Threats to Indigenous People of Colombia.

My friend Anna Rose recently wrote this letter to the president of Colombia. It was delivered by postal mail. She states well the horrific situation transpiring there and the concerns we all should have about this and similar situations around the world.


10 December 2010


Señor Presidente Juan Manuel Santos
Presidente de la República
Palacio de Nariño, Carrera 8 No. 7-26
Bogotá, Colombia

Dear President Santos,

I am a health professional living in Canada. I am enjoying learning Spanish, but I am not up to writing much in it, yet. I am writing because of my concern with the multiple threats to the indigenous nations within Colombia. I first became aware of some specific instances of violence against indigenous villages when I read a book last year by a Latin American journalist. In presenting cases for letter-writing in their annual Write for Rights Day this year, Amnesty International has given more examples and confirmed that the protection given by the Colombian Government to the peoples and their lands is inadequate. Colombia is signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which clearly outlines the protection of and assistance to indigenous people which each State must work towards.

Please
- commence an impartial and exhaustive investigation into the death threats issued to the leaders of the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca by las Aguilas Negras
- bring the perpetrators to justice promptly
- implement fully Constitutional Court Ruling 004 of January 2009 which lays out
effective protection measures

As affirmed in the UN Declaration, “all peoples contribute to the diversity and richness of civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of humankind.” I am told there are at least 32 indigenous nations in danger of extinction in Colombia. It would be everybody’s loss if even one nation vanished due to paramilitary violence, forced eviction from their lands by developers, and lack of protection against these threats by your government.



Respectfully,


Anna Rose
Box 115, Gray Creek, BC
Canada V0B 1S0

c.c. Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs