Colombian indigenous groups protest kidnapping

Mennonite Central Committee
Monday, 23 July 2001

TIERRALTA, Colombia -- "We need to walk together on the roads of life, always led by our hearts," read the commission slogan. In mid-June approximately 1,000 indigenous people from various parts of the country gathered here to protest injustice and conduct a symbolic search for Kimy Pernía Domicó, the abducted leader of the Embera-Katio indigenous group. Ultra-right-wing paramilitary forces reportedly kidnapped the internationally respected leader June 2, and he has not been heard from since.

Protest organizers requested international observers as a security measure. As a Mennonite Central Committee intern at Justapaz, the Colombian Mennonite Church's peace and justice ministry, I was encouraged to attend. In a country where violence from paramilitaries, left-wing guerillas and the Colombian armed forces is a daily fact of life, the spirit of community that the Embera extended reminded me again of the power of uniting in non-violent action.

Entire indigenous communities traveled to the Tierralta plaza and created what looked like a displacement camp less than a mile from where Kimy, as he is known, was forced onto a motorcycle at gunpoint. Tarps and hammocks were strung from trees and park benches, cook-fires burned with pots of bubbling soups and rice, children ran underfoot, and woman painted each others' faces.

The Emberas marched through a paramilitary-controlled area in a symbolic hunt for their leader. Indigenous groups, who make up 3 to 4 percent of Colombia's population, are the only inhabitants resisting corporate takeover and paramilitary dominance in this northeast region of Colombia.

Kimy was targeted for playing a leading role in the Embera-Katìo campaign against the construction of the Urrà hydraulic dam mega-project, which was partially funded by the Canadian government. He made numerous visits to the United States and Canada to raise awareness about multi-national business encroachment onto indigenous territory and denounce human rights violations.

Paramilitary groups were responsible for the majority of Colombia's human rights abuses in the year 2000, according to the U.S. Department of State's annual Human Rights Report. As predicted, paramilitaries responded to the June protest with intimidation tactics.

Squealing motorcycles broke the night silence as paramilitary soldiers circled the town plaza, sometimes shouting threats at the Embera. Each time I laid still until the noise faded, and I heard those around me sigh and settle into a new position.

In the morning we greeted each other with the traditional "Cómo amaneció?" - "How did you wake up this morning?" "Alive," was one response. A young boy explained to me why participants were not permitted outside the plaza except to bathe and use the make-shift bathrooms.

"They might kill us," he said. The will to protest injustices was great, but certainly no one took safety or life for granted.

Despite much opposition, the march gained the attention of the international community, and indigenous leaders met with Colombia's Minister of the Interior, Minister of Justice and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights for Colombia.

Colombia's indigenous are struggling against the calculated termination of not only their culture, but their very lives. The Urrá project threatens their ancestral lands and means of survival. Resistance turns them into military targets. Numerous leaders have been assassinated, community members abducted, and others "disappeared" due to their persistence in demanding their rights.

According to human rights observers and area residents, local government officials routinely cooperate with the paramilitary and powerful business interests controlling the region. The departmental government of Cordoba, where Tierralta is located, and police allies repeatedly attempted to impede the commission and discredit the indigenous community. The governor of the department decreed the march unlawful on the grounds that there were no surplus security forces; all were occupied with the National Cattle Fair.

"The message is clear: cattle are more important than the lives of (indigenous) people," said one Embera with sadness and disgust. Furthermore, local government and police, in cooperation with the press, spread rumors that Kimy was involved in drug trafficking and publicly implicating the Embera in a recent massacre by the FARC, Colombia´s largest insurgent group.

The Embera search for Kimy may represent the greatest mobilization of the Colombian indigenous struggle. However, the future prospects are bleaker than ever, as Embera peoples now face paramilitary retaliation for challenging dominating powers and calling attention to the injustice.

Two more key native leaders have been assassinated since the protest and are surrounding and threatening indigenous communities that participated in the commission. Indigenous advocates fear the retaliation will escalate into massacres.

Other international supporters at the protest included representatives from Christian Peacemaker Teams, Witness for Peace and Global Exchange.

"You´ve showed us that we are not alone, that we are not the only ones struggling for life," one Embera women said to me during the march.

If Colombia's indigenous people are to survive, the international attention and energy generated by the march must continue spurring outside support.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org