Unknown men massacred at least five adults and three children of the
indigenous Awa in the south Colombian Nariño department, indigenous
representatives said Wednesday.
According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), the indigenous family was murdered “by armed men in uniform” in a shelter between Barbacoas and Tumaco. “It is not certain which group committed the slaughter. In this region there are paramilitaries, illegal groups and the security forces present,” the secretary of ONIC, Luis Fernando Arias, told news agency EFE.
It has not been established whether the exact number of murdered indigenous is eight or ten since the bodies have not been recovered yet due to the unstable security situation.
Arias noted that one of the victims, Tulia Garcia, “recently announced” the assassination of ther husband, Gonzalo Rodriguez, on May 23 “apparantly committed by suspected members of the Army.”
The secretary of ONIC recounted the massacre in February when eight members of the same community were murdered and nine disappeared. Between then and the latest slaughter, eight other Awa indigenous were murdered.
15,000 Awa indigenous live in 21 shelters in the Nariño and Putumayo department. This community is one of the indigenous groups mostly affected by the violence in Colombia.