Colombia Deploys Troops in Response to Rebel Attack on Indigenous Leaders

President Iván Duque, elected last May, holds a masters degree from Georgetown. ( Flickr)

President Iván Duque of Colombia deployed 2,500 troops in response to a rebel attack that killed five indigenous leaders and injured six others.

Several Nasa guards in the southwestern province of Cauca attempted to stop a car while conducting routine checks on October 30. However, inside the car was the leader of a dissident rebel group and some of his men. The rebels opened fire, killing five guards, including Christina Bautista, indigenous governor of the semi-autonomous Tacueyó reservation. The rebels continued to shoot at ambulances as they carried away the injured.

Nasa guards are pacifist volunteers from within the indigenous community. The guard is more of a mediating body than a police force. Members carry wooden staffs, rather than weapons, with Nasa colors of red and green.

The dissident rebel group is a surviving faction of the theoretically inactive leftist rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC), according to reports. FARC’s power peaked in the 1990s and 2000s, when the group employed guerilla warfare and terrorism to attract attention. A peace deal in 2016 between the government and FARC was supposed to end more than half a century of disputes in a civil war that killed 260,000 people and displaced another seven million. However, conflicts over the drug trade, land rights, and natural resources continue to incite violence, especially toward indigenous populations.

Similar attacks have happened recently in Colombia. In August, two members of the Nasa guard were shot and killed while traveling on a bus. In September, mayoral candidate Karina García and three others were murdered on the campaign trail. Colombia’s human rights ombudsman says that nearly 500 activists and human rights defenders have been murdered since January 2016.  

The increase in violence has alarmed politicians, organizations, and citizens.

“What is underway in Colombia is an indigenous genocide, and it will not stop if international justice does not appear,” said Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro on Twitter. 

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia shared a similar response, tweeting, “When will the massacre end?”

“This is a historical battle for territory,” said Senator Feliciano Valencia, who represents Colombia’s indigenous community in Congress. “While the armed groups fight for control of illicit crops and drug routes, we are defending our territory and autonomy.”