This is what Flaminio Onogama, Human Rights Adviser at the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), said in an interview with Contagio Radio.

Onogama said that indigenous leader Sergio Parra Mendoza, President of the Association for the Protection of Indigenous People from Tolima (ARIT), was murdered last December 18th.

The crime was perpetrated by unknown men who shot Parra Mendoza to death in front of his wife. This shows once again the serious humanitarian crisis suffered by indigenous communities in Colombia, said Onogama, who blamed the FARC guerrilla, and paramilitary groups that operate in Colombia.

Many of the crimes have a direct link with the demands for land by the native communities. "Currently, we’ve started coordinating with the government but this doesn’t mean we are satisfied. Our territories are permanently invaded by armed groups and are being used to grow illegal crops", said the adviser, in an interview with the radio show Otra Mirada.

For this reason, he demanded that territories be returned to them and that the government commits to respect the rights of communities.
“We don’t have guarantees, not even precautionary measures, that ensure the respect of the life of our indigenous leaders that are resisting in their communities”, said Onogama. “This is a true humanitarian crisis”, he concluded.

Photo: www.onic.org.co