Chain of extermination devastates Awa peoples in Colombia

Two more Awa leaders were killed this month by an unknown armed group. On May 10, Ademelio Servio Bisbicus and Marco Antonio Taicuz were shot to death in their homes. Bisbicus' wife, Bertha Taicuz was wounded by the gunfire.

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The attack came 6 weeks after the bodies of eight Awa Indians believed to have been murdered by FARC rebels in February were recovered in the indigenous territory of Tortugaña Telembí, Colombia. Two of discovered bodies were pregnant women, both about 8 months pregnant when they were killed. According to the National Colombian Indigenous Authority (ONIC), FARC massacred 17 Awá in early February. FARC has claimed responsibility for eight of the murders, alleging the victims admitted to being army informers and they allowed military personnel to stay in their homes.

The search for bodies, carried out by a Minga, an indigenous-led humanitarian commission formed because military search and recovery efforts proved ineffective, came to an end in late March. Hundreds traveled to the region in a show of support for the Awa and to participate in the search, but activites were slowed by rains, food shortages, and the dangers of searching in an area littered with landmines sown by guerrillas. "Undertaking the Minga was dangerous," said Luis Evelis Andrade Casama, Chief Councilor for ONIC, "but the Awa People felt that they had no other option, as it is their duty to return the bodies of their loved ones to the mother earth, and to help those communities who have been confined in their lands."

Inkal Awa: the Awa People of the Colombian Rainforest

photo courtesy of ONIC

The Awa people live on their ancestral lands in the mountainous rainforest regions of Nariño and Putumayo in south-west Colombia, and in the provinces of Esmeraldas, Carchi and Imbabura in Ecuador, making them a bi-national people. The Nariño region in particular is rich in natural resources - gold, zinc, copper, silver, platinum, and other minerals - and the area also favored by agribusiness, both legal and illegal. These and other factors have made the region highly strategic in terms of military control. All the armed actors in Colombia's nearly 50-year internal armed conflict are present in the region, including the Colombian army and their paramilitary allies, and the two main guerrilla groups, the FARC and the ELN.

photo courtesy of ONIC

Despite the Awa's firm political position that their lands and people are autonomous and their refusal to ally with one side or another in the armed conflict, all sides continue to involve them in the war. They have been murdered, forcibly displaced, confined, and threatened. In addition to the 17 missing and believed to have been murdered in February, an estimated 400 people were forcibly displaced, and several communities in the area are confined in their lands.

The Awa are People of the Rainforest, People of the Mountain, People of Silence. Now, the Awa are breaking their silence in order to survive. They are speaking and about the humanitarian crisis and against the complex conflict that has caused egregious violations of their human and collective rights.

Chronicle of a massacre foretold

The Colombian government's militarization of the area has brought greater conflict to indigenous lands. They are aerially fumigating the illegal coca crops grown by local mafia in the region, which is causing serious damage to the Awa's food supply and health. The deadly glyphosate cocktail being sprayed has caused their animals and crops to die, and is being blamed for miscarriages and premature births in women, and respiratory illness in community elders and children. The long-term effects of this poison on indigenous lands and people are unknown.

In 2007, the Awa worked with the Colombian State Human Rights Ombudsman, which led to an official resolution asking the government to put into practice a series of actions to guarantee the lives and culture of the Awa People, but these have not been effectively acted upon. In fact, early in 2009, the Constitutional Court released a Decree, which notes the lack of attention given to 32 indigenous peoples in Colombia in relation to their critical situations, including the Awa, and instructs the government to create protection plans in full consultation with them. Meanwhile, as the officials finally begin to recognise the problem, the Awa have long been sending out alerts, warning of an imminent massacre.

On March 23rd, the Awa traveled to Washington to give testimony before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights as part of a hearing on the critical situation faced by all the 102 indigenous peoples in Colombia, 28 of who are at imminent risk of becoming extinct. (ONIC) presented the general situation to the IAHCR, and then representatives from the Awa and Eperara Siapidaara People gave testimonies on their respective situations. The Eperara Siapidaara are the ancestral inhabitants of lands in Nariño and Cauca, and suffer many of the same problems faced by the Awa. In September 2008, some 1450 people were forcibly displaced after they received threats from armed actors. To date, they have received little help from the government, and not been able to return.

The Awa People are strengthening their resistance, but they urgently need the national and international community to be aware of their situation, and they urgently need the government to consult with them and put into practice the protection plans ordered by the Constitutional Court according to their indigenous life plans. While the conflict continues, they ask that the different armed groups, including the Colombian military, respect their autonomy and do not involve them in the conflict, and that the different combatants agree to a civilian humanitarian demining process in their lands. The Awa People are also asking for social rather than military investment in the region, and an immediate end to aerial fumigations. This would help them to exercise their autonomy, and guarantee their continued survival on their lands, which for the Awa People are sacred to their life and culture.