Indigenous groups that started a massive search for victims of a FARC
massacre in Nariño weeks ago, have found the first three dead bodies of
indigenous Awá people.
The Awá search party is accompanied by delegates from other indigenous peoples and the regional Ombudsman.
The bodies were located in the Nariño village of Barbacoas.
Ombudsmen officials say it is important that Prosecutions investigators come soon to exhume and identify the bodies.
The search of the nearly 600 Awá is being complicated by bad weather and the lack of medical support to attend those that fall ill because of the rough circumstances. Other things that makes the search difficult is the number of minefields in the regionand the overflight of military aircrafts that may trigger the FARC to attack the search bloc.
The Awá decided to independently look for the bodies of their people after authorities proved to be unable to locate them. They refuse any help from the security forces to keep their neutrality in the conflict.
The FARC admitted to have murdered 7 people for allegedly being army informants, but the indigenous say 27 have gone missing.