Regarding the indigenous mobilization that will arrive in Bogotá, do you know what a minga is?

In recent years the indigenous peoples of Colombia have used the minga as a mechanism to be heard and meet with the government of the day a space for their requests or to express their disagreements with what they live in their territories.

In the next few hours, An indigenous minga will leave the city of Cali bound for Bogotá. There are about nine thousand indigenous people who will travel to the capital of the country in order to meet with President Iván Duque.

Read also: Without agreement with the Government, indigenous minga marches to Bogotá

Although these days there is much talk about the minga, Colombians are not very clear about what this indigenous tradition means.

Definition of Minga

The word minga (mink’a in Quechua), means an ancient tradition of community or collective work for the purpose of social utility.

Infobae consulted with Luis Fernando Cáisamo, Communications advisor at the Indigenous organization of Antioquia, on the definition of the minga.

Cáisamo pointed out that in Colombia since 1980, since indigenous organizations and indigenous movements began to be structured, they began to speak of four founding principles: unity, land, culture and autonomy.

“Today, the concept of minga surrounds these four founding principles. When a minga is called, the force is called, the spirit of all indigenous peoples in favor of a goal and is to claim our rights in the face of ignorance “Caisamo said.

Likewise, he explained that the minga works to make itself known, to show itself to the world, “That is why the minga summons many indigenous peoples from all over the country”.

The Royal Spanish Academy defines the minga as the “Meeting of friends and neighbors to do some free work together”.

The massive indigenous minga of 2008

In 2008, the National Minga of Indigenous and Popular Resistance was held, which was the beginning of a strengthened indigenous movement organized by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (Cric).

Near 45,000 indigenous people of different ethnicities, mainly Nasa, marched, for at least 60 days, about 120 kilometers of territory, between Santander de Quilichao, department of Cauca and Santiago de Cali in the department of Valle del Cauca.

According to Indepaz, after two months the minga decided to move its session from the city of Cali to Bogotá, not seeing clear actions of attention from the Uribe government.

The themes of that massive minga were:

After the debate, the minga continued to Bogotá, where it was received, in November, by representatives of various social sectors and by student organizations, which supported the movement

Is the minga a political tool?

The Interior Minister, Alicia Arango, sent as head of the National Government’s negotiating team, pointed out that the current indigenous minga is of a political nature.

“It is very important that Colombia know that this minga is not a protest, it is political because the Government has made great efforts to comply with what was agreed during this administration and previous ones”, Arango said.

It may interest you: The route of the Indigenous Minga that will arrive in Bogotá

Alhena Caicedo, professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Universidad de los Andes and president of the Colombian Anthropology Association, said in 2019 that the minga is not spontaneous, but that behind it there are ethnic organizations such as the indigenous, peasant and Afro movements.

The researcher draws attention to the way this year’s minga is shown in the media, “making invisible the demand for the mobilization for the systematic breach of agreements and the murder of social leaders.”

When the intervention of armed groups is pointed out or when saying that the minga is being influenced or that it is violent, the teacher explained that “imaginary and common sense are being reproduced that is racist, classist and centralist with the indigenous people”.

The 2020 indigenous minga petitions

It’s 2020 the minga arrived in the capital of Valle del Cauca requesting a meeting with Iván Duque, but since that meeting was not possible, they announced that in the next few days they would arrive in Bogotá.

Among their requests are:

For its part, the National Government has said that it has complied by 80% with what was agreed in the 2019 minga. So far, Iván Duque has not demonstrated his intention to meet with the indigenous people once they arrive in Bogotá.