Dear Sirs:
We are writing with deep concern for the safety of the Indigenous Nasa People of the Sa'th Tama Kiwe territory in Caldono, Cauca Department. Indigenous guard member Eliécer Chocue, from the Siberia lagoon, was killed on December 24, 2023. He began receiving threats after the community held an assembly of the special Indigenous jurisdiction on December 22 in the La Laguna-Siberia reservation.
According to the United Nations Office for Human Rights, there were six homicides of authorities, leaders and/or human rights defenders of the people of the Sa'th Tama Kiwe territory, Caldono, in 2023:
March: Nasa indigenous leader Wilson Bomba Piamba
May: Indigenous guard member William Vargas Peña
June: Indigenous authority Alexander Chocue Peña
July: Indigenous leader and human rights defender Freddy Bomba Campo
November: ancestral scholar and former Indigenous authority Rogelio Chate
December: Indigenous guard member Eliécer Chocue
In addition to these targeted killings, in November 2023 there were two massacres in their territories. Then in the early hours of December 22, another massacre and two murders occurred in the ancestral reservation of Canoas, in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca Department. This violence is against Indigenous peoples is linked to the extension of crops for illicit use by criminal organizations (including armed actors) and the failure to comply with the ceasefire agreements between the government and the armed groups.
We urge that you
- publish the results of the investigation into the killing of Eliécer Chocue and bring those responsible to justice
- reinforce the Total Peace policy and evaluate and review the ceasefire verification mechanisms, as requested by the Indigenous authorities
- consult with the Indigenous guard to offer them more support for their collective defense mechanisms.
We echo the call of the UN Office for Human Rights to State and non-state armed actors to make it a priority to guarantee the life and rights of the civilian population throughout the country in the context of the peace dialogues that are taking place.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai Christine L. Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies:
Luis Gilberto Murillo, Ambassador of Colombia to the US ~ via email, US mail
José Luis Caballero Ochoa, Rapporteur for Colombia , Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ~ via email, US mail
Arif Bulkan, Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ~ via email, US mail
UN: Juliette De Rivero, Representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email
US Embassy: Francisco Palmieri (Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim); Adam Levy (human rights) ~ via email
US State Department: Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio: Brown & Vance ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Sykes ~ via email
