CPTnet
16 April 2007
COLOMBIA: CPT accompanies CAMAWARI in Nariño

by Julián Gutiérrez Castaño and Suzanna Collerd

Starting about three weeks ago, CPTers Suzanna Collerd and Julián
Gutiérrez began a mobile team accompaniment of CAMAWARI (the Council of
Awa Elders of Ricaurte), an organization of Awa indigenous people from the
Ricaurte municipal region of Nariño department (province). The invitation
for this accompaniment resulted from the work of the team in Nariño in
November and December of 2006, when CPTers visited CAMWARI and UNIPA (the
Organization of Indigenous Unity for the Awa People) another Awa indigenous
organization that represents reservations from neighboring regions of
Nariño.

As the most southwestern department of Colombia, Nariño borders Ecuador
and touches the Pacific Ocean. The imposition of the U.S. funded Plan
Colombia in the south of the country since 1999 has displaced a large
quantity of coca crops formerly grown in Caquetá and Putumayo departments
to Nariño. At the same time, the convergence of guerrilla groups such as
the FARC and ELN with decades of history in the department, the launch of
military operations, the violent entrance of paramilitaries, and a series of
economic projects has converted the historically peaceful department into a
combat zone where civilians suffer, especially the indigenous,
Afro-Colombian, and peasant populations.

CAMAWARI is an organization created in the early 1990's and works as the
political and administrative body for an association of indigenous
reservations, without limiting the autonomy of their governors. The majority
of CAMAWARI's coordinators have been leaders or governors of their
respective communities which gives legitimacy to their work and to the
organization.

After receiving the invitation, CPT and CAMAWARI worked together to
construct the following objectives for the accompaniment:
1. Make visible the situation of the Awá people and CAMAWARI;
2. Accompany the indigenous organization and its leaders in events,
workshops and pertinent situations; and
3. Draw attention to the consequences of Plan Colombia in the zone, with
special attention the themes of fumigations and militarization.

CAMAWARI is in a process of strengthening their organization, and wants to
exercise their right to self-determination as an indigenous people. CPT aims
to support this effort with the present accompaniment. Future articles from
CPT will describe some of the mobile team's experiences.