STOP THE SILENT GENOCIDE AGAINST THE KOFÁN PEOPLE

Kofán indigenous authorities call on the Colombian Army to leave their ancestral territory

Bogotá, 12 June – Traditional authorities of the Kofán indigenous people called on the Colombian Government to stop their silent genocide against the community of Santa Rosa del Guamuéz. “The Government has to stop its silent genocide against the Kofán people,” declared Hernando Criollo, a Kofán leader. “They have to stop the construction of a military battalion on our ancestral territory.”

The Colombian Army’s 13th Mobile Brigade has established a base on a site locally known as the “Finca Maraveles” some three (3) kilometers from the La Hormiga/Valle del Guamuez, a city in the Putumayo Department in the southwest of Colombia, bordering with Ecuador. The “Finca” is Kofán ancestral territory, and adjoins the Santa Rosa del Guamuéz Reserve. These lands were invaded and forcibly taken by non-indigenous people during the 1960s.

In July 2006, the Reservation’s Governor, Hernando Criollo, approached the Colombian Army because he had learned of their plans to build a base. This approach resulted in a death threat from the land’s owner, Alonzo Sanchez. That October, the Colombian Defense Ministry bought the land, despite having been informed that it was ancestral land and that the Kofán people of Santa Rosa did not want a base there.

In November 2006, the Colombian entity Corporación Visión Renacer, acting on behalf of the community, petitioned for precautionary measures from the Inter American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR). That same month, the director of Visión Renacer was subjected to harassment from unknown individuals.

In December 2007, the Colombian Army's 13th Mobile Brigade established a temporary base on the land and announced that there would be a permanent base built on those grounds. To date, there has been nothing even resembling prior consultation, which is required by national and international law. Recently, Colombia’s Constitutional Court found the Forestry Law unconstitutional for failure to engage in prior consultation.

In the meantime, construction has accelerated, despite the concern of both the IACHR and the international community. Since Monday June 2, some 40-50 workers are on the ground feverishly advancing the construction, installing what appear to be sewage pipes and building frames. This has already harmed the La Raya creek, which is the principal water source for several Kofán families. “ We can’t fish, we can’t bathe, that water is useless when it comes to us full of mud,” declared Mr. Criollo.

This is on top of a whole range of environmental and psychological afflictions affecting the community, including the dumping of trash, the spill of crude oil, the cutting down of a shaman’s medicinal plants garden, constant noise from helicopters, and general insecurity restricting the free transit of Kofanes on their own reserve, presenting an imminent risk of displacement.