 23 indigenous people and that three others were missing, as 
a result of "the repression exercised by the state against our peaceful 
demonstration."

They also reported that army helicopters were overflying the indigenous 
reserve where the gathering is taking place.

Protesters were called to commemorate "516 years of resistance against a 
regime of terror at the service of multinational capitalist greed."

Representatives of the union of judicial sector workers, the Asonal 
Judicial, and sugarcane cutters -- both of which have been on strike for 
more than a month -- joined the demonstration on Monday Oct. 13. These 
two additions are expected to double the current number of protesters, 
according to estimates by Manuel Rozental, a spokesperson for indigenous 
groups who spoke to IPS by telephone.

The demonstrators are waiting for Colombia’s right-wing President Álvaro 
Uribe to respond to a letter they presented on Thursday Oct. 9, in which 
they demand justice and recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples, 
which are enshrined in the 1991 constitution.

But Uribe and his staff have so far remained silent. Cauca Governor 
Guillermo González Mosquera "is talking, at least, but he offers no 
solutions and assumes no responsibility," Rozental said.

On Sunday "he warned us that military intelligence reports revealed that 
indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia could be targeted by the FARC 
(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)," he added.

But the indigenous movement gives little credence to González Mosquera’s 
warning, as it is common, in the context of Colombia’s armed conflict, 
for far-right paramilitary and leftwing guerrilla groups to hurl this 
kind of accusation at each other.

According to Rozental, "The FARC accuse the black eagles (right-wing 
paramilitaries), and the black eagles accuse the FARC." The Colombian 
army is also present in the area.

Valencia himself told IPS that "in any case, it doesn’t matter who gave 
the order; the order exists."

Valencia is a leader of the Cauca indigenous movement who has gained a 
reputation for fighting the modern-day slavery conditions to which 
native ethnic groups and afro-Colombians are still subjected by large 
landowners.

"This activity is different from participating in an armed conflict. We 
are an indigenous community with our own rules, and we expect armed 
groups and the State to respect them," Valencia said.

But the armed groups involved in the decades-old civil war think 
otherwise. In the last two weeks, they were responsible for the death of 
13 people, whose killers have not been identified.

According to representatives of indigenous groups, the latest victim was 
39-year-old activist Nicolás Valencia Lemus, who was murdered on Sunday 
Oct. 12 at 8:30 am. As he made his way to Toribío, in the Cauca region, 
he was stopped on the road by hooded men who identified themselves as 
black eagles, forced him to get out of the vehicle in which he was 
driving with his wife and son, and killed him.

"Regardless of where they come from, the bullets only serve the cause of 
those who are against the people," states a press release issued by the 
indigenous movement.

"As we celebrate the Minga para la Conmoción de los Pueblos (or Minga to 
Mobilise the People) and commemorate 516 years of resistance and pain, 
Nicolás’s murder must be clarified. Several armed groups who are looking 
to benefit from these acts of terror are active around the area where he 
was gunned down," the press release adds.

"In the face of death, we will continue to speak out and defend life and 
dignity…The terror they spread will shame and condemn them. Their lives, 
guns and words will not be enough to cover up their abominable crimes. 
Nicolás Valencia Lemus’s death hurts us all and we will fight for 
justice to be done in his name," it states.

Twelve other murders, besides Valencia Lemus’s, were committed in 
different parts of the country, including Nariño in the south, Caldas in 
the central region, and Antioquia in the northwest.

And it is not just murders: there have also been numerous threats and 
other attacks. On Monday, demonstrators who were headed for the Piendamó 
meeting were held up by the army for a few hours, but "they eventually 
let us through, and here we are," Ezequiel, another activist, told IPS.

The Minga is also being held simultaneously in other regions, like the 
northern provinces of La Guajira and Santander, Boyacá and Casanare in 
the east, and the midwest province of Quindío. But the largest 
demonstration is taking place in Cauca, Colombia’s most heavily 
indigenous province, which is culturally close to Nariño and Putumayo.

Demonstrators also expressed their repudiation of the free trade 
agreement between Colombia and the United States, which is pending 
congressional approval in the U.S.

The indigenous people are calling for "treaties between peoples, 
treaties that are for the people and for life, and not treaties between 
those who are against the people and are killing our Mother Earth with 
their greed."

They are also demanding "the repeal of the constitutional reforms and 
pillaging laws that surrender our wealth to corporate interests, and 
condemn us to silence, stupidity, forced labour, marginalisation and 
death."

