COLOMBIA: Indigenous peoples join "La Minga" and march on Bogota
November 25th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
25 November 2008
COLOMBIA: Indigenous peoples join "La Minga" and march on Bogota
by Kim Lamberty, Sandra Rincon, and Chris Knestrick
Thousands of representatives of Colombia's Indigenous peoples have been marching toward Bogota since 10 October. The mobilization, called "La Minga" began in the Cauca region of Colombia, home to many of Colombia's Indigenous peoples. "La Minga" refers to a gathering of all the peoples, and Indigenous leaders only call for it when something important needs addressing.
Indigenous communities, who live on ancestral, communally owned lands are protesting, among other things, a government decision to tax these lands. They are also protesting the privatization of the water sources located in their territories. (Privatization and resource exploitation by multinational corporations has led to contamination of their water), and they are protesting governmental failure to honor past agreements signed with Indigenous peoples.
Shortly after La Minga began in mid-October, the Colombian police opened fire on the marchers, which resulted in a number of injuries, some of them serious. Since then, the group, to fulfill its goal of “walking the word” has marched through Colombia, and has arrived in Bogota, Colombia’s capital. The marchers say they are peacefully exercising their rights to social and civil resistance. Currently, they are camping in the Bogota suburb of Soacha. See pictures in http://cpt.org/gallery/La-Minga%3A-Caminando-la-Palabra.
CPTers Sandra Rincon, Kim Lamberty, and Chris Knestrick have been accompanying the march since Sunday, 16 November. They will stay with the march in Bogota and until it ends. For more information about Colombia's Indigenous peoples, please go to www.onic.org.co.
* "To walk the word is to live our ancestral culture, our autonomy"—words from a leader of the Nasa nation to CPT while it was undertaking an exploratory visit to Cauca in 2005.
25 November 2008
COLOMBIA: Indigenous peoples join "La Minga" and march on Bogota
by Kim Lamberty, Sandra Rincon, and Chris Knestrick
Thousands of representatives of Colombia's Indigenous peoples have been marching toward Bogota since 10 October. The mobilization, called "La Minga" began in the Cauca region of Colombia, home to many of Colombia's Indigenous peoples. "La Minga" refers to a gathering of all the peoples, and Indigenous leaders only call for it when something important needs addressing.
Indigenous communities, who live on ancestral, communally owned lands are protesting, among other things, a government decision to tax these lands. They are also protesting the privatization of the water sources located in their territories. (Privatization and resource exploitation by multinational corporations has led to contamination of their water), and they are protesting governmental failure to honor past agreements signed with Indigenous peoples.
Shortly after La Minga began in mid-October, the Colombian police opened fire on the marchers, which resulted in a number of injuries, some of them serious. Since then, the group, to fulfill its goal of “walking the word” has marched through Colombia, and has arrived in Bogota, Colombia’s capital. The marchers say they are peacefully exercising their rights to social and civil resistance. Currently, they are camping in the Bogota suburb of Soacha. See pictures in http://cpt.org/gallery/La-Minga%3A-Caminando-la-Palabra.
CPTers Sandra Rincon, Kim Lamberty, and Chris Knestrick have been accompanying the march since Sunday, 16 November. They will stay with the march in Bogota and until it ends. For more information about Colombia's Indigenous peoples, please go to www.onic.org.co.
* "To walk the word is to live our ancestral culture, our autonomy"—words from a leader of the Nasa nation to CPT while it was undertaking an exploratory visit to Cauca in 2005.
