Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

René Alfonso Garavito is a valued community member of the Indigenous Makaguan tribe in Arauca Department. He juggles being a a father of three, a university student (studying public administration), and an active member of the Indigenous Guard on his people’s reservation (Reserve Cusay la Colorada).

Tragically, while he was commuting between two towns on September 20, three armed men apprehended him, held him at gunpoint, tied him up and took him away while his 11-year-old nephew watched. His relatives, who suspect he is being held by the National Liberation Army (ELN),  are experiencing much distress and anguish; his nephew now has routine nightmares after watching the kidnapping.

IRTF has joined an international call to prioritize a thorough investigation into the kidnapping of René Alfonso Garavito, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice. With his family, we pray that he is released and returned unharmed.

Luis Carlos Coicué serves as governor of the Nasa Reservation Jerusalén San Luis Alto Picudito in Villagarzón (Putumayo Department), which has consistently denounced violence committed by all armed actors—guerrillas, paramilitaries and the Colombian National Army alike. Despite this, Nasa leaders have been falsely attacked on social networks, unfoundedly accused of protecting “some border commandos.” This slander has placed leaders like Luis Carlos Coicué at particular risk.

The level of danger was heightened in March when an armed man with his face covered delivered a written warning. The unsigned document, which named leaders and community members from the reservation, stated: “Every collaborator becomes a military objective of our block.”  The notice came during a period of weeks when paramilitary organizations were occupying schools and churches; community residents were confined due to minefields and other unexploded ordnance. Because of imminent threats, community members held an assembly for 12 days straight as a strategy to safeguard their reservation.

When Governor Coicué and his wife received specific death threats in September (“tell your husband to stop causing problems or we’ll blow your head off”), the National Protection Unit assessed the risk to Luis Carlos Coicué as “extraordinary,” but they only offered him a cell phone and armored vest as protective measures.

Indigenous communities in Colombia are under threat of extinction. Shifts in climate are severely impacting their ability to continue their ancestral means of subsistence (fishing, farming). But more immediate is the violent displacement from armed actors.

The Wiwa Indigenous communities in La Guajira Department are some of the largest native communities in the country. They are one of four Indigenous groups (along with the Arhuaco, Kogui, and Kankuamo) who reside on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, one of the highest coastal mountain ranges on the planet. IRTF has been writing on behalf of the Wiwa people for the past 20 years. Two years ago, we echoed the Wiwa’s call for all armed actors in the Caribbean coastal region to unite in a joint proposal for Global Territorial Peace.  Shortly after their declaration for peace, the paramilitary organization Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Self-Defense Conquistadors of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta) began distributing pamphlets, in which they threatened to take measures against the Wiwa inhabitants of the region, whom they describe as "ass-kissers, drinkers, womanizers," among other adjectives.

In September of this year, four young Wiwa men from the community of El Limón Carrizal (Luis Elias Nieves Mendoza, Deivi Gomez, Eduardo Enrique Joño Calvo, and Luis Eduardo Mojica) were all stopped by armed men of the parmilitary organization Self-Defense Forces of the Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada (ACSN) at illegal checkpoints, where they were assaulted and detained for several hours or even multiple days. Luis Eduardo Mojica was kidnapped for 24 days.

Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, a 30-year-old university student and father of a young daughter, had been receiving threats from illegal armed groups.  Deeply committed to his community at the Pueblo Nuevo Indigenous Reservation in the Indigenous territory of Sa’th Tama Kiwe, “Lobo,” as he was affectionately known by friends and family, was serving as coordinator of the Indigenous guard in the Indigenous territory of Sa’th Tama Kiwe in northern Cauca Department.

The national office of the Human Rights Ombudsman was aware of the particular dangers faced by Indigenous and other human rights defenders in northern Cauca. The office had already issued early warnings because of several illegal armed groups operating in the area and threatening community leaders.  Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo had filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office, made a statement to the Public Prosecutor's Office, and requested individual protection measures from the National Protection Unit (UNP). The UNP, however, did not assess the seriousness of his situation and did not grant him protective measures.

On his way to pick up his wife and daughter from a swimming class on August 29, he pulled into a gasoline service station at about 4:30pm. In broad daylight in the El Pescador district of Caldono municipality, assailants gunned him down, and then sped away on their motorcycles.

The University of Cauca issued this statement: “The death of this renowned anthropology student from our alma mater comes at a time when the consequences of this absurd war continue to cause great grief. Therefore, reiterating our commitment to life and peace, we demand real guarantees for the protection of life, not only of our university community, but of every inhabitant of Cauca. We cannot allow the dreams and lives of those who fight for a more just and humane country to continue to be cut short. Men and women, young people, adolescents and children of this land need and deserve to live in a place where hope is not just another victim of the conflict, but a force capable of transforming the future.”

Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, ¡presente!