AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Since the beginning of this year more than 19,000 Indigenous people have been forced to abandon their villages and land because of armed conflict: fear that whole native communities may disappear

Bogota (Fides Service) - A recent report by the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (ONIC) said that since the beginning of this year the armed conflict which has continued for more than 20 years “has forced more than 19,000 Indigenous people to abandon their villages and land”.
Last Summer 14,000 Nasa people abandoned their homes. In twenty years the Nukak people, about 1,200 in 1985, have dwindled to a group of 500. The Wiwa a community of about 1,850 people living in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marte, in north Colombia, lost 12 members in the first eight months of this year. ONIC said that more of Colombia’s 80 different ethnic groups are in danger. In October hundreds of Qechwa fled to the southern department of Putumayo and some even crossed the border to Ecuador.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees fears that the armed conflict may cause the disappearance of whole ethnic communities. In fact “forced abandon of homes is a sad experience in itself but it is all the more traumatic for Indigenous communities with strong ties to their land: forced exodus can lead to the collapse of traditional cultural models and authority”. (RZ) (Agenzia Fides 12/12/2005, righe 16, parole 221)