The statement mentions a number of regulations promoted by the Uribe 
administration, including the rural statute, the mining code, water laws 
and programmes, and the forestry law, which the movements "will continue 
fighting until they are repealed."

They are also speaking out against the "terror spread by Plan Colombia 
(the U.S.-financed anti-drug and counterinsurgency strategy), (Uribe’s) 
Democratic Security policy, and ‘para-politicians’ (lawmakers linked to 
the far-right paramilitaries), which are infesting our country and 
sowing death and forced displacement with the false promise of achieving 
social recuperation."

"With this protest -- which is not a crime, but rather an obligation 
seen as a crime by those who fear freedom -- we want to tell the world 
how the United States and the (U.S. army) Southern Command are setting 
up Coordination Centres for Integrated Action, from which they occupy 
our territories with the aim of handing them over to multinational 
corporations along with the wealth of our peoples," Valencia said.

He also recalled the legislation currently in force in Colombia, the 
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, land 
rights, trade union rights and other basic rights, and called for "the 
drafting of a peoples’ agenda that will allow us to go from a country 
with owners and without the people to a country of the people without 
owners." (END/2008)







http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2008/10/24/180129/Uribe%3A-Police.htm

Updated Friday, October 24, 2008 10:01 am TWN, By Patrick Markey, Reuters
Uribe: Police opened fire on indigenous protesters
BOGOTA -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe acknowledged on Wednesday 
police had opened fire on indigenous protesters during demonstrations 
for land rights and against a free trade agreement with the United States.
At least two indigenous protesters died during marches earlier this 
week. The government says tests show they were killed when a home-made 
bomb exploded as they handled it while community leaders say the men 
were shot by security forces.
The controversy broke as Uribe, a key U.S. ally, lobbied Democrats in 
the U.S. Congress to approve the trade deal he says will consolidate 
gains made against leftist guerrillas. But Democrats want him to do more 
to protect human rights, especially those of labor leaders.
The shooting incident came as thousands of Colombians from various 
indigenous groups marched on the city of Cali to demand the government 
live up to promises to protect their lands, defend them against violence 
and reconsider the trade pact.
“An investigation shows that yes, police did open fire. An officer ... 
admits opening fire because they were being attacked with explosives,” 
Uribe said during a late-night broadcast.
Still, “medical exams show the indigenous people died not from gunshots 
from security forces but from explosives,” he said.
Uribe’s statement came after CNN broadcast a videotape it said was made 
by marchers. It shows a uniformed man with his face covered opening fire 
with a rifle. The target is not clear, but riot police moved aside to 
let him shoot.
Police have clashed over a week with the indigenous groups, who 
authorities say have blocked a major highway, using home-made weapons, 
sticks and machetes. At least 32 police have been wounded and one lost 
his hands in an explosion, the government says.
Authorities have accused the FARC rebel group of helping provoke the 
violence, a charge indigenous leaders reject.
Colombia’s long rebel conflict has eased as the FARC has been driven 
back into remote areas and Uribe has negotiated the surrender of 
thousands of paramilitaries who once committed massacres and stole land 
in the name of counter-insurgency.
Colombia has 85 indigenous ethnic groups with a population of around 1 
million who have been among the most victimized people in the country’s 
four-decade conflict. Violence still displaces thousands of people from 
their homes each year.
Rights groups say the conflict has pushed at least six indigenous groups 
to the brink of extinction as they are caught in the cross-fire between 
armed groups often battling for control of lucrative cocaine-producing 
territories.






