Dear President Petro and Attorney General Camargo:
We are writing you to express our deep distress about the assassination of Nasa Indigenous leader Édgar Tumiñá Gembuel, age 48, in Toribío, Cauca Department. On March 1, armed men on a motorcycle shot Édgar Tumiñá nine times in the head. He was taken to a municipal health center but died due to the severity of his injuries.
Édgar Tumiñá was a recognized leader of the Nasa people of northern Cauca. A member of the Indigenous Guard (Kiwe Thegnas), he taught children how to avoid being recruited into armed groups, how to provide first aid to injured persons, and how to shelter during gunfire. Illegal armed groups have a strong presence in Toribío, growing marijuana and coca (for cocaine production) on the reservation of the Nasa people. Since February, thousands of people have been displaced or forcibly confined because of conflicts between the armed groups. Furthermore, they attempt to recruit the Indigenous children into their ranks.
Human rights defenders and other social leaders are at great risk. The brother of Édgar Tumiñá Gembuel was assassinated in 2014. Édgar Tumiñá Gembuel himself had received threats and already survived other assassination attempts. According to the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), he was being targeted by the Dagoberto Ramos Front (a dissident group that splintered from the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
We urge that authorities in Colombia:
• ensure an impartial and thorough investigation into the assassination of Édgar Tumiñá Gembuel, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice
• effectively implement collective protection and prevention measures for the Nasa Project community and territory and comply with precautionary measures 255-12 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and ruling T-030-16 of the Constitutional Court
• make efforts to dismantle illegal armed groups operating in northern Cauca
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai Christine L. Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies: Daniel García-Peña, 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: John McNamara (Chargé d’Affaires); Adam Levy (human rights) ~ via email
US State Department: Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio: Husted and Moreno ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes ~ via email
02 MAR 2025_Infobae_Colombia
