Colombia Reports

"Oh, y ahora ¿quién podrá defenderme/nos?" ("Oh, who can save me/us now?") This sentence was popularized by the television quasi-superhero 'El Chapulín Colorado' created by the Mexican comedian Roberto Gomez Bolaños in the 70's. Most of Latin America grew with this and other characters that sarcastically mocked American superheroes and crudely portrayed the reality in Latin America where real justice is only for a lucky few, the rest at left at the mercy of sloppy quasi-heroes.

In Colombia, the indigenous population has screamed this sentence into the wind and no one appears to come to their help. There are currently 102 indigenous tribes that comprise a population of 1,392,623  located in the most inhospitable corners of Colombian territory: jungles, mountain tops, and deserts. They had been marginalized since the Spanish invaders arrived in 1492, and, as recent events show, they continue to be marginalized, if not massacred outright by seemingly intractable conflict between paramilitaries, guerrillas and the army. 

The paramilitaries constantly threaten and forcefully displaced these tribes from their lands in order to grow coca or in some cases palm oil for producing biofuels. The military recently assassinated the husband of an outspoken indigenous leader at a military roadblock while he sat in his car. The guerrilla (FARC), in its most recent massacre, killed 17 indigenous Awá. The Awá have recently launched their own search for the bodies because Colombian authorities offered little aid.

Colombia, together with Canada and the United States, were the only countries in the Americas that abstain from adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. One of the contentious points was article 32, which states that, “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine…the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources”. Investment confidence, a core policy of the current government, would certainly be overshadowed by this article, as the Muriel mining news column exemplifies.

Colombia's indigenous people want to live peacefully  and not take sides in the Colombian conflict , but they continue to suffer injustice. Perhaps their only option would be to form their own armed groups and finance them by growing coca. After all, crime seems to pay. Paramilitaries can avoid jail time by handing in their weapons or selectively confessing their crimes. Kidnappers and assassins from the guerrilla are named “peace facilitators”. Government ministers are acquitted by the Inspector General of offering bribes to a congresswoman to vote in favour of Uribe’s first re-election, while the same congresswoman is jailed for accepting the bribes.