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23464560.htm

Indigenous Colombians march, unions protest Uribe
23 Oct 2008 21:21:13 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with new date, marches, deaths, possible talks)
By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of indigenous Colombians marched on 
Thursday to press their demands against President Alvaro Uribe, and 
labor unions protested in the capital Bogota, where five small blasts 
panicked residents.
Indigenous protesters with traditional staves, banners and mock coffins 
snaked toward Cali city, where leaders want talks with Uribe on promises 
to protect their lands, defend them against violence and reject a U.S. 
free trade agreement.
In Bogota, where several thousand state employees marched against 
Uribe's economic management, five small explosions left in trash cans or 
tied to lampposts slightly wounded at least 11 people, police said 
without commenting on those responsible.
Authorities say three indigenous protesters have died during more than a 
week of demonstrations near Cali. Uribe says they were killed when a 
homemade bomb exploded, but community leaders say security forces shot 
the victims.
"If he has the will to meet with the indigenous communities and the 
social movements, then let's do it in Cali," said Ayda Quilcue, a member 
of the Cauca province indigenous leadership.
The deaths came as Uribe, a key U.S. ally, lobbies U.S. Democrats for 
the trade deal he says will consolidate gains made against leftist 
guerrillas. But Democrats want him to better protect rights, especially 
those of labor leaders.
Uribe late on Wednesday acknowledged a police officer had opened fire 
with his rifle on the protesters but he said medical exams showed 
victims did not die from gunshots.
The statement came after a video was broadcast showing a uniformed man 
opening fire, but his target is unclear. Uribe offered talks with 
indigenous communities at the weekend.
Police have clashed for days with the indigenous groups, who authorities 
say have blocked a key highway, using homemade weapons, sticks and 
machetes. At least 32 police have been wounded and one lost his hands in 
an explosion, Uribe said.
Authorities have accused the FARC rebel group of helping provoke 
violence, a charge indigenous leaders reject.
Colombia's long rebel conflict has eased as the FARC has been driven 
back into remote areas and Uribe has negotiated the surrender of 
thousands of paramilitaries who once committed massacres and stole land 
in the name of counter-insurgency.
Colombia has 85 indigenous ethnic groups with a population of around 1 
million who have been among the most victimized people in the country's 
four-decade conflict. Violence still displaces thousands of people each 
year.






http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/24/rss.htm#e7

Bombs injure 16 in Bogota during protest BOGOTA, Columbia: At least 16 
people were injured when six home-made bombs went off inside trash cans 
in Bogota during a protest march by thousands of civil servants, police 
said Thursday. The nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in 
residential neighborhoods near the German and Peruvian embassies, a 
branch of US Citibank and outside a McDonalds, Bogota police chief 
Rodolfo Palomino told reporters. He said a passenger bus had also been 
set on fire Thursday near the El Dorado airport, and that so far there 
were no clues as to the culprits of the crimes. (Posted @ 06:47 PST)







http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2008/10/25/180282/Bombs-injure.htm

October 25, 2008 10:51 am TWN, AFP
Bombs injure 16 in Bogota during civil servant protest
BOGOTA -- At least 16 people were injured when six home-made bombs went 
off inside trash cans in Bogota during a protest march by thousands of 
civil servants, police said Thursday.
The nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in residential neighborhoods 
near the German and Peruvian embassies, a branch of U.S. Citibank and 
outside a McDonalds, Bogota police chief Rodolfo Palomino told reporters.
He said a passenger bus had also been set on fire Thursday near the El 
Dorado airport, and that so far there were no clues as to the culprits 
of the crimes.
He said the bombs injured 16 people, but that “nobody was seriously hurt.”
“They were low-powered, home-made bombs that make lots of noise but 
little damage,” another police spokesman told AFP.
United Workers Union leader Tarsicio Mora condemned the bombings, 
calling them “acts of terror that seek to undermine the social protest 
movement and peaceful demonstrations.”
The bombs went off as thousands of civil servants on a 24-hour strike 
demonstrated in central Bogota in support a two-week-long protest by 
thousands of indigenous people in southern Colombia against President 
Alvaro Uribe’s administration.
Their chief demand is that the government return ancestral land they 
deem was taken illegally from indigenous communities over the past 15 
years. Three Indians were killed by gunfire in clashes with police in 
southern Cauca department earlier this month, with the government.







http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/20/colombia.protests/index.html?eref=rss_world

October 21, 2008 -- Updated 0406 GMT (1206 HKT)

Colombian Indians push anti-government protests
• Story Highlights
• Indian leaders aim to get some 20,000 protesters to march on city of Cali
• At least two Indians have been killed in the protests, which began 
October 10
• The government says up to 70 security forces have been hurt
• The protests are to coincide with Columbus' discovery of the Americas

POPAYAN, Colombia (CNN) -- Thousands of Colombian Indians plan to 
protest government policies on Tuesday in the country's second-largest 
city, marking more than a week of demonstrations against the nation's 
free-market economic policies.

Indians protest against the government on Tuesday in Medellin in 
northern Colombia.

Indian leaders in the mountains of southwest Colombia announced during 
the weekend they were gathering as many as 20,000 protesters and would 
begin to march Tuesday on the city of Cali, an industrial and 
agricultural hub.
At least two Indians have been killed and more than 80 have been injured 
in the protests, which began October 10 and have included a blockade of 
the Pan-American highway. The government says as many as 70 security 
force members, mainly riot police, have also been injured.
During the past week, protesters throwing rocks and firing sling shots, 
catapults and Molotov cocktails, have clashed with riot police, who 
fought back with tear gas, rocks and batons.
The Indians also say the security forces have been shooting at them with 
rifles and canisters packed with shrapnel. President Alvaro Uribe has 
denied that police and army forces have been using lethal force against 
demonstrators, but medics say they have treated scores of Indians 
injured by bullets and shrapnel.
The protesters allege one of their own, 27-year-old Taurino Ramos, was 
fatally shot in the head by police. The police have made no official 
comment.
A formal autopsy was not conducted because the Nasa tribe, to which 
Ramos belonged, opposes autopsies for cultural reasons.
Press photos of Ramos being carried away from the front lines of the 
clashes showed him bleeding heavily from his head.
Seven Indian tribes in southwest Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces 
launched the protests to coincide with the date of October 12, known in 
the United States as Columbus Day and in much of Latin America as Dia de 
la Raza, or Day of the (Indian) Race.
Latin America's Indian communities equate the discovery of the Americas 
by Christopher Columbus in 1492 as the start of the Spanish colonial 
invasion, which led to millions of Indian deaths in wars and from 
disease. The Spanish invaders drove the Indian populations off their 
ancestral lands and deep into jungles and mountains, as they plundered 
resources, including gold and silver.
Since then, the Indian population has become an ethnic and economic 
underclass in Colombia and in most of Latin America. They rank among the 
poorest sectors of society.
The Indians have called for the government to fulfill previous pledges 
to give more land to Indian reservations, guarantee better health care 
and education, and to stop big business and multinational companies from 
encroaching on their lands.
Under the Colombian constitution, all subsoil rights belong "to the 
nation," which effectively means the government can, and has, granted 
mining rights to national and multinational corporations on lands 
claimed by Indians.
The Indians, whose lifestyle and religion is connected closely with 
preservation of the environment, are bitterly opposed to unrestricted 
mining in their territory.
"We oppose these types of indiscriminate mining activities allowed under 
the new mining code," Luis Fernando Arias, secretary general of the 
National Indigenous Council of Colombia (ONIC), told CNN by telephone.
Indian leaders describe their protest as "anti-capitalist." They see 
their struggle as another reflection of growing worldwide concern over 
free market economic policies and financial management, which they say 
were to blame for the recent meltdown in global stock markets.
"The capitalist system our government imported from the United States is 
a failure. The world is bankrupt," Aida Quilcue, a protest leader, told CNN.
"This shouldn't just be a fight by the Indians but by everyone in 
Colombia and across the world who rejects this deadly capitalist model."
About 1.3 million Indians divided among 102 tribes or ethnic groups are 
living in Colombia, the government estimates.
The government argues the Indians are well provided for with more than 
66 million acres of reservations.
But Indian authorities say the statistic is misleading since much of the 
land is jungle, mountain or swamp -- and protected as an environmental 
reserve. They say almost 500,000 Indians have no land at all.

Last week, Indian protesters briefly blocked the Pan-American highway, a 
symbolic target as well as a major trade route for road cargo traveling 
the length of South America.
The highway was conceived in 1923 as a way to unite the Americas. It 
runs some 29,000 miles (48,000 kilometers) from Alaska to Patagonia at 
the southern tip of South America -- broken only for a few miles between 
Panama and Colombia in a lawless region of thick jungle.






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/15/colombia.clashes/index.html

October 16, 2008 -- Updated 1429 GMT (2229 HKT)

Two dead, 100 hurt in Colombian clashes

By Karl Penhaul
CNN

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Violent clashes between Indian protesters and 
riot police continued Wednesday in southwest Colombia, increasing the 
casualty toll to at least two dead and about 100 injured, according to 
Indian spokesmen.

Indians and riot police clash in Candelaria, in southern Colombia, on 
Tuesday.

