Indigenous leader José Albino Cañas Ramírez was recently shot and killed by two unknown individuals in Colombia’s Caldas department. Indigenous authorities suspect it was a targeted attack linked to his work in defense of one of the oldest Indigenous reserves in Colombia, the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP). It’s a 37.6-square-kilometer (14.5-square-mile) reserve established in 1540 but has been threatened by illegal miners and armed groups for decades.
According to a statement released by the RCMLP, the two individuals arrived at the shop attached to the home of Cañas Ramírez at approximately 8:50 p.m. on Feb. 16. As Ramírez prepared to attend to them, they shot him four times and fled along the community’s roads toward Supía, a neighboring municipality. Ramírez died several minutes later, the statement said.
Ramírez was an active member of the resguardo’s governing council (cabildo) and an Indigenous authority from the community of Portachuelo, one of 32 Embera Chamí Indigenous communities in the reserve. Ramírez’s responsibilities included territorial protection, conflict resolution and the promotion of cultural preservation within the Portachuelo community. As part of his work, he encouraged young people to stay away from drugs, which has been a growing concern in the community, Hector Jaime Vinasco, a member of the resguardo’s governing council, told Mongabay over a phone call.
Illegal mining and armed conflict have threatened the local communities for many years. In recognition of the threats and violence they face, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted the Embera people precautionary measures in 2002, requiring the Colombian government to adopt immediate security measures and investigate the acts of violence and threats against the community. More recently, the communities have requested support from the country’s Ministry of Defense and the National Ombudsman, urging immediate measures to address the situation. But those calls for help have fallen on deaf ears, Vinasco told Mongabay.
Vinasco said Ramírez’s killing reflects a growing pattern of violence in the region. “This is not the first [killing],” he said. “We unfortunately have a rather grim history with violence. We’ve been victims of several massacres, such as the Masacre de La Rueda,” referring to an event in 2001, when a paramilitary group killed six community members and detained and tortured several others.
“It was one of the most tragic events in the history of our reservation,” he added. “Since then, there have been a series of homicides of people, of leaders, which have been reported to the prosecutor’s office, and some of them remain unpunished.”
Banner image: A festival held in the Portachuelo Indigenous community, one of 32 communities that form part of the Indigenous Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP) in Caldas, Colombia. Image courtesy of the Indigenous organization of Cañamomo Lomaprieta.
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