September 21, 2000

IRN Calls for Halt to US Military Aid to Colombia

Heavily armed gunmen, suspected of belonging to a paramilitary group murdered four leaders from the Embera-Katío indigenous communities in Colombia’s Upper Sinú River Basin on September 19. Twenty other Embera-Katío people were abducted by the gunmen, all later released. On September 20, according to an Embera communiqué, the armed group warned “they would not leave the indigenous area until they have finished their job of forcing us to abandon our traditional territorie.”

The murders appear to be due to the Embera becoming caught in a war between paramilitaries and guerrillas. The local paper “El Meridiano” recently reported that part of the Upper Sinú Basin had been taken over by the guerrilla group FARC. Armed groups consider the Embera territory a strategic corridor, as it allows access to several regions of Colombia. “We, the Embera people are not at war and our lands are not areas of war, but of peace. We are not fighting with arms,” a spokesperson told International Rivers Network today.

Paramilitaries, who protect the interests of large landowners and are backed by the US-supported Colombian military, last year killed four Embera leaders. Last year’s murders are thought be have been a reaction to the Embera’s attempts – all non-violent – to pressure the authorities to recognize their land rights and acknowledge and mitigate the damage to their river, lands and livelihood caused by the Urrá 1 dam.

Monti Aguirre, Latin America Campaigner with Berkeley-based International Rivers Network (IRN) says: “The US government is supporting the Colombian military with a $1.3bn aid package. As the paramilitaries are well known to be backed by the military, the US is in effect supporting these atrocities against Colombia’s indigenous population. The US should halt this aid package immediately.”

In their most recent attack the gunmen also seized fishing supplies, which were provided to the Embera as part of a settlement reached in April with the government to mitigate the impacts of Urrá I. The construction of the 340-megawatt dam has radically reduced fisheries, which had been the mainstay of the Embera diet.

The Colombian Supreme Court last year agreed with the Embera that mitigation measures proposed by the dam builders were inadequate, and ordered negotiations to take place. However, it took a march by the Embera to the capital, Bogotá, and a four-month vigil outside the Environment Ministry before successful negotiations went ahead. The resulting agreement, signed with the government on April 19, 2000, promised to address human rights issues affecting the Embera including by granting them rights to lands to replace those flooded by the dam and providing protection to them against paramilitary or other violence.

IRN was named in the agreement as one of the agencies which would monitor its implementation. Ms. Aguirre says, “the Embera people have already suffered enormously from the impacts of the Urrá dam, Colombian authorities should uphold the agreement and protect the Embera from the paramilitary death squads.”

International Rivers Network is a human rights and environment group which supports communities working to protect their rivers and watersheds.