The protests started Tuesday, when an estimated 7,000 Indians from 
various ethnic communities used rocks and tree trunks to block the 
Pan-American Highway -- the country's main north-south thoroughfare -- 
in at least four locations between Colombia's second largest city, Cali, 
and the city of Popayan, 85 miles (135 kilometers) to the south.
Fresh clashes broke out Wednesday when police moved in with armored 
personnel carriers and water cannons to clear the highway.
The Indians are protesting the Colombian government's free market 
economic policies; regional landowners they say have stolen their 
territory; and government plans for a free-trade deal with the United 
States. Watch Indian protesters prepare for battle »
The Indians, who are traditionally among the very poorest in Colombian 
society, along with blacks, say they are worse off than ever before.
Indian congressman Climaco Alvarez accused police of firing on 
protesters with live rounds Wednesday. Police deny using lethal force.
An Indian spokesman said one Indian was killed in Wednesday's clashes 
and 39 were injured. That adds to Tuesday's toll, given to CNN by 
another Indian spokesman, of one dead and around 60 injured.
Two hours after the clashes, the Indians said they had managed to move 
back onto the highway and set up fresh blockades.
Tuesday's clashes took place at several locations along the Pan-American 
Highway.
One spokesman for the National Indigenous Council told CNN that injuries 
to Indians, mostly of the Nasa tribe, had occurred in clashes with riot 
police near the southwest town of La Maria Piendamo and farther north 
near a community known as La Candelaria. He said 18 of the injured at La 
Maria Piendamo had gunshot wounds.
Col. Jorge Enrique Cartagena, commander of the police's elite riot 
squad, said his men had not used live rounds, only tear gas and water 
cannons.
He said seven of his men had been hurt, two seriously, by demonstrators 
who tossed rocks and fired stones from slingshots, and by exploding 
gunpowder.
He also said leftist guerrilla fighters of the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia (FARC) had infiltrated the demonstration and were 
motivating the protest. Indian organizations deny the accusation, which 
law enforcement officials frequently level at social protests across the 
country.

The Pan-American Highway is a network of routes stretching from Alaska 
to South America's southern tip in Patagonia. The idea for it was 
conceived in 1923 to unite the Americas.
The road network is only broken at the jungle-covered border of Panama 
and Colombia -- a stretch of about 54 miles (87 kilometers) called the 
Darien Gap. Otherwise, the road network runs about 29,000 miles (48,000 
kilometers).






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/22/colombia.protesters/

October 22, 2008 -- Updated 0852 GMT (1652 HKT)

2 men killed in Colombia protests
• Story Highlights
• Two men fatally shot during protests in Colombia
• Protesters claim police shot men, but Colombian authorities deny 
allegations
• Demonstrators seek more land for Colombia's 1.3 million Indians, more 
funding

 From Karl Penhaul
CNN

VILLARICA, Colombia (CNN) -- Two men were shot to death Tuesday in a 
clash with riot police amid a burgeoning Indian protest in southwestern 
Colombia.
The men were shot in the head and back as they sought to join thousands 
of Indians marching on Colombia's second-largest city, Cali.
Other demonstrators said government security forces fired on the men, 
but Colombian authorities denied the allegation. Police claim protesters 
attacked them with homemade explosives.
Tuesday's violence stirred resentment among Indians.
"We went out there today to reject the government, and they open fire on 
us," one protester said.
Col. Jorge Enrique Cartagena, national chief of Colombia's riot police, 
said someone in the crowd of demonstrators killed one of the two men.
"We think he was shot from within the crowd, and they're doing that to 
whip up anger," he said.
The Indians have said that security forces have been shooting at them 
with rifles and canisters packed with shrapnel.
Colombia President Alvaro Uribe has denied that police and army forces 
have been using lethal force against demonstrators, but medics said they 
have treated scores of Indians injured by bullets and shrapnel.
Protesters have blockaded the Pan-American highway, fired slingshots and 
hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails in periodic clashes with riot police. 
Authorities said they have fought back with tear gas, rocks and batons.
Demonstrators want the government to set aside more land for Colombia's 
1.3 million Indians and to provide more money for better education and 
health care. They also would like the government to prevent corporations 
and multi-national companies from encroaching on their land.
So far, four protesters have been killed since demonstrations began 
October 10. At least 130 more have been injured. The government says as 
many as 70 security force members, mainly riot police, have also been hurt.
http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=609081





________________________________________
Brutal Crackdown on Indigenous Protest in Colombia
Posted: 2008/10/17
From: Source


More than 75 people were injured and at least one was killed in a 
crackdown on indigenous protests being held in different areas of Colombia.






by Helda Martínez
(IPS)

BOGOTA - The protests began Oct. 12, Día de la Raza (Day of the Race -- 
which marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the 
Americas), in La María, an indigenous reserve in the southwestern 
province of Cauca.

Demonstrators participating in the National Mobilisation of Indigenous 
and Popular Resistance, convened by indigenous organisations, blocked 
the Pan American highway, the main north-south artery in Colombia, a 
branch of which communicates the country with Ecuador.

