[ad_1]
“If we shed more blood, the earth also dies”, Hundreds of Embera indigenous people shouted during a demonstration on Monday in El Valle, a place where they fled from clashes and threats from illegal armed groups fighting for control of this key territory for drug trafficking.
El Valle, a tourist village 30 minutes by road from the municipal seat of Bahía Solano, today houses almost 200 displaced families who ask the authorities for humanitarian assistance
Cornered in their own land
The indigenous communities of that area live cornered by drug traffickers, paramilitaries and guerrillas who face death over the dominion of Bahía Solano, a coastal paradise located on the Serranía del Baudo, in the North Pacific sub-region of Chocó.
Bahía Solano, world-renowned as the natural calving room for whales that visit its waters between July and August each year, is also a strategic area desired by drug trafficking gangs for its outlets to the Pacific Ocean and its proximity to the border with Panama.
The bullets intimidate the inhabitants of this 1,667-square-kilometer tourist destination, who fled after the Ombudsman’s Office warned about the advance of an armed group, apparently the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) -also known as Clan del Golfo-, in the indigenous community of Bacurú Purrú.
The fear of the residents increased with the kidnapping and subsequent murder, on December 3, of Miguel Tapí Rito, 59, a community leader who in 2019 served as governor of the El Brazo and Bacurú Purrú reservations.
“His community remembers him as one of the most important indigenous spokespersons in the area”, explained the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz) when denouncing the homicide of Tapí, who was beheaded.
The ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, had recently warned about the risk that the community ran due to the presence of illegal actors in that area and later confirmed the massive displacement of 906 people who are part of 195 families, including about 200 children.
[ad_2]
