The OAS Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP/OEA) condemned on Thursday the assassination of an indigenous leader and requested Colombian authorities to clarify circumstances surrounding the matter.
Through an official statement, the MAPP/OEA said that it “strongly condemns the assassination” of Hugo Ulcue, a leader of the Association of Indigenous Councils in North Cauca (ACIN) who was killed by unknown gunmen on Tuesday morning in the port town of Buenaventura on the Pacific coast.
The organization added that such an act represents a serious affront to the organizational process of ACIN and urged the government to provide all the necessary resources to bring those responsible for the crime to justice, Semana reported Friday.
Ulcue was gunned down as he had just returned from an event marking the ten year anniversary of the El Naya massacre when at least 50 indigenous peoples were killed by the AUC in the jungle region bordering the departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca.
In a press release last month, ACIN stated that they continually feel marginalized and threatened in the areas that they live due to being caught in battles between government forces and the FARC. They added furthermore that the government has seemingly negated “the social responsibilities that a social and democratic state has to ensure and protect,” in order to pursue military success.