To clear the road, the army and police went in with helicopters and 
armoured vehicles, and opened fire with live ammunition.

"It was terrible, and so unfair. We had no weapons. We only have our 
ceremonial staffs which symbolise authority. At this moment (midday on 
Wednesday) they are still shooting, although they have removed us from 
the Pan American highway," Manuel Rozental, a spokesperson for local 
indigenous groups, told IPS.

Nevertheless, "the number of protesters is growing. More people are 
coming down from the mountains to participate in the demonstration, and 
we estimate there are at least 200,000 indigenous people involved 
throughout the country," said Rozental.

Active protests are taking place in 16 of Colombia’s 32 provinces: La 
Guajira, Córdoba, Sucre, Atlántico and Chocó, on the northern Caribbean 
coast; Norte de Santander, Boyacá and Casanare, in the east; Meta, to 
the south of Bogotá; Risaralda, Caldas, Quindio and Tolima in the centre 
of the country; Cauca and Huila in the southwest; and Valle del Cauca, 
in the west.

The indigenous organisations have a list of 12 demands that they want to 
negotiate in direct talks with rightwing Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

Referring to the clashes in Cauca, Vice President Francisco Santos said 
"what is going on there is guerrilla infiltration, and those who are 
fighting are the Grandchildren of Quintín Lame," an indigenous leader of 
the last century who fought for recognition of the rights of native 
communities.

Lame's name was adopted by a group of young indigenous people left 
landless because the reserves have not been expanded. They use 
explosives and other violent methods in protests, and are disapproved of 
by their traditional authorities.

However, the cabildos (local indigenous governing councils) insistently 
deny any links between the indigenous people and armed groups of any kind.

Colombia has been living through a civil war for nearly half a century, 
between insurgent groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 
(FARC), far-right paramilitary militias and government troops.

The indigenous people in Cauca are demanding that Uribe put in a 
personal appearance in the area, because "there are too many precedents 
of unfulfilled promises. At the world summit of indigenous peoples that 
was held right there in La María, in 2005, they promised us talks, but 
what they did was send in more troops, to burn and destroy," said Rozental.

At a plenary session of Congress on Tuesday night, indigenous Senator 
Jesús Piñacué explained the deep-seated reasons behind the mobilisation, 
and won support from the International Affairs Commission, and among 
legislators of the opposition Liberal Party and Alternative Democratic 
Pole (PDA).

On Wednesday, Piñacué said that just as Uribe has negotiated with drug 
traffickers and paramilitary forces, he should enter into dialogue with 
the indigenous people. Agriculture Minister Andrés Felipe Arias called 
Piñacué a "terrorist." "I hope this struggle that has gone on for so 
many years, and the specific requests set forth by the present 
mobilisation, that we have been waiting for with humility and 
resignation for five years, will be met with solutions. Meanwhile we 
will keep on struggling, as there is nothing else we can do," Piñacué 
told IPS.

On Tuesday, the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC) 
reported the alleged forced disappearance of two people from the protest 
in La María to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

It also asked the Organisation of American States (OAS) for "urgent 
intervention" by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, 
because at the height of the protest the web page belonging to the 
Association of Indigenous Authorities of Northern Cauca (ACIN) was 
disabled, and power was cut off at the headquarters of the Regional 
Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), from which ONIC's virtual radio 
station, Dachibedea, is retransmitted.

More than 30 national and international civil society and human rights 
organisations said that the indigenous demonstration is part of the 
actions decided by indigenous groups in 2001, and is "aimed at 
expressing their rejection of physical and cultural genocide and the 
various ways in which their rights have been trampled on and violated."

In a communiqué, the social organisations stressed that indigenous 
territories are coveted for their natural resources, and fought over by 
the armed groups in the civil war. They are also strategic areas for 
implementing economic and infrastructure projects, the statement says.

This "violates the autonomy, territorial integrity and collective rights 
of indigenous peoples, through the violation of sacred areas, the loss 
of cultures, and the denial of the right of free, prior and informed 
consent," it says.

In the statement, the social organisations express great concern that 
the Colombian government has not signed the United Nations Declaration 
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved by the U.N. General 
Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007.

They also allege that the Colombian state is in breach of International 
Labour Organisation Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal 
Peoples, and of the recommendations of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on 
the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous 
peoples.

Since 2002, when the Uribe administration took office, 1,253 indigenous 
people have been murdered and at least 54,000 have been expelled from 
their ancestral lands, according to ONIC.

*With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira in Bogotá