Colombia: Four Indigenous Leaders Murdered in Last 24 Hours

By teleSUR

21 October 20

While Colombia's indigenous peoples are being killed and demanding protection through the Social Minga, President Ivan Duque has shown no sign whatsoever of intending to attend to them.

hese new acts of violence against Colombia's indigenous peoples occurred while the Social Minga took place in Bogotá.

Four indigenous community organizations were murdered during the last 24 hours in Colombia due to three violent events in the departments of Huila, Cauca, and Córdoba.

Community members Avelino Ipia and Hector David Marin were shot dead in the Guaico Alizal village, in the Caucan municipality of Caldono. They were attacked by armed men on Monday night, amid circumstances unknown to judicial bodies until now.

The mayor of Caldono, Jose Vicente Otero, denounced the incident. "We are in mourning for the vile murder of two community members, inhabitants of our municipality. They were passing through the place and were surprised by criminals who murdered them," explained the official.

"It cannot be possible that the families of Caldas continue to mourn their dead in these times of peace and territorial harmony. My solidarity with these families and total rejection of these acts of violence that our population mourns" added the mayor.

In response to what happened, a commission made up of indigenous and civil authorities went to the site to remove the bodies and begin an investigation to find the whereabouts of the perpetrators.

"Another Colombia Humana leader murdered. Eduardo Alarcon Córdoba, killed in Campoalegre, Huila."

On the other hand, Aurelio Jumi Domico, vice-governor of the Quebrada Cañaveral Emberá Katío Indigenous Reservation in San Jorge, was murdered this Tuesday morning in the village of Ibudó - Tres Playitas, in the municipality of Puerto Libertador, in the province of Córdoba.

Domico was a recognized leader of that community, a spokesman for the departmental Peace and Human Rights Council, and the Mesa de Garantías for leaders and defenders of Córdoba denounced the Cordoberxia Foundation.

Few details are known about this new attack on social and indigenous leaders in Córdoba, taking place while the Social Minga is in Bogotá.

In another crime that occurred in the village of Las Vueltas in Huila's rice capital, in southern Colombia, social and rural leader Eduardo Alarcón was murdered by a group of armed men who arrived at his farm on a motorcycle and shot at him.

Eduardo Alarcón was a recognized agrarian leader in Huila, who, together with other small farmers, managed to divide up several large estates in Llano Grande, in the municipality of Campo Alegre. He was a councilman in this municipality and a champion of agrarian and social struggles, belonging to the Alternative Pole.

The authorities went to the site to carry out the acts of investigation, but there has been no official statement on the matter.