One civilian was killed and three injured in the north of Cauca Monday when a fight broke out between the Colombian military and FARC guerrillas.
The four indigenous woodcutters are said to have been traveling through the area of Los Robles, where the incident took place. Soldiers used the workers’ truck to hide from the shots of their enemy, when the vehicle was attacked “indiscriminately with mortar bombs” by the guerrilla forces.
Local indigenous authorities arrived on the scene to identify and remove the body of Ramon Iterera, 41, and to investigate the violation of human rights during the event.
“In these conflicts human rights are not respected, no armed person should hide amongst civilians, in order not to put them at risk. In this case both the army and the guerrillas are culpable for the lamentable occurence,” wrote the Association of Northern Cauca Indigenous Governors in a report on the incident.