Some 3,350 people who live in twelve communities in the municipality of Bojayá, in the jungle department of Chocó (northwest), remain in prolonged confinement due to the control exercised by the paramilitary Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), also called Clan del Golfo.
In this isolated area “the planting of anti-personnel mines persists, there are leaders threatened, the territorial and social control exercised by the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia is increasing, the recruitment of minors does not stop, among other problems,” he warned. the Ombudsman’s Office in a statement.
“There are 3,347 people, from 830 families, who are confined; “The majority of them belong to the Embera people,” says the ombudsman, Carlos Camargo. Read: Egregious error: Ministry of Equality allocated $178 million to managers
In these twelve peasant and indigenous communities, when people risk going out to buy groceries or go to their workplaces, they are extorted at various points where there are checkpoints of this criminal group.
Furthermore, as a delegation from the Ombudsman’s Office was able to verify, “the women have been searched and stripped of their intimate belongings.”
“The women are searched and stripped of their intimate belongings. They told us that they want to commit suicide, that they can no longer bear the degradation to which they are being subjected. If they talk about what happened, their lives are in danger. They are afraid. I wonder where the institutions are, where the State security forces are,” lamented the ombudsman.
Furthermore, the armed group does not let out the shipments of bananas on which the residents of this territory depend economically, and the health services in the area are insufficient. Read: Banco de la República analyzes the possibility of managing a pension fund
Confinement, imposed by armed groups either through direct threats or because their territories are surrounded by landmines or combat, has increased alarmingly in Colombia in recent years.
In 2023, according to figures from the Ombudsman’s Office, 215 confinement events occurred that affected 18,356 families (more than 66,000 people), which means an increase of 63% compared to 2022, when 132 were